Globalisation and crime Flashcards
Giddens
Social change has made distance and national barriers far less important as barriers between social groups
Anything that happens in one society can quickly affect another anywhere in the world.
EG Terrorism, elections, health pandemics, financial crisis
Held et al
globalisation is the greater interconnectedness of social life and relationships around the world
How does globalisation cause crime
TECHNOLOGY
Exacerbates crime by increasing the spread of info and making interaction between like minded people easier.
How does globalisation cause crime
TRADE
The existence of global conglomerates means that corporate crime now has a large scale effect
How does globalisation cause crime?
- Allows crime syndicates to spread (global crime networks no longer have to be physically near each other or have even met each other EG Chat rooms)
- Exposure to different criminal ideas online (lack of regulation)
- New crimes (cybercrime, online pedophilia, child pornography and grooming)
- Transport (decreased barriers between nations causes illegal trafficking of people/organs etc)
- Increase in Terrorism as societies become multicultural
- war crimes
- Financial crimes (online international financial systems enable financial fraud and makes it harder for the police to track you.
How does globalisation tackle crime?
- Shared intelligence (info sharing between different agencies)
- increased co-operation leading to extradition (where one jurisdiction send a criminal to another to be tried under their laws EG Europol)
- Less developed countries can be given aid to help prevent criminality
- Newburn & Reiner - since 9/11 there has been increased airport security to prevent illegal substances and objects being transported between countries & info sharing between the US and UK has greatly increased to protect us.
What is the total value of transnational organised crime estimated to be by the UN?
Around £1 trillion per year
Castells
Part of the reason for transnational crime is the economy of supply and demand - the rich west demand products such as drugs and sex workers etc The poor 3rd world countries supply these EG In Columbia 20% of the p-opulation depends on the cocaine trade for their livelihood.
Self-contained societies no longer exist - crime crosses borders.
There is now a global criminal economy which takes many forms:
- Arms trafficking (to illegal regimes, guerrilla groups and terrorists)
- Trafficking nuclear materials (especially from previously communist countries)
- Smuggling of illegal immigrants - EG Chinese triads make an estimated $2.5 billion annually
- Sex Tourism - where westerners travel to 3rd world countries for sex often with minors
- Smuggling legal goods - Eg alcohol and tobacco to evade taxes and of stolen goods such a cars to sell in foreign markets.
What % of Columbia’s population is reliant upon the cocaine trade for their livelihood?
20%
Why might criminal networks exist in Columbia and Afghanistan?
There is political unrest (EG civil wars and conflict) so there is less police focus on criminal network so there is a lack of law enforcement so criminal networks can go undetected.
3 Global crime businesses
The Mafia, Chinese Triad and Taliban (in Afghanistan - causing an unstable gov)
Why are transnational crimes not victimless?
- They enable other crimes to take place - EG Arms trafficking allows terrorists to harm others
- Exploited workers who have no choice but to do what their boss demands are victims
- Harms the economy - raises taxes
- Prevents effective law enforcement - makes crime easier to commit and get away with
- Creates criminal careers - leads to more crime
Hobbs and Dunningham
Glocal organisations
New forms of organisations have international links but are rooted in local areas (especially in the drug trade)
Individuals still need local connections to sell their drugs
EG Running county lines = local but the drugs are coming from a global drug baron.
Globalisation has created a shift from traditional hierarchical structured criminal gangs to more flexible entrepreneurial opportunistic criminals
Glenny
McMafia
The way that transantional organised crime mirrors legal transnational corporations like McDonalds who are acting as purely self-interested economic organisations which just sell food instead of drugs.
Emerged after the fall of communism when prices were deregulated
What impact has globalisation had on crime
SUMMARY
Globalisation has impacted crime as it has broken down borders between social groups which allows for an increase in organised crime, global criminal networks and what Glenny coins the McMafia. Internet chat rooms and other routes of global communication such as Email and SMS allow for the formation of criminal networks between people in different countries and may not have even met. Castells argues that these networks are able to delocalise their criminal activity through glocal crime. For example, these large transnational crime syndicates have multiple local connections across the globe. This means that if one of their crime hubs is caught by the police they can simply move it to one of their other glocal syndicates. Subsequently, it is almost impossible for the justice system to take them down as they are always one step ahead.
However, globalisation has aided in tackling crime by increasing communication and cooperation. For instance, Newburn and Reiner suggest that since 9/11 there has been an improvement in communication between the UK and the US which helps protect society. Greater co-operation between countries also allows for effective extradition which aids the justice system.
