Globalisation and crime Flashcards
What does Castelli’s say the global criminal economy is worth per year and what forms does it take?
Global economy worth 1 trillion per year
In 1990s and in forms like:
- arms trafficking: selling weapons to illegal regimes or guerilla groups
- Green crimes: damage to environment
- drug trade; estimated at $300-400 billion at street prices
- money laundering of over a trillion from organized crimes through legal companies
- cyber crime: identity theft and child porn
- international terrorism based on ideological links over the internet
What does Hobbs and Dunningham say about glocal organisations?
Crime now works as a ‘glocal’ system as it involves global connections but is locally based. for example induvial still need contacts for criminal opportunities and sell drugs. This means criminal organizations vary from, place to place according to local donations even if its influenced by global factors like availability of drugs from abroad
Changes to globalization have led to changes in patterns of crime from old hierachical gang structure to flexible, entrepreneurial criminals. eg county lines supplying rural areas through drugs into the city
What would be a criticism of glocal organization theory?
Eastern mafias like the Yakuza in Japan operate at local level and still run large international criminal operations showing that it cant be generalized to all cultures and organizations.
What is McMafia theory
Glenny said this refers to criminal organizations that emerged in Russia and eastern Europe following fall of communism which is linked to globalization.
Under communis, the soviet state regulated prices of everything but after shock therapy imposed by west made de regulation of economy like oil. These commodities remained at soviet prices of a 1/14th of global prices so people like former KGB generals could buy up these recourses for cheap and sell them at big product making a new capitalist class of the oligarchs
Meanwhile collapse of communism resulted in disorder. to protect wealth the oligarchs turned to mafias that were emerging. Often made up of former KGB men and ex-convicts These mafias were unlike old Italian mafias that were based on family ties as these were purely economical and formed to pursue self interest. Eg Chechen mafia began to franchise its operations and became a brand they could sell to protect other towns.
With assistance of these fluid, violent mafias billionaires were able to protect their wealth and move it out the country. They were vital to emergence of new Russian capitalist class and world economy as well as building links between criminal organizations in other parts of the world
What is an example of criminologists not being able to define a ‘global crime;
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange Released hundreds of thousands of confidential US documents on a range of political issues. According to US gov he was a criminal whereas others consider him a crusader for democracy
What does South say the 2 types of green crimes are?
- primary green crimes: directly from destruction of earths recources eg deforestation, air pollution or animal abuse
- Secondary green crimes: result from disregard of rules and laws that regulate the environment. Eg violence against groups like Greenpeace or just stop oil or dumping hazardous waste
between 1960-1990 what fraction has the worlds rain forest was destroyed through illegal logging and goverments
1/5 of all global rainforest
What does Taylor say about Globalization, relative depravation and crime
Globalization has changed the pattern and extent of crime and created it at both ends of the social spectrum. Transnational corporations switched manufacturing jobs to low wage countries created job insecurity and poverty.
Deregulation of financial markets means govs have little control over their economies while welfare spending has decline. Marketisation has made ppl think like individual consumers calculating cots and benefits of each action and undermining social cohesion, which left realist notes creates a sense of relative deprivation between materialistic culture of global media and reality
These factors lead people, especially the poor, to turn to crime. eg los Angeles de-industrialization has led to growth of drug gangs numbering 10,000 members
How has corporate crime been created due to globalization according to Taylor
Deregulation of financial markets has created insider trading and moving of funds around globe to avoid taxes. Creation of transnational bodies like EU has created op fraudulent claims for subsidies estimated at $7 billion per year in the EU
Also led to new patterns of employment like companies subcontracting “flexible” workers who often working illegally for less than minimum wage in breach of labour laws
What does Taylor say about criminal economy: supply and demand
Global economy functions on supply and demand basis. Rich west demand for drugs, sex workers etc has led for a need to supply that in often less developed, drug producing countries like Columbia or Afghanistan
AS many in these countries live in poverty, drug cultivation attractive option with little investment for high returns eg Columbia estimated 20% of pop depends on cocaine production for livelihood and outsells all other exports combined.
so to understand drug crime we cant just focus on drug consumption but where drugs are produced and why.
What has Global risk Consciousness created?
Globalization created new insecurities and mentality of risk consciousness where risk seen as global rather than tied to single place.
For example the increased emigration of people for work or fleeing persecutions (like war in Ukraine) has created anxieties of crime and disorder and a desire to protect borders. Thee media creates moral panic about the ‘threat’ often fueled by politicians and led to hate crimes due to negative coverage of immigrants ‘flooding the country’
As a result of this UK has toughened its borders and the 2023 illegal migration bill made it so anyone arriving to UK illegally will be detained and sent back or other globalization risks and attempts to control them like ‘war’ on drugs terror or crime especially since 9/11.
What does Bridgland say about tsunami of 2004 and what does that say about law enforcement in a globalized world
Bridgland describes how after tsunami of 2004 hundreds of barrels of radioactive waste, illegally dumped by European countries washed up in Somalia
Illegal waste disposal shows problems of law enforcement in globalized world as they push up costs to big businesses and create incentive to dump illegally in 3rd world companies.
What is Becks Theory of global risk society?
Beck says that in our late modern society developments in tech brought about risks like global warming and climate change. He calls these manufactured risks. These man made risks harm the environment creating climate change which is global risk rather than local
He argues “smog is democratic” as it effects entire world and has a knock on effect eg a Russian heatwave linked to global warming resulting in wildfires that destroyed grain increasing prices for countries like Mozambique which had 30% increase in bread price leading to rioting and looting with at least a dozen dead
What is a criticism of Becks “smog is democratic” thesis
Hard to establish all events and disasters being manufactured, the heatwave in Russia may have not been linked to Global warming
What is Green criminology and what does White say about it?
White says criminologist should investigate any action that harms the physical environment or the humans/animals in it. Unlike traditional criminology that looks at laws abt the environment green criminology focuses on any act that damages environment as most green crimes aren’t illegal eg driving car.
This approach involves Zemiology (study of social harms) and focuses on more realistic global pic of how we damage environment.
Green criminologist adopt ecocentric view that sees humans and environment as interdependent as environment harms hurts humans and both liable to exploitation by global capitalism. White argues Corporations and Govs take a anthropocentric view meaning they assume humans have right to dominate nature.
