Globalisation and Crime

Question 1

What is Globalisation?

Answer 1

The increasing interconnectedness of societies, so that what happens in one locality is shaped by distant events and vice versa.

Question 2

What crimes are possible because of globalisation?

Answer 2

• Cyber crimes
• Terrorism e.g 2017 Manchester attack.
• Human Trafficking
• Illegal drugs trade

Question 3

What does Castells say about crime and globalisation? (global criminal economy)

Answer 3

We now have a global criminal economy made up of certain crimes: human trafficking, money laundering, etc.

Question 4

What are the causes of an increase in crime in the age of Globalisation?

Answer 4

• Cheaper air travel
• Spread of new communication technologies (ICT).
• Rise of TNCs/multinational companies.
• Influence of global mass media.

Question 5

What is the international illegal drugs trade?

Answer 5

Provides drugs that are available in local communities in the UK.

Home Office = half of other crimes such as theft/burglary are drug related, as people steal to support drug habits.

Question 6

What is Human Trafficking?

Answer 6

The illegal movement and smuggling of people, for a variety of purposes such as prostitution and modern-day slavery, organ removal, adoption, forced marriages, etc.

Question 7

What is money-laundering?

Answer 7

Making money obtained illegally look like it came from legal sources. Deregulation of global financial markets have made this possible, as criminals can now move large sums of money electronically, so it’s difficult for law enforcement to trace its origins.

E.g: Bitcoin/Crypto.

Question 8

What is Cybercrime?

Answer 8

A postmodernist crime where crimes such as identity fraud and hacking, phishing, child pornograhy, etc, are committed due to the help of information technology, like the internet.

Question 9

How have transnational networks of organised crime developed under globalisation?

Answer 9

Increased international links between criminal groups (Castells).

Glenny = McMafia to describe the way that transnational organised crime mirrors the activities of TNCs like McDonalds, who operate as self-interested economic organisations who provide illegal items instead of drugs.

Question 10

What is ‘Glocalism’?

Answer 10

Criminal organisations that often have international connections, but they remain rooted in local contexts.

Hobbs and Dunningham = ‘glocal’ system where crimes operate locally but are connected globally.

Types of crime committed are influenced by local and global cultural, political and economic conditions.

Question 11

Growing individualism:

Answer 11

A belief in global consumer ideology has put personal gain above community benefit.

Bauman = crimes like drug dealing provides individuals with a way of achieving things that are otherwise unobtainable. The inability to attain lifestyles associated with the Western World drives many people to crime.

Question 12

Terrorism:

Answer 12

Terrorism is no longer localised, such as the IRA. Now groups like Al-Qaeda reside in many countries, united by ideology rather than nationality.

They can communicate through the internet rather than face to face.

Question 13

Global Risk Society:

Answer 13

Globalisation adds to the uncertainty of life in late modern society, Beck calls this a global risk society.

People become risk conscious: fearful of viruses, terrorism, climate change, etc. The causes of these risks are often located globally, and the media play on these fears.

Question 14

Supply and Demand:

Answer 14

Growing global inequality and rising expectations generated by consumerist ideology has led to a growing demand for sex, drugs, cheap labour, etc. Supply is met by poor, developing countries.

Question 15

More opportunities for crime:

Answer 15

New types of crime and new means of carrying these out via the internet leads to more opportunities for crime: can now be committed in one country from another, making it hard for police to prosecute and trace the crime.

Reduces risks of committing crime (rational choice).

Question 16

Disorganised Capitalism:

Answer 16

With less regulation and fewer state controls, corporations can operate globally and move money, production, etc to countries where profits are higher and labour costs are lower, exploiting their workers’ labour.

Question 17

What does Taylor (MARXIST) argue?

Answer 17

Globalisation has reshaped crime patterns by increasing inequality and crime at both ends of the ‘class spectrum’.

• TNCs exploit cheap labour in developing countries, poor working conditions e.g Primark, SHEIN.
• Many workers cannot afford the goods they produce.
• The lack of health and safety regulations leads to disasters such as Bhopsl.
• Shift of manufacturing abroad has led to deindustrialisation and a rise in crime as people turn to illegitimate means of achieving success (STRAIN).
• Enabled large-scale financial fraud, avoiding taxes e.g google or amazon.

Question 18

Evaluation of Globalisation:

Answer 18

• Easy to exaggerate the impact of globalisation. Crime rate for most offences has been dropping in the UK.
• Difficult for sociologists to research due to complexity/secretive documents of other countries.
• Global communications like the media have made us aware of atrocities happening in other countries.
• International cooperation makes it easier to catch criminals.