Globalisation - Crime

Question 1

What is meant by globalisation?

Answer 1

The intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shared by events occurring many miles away and vice versa (Giddens)

Question 2

What are some of the causes of globalisation?

Answer 2

• Rise of multinational companies
• Spread of ICT
• Better international relationships
• Cheaper travel

Question 3

What is the globalisation of crime?

Answer 3

An increasing interconnectedness of crime across national borders

Question 4

What are some crimes that are possible due to globalisation?

Answer 4

• Human trafficking - smuggling migrants from Syria
• Cyber-crime = wide range of criminal acts committed with the help of communication
• International illegal drug trade = Audit report commission (2002) 1/2 of all recorded crime in England and Wales was drug related
• Money laundering

Question 5

What does Castells argue?

Answer 5

That we now have a global criminal economy worth an estimated 1 trillion per annum

Question 6

How much is the drugs trade estimated to be worth annually at street prices?

Answer 6

300-400 billion

Question 7

What does Taylor argue?

Answer 7

That globalisation has led to changes in the pattern and extent of crime

• created greater inequality due to having free reign of market forces
• increased white collar and blue collar crime

Question 8

How has globalisation encouraged w/c to turn to crime?

Answer 8

• Created insecurity and widened inequalities

- Lack of legitimate job opportunities destroys self-respected and drives the unemployed to look for illegitimate ones

Question 9

How has marketisation caused people to turn to crime?

Answer 9

= governments allow private companies to compete for customers
- encouraged people to see themselves as individual consumers, calculating the personal costs and benefits of each actions, undermining social cohesion

Question 10

How do Left Realists argue globalisation has increased crime?

Answer 10

Argue the increasingly materialistic culture promoted by the global media emphasises relative deprivation

Question 11

What has globalisation allowed multination corporations to do in poorer countries?

Answer 11

To switch manufacturing to low wage countries, producing job insecurity, unemployment and poverty

Question 12

How has globalisation created criminal opportunities on a grand scale for elite groups?

Answer 12

• The deregulation of finical markets has created opportunities for insider trading
• The creation of transnational bodies such as the EU had allowed the movement of funds around the globe to avoid taxation

Question 13

How was globalisation creating new patterns of employment increased crime?

Answer 13

Led to the increased use of subcontracting to recruit ‘flexible’ workers, often working illegally or employed for less than the minimum wages of working in breach of H/S laws

Question 14

What is the definition of global corporation crime?

Answer 14

Offences committed by or on behalf of large compares on an international scale

Question 15

What are lack of compliance with H/S crimes and an example?

Answer 15

White collar crime: when business owners fail to meet legal requirements to keep staff free from illness/harm
- can also apply to not protecting customers

Example: Herald of Free Enterprise = cross-channal ferry capsized because doors not closed

Question 16

What are environmental (green) crimes and an example?

Answer 16

Damage to the environment caused deliberately or through negligence such as: illegal dumping of waste + destruction of wide areas

Example: Bhopal = union carbide chemical company, by 2007 poisons gas had killed 500,000

Question 17

What are manufacturing offences and an example?

Answer 17

Involves offences like producing unsafe or dangerous goods + false advertising
- mainly offences against consumers

Example: Ford Pinto + rigging test result on the drug Thalidomide leading to birth defects

Question 18

What are labour offences and an example?

Answer 18

Includes offences such as ignoring dangerous working practices or causing, or concealing industrial diseases

Example: Poor pay at Primark for cheap goods - sweat shops

Question 19

What are unfair trade practices and an example?

Answer 19

Offences include price fixing

Example: In 2007 supermarkets + dairy companies fined 116m for fixing the price of milk and cheese

Question 20

What are financial offences and an example?

Answer 20

Includes tax evasion + concealment of losses and debts

Example: In USA Enron conceded debts of around 506m
- many people lost investments, jobs + company collapsed

Question 21

What did Hobbs and Dunningham find?

Answer 21

That the way crime is organised is linked to the economic changes brought about by globalisation
- involves individuals with contacts acting as a ‘hub’ around which a loose knit form, composed of other individuals seeking opportunities, and often linking legitimate and illegitimate activities

Question 22

How is it argued that crime is a glocal system?

Answer 22

Still locally based, but with global connections

Question 23

How can the drug trade be seen as a glocal system?

Answer 23

Drugs are sold locally to individuals but are often produced internationally. If the prices of drugs increase at production the price will consequently increase when sold locally