Topic 15 - global crime

Cards (13)

  • Global/Transnational Crime

    Crime that goes beyond national borders, such as drug and human trafficking, kidnapping, and money laundering.
  • Example of global crime industry
    20% of Colombia's population have jobs relating to the drug trade.
  • Global crime has increased due to globalisation - airline travel and communication have created better links between cocaine farmers and dealers.
  • Glenny
    • Mafia has gone global - 'McMafia'
    • Criminal organisations pay to use The Mafia's name and reputation, and pay a small percentage of their profits in return
  • Chomsky (Neo-Marxist)
    • The main global criminal are governments, particularly the USA
    • Snowden - American government hacked into emails and social media accounts to gain political power in global negotiations
    • Tortures, kidnaps, and imprisons suspects without trial - Guantanamo Bay has 7 prisoners who had been prosecuted
    • Global nature of state crimes - use locations where no country has jurisdiction
  • Walby (triple systems feminist)
    • 75% of human trafficking victims are female, mostly used for sexual slavery
    • Long term effect - psychological damage and life changing infections like HIV
    • Targets the most vulnerable, usually from deprived, ethnic backgrounds
  • Green Crime

    Criminal activity that harms the environment in some way
  • Primary green crime

    Not yet illegal under international law but directly harms the environment.
    Examples: air and water pollution, deforestation
  • Secondary green crime 

    Actually illegal acts that harm the environment, but may not be enforced.
  • South et al (On primary green crimes)
    • Hard to prosecute as one single nation is not responsible for the rest of the world
    • Relies on centralised organisations like the EU and UN, but funding and time is often an issue
    • Transgressive criminology is needed to challenge governments and large corporations who harm the environment
  • Snider
    • Corporate crime usually goes unpunished due to the government's fear of these large corporations - corporate crimes against the environment often go unpunished.
    • E.g. VW and employees avoided prosecutions even though they fooled their car's CO2 emission tests, even though the pollution would have led to hundreds of deaths
  • Beck (Postmodernist)
    • Environmental problems have led to the 'democratisation of risk' in which we are all victims due to the global effects
    • E.g. climate change, global warming, and air pollution
  • Organised crime makes up 15% of the world's GDP