Globalisation

• Globalisation and Crime:

  > global criminal economy

  > global risk consciousness

  > globalisation, capitalism and crime

  > patterns of criminal organisation
• Global Criminal Economy:

  > Castells - there is now a global criminal economy worth over £1 trillion per year - centres around the demands of Western societies desire for illegal goods and services, which developing countries in poverty are willing to supply

  > arms trafficking, human trafficking, sex tourism, drugs trade (20% of Colombia's population rely on the cocaine trade for their livelihood)
• Global Risk Consciousness:

  > globalisation has resulted in new insecurities, and has produced a new mentality of 'risk consciousness' where risk is seen as a global issue instead of a local one

  > increased migration has created a moral panic (over-reaction from the media and politicians), and Western countries are worried about the risk of crime and the need to protect their borders

  > led to an increase in hate crime in a number of Western countries

  > led to an increase in social control e.g. increased use of CCTV and extending the length of time a 'terrorist' suspect can be detained
• Globalisation, Capitalism and Crime:

  > Taylor - the free reign given to market forces has created greater inequality and rising crime at both ends of the social scale:

  > transnational corporations use cheap labour in developing nations = job insecurity, unemployment and poverty (Primark, Bhopal disaster)

  > government policies, such as privatisation and marketisation, have driven wages down and created zero hour contracts

  > lack of legitimate job opportunities for the poor drive them to seek illegitimate ways of making money
• Patterns of Criminal Organisation:

  > Hobbs and Dunningham - economic changes brought by globalisation have changed the way that crime is organised

  > a loose network of individuals have replaced the previous hierarchal mafia-style criminal organisations - individuals commit crime as they can now make their own global connections

  > this is known as 'glocal' crime - crime varies from place to place but is influenced by global factors, such as the availability of drugs from other countries