Doha Declaration
Education for justice.
- Agenda Day 1
- Agenda Day 2
- Agenda Day 3
- Agenda Day 4
- Registration
- Breakout Sessions for Primary and Secondary Level
- Breakout Sessions for Tertiary Level
- E4J Youth Competition
- India - Lockdown Learners
- Chuka, Break the Silence
- The Online Zoo
- I would like a community where ...
- Staying safe online
- Let's be respectful online
- We can all be heroes
- Respect for all
- We all have rights
- A mosaic of differences
- The right thing to do
- Solving ethical dilemmas
- UNODC-UNESCO Guide for Policymakers
- UNODC-UNESCO Handbooks for Teachers
- Justice Accelerators
- Introduction
- Organized Crime
- Trafficking in Persons & Smuggling of Migrants
- Crime Prevention & Criminal Justice Reform
- Crime Prevention, Criminal Justice & SDGs
- UN Congress on Crime Prevention & Criminal Justice
- Commission on Crime Prevention & Criminal Justice
- Conference of the Parties to UNTOC
- Conference of the States Parties to UNCAC
- Rules for Simulating Crime Prevention & Criminal Justice Bodies
- Crime Prevention & Criminal Justice
- Engage with Us
- Contact Us about MUN
- Conferences Supporting E4J
- Cyberstrike
- Play for Integrity
- Running out of Time
- Zorbs Reloaded
- Developing a Rationale for Using the Video
- Previewing the Anti-Corruption Video
- Viewing the Video with a Purpose
- Post-viewing Activities
- Previewing the Firearms Video
- Rationale for Using the Video
- Previewing the Human Trafficking Video
- Previewing the Organized Crime Video
- Previewing the Video
- Criminal Justice & Crime Prevention
- Corruption & Integrity
- Human Trafficking & Migrant Smuggling
- Firearms Trafficking
- Terrorism & Violent Extremism
- Introduction & Learning Outcomes
- Corruption - Baseline Definition
- Effects of Corruption
- Deeper Meanings of Corruption
- Measuring Corruption
- Possible Class Structure
- Core Reading
- Advanced Reading
- Student Assessment
- Additional Teaching Tools
- Guidelines for Stand-Alone Course
- Appendix: How Corruption Affects the SDGs
- What is Governance?
- What is Good Governance?
- Corruption and Bad Governance
- Governance Reforms and Anti-Corruption
- Guidelines for Stand-alone Course
- Corruption and Democracy
- Corruption and Authoritarian Systems
- Hybrid Systems and Syndromes of Corruption
- The Deep Democratization Approach
- Political Parties and Political Finance
- Political Institution-building as a Means to Counter Corruption
- Manifestations and Consequences of Public Sector Corruption
- Causes of Public Sector Corruption
- Theories that Explain Corruption
- Corruption in Public Procurement
- Corruption in State-Owned Enterprises
- Responses to Public Sector Corruption
- Preventing Public Sector Corruption
- Forms & Manifestations of Private Sector Corruption
- Consequences of Private Sector Corruption
- Causes of Private Sector Corruption
- Responses to Private Sector Corruption
- Preventing Private Sector Corruption
- Collective Action & Public-Private Partnerships against Corruption
- Transparency as a Precondition
- Detection Mechanisms - Auditing and Reporting
- Whistle-blowing Systems and Protections
- Investigation of Corruption
- Introduction and Learning Outcomes
- Brief background on the human rights system
- Overview of the corruption-human rights nexus
- Impact of corruption on specific human rights
- Approaches to assessing the corruption-human rights nexus
- Human-rights based approach
- Defining sex, gender and gender mainstreaming
- Gender differences in corruption
- Theories explaining the gender–corruption nexus
- Gendered impacts of corruption
- Anti-corruption and gender mainstreaming
- Manifestations of corruption in education
- Costs of corruption in education
- Causes of corruption in education
- Fighting corruption in education
- Core terms and concepts
- The role of citizens in fighting corruption
- The role, risks and challenges of CSOs fighting corruption
- The role of the media in fighting corruption
- Access to information: a condition for citizen participation
- ICT as a tool for citizen participation in anti-corruption efforts
- Government obligations to ensure citizen participation in anti-corruption efforts
- Teaching Guide
- Brief History of Terrorism
- 19th Century Terrorism
- League of Nations & Terrorism
- United Nations & Terrorism
- Terrorist Victimization
- Exercises & Case Studies
- Radicalization & Violent Extremism
- Preventing & Countering Violent Extremism
- Drivers of Violent Extremism
- International Approaches to PVE &CVE
- Regional & Multilateral Approaches
- Defining Rule of Law
- UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy
- International Cooperation & UN CT Strategy
- Legal Sources & UN CT Strategy
- Regional & National Approaches
- International Legal Frameworks
- International Human Rights Law
- International Humanitarian Law
- International Refugee Law
- Current Challenges to International Legal Framework
- Defining Terrorism
- Criminal Justice Responses
- Treaty-based Crimes of Terrorism
- Core International Crimes
- International Courts and Tribunals
- African Region
- Inter-American Region
- Asian Region
- European Region
- Middle East & Gulf Regions
- Core Principles of IHL
- Categorization of Armed Conflict
- Classification of Persons
- IHL, Terrorism & Counter-Terrorism
- Relationship between IHL & intern. human rights law
- Limitations Permitted by Human Rights Law
- Derogation during Public Emergency
- Examples of States of Emergency & Derogations
- International Human Rights Instruments
- Regional Human Rights Instruments
- Extra-territorial Application of Right to Life
- Arbitrary Deprivation of Life
- Death Penalty
- Enforced Disappearances
- Armed Conflict Context
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- Convention against Torture et al.
- International Legal Framework
- Key Contemporary Issues
- Investigative Phase
- Trial & Sentencing Phase
- Armed Conflict
- Case Studies
- Special Investigative Techniques
- Surveillance & Interception of Communications
- Privacy & Intelligence Gathering in Armed Conflict
- Accountability & Oversight of Intelligence Gathering
- Principle of Non-Discrimination
- Freedom of Religion
- Freedom of Expression
- Freedom of Assembly
- Freedom of Association
- Fundamental Freedoms
- Definition of 'Victim'
- Effects of Terrorism
- Access to Justice
- Recognition of the Victim
- Human Rights Instruments
- Criminal Justice Mechanisms
- Instruments for Victims of Terrorism
- National Approaches
- Key Challenges in Securing Reparation
- Topic 1. Contemporary issues relating to conditions conducive both to the spread of terrorism and the rule of law
- Topic 2. Contemporary issues relating to the right to life
- Topic 3. Contemporary issues relating to foreign terrorist fighters
- Topic 4. Contemporary issues relating to non-discrimination and fundamental freedoms
- Module 16: Linkages between Organized Crime and Terrorism
- Thematic Areas
- Content Breakdown
- Module Adaptation & Design Guidelines
- Teaching Methods
- Acknowledgements
- 1. Introducing United Nations Standards & Norms on CPCJ vis-à-vis International Law
- 2. Scope of United Nations Standards & Norms on CPCJ
- 3. United Nations Standards & Norms on CPCJ in Operation
- 1. Definition of Crime Prevention
- 2. Key Crime Prevention Typologies
- 2. (cont.) Tonry & Farrington’s Typology
- 3. Crime Problem-Solving Approaches
- 4. What Works
- United Nations Entities
- Regional Crime Prevention Councils/Institutions
- Key Clearinghouses
- Systematic Reviews
- 1. Introduction to International Standards & Norms
- 2. Identifying the Need for Legal Aid
- 3. Key Components of the Right of Access to Legal Aid
- 4. Access to Legal Aid for Those with Specific Needs
- 5. Models for Governing, Administering and Funding Legal Aid
- 6. Models for Delivering Legal Aid Services
- 7. Roles and Responsibilities of Legal Aid Providers
- 8. Quality Assurance and Legal Aid Services
- 1. Context for Use of Force by Law Enforcement Officials
- 2. Legal Framework
- 3. General Principles of Use of Force in Law Enforcement
- 4. Use of Firearms
- 5. Use of “Less-Lethal” Weapons
- 6. Protection of Especially Vulnerable Groups
- 7. Use of Force during Assemblies
- 1. Policing in democracies & need for accountability, integrity, oversight
- 2. Key mechanisms & actors in police accountability, oversight
- 3. Crosscutting & contemporary issues in police accountability
- 1. Introducing Aims of Punishment, Imprisonment & Prison Reform
- 2. Current Trends, Challenges & Human Rights
- 3. Towards Humane Prisons & Alternative Sanctions
- 1. Aims and Significance of Alternatives to Imprisonment
- 2. Justifying Punishment in the Community
- 3. Pretrial Alternatives
- 4. Post Trial Alternatives
- 5. Evaluating Alternatives
- 1. Concept, Values and Origin of Restorative Justice
- 2. Overview of Restorative Justice Processes
- 3. How Cost Effective is Restorative Justice?
- 4. Issues in Implementing Restorative Justice
- 1. Gender-Based Discrimination & Women in Conflict with the Law
- 2. Vulnerabilities of Girls in Conflict with the Law
- 3. Discrimination and Violence against LGBTI Individuals
- 4. Gender Diversity in Criminal Justice Workforce
- 1. Ending Violence against Women
- 2. Human Rights Approaches to Violence against Women
- 3. Who Has Rights in this Situation?
- 4. What about the Men?
- 5. Local, Regional & Global Solutions to Violence against Women & Girls
- 1. Understanding the Concept of Victims of Crime
- 2. Impact of Crime, including Trauma
- 3. Right of Victims to Adequate Response to their Needs
- 4. Collecting Victim Data
- 5. Victims and their Participation in Criminal Justice Process
- 6. Victim Services: Institutional and Non-Governmental Organizations
- 7. Outlook on Current Developments Regarding Victims
- 8. Victims of Crime and International Law
- 1. The Many Forms of Violence against Children
- 2. The Impact of Violence on Children
- 3. States' Obligations to Prevent VAC and Protect Child Victims
- 4. Improving the Prevention of Violence against Children
- 5. Improving the Criminal Justice Response to VAC
- 6. Addressing Violence against Children within the Justice System
- 1. The Role of the Justice System
- 2. Convention on the Rights of the Child & International Legal Framework on Children's Rights
- 3. Justice for Children
- 4. Justice for Children in Conflict with the Law
- 5. Realizing Justice for Children
- 1a. Judicial Independence as Fundamental Value of Rule of Law & of Constitutionalism
- 1b. Main Factors Aimed at Securing Judicial Independence
- 2a. Public Prosecutors as ‘Gate Keepers’ of Criminal Justice
- 2b. Institutional and Functional Role of Prosecutors
- 2c. Other Factors Affecting the Role of Prosecutors
- Basics of Computing
- Global Connectivity and Technology Usage Trends
- Cybercrime in Brief
- Cybercrime Trends
- Cybercrime Prevention
- Offences against computer data and systems
- Computer-related offences
- Content-related offences
- The Role of Cybercrime Law
- Harmonization of Laws
- International and Regional Instruments
- International Human Rights and Cybercrime Law
- Digital Evidence
- Digital Forensics
- Standards and Best Practices for Digital Forensics
- Reporting Cybercrime
- Who Conducts Cybercrime Investigations?
- Obstacles to Cybercrime Investigations
- Knowledge Management
- Legal and Ethical Obligations
- Handling of Digital Evidence
- Digital Evidence Admissibility
- Sovereignty and Jurisdiction
- Formal International Cooperation Mechanisms
- Informal International Cooperation Mechanisms
- Data Retention, Preservation and Access
- Challenges Relating to Extraterritorial Evidence
- National Capacity and International Cooperation
- Internet Governance
- Cybersecurity Strategies: Basic Features
- National Cybersecurity Strategies
- International Cooperation on Cybersecurity Matters
- Cybersecurity Posture
- Assets, Vulnerabilities and Threats
- Vulnerability Disclosure
- Cybersecurity Measures and Usability
- Situational Crime Prevention
- Incident Detection, Response, Recovery & Preparedness
- Privacy: What it is and Why it is Important
- Privacy and Security
- Cybercrime that Compromises Privacy
- Data Protection Legislation
- Data Breach Notification Laws
- Enforcement of Privacy and Data Protection Laws
- Intellectual Property: What it is
- Types of Intellectual Property
- Causes for Cyber-Enabled Copyright & Trademark Offences
- Protection & Prevention Efforts
- Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
- Cyberstalking and Cyberharassment
- Cyberbullying
- Gender-Based Interpersonal Cybercrime
- Interpersonal Cybercrime Prevention
- Cyber Organized Crime: What is it?
- Conceptualizing Organized Crime & Defining Actors Involved
- Criminal Groups Engaging in Cyber Organized Crime
- Cyber Organized Crime Activities
- Preventing & Countering Cyber Organized Crime
- Cyberespionage
- Cyberterrorism
- Cyberwarfare
- Information Warfare, Disinformation & Electoral Fraud
- Responses to Cyberinterventions
- Framing the Issue of Firearms
- Direct Impact of Firearms
- Indirect Impacts of Firearms on States or Communities
- International and National Responses
- Typology and Classification of Firearms
- Common Firearms Types
- 'Other' Types of Firearms
- Parts and Components
- History of the Legitimate Arms Market
- Need for a Legitimate Market
- Key Actors in the Legitimate Market
- Authorized & Unauthorized Arms Transfers
- Illegal Firearms in Social, Cultural & Political Context
- Supply, Demand & Criminal Motivations
- Larger Scale Firearms Trafficking Activities
- Smaller Scale Trafficking Activities
- Sources of Illicit Firearms
- Consequences of Illicit Markets
- International Public Law & Transnational Law
- International Instruments with Global Outreach
- Commonalities, Differences & Complementarity between Global Instruments
- Tools to Support Implementation of Global Instruments
- Other United Nations Processes
- The Sustainable Development Goals
- Multilateral & Regional Instruments
- Scope of National Firearms Regulations
- National Firearms Strategies & Action Plans
- Harmonization of National Legislation with International Firearms Instruments
- Assistance for Development of National Firearms Legislation
- Firearms Trafficking as a Cross-Cutting Element
- Organized Crime and Organized Criminal Groups
- Criminal Gangs
- Terrorist Groups
- Interconnections between Organized Criminal Groups & Terrorist Groups
- Gangs - Organized Crime & Terrorism: An Evolving Continuum
- International Response
- International and National Legal Framework
- Firearms Related Offences
- Role of Law Enforcement
- Firearms as Evidence
- Use of Special Investigative Techniques
- International Cooperation and Information Exchange
- Prosecution and Adjudication of Firearms Trafficking
- Teaching Methods & Principles
- Ethical Learning Environments
- Overview of Modules
- Module Adaption & Design Guidelines
- Table of Exercises
- Basic Terms
- Forms of Gender Discrimination
- Ethics of Care
- Case Studies for Professional Ethics
- Case Studies for Role Morality
- Additional Exercises
- Defining Organized Crime
- Definition in Convention
- Similarities & Differences
- Activities, Organization, Composition
- Thinking Critically Through Fiction
- Excerpts of Legislation
- Research & Independent Study Questions
- Legal Definitions of Organized Crimes
- Criminal Association
- Definitions in the Organized Crime Convention
- Criminal Organizations and Enterprise Laws
- Enabling Offence: Obstruction of Justice
- Drug Trafficking
- Wildlife & Forest Crime
- Counterfeit Products Trafficking
- Falsified Medical Products
- Trafficking in Cultural Property
- Trafficking in Persons
- Case Studies & Exercises
- Extortion Racketeering
- Loansharking
- Links to Corruption
- Bribery versus Extortion
- Money-Laundering
- Liability of Legal Persons
- How much Organized Crime is there?
- Alternative Ways for Measuring
- Measuring Product Markets
- Risk Assessment
- Key Concepts of Risk Assessment
- Risk Assessment of Organized Crime Groups
- Risk Assessment of Product Markets
- Risk Assessment in Practice
- Positivism: Environmental Influences
- Classical: Pain-Pleasure Decisions
- Structural Factors
- Ethical Perspective
- Crime Causes & Facilitating Factors
- Models and Structure
- Hierarchical Model
- Local, Cultural Model
- Enterprise or Business Model
- Groups vs Activities
- Networked Structure
- Jurisdiction
- Investigators of Organized Crime
- Controlled Deliveries
- Physical & Electronic Surveillance
- Undercover Operations
- Financial Analysis
- Use of Informants
- Rights of Victims & Witnesses
- Role of Prosecutors
- Adversarial vs Inquisitorial Legal Systems
- Mitigating Punishment
- Granting Immunity from Prosecution
- Witness Protection
- Aggravating & Mitigating Factors
- Sentencing Options
- Alternatives to Imprisonment
- Death Penalty & Organized Crime
- Backgrounds of Convicted Offenders
- Confiscation
- Confiscation in Practice
- Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA)
- Extradition
- Transfer of Criminal Proceedings
- Transfer of Sentenced Persons
- Module 12: Prevention of Organized Crime
- Adoption of Organized Crime Convention
- Historical Context
- Features of the Convention
- Related international instruments
- Conference of the Parties
- Roles of Participants
- Structure and Flow
- Recommended Topics
- Background Materials
- What is Sex / Gender / Intersectionality?
- Knowledge about Gender in Organized Crime
- Gender and Organized Crime
- Gender and Different Types of Organized Crime
- Definitions and Terminology
- Organized crime and Terrorism - International Legal Framework
- International Terrorism-related Conventions
- UNSC Resolutions on Terrorism
- Organized Crime Convention and its Protocols
- Theoretical Frameworks on Linkages between Organized Crime and Terrorism
- Typologies of Criminal Behaviour Associated with Terrorism
- Terrorism and Drug Trafficking
- Terrorism and Trafficking in Weapons
- Terrorism, Crime and Trafficking in Cultural Property
- Trafficking in Persons and Terrorism
- Intellectual Property Crime and Terrorism
- Kidnapping for Ransom and Terrorism
- Exploitation of Natural Resources and Terrorism
- Review and Assessment Questions
- Research and Independent Study Questions
- Criminalization of Smuggling of Migrants
- UNTOC & the Protocol against Smuggling of Migrants
- Offences under the Protocol
- Financial & Other Material Benefits
- Aggravating Circumstances
- Criminal Liability
- Non-Criminalization of Smuggled Migrants
- Scope of the Protocol
- Humanitarian Exemption
- Migrant Smuggling v. Irregular Migration
- Migrant Smuggling vis-a-vis Other Crime Types
- Other Resources
- Assistance and Protection in the Protocol
- International Human Rights and Refugee Law
- Vulnerable groups
- Positive and Negative Obligations of the State
- Identification of Smuggled Migrants
- Participation in Legal Proceedings
- Role of Non-Governmental Organizations
- Smuggled Migrants & Other Categories of Migrants
- Short-, Mid- and Long-Term Measures
- Criminal Justice Reponse: Scope
- Investigative & Prosecutorial Approaches
- Different Relevant Actors & Their Roles
- Testimonial Evidence
- Financial Investigations
- Non-Governmental Organizations
- ‘Outside the Box’ Methodologies
- Intra- and Inter-Agency Coordination
- Admissibility of Evidence
- International Cooperation
- Exchange of Information
- Non-Criminal Law Relevant to Smuggling of Migrants
- Administrative Approach
- Complementary Activities & Role of Non-criminal Justice Actors
- Macro-Perspective in Addressing Smuggling of Migrants
- Human Security
- International Aid and Cooperation
- Migration & Migrant Smuggling
- Mixed Migration Flows
- Social Politics of Migrant Smuggling
- Vulnerability
- Profile of Smugglers
- Role of Organized Criminal Groups
- Humanitarianism, Security and Migrant Smuggling
- Crime of Trafficking in Persons
- The Issue of Consent
- The Purpose of Exploitation
- The abuse of a position of vulnerability
- Indicators of Trafficking in Persons
- Distinction between Trafficking in Persons and Other Crimes
- Misconceptions Regarding Trafficking in Persons
- Root Causes
- Supply Side Prevention Strategies
- Demand Side Prevention Strategies
- Role of the Media
- Safe Migration Channels
- Crime Prevention Strategies
- Monitoring, Evaluating & Reporting on Effectiveness of Prevention
- Trafficked Persons as Victims
- Protection under the Protocol against Trafficking in Persons
- Broader International Framework
- State Responsibility for Trafficking in Persons
- Identification of Victims
- Principle of Non-Criminalization of Victims
- Criminal Justice Duties Imposed on States
- Role of the Criminal Justice System
- Current Low Levels of Prosecutions and Convictions
- Challenges to an Effective Criminal Justice Response
- Rights of Victims to Justice and Protection
- Potential Strategies to “Turn the Tide”
- State Cooperation with Civil Society
- Civil Society Actors
- The Private Sector
- Comparing SOM and TIP
- Differences and Commonalities
- Vulnerability and Continuum between SOM & TIP
- Labour Exploitation
- Forced Marriage
- Other Examples
- Children on the Move
- Protecting Smuggled and Trafficked Children
- Protection in Practice
- Children Alleged as Having Committed Smuggling or Trafficking Offences
- Basic Terms - Gender and Gender Stereotypes
- International Legal Frameworks and Definitions of TIP and SOM
- Global Overview on TIP and SOM
- Gender and Migration
- Key Debates in the Scholarship on TIP and SOM
- Gender and TIP and SOM Offenders
- Responses to TIP and SOM
- Use of Technology to Facilitate TIP and SOM
- Technology Facilitating Trafficking in Persons
- Technology in Smuggling of Migrants
- Using Technology to Prevent and Combat TIP and SOM
- Privacy and Data Concerns
- Emerging Trends
- Demand and Consumption
- Supply and Demand
- Implications of Wildlife Trafficking
- Legal and Illegal Markets
- Perpetrators and their Networks
- Locations and Activities relating to Wildlife Trafficking
- Environmental Protection & Conservation
- CITES & the International Trade in Endangered Species
- Organized Crime & Corruption
- Animal Welfare
- Criminal Justice Actors and Agencies
- Criminalization of Wildlife Trafficking
- Challenges for Law Enforcement
- Investigation Measures and Detection Methods
- Prosecution and Judiciary
- Wild Flora as the Target of Illegal Trafficking
- Purposes for which Wild Flora is Illegally Targeted
- How is it Done and Who is Involved?
- Consequences of Harms to Wild Flora
- Terminology
- Background: Communities and conservation: A history of disenfranchisement
- Incentives for communities to get involved in illegal wildlife trafficking: the cost of conservation
- Incentives to participate in illegal wildlife, logging and fishing economies
- International and regional responses that fight wildlife trafficking while supporting IPLCs
- Mechanisms for incentivizing community conservation and reducing wildlife trafficking
- Critiques of community engagement
- Other challenges posed by wildlife trafficking that affect local populations
- Global Podcast Series
- Apr. 2021: Call for Expressions of Interest: Online training for academics from francophone Africa
- Feb. 2021: Series of Seminars for Universities of Central Asia
- Dec. 2020: UNODC and TISS Conference on Access to Justice to End Violence
- Nov. 2020: Expert Workshop for University Lecturers and Trainers from the Commonwealth of Independent States
- Oct. 2020: E4J Webinar Series: Youth Empowerment through Education for Justice
- Interview: How to use E4J's tool in teaching on TIP and SOM
- E4J-Open University Online Training-of-Trainers Course
- Teaching Integrity and Ethics Modules: Survey Results
- Grants Programmes
- E4J MUN Resource Guide
- Library of Resources
Module 1: Definitions of Organized Crime
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E4J University Module Series: Organized Crime
Introduction and learning outcomes.
- Defining organized crime
- Definition in the Organized Crime Convention
Similarities and differences between organized crime and other forms of crime
- Activities, organization and composition of organized criminal groups
- Case studies
- Thinking critically through fiction
- Excerpts of legislation
Possible class structure
Core reading, advanced reading, student assessment.
- Review and assessment questions
- Research and independent study questions
Additional teaching tools
Published in April 2018
Regional Perspective: Eastern and Southern Africa - added in April 2020
This module is a resource for lecturers
Using the offence, rather than the offender, as a unit of analysis, some acts are clearly "organized," in their commission but are not considered part of organized crime for the purpose of the Organized Crime Convention. Organized crime is actually one type of several categories of organized criminal behaviour.
White-collar crime, for instance, is related to and overlaps with organized crime and the definition contained in the Organized Crime Convention allows to capture many cases of white collar crime. Nonetheless, the two crimes have significant differences in that white-collar crime occurs as a deviation from legitimate business activity, whereas organized crime occurs as a continuing criminal enterprise that exists to profit primarily from illicit activity. White-collar crime can be carried out by an individual whereas organized crime requires more people and planning in order to carry out offences on a more systematic basis. White-collar crime can also be carried out by organized criminal groups. There has been much research comparing the linkages between organized crime and white-collar crime (Kegö, Leijonmarck and Molcean, 2011; Tusikov, 2012).
Governmental bodies and politicians can also be considered offenders of organized crime if the elements of the general definition are met. It is also important to notice that not only individuals but also legal persons, such as corporations, can carry out crimes during the course of business. Serious crime is frequently committed through or under the cover of legal entities. Complex structures can effectively hide the true ownership, clients or particular transactions. Legal persons may also be used to shield natural persons from liability, and complex structures may be used to conceal illegal activity. The role of legal persons in illegal activity may span the whole range of organized transnational crimes, from trafficking in persons, drugs or arms to corruption and money laundering. Ensuring the liability of legal persons is therefore an important component in combating transnational organized crime (more on the liability of legal persons in Module 4 ).
Terrorism is another form of "organized" criminal behaviour, but it is distinct from organized crime. In general terms, terrorism involves crimes committed with the objective of intimidating a population or compelling a government or international organization with a view to achieving political or social objectives. Examples would include hostage-taking in order to secure freedom for those seen as imprisoned unjustly or acts of violence done in retribution for perceived past injustices. An act of terrorism has a political objective.
Organized crime, on the other hand, always seeks to obtain a financial or other material benefit, whereas power and control can be secondary motives. Organized crime can involve violence and coercion, but the objective in organized crime remains profit.
The definition of "organized criminal group" in the Organized Crime Convention only includes groups that through their activities seek to obtain, directly or indirectly, a "financial or other material benefit." This would not, in principle, include groups such as some terrorist or insurgent groups, provided that their goals were purely non-material. However, the Convention may still apply to crimes committed by those groups in the event that they commit crimes covered by the Convention in order to raise financial or other material benefits.
In other words, while they generally pursue different objectives, activities of terrorists and organized criminal groups can overlap (Bassiouni, 1990). A clear example is when terrorist groups use organized crime activity to fund their political objectives. Terrorist organizations can thus adopt the conventional tactics of organized criminal groups, such as generating profits from drug trafficking, or other types of illicit trade. In this context, UN General Assembly Resolution 55/25 adopting the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime also calls upon States to recognize the link between transnational organized criminal activities and acts of terrorism.
Another important element of distinction between these two crimes is that by definition, organized crime cannot be committed by a single person (as spelled out in the definition of organized criminal group provided by article 2(a) of the Organized Crime Convention) while a terrorist act can be.
There is no definition agreed on by all Members States on terrorism. Instead, there are 19 universal legal instruments against terrorism negotiated over the last 50 years. Although negotiations to draft a comprehensive convention on international terrorism have been undergoing, so far the development of a comprehensive strategy against terrorism has been constrained by the inability to agree on a definition of terrorism, among other issues.
The International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism provides a broad definition that is reported below.
Broad definition of terrorism
Article 2-1: Any person commits an offence within the meaning of this Convention if that person by any means, directly or indirectly, unlawfully and wilfully, provides or collects funds with the intention that they should be used or in the knowledge that they are to be used, in full or in part, in order to carry out: […]
(b) Any other act intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to a civilian, or to any other person not taking an active part in the hostilities in a situation of armed conflict, when the purpose of such act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or to compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act.
Source : International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism; FATF Interpretative Note to Special Recommendation II on the Financing of Terrorism, defining terrorist act as the above, in addition to offences under the universal anti-terrorism conventions and protocols negotiated as of 1999.
Organized criminal groups, however, may also adopt terrorist tactics of indiscriminate violence and large-scale public intimidation to further criminal objectives or fulfil special operational aims. Organized criminal groups and terrorist organizations may build alliances with each other. The nature of these alliances varies broadly and can include one-off, short-term, and long-term relationships. With time, criminal and terrorist groups may develop a capacity to engage in both criminal and terrorist activities, thus forming entities that display the characteristics of both groups. Figure 1.1 illustrates the crime-terror nexus. It shows that while organized crime and terrorism have different objectives, they can also overlap.
Figure 1.1 Crime-terror nexus
For a more detailed analysis of the linkages between organized crime and terrorism, please consult Module 16 of this University Module Series.
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Supported by the state of qatar, 60 years crime congress.
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Article contents
Theoretical perspectives on white-collar crime.
- Michael Levi Michael Levi School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
- https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.013.266
- Published online: 25 June 2019
White-collar crime has not developed in a linear way as an academic subject. Its definition remains contested, between those who consider that, when deciding on the boundaries of what we can explain, we cannot depart far from the decisions of criminal courts and, at the other extreme, those who substitute “social harm” for “crime” and see the theoretical task as explaining why criminal justice reacts far more severely to the less socially harmful acts. Most scholars are somewhere closer to the legalistic view, except that they substitute convictability for conviction, though convictability may be disputable except where there is a Deferred Prosecution Agreement or an agreed statement by the corporation. Individual, organizational, and cultural explanations of white-collar offenses are considered and are complementary, depending on the research question to be explored. Incomplete or distorted datasets are commonplace, but the increasing number of life course studies of white-collar criminality show that serious white-collar (and organized crime) offending typically has a later onset than other crimes. This may be due to established professionals being recruited as ‘enablers,’ and/or that a certain maturity is necessary to act as a credible borrower or investment intermediary, depending on the crime.
An important dimension of white-collar crime explains the decisions about formal and informal social control as ways of dealing with misconduct . These decisions range from detailed analysis of individual cases and patterns in a financial and/or industrial/service sector to macro explanations such as intentional or neglectful police/prosecutor resource starvation and protection of elites in neo-liberal societies. Some of the strategies are affected by whether regulator/regulatee relationships are repeat players progressing up the regulatory pyramid, or whether they are outsiders or intentional harm-doers, who may be less likely to be deterred or reformed by engagement with the regulators.
- white-collar crime
- corporate crime
- criminal careers
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date: 18 November 2024
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White Collar And Organized Crime Essay. In the twentieth century, White Collar and Organized Crimes have attracted the attention of the U.S. Criminal Justice System due to the greater cost to society than most normal street crime. Even with the new attention by the Criminal Justice System, both are still pretty unknown to the general public.
Both organized crime and white collar crime involves organizations or a group effort to make a profit (Knowles,2010; Williams,2006). Both organizations take part in crimes for monetary gain even though their crimes are different (Knowles,2010; Peterson, 2012). Law enforcement is aware of both of these crime groups but funding and effort from ...
White-collar crime can be carried out by an individual whereas organized crime requires more people and planning in order to carry out offences on a more systematic basis. White-collar crime can also be carried out by organized criminal groups. There has been much research comparing the linkages between organized crime and white-collar crime ...
Organized crime and white-collar crime have the same objective, but only one of them dom- ... Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite. Holt. Bullough ...
Organized crime usually employs a large number of crime bosses and members. White-collar crime is one of the most costly crimes to society. Near the end of the twentieth century white-collar crime was costing U.S. businesses some $400 billion a year, or about 6 percent of total revenue in the nation. White-collar crime is illegal activity ...
White-collar crime is one of the least understood and arguably most consequential of all crime types. This review highlights and assesses recent (primarily during the past decade) contributions to white-collar crime theory (with special emphasis on critical, choice, and organizational theories of offending), new evidence regarding the sentencing and punishment of white-collar offenders, and ...
A model of white collar crime that leant itself somewhat more to empirical data analysis was Herbert Edelhertz's 1970 definition: "An illegal act or series of illegal acts committed by nonphysical means and by concealment or guile, to obtain money or property, to avoid the pay-. 3.
The earliest white-collar crime, that was documented, dates back to the 15th century in England. The law was forced upon society in 1473 in response to embezzlement, or also recognized as the Carrier's …show more content…. It wasn't long until nations across the world recognized this act and instituted laws as well.
1805 Words. 8 Pages. Open Document. Introduction: This paper explores white collar crime and elaborates on the types of organized crimes through the analysis of case studies. Furthermore, I will also discuss the differences and similarities between professional crime and organized crime. White collar crime is the use of deceptive acts to solely ...
Summary. White-collar crime has not developed in a linear way as an academic subject. Its definition remains contested, between those who consider that, when deciding on the boundaries of what we can explain, we cannot depart far from the decisions of criminal courts and, at the other extreme, those who substitute "social harm" for "crime" and see the theoretical task as explaining why ...