NCJ Number
244278
Journal
Global Crime Volume: 14 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2013 Pages: 359-385
Date Published
November 2013
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This study offers a strategy to pinpoint and calibrate the degree of fusion across an entire trade system.
Abstract
If as suspected, criminal enterprise feeds off legal trade, then anti-crime policy must target the points at which legal and illicit markets intersect. This study offers a strategy to pinpoint and calibrate the degree of fusion across an entire trade system. Legal and illicit processes and mechanisms essential to all sectors of an industry - development, financing, handling, possession and regulation - were dissected using a script methodology. Eigenvector centrality scores identified interlocking tools and actors. The results highlight the role played by supporting industries (e.g. insurers, auction houses, storage specialists, foundations and high net-worth buyers) and the need to target temporary markets, shipping activity and financial transactions with regulatory policing efforts. Vaccinating global economies from illicit activity is best achieved through a soft law approach aimed at identifiable mechanisms (faulty props) used by groups playing pivotal trade roles (bad actors). Abstract published by arrangement with Taylor and Francis.