NCJ Number
212853
Date Published
2003
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This chapter focuses on shifts in dealing with the proceeds of crime in England and Wales and how it feeds or does not feed into measures to deal with organized crime.
Abstract
It is concluded that, when assessing the overall effect of asset confiscation, it is evident that there is a severe gap between estimates of money-laundering volumes and the amount of confiscation orders made. It was found that, even when confiscation orders are court ordered, the amounts collected are found to be much lower, averaging only 35 percent, than the amount ordered confiscated. This fact is seldom detailed in official reports. The author questions the discrepancies, noting that there is no research-based answer for either extreme. Either the amount of money-laundering estimates is excessively high and should be considered gross data, or the criminal justice system, namely law enforcement and the courts, does a poor job of collecting confiscation orders. In addition to money-laundering, various dimensions of asset confiscation are reviewed in relation to the proceeds from drug trafficking, which is considered as the principal activity of what is taken to constitute organized crime in England and Wales. Notes, references