Introduction: A U.S.-Ukrainian Research Partnership Against Crime (From Prediction and Control of Organized Crime: The Experience of Post-Soviet Ukraine, P 1-9, 2004, James O. Finckenauer, Jennifer L. Schrock, eds., -- See NCJ-204368)

• NCJ Number: 204369
• Author(s): James O. Finckenauer; Jennifer L. Schrock
• Date Published: 2004
• Length: 9 pages
• Sale Source: Transaction Publishers
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Collected Work
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter introduces the research partnership undertaken between the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and its Ukrainian counterpart, the Ukrainian Academy of Law Sciences, which focused on the current problem of organized crime in Ukraine.

Abstract

How the United States and Ukraine came to enter into a research partnership against crime in Ukraine together began with Ukraine’s 1991 independence from the Soviet Union. As the enormous undertaking of economic restructuring got underway, it became clear that there was a powerful and entrenched opposition to democratic reform. The economic instability that ensued caused massive unemployment, the uprising of a strong organized crime network, and the unemployment or underemployment of 5,000 to 6,000 Ukrainian scientists who had worked on weapons of mass destruction before the liberation from totalitarianism. As such, America had concerns about transnational crime organizations and criminal enterprises in the Ukraine. Thus, a research partnership developed in 1998 as part of the larger United States law enforcement assistance effort in Ukraine. The goal of the U.S.-Ukraine research partnership was to advance knowledge of transnational organized crime and corruption. The partnership was viewed as a way of assisting Ukraine with its crime problem before it began affecting United States interests. The research project began in 1999 with the first meeting of the two research teams. Some of the problems associated with cross-cultural research are enumerated and key lessons learned during the project are discussed. The chapters contained in this edited volume provide an examination of the current crime situation in Ukraine and of the potential global threat posed by Ukrainian organized crime. Chapters in the book focus on trafficking in women; the transnational implications of Ukraine emerging as a transit country for drug trafficking; general problems involved with the presence of organized crime and corruption; and the national impact of a weak and troubled economy. The research partnership culminated in two conferences during 2002, one in Ukraine and one in Washington, DC, where the research was presented. References