NCJ Number
225278
Date Published
2008
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This examination of the impact of the international operation, 'Nemesis', which targeted Pakistani gangs based in Oslo Norway, shows how host-country social-control institutions came into conflict with immigrant value systems to inflict shame on the honor of immigrant criminals who had violated their own cultural/religious code.
Abstract
Operation Nemesis adopted a policy of following the flow of money between countries, bank accounts, and business projects in order to uncover fraud, corruption, and money laundering related to the criminal enterprises of a Pakistani gang based in Oslo. Nemesis involved not only the arrests of the six Rasool brothers, who were at the core of the criminal operation, but also the arrests of their father, mother, and wives, who were charged with receiving the proceeds of crime and held in custody for several weeks. Those in the Pakistani community in Norway viewed this as shaming for the whole family and especially for the sons, who had engaged in behaviors that resulted in the loss of honor for the sons, who had failed to protect the honor of the women in their family. Although unintended in the planning of the Nemesis strategy, it had the effect of shaming the Pakistani brothers involved in the criminal enterprise. An informant in the Pakistani community indicated that the Rasool family had lost face in the community and would no longer be able to meet other Pakistanis with pride. This reaction within the Pakistani community in Oslo suggests that a strategy of shaming Pakistani criminals for violating their own cultural/religious values may be an effective deterrent to crime whose proceeds are shared by the whole family, including the women and parents. 19 references