NCJ Number
176393
Date Published
1998
Length
292 pages
Annotation
Papers and reports from a pre-congress on Organized Crime in the Baltic Sea Area focus on the nature and threat of organized crime in the countries of this area and the kinds of national and international cooperation required to counter it.
Abstract
The first chapter provides a general overview of the tendencies and changes displayed by criminal enterprises. Attention is paid to the possibility of developing a common definition of organized crime. The chapter also examines new trends in criminal subjects and activities, so as to show how criminal organizations modify their structure and goals in response to changes in world markets and their regulation. The changes in the subjects involve, for example, the recruiting of professionals with specific skills in order to infiltrate new markets more effectively and efficiently and therefore earn greater profits. The chapter also highlights the concept of interdependencies among crimes and activities, which is a useful theoretical tool in understanding how organized crime has altered its modes of operation and therefore in improving control strategies. The second chapter provides an overview of the recent trends of illicit activities within organized crime in various areas in the world (North America, Central and South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Gulf States, and Asia and Oceania) and the changes in criminal groups that operate at the international level. The areas in which organized criminal groups are most active are singled out and their structures are described. The third chapter describes the recent main initiatives taken internationally against organized transnational crime by both governmental and nongovernmental organizations, as well as other forms of action, such as bilateral agreements. The final chapter describes national legislation that targets organized crime in terms of both substantive legislation (focusing on the criminalization of organized crime and the introduction of measures that allow asset forfeiture and confiscation) and procedural legislation, which focuses on special means of investigation and witness protection programs. This chapter also provides a brief survey of the results achieved by law enforcement agencies and of their methods. Chapter footnotes