NCJ Number
219362
Date Published
2006
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This paper describes traditional criminal justice approaches for controlling organized crime in Europe along with nontraditional approaches to organized crime prevention.
Abstract
The criminal justice component of the paradigm for controlling organized crime in Europe includes substantive legislation that targets money laundering and forfeiture of the proceeds from crime. Procedural laws focus on mutual legal assistance, which includes the establishment of Eurojust. Eurojust employs detached national prosecutors and investigative judges who facilitate urgent cases and administer European arrest warrants that free European Union member countries from the formalities of extradition. Investigative resources are allocated to targeted criminal enterprises. The second component of the European paradigm for controlling organized crime consists of community approaches; regulatory, disruption, and nonjustice-system approaches; and private-sector involvement. Community approaches involve community crime prevention efforts, citizen provision of information about harms and risks, and citizen participation in civic action groups. Regulatory, disruption, and nonjustice system approaches encompass regulatory policies, programs, and agencies; financial institutions' and other bodies' reporting of suspicious activity; targeted tax policy and programs; civil injunctions and other sanctions; military interventions; security and secret intelligence services; and foreign policy and aid programs that involve certification according to the adequacy of antidrug policies. Private-sector involvement consists of prevention measures by individual companies, countermeasures by professional and industry associations, action by special private-sector committees, the development of antifraud and money laundering computer software, and private policing and forensic accounting. 1 table and 44 references