NCJ Number
221393
Date Published
October 2001
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This booklet summarizes the results of the Joint European Project to Counter Organized Crime, which involved representatives of judicial, academic, and administrative institutions in Italy, Germany, and Spain in the preparation of draft laws at the European level that reflect the provisions of the 1997 European Action Plan To Combat Organized Crime.
Abstract
The booklet features proposals for model criminal regulations in Europe that will counter organized crime operating in Europe. One proposal focuses on sanctions against participation in a criminal organization. It provides that participation in a criminal organization be punished in the member states of the European Union. "Participation" means the making of repeated contributions to the commission of crimes within the criminal organization's activity or to the maintenance of its operational structure, knowing that such contributions enhance the organization's criminal capacity. A "criminal organization" is a group consisting of at least three persons, characterized by a division of tasks and operating in one or more member states of the European Union through the commission of crimes that can be qualified as serious. Penalties for participation in the criminal organization shall not be higher than half of the penalties provided for the most serious crime committed within the organization's activities. A second proposal pertains to the confiscation of criminal proceeds derived from the crimes of a criminal organization. This proposal provides for the judicially ordered confiscation of the money, commodities, or any other assets of persons convicted for playing a major role within a criminal organization or for having habitually performed criminal activities of the organization. Other proposals provide for the privileges and protection of government witnesses in organized-crime cases and regulations pertinent to the interception and surveillance of private communications.