P.E.

SOCIETY’S
Modern Law College
Ganeshkhind University Circle, Pune

DEPARMENT OF LAW
2023-24

TOPIC
TRANSNATIONAL CRIME AND GLOBAL
CRIMINOLOGY

SUBMITTED BY
( MEHUL DHARMENDRA SHAH )

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

Dr. SHIVANJALI BHOITE

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Abstract :

Transnational crime has become an increasingly pervasive and complex challenge in our
interconnected world. This abstract provides a concise overview of the critical issues
addressed in the field of global criminology, focusing on the study of transnational crime. In
an era of globalization, criminal activities such as human trafficking, drug smuggling,
cybercrime, and terrorism transcend national borders, posing significant threats to the
security and well-being of societies worldwide. Global criminology seeks to understand the
dynamics, causes, and consequences of transnational crime, while also exploring strategies
for prevention and intervention. This abstract delves into key themes, such as the role of
international cooperation, the impact of technology, and the importance of cultural,
economic, and political factors in shaping the landscape of transnational crime. It highlights
the evolving nature of global criminology as an interdisciplinary field that brings together law
enforcement, legal scholars, sociologists, and policy experts to confront the multifaceted
challenges posed by transnational criminal networks. By examining these critical issues, this
abstract sets the stage for a comprehensive exploration of the complexities surrounding
transnational crime and the indispensable role of global criminology in addressing
this global menace.

Introduction :

Transnational crimes are violations of law that involve more than one country in their
planning, execution, or impact. These offenses are distinguished from other crimes in their
multinational nature, which poses unique problems in understanding their causes, developing
prevention strategies, and in mounting effective adjudication procedures. Transnational
crimes can be grouped into three broad categories involving provision of illicit goods (drug
trafficking, trafficking in stolen property, weapons trafficking, and counterfeiting), illicit
services (commercial sex and human trafficking), and infiltration of business and government
(fraud, racketeering, money laundering, and corruption) affecting multiple countries.
Transnational crimes are distinct from international crime, which involves crimes against
humanity that may or may not involve multiple countries. Examples of international crimes
are genocide and terrorism, which are also included in this guide to sources.

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Who are the criminologists at the forefront of the shift to a global framework for the field of
criminology? Disproportionately, they are criminologists whose ideological orientation falls
on the progressive side of the spectrum. There are several reasons for this. Progressive (or
leftist) criminologists are by definition especially focused upon the crimes of the powerful as
opposed to the crimes of the powerless. Transnational crime is disproportionately the crime
of relatively powerful organizations and entities, in part because some level of power or
resources is necessary to commit crime effectively on a global scale.

Second, progressive criminologists are collectively less likely to do the type of work that is
dependent upon major grant support, and the principal funding entities are oriented toward
funding projects focused upon conventional forms of crime and its control. Third, progressive
criminologists are especially likely to be engaged with the large-scale issues of the global
political economy that are inevitably entangled with issues of transnational crime and its
control.

If specialization of focus is the norm within academe, my own interests are about as far
removed from such a focus as possible. The contribution I propose to make here goes to
fundamental definitional, conceptual, and typological issues, and the provisional "mapping"
of an emerging scholarly terrain. At the outset, it is necessary to provide some perspective on the
criminological enterprise itself.

Definition :

The definition of transnational crime is rather overlaps with organized crime which is often broadly
defined which is the nature of the mafia gang. In the past, transnational crimes were often perceived
as organized crimes. Due to the definition of transnational crimes committed across borders
between states. This requires planning, preparation, and networking. However, nowadays
information technology and internet media have played an important role in people's livelihood.
Technology is used to commit crimes without the need to act as a group. Also, the various
information technology networks that now exist allow the criminals multiple avenues of
opportunity. For example, using computer viruses which may hack into or disable a system. This is a
criminal offense that is done across borders that violates security and order. Thus, organized crime is
a form of transnational crime

Different forms of transnational organized crime :

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Transnational organized crime is not stagnant, but is an ever-changing industry, adapting to
markets and creating new forms of crime. In short, it is an illicit business that transcends
cultural, social, linguistic and geographical boundaries and one that knows no borders or
rules.

Drug trafficking continues to be the most lucrative form of business for criminals, with an
estimated annual value of $320 billion. In 2009, UNODC placed the approximate annual
worth of the global cocaine and opiate markets alone at $85 billion and $68 billion,
respectively.

Human trafficking is a global crime in which men, women and children are used as products
for sexual or labour-based exploitation. While figures vary, an estimate from the International
Labour Organization (ILO) in 2005 indicated the number of victims of trafficking at any
given time to be around 2.4 million, with annual profits of about $32 billion. Recent research
on overall forced labour trends however would suggest that the scope of the problem is much
bigger. In Europe, the trafficking of mostly women and children for sexual exploitation alone
brings in $3 billion annually and involves 140,000 victims at any one time, with an annual
flow of 70,000 victims.

Smuggling of migrants is a well-organized business moving people around the globe

through criminal networks, groups and routes. Migrants can be offered a "smuggling
package" by organized crime groups, and the treatment they get along the route corresponds
to the price they pay to their smugglers. In the process of being smuggled, their rights are
often breached and they can be robbed, raped, beaten, held for ransom or even left to die in
some cases, when the risks get too high for their smugglers. Many smugglers do not care if
migrants drown in the sea, die of dehydration in a desert or suffocate in a container. Every
year this trade is valued at billions of dollars. In 2009 some $6.6 billion was generated
through the
illegal smuggling of 3 million migrants from Latin America to North America, while the
previous year 55,000 migrants were smuggled from Africa into Europe for a sum of $150
million.

Illicit trading in firearms brings in around $170 million to $320 million annually and puts
handguns and assault rifles in the hands of criminals and gangs. It is difficult to count the
victims of these illicit weapons, but in some regions (such as the Americas) there is a strong
correlation between homicide rates and the percentage of homicides by firearms.

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Trafficking in natural resources includes the smuggling of raw materials such as diamonds
and rare metals (often from conflict zones). The trafficking of timber in South-East Asia
generates annual revenues of $3.5 billion. In addition to funding criminal groups, this strand
of criminal activity ultimately contributes to deforestation, climate change and rural poverty.

The illegal trade in wildlife is another lucrative business for organized criminal groups, with
poachers targeting skins and body parts for export to foreign markets. Trafficking in elephant
ivory, rhino horn and tiger parts from Africa and South-East Asia to Asia produces $75
million in criminal profits each year and threatens the existence of some species. Organized
crime groups also deal in live and rare plants and animals threatening their very existence to
meet demand from collectors or unwitting consumers. According to the WWF, traffickers
illegally move over 100 million tons of fish, 1.5 million live birds and 440,000 tons of
medicinal plants per year.

The sale of fraudulent medicines is a worrying business, as it represents a potentially

deadly trade for consumers. Piggybacking on the rising legitimate trade in pharmaceuticals
from Asia to other developing regions, criminals traffic fraudulent medicines from Asia, in
particular to South-East Asia and Africa to the value of $1.6 billion. Instead of curing people,
however, they can result in death or cause resistance to drugs used to treat deadly infectious
diseases like malaria and tuberculosis. In addition to traditional trafficking methods,
criminals continue to build a lucrative online trade in fraudulent medicines targeting
developed and developing countries alike, which can also lead to health implications for
consumers.

Cybercrime encompasses several areas, but one of the most profitable for criminals is
identity theft, which generates around $1 billion each year. Criminals are increasingly
exploiting the Internet to steal private data, access bank accounts and fraudulently attain
payment card details.

Globalization and Transnational Crime :

Globalization, generally described as the removal of barriers to cross-national movement of

goods and funds, has been beneficial for transnational organized crime networks. The global
forces of supply and demand have created new markets for illicit goods and services provided
by criminal organizations. There is high demand for things like drugs (particularly in Europe
and North America), weapons (in Africa and the Middle East), exotic wildlife and animal
parts (Asia), and exploitable humans (virtually everywhere). The Organization for Economic

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Cooperation and Development (OECD) has recently estimated that the international trade in
counterfeit and stolen goods amounts to as much as half a trillion dollars. Criminal networks
also have new opportunities to establish facilities in various countries from which they can
produce and distribute their illicit goods, decreasing costs and maximizing profits. Similarly,
just as we see with legal multinational corporations, transnational criminal networks can
outsource an array of support services to areas around the world with internet connectivity
and lower labor costs.

For example, massive amounts of cocaine are now smuggled by ship and air from Latin
America (mainly Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Venezuela) to West Africa, and heroin is
smuggled from Central and South Asia to East Africa (and sometimes West Africa as well).
In both cases, the drugs then make their way from East and West Africa to the primary drug
consumer markets in Europe and the U.S. According to the 2018 UNODC World Drug
Report, ‘the quantity of cocaine seized in Africa doubled in 2016, with countries in North
Africa seeing a six fold increase and accounting for 69 per cent of all the cocaine seized in
the region in 2016.’ Interpol’s World Atlas of Illicit Flows identifies a handful of countries as
being particularly important transit hubs for drug trafficking, including Guinea-Bissau, Cape
Verde, the Canary Islands, Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Ethiopia. This report also notes that
illicit trafficking and use of captagon (a brand name for the drug fenethylline, a combination
of amphetamine and theophylline, which increases alertness) is rising throughout Africa.
India is allegedly a primary source for both of these drugs, and increased use is particularly
noticeable in Mali, Chad, and Nigeria. While Niger, Benin and Togo have been described as
important transit hubs. Meanwhile, dozens of methamphetamine labs have been discovered
throughout West Africa, including one in Nigeria capable of producing billions of dollars’
worth of the drug.

Of course, criminal enterprises also generate millions of dollars in profits each year from
trafficking in small arms and light weapons, cigarettes, counterfeit DVDs, and many other
items. Globalized shipping, including the intermodal maritime system, can be exploited by
transnational organized crime networks to smuggle huge shipments of illicit items in cargo
containers. They seek to take advantage of the fact that the overwhelming number of
containers shipped each year make it physically impossible to inspect each one. As maritime
security expert Peter Cook notes, ‘The greatest challenge … is the sheer volume of containers
moving through the ports and the speed with which they have to be processed.’ In August
2018, U.S. government authorities announced the seizure of counterfeit luxury

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goods (including purses, handbags, and belts) worth at least $500 million, that had been
manufactured in China. Over 30 men and women were arrested—all of Chinese heritage and
living in the U.S. illegally. This was the culmination of a six-year investigation, which found
that twenty of the cargo containers came into the U.S. through the Port of New York and
New Jersey, and two through the Port of Los Angeles. In another of the largest counterfeit-
goods cases ever prosecuted in the U.S., 29 people were arrested in New York, New Jersey,
Texas, and Florida for trying to smuggle $325 million worth of fake goods from China into
the U.S.

But worse than drugs or counterfeit goods is the recent increase of human traffickers using
compromised intermodal shipping containers. Illegal immigrants apprehended at ports in
Britain, Canada and the U.S. (among other countries) after arriving inside shipping containers
revealed that many of them had paid a criminal network large sums of cash for the dangerous
journey inside a steel crate. For others, this journey ended tragically, like the 39 Vietnamese
whose bodies were discovered in a cargo container at a British port in March 2020. The same
month, the bodies of 64 Ethiopians were found in a shipping container in Mozambique . In
both instances, authorities believed the victims had suffocated to death.

Globalization also facilitates new opportunities for intersections (especially logistical,

financial and operational) between terrorist networks and transnational organized crime. The
ability for terrorists to attract and move financial resources, weapons and operatives
throughout the world is greatly enhanced when collaborating with existing routes developed
and maintained by transnational criminal networks. Further, there are individuals who can
navigate both the legal and illegal economic sectors (such as accountants, attorneys, notaries,
bankers, and real estate brokers), providing services to legitimate customers, criminals, and
terrorists alike. And while globalization has led to an increased volume of legitimate cross-
border financial transactions and investment, it also has allowed criminals to launder the
proceeds of crime more easily.

Finally, myriad opportunities for both transnational criminals and terrorists are now available
via the Internet. These days, Internet connectivity worldwide brings new opportunities for
credit card fraud, theft of corporate data (or holding it hostage for ransom), extortion, identity
theft, and a range of other kinds of potentially lucrative criminal activities online. Money
laundering schemes of various forms can flourish within a digital environment that is weakly
governed yet connected with the rest of the world. Globalization allows greater access to the

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products and services available on the so-called Dark Web, from purchasing explosives or
other weapons to hiring a competent cross-border smuggler, document forgery expert or
bomb-maker. And of course, operational communication is now much easier between
criminal or terrorist network operatives in disparate parts of the world. According to Yuri
Fedotov, the executive director of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, ‘Thanks to
advances in technology, communication, finance and transport, loose networks of terrorists
and organized criminal groups that operate internationally can easily link with each other. By
pooling their resources and expertise, they can significantly increase their capacity to do
harm.’

To sum up, transnational organized crime networks have benefited significantly from
globalization, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. As a result, there is a
growing need for effective international cooperation in security, intelligence and law
enforcement across all countries of origin, transit and destination. No country, even the most
powerful, can effectively confront the challenges of transnational organized crime entirely on
its own. This is no time for increased nationalism or the kinds of rhetoric and policies that
lead to political isolation. Every country, including the US, must re-invigorate their
engagement with international institutions and incentivize a collaborative effort to turn the
tide against these transnational criminal networks. Failure to do so will only further
embolden, enable and enrich them, at our expense.

Global threats, local effects :

While transnational organized crime is a global threat, its effects are felt locally. When
organized crime takes root it can destabilize countries and entire regions, thereby
undermining development assistance in those areas. Organized crime groups can also work
with local criminals, leading to an increase in corruption, extortion, racketeering and
violence, as well as a range of other more sophisticated crimes at the local level. Violent
gangs can also turn inner cities into dangerous areas and put citizens' lives at risk. Organized
crime affects people in the developing and the developed worlds. Money is laundered through
banking systems. People become victims of identity theft, with 1.5 million people each year
being caught out. In many developed countries, criminal groups traffic women for sexual
exploitation and children for purposes of forced begging, burglary and pickpocketing. Car
theft is also an organized business, with vehicles stolen to order and taken abroad. Fraudulent
medicines and food products enter the licit market and not only defraud the public but can put

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their lives and health at risk. Added to this is the trade in counterfeit products, which deprives
countries of tax revenues. This can also have an impact on legitimate companies when
illegally produced goods displace sales of original products, which in turn hurts employer
revenues.

Organized crime adds to an increase in public spending for security and policing and
undermines the very human rights standards that many countries strive to preserve,
particularly when activities such as human trafficking in human beings, kidnapping and
extortion are taken into consideration. It can also fuel local crime, which in turn drives up
costs such as insurance premiums and adds to the general level of criminality and insecurity
in society.

Relation between transnational crime and global criminology :

Transnational crime and global criminology are two interconnected concepts that revolve
around the study and understanding of criminal activities that transcend national borders and
have a global impact. Let's break down each of these concepts:

1. Transnational Crime: Transnational crime refers to criminal activities that involve

actors, organizations, or networks operating in multiple countries or across
international borders. These crimes are often complex, sophisticated, and may include
various illegal activities such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, cybercrime,
terrorism, money laundering, organized crime, and more. Transnational crimes
typhically involve coordination and collaboration among criminals or criminal
organizations in different countries.

Key features of transnational crime include:

 Involvement of multiple jurisdictions: Perpetrators, victims, and illicit

activities span across multiple countries or regions.

 Global impact: These crimes can have significant global consequences,

including threats to international security, economic destabilization, and harm
to individuals and communities worldwide.

 Adaptability and innovation: Criminal organizations involved in transnational

crime often adapt quickly to changes in law enforcement efforts and
technology.

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 2. Global Criminology: Global criminology is an interdisciplinary field of study that
focuses on the examination, analysis, and understanding of crime and criminal justice
issues from a global perspective. It seeks to address the challenges posed by
transnational crime and the interconnectedness of criminal activities across borders.
Global criminology involves the study of various aspects related to crime, including
its causes, consequences, prevention, and control, within a global context.

Key areas of focus in global criminology include:

 Comparative criminology: Analyzing crime rates, criminal justice systems,

and law enforcement practices across different countries and regions to
identify patterns and differences.

 Transnational crime research: Investigating the dynamics, causes, and impacts

of transnational criminal activities.

 International law and criminal justice: Examining the legal frameworks and
international organizations involved in addressing transnational crime.

 Global policing and cooperation: Studying how law enforcement agencies

from different countries collaborate to combat transnational criminal
networks.

 Human rights and justice: Considering the implications of transnational crime

on human rights and social justice issues worldwide.

Global criminology aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of the complexities of

crime in a globalized world and to inform policies and strategies to combat transnational
crime effectively. Researchers and practitioners in this field often work together to promote
international cooperation, enhance legal frameworks, and develop strategies to address the
challenges posed by transnational criminal organizations.

Conclusion:

An emerging global criminology should attempt to arrive at some consensus on defining

itself coherently. It should identify the parameters of expanded criminological concerns
within the context of globalization. It should address the definition of crime issue anew
within this context. It should attend to defining the key terms associated with an emerging

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global criminology clearly and cogently. It should develop a coherent typology of global
crime or transnational crime, and of the institutions of control of such crime. A global
criminology needs to address systematically the formidable methodological issues that arise
in relation to studying global and transnational crime. It should adopt a credible "world
order" framework within which transnational forms of crime and its control can be analysed.
It should identify optimal strategies for promoting a broader awareness within the discipline
of the need to adopt a global framework. It should identify viable and useful empirical
projects that can advance the understanding of transnational crime and its control. It must
also identify optimal strategies for securing funding and support for such projects. It needs to
identify the major policy issues that now arise in relation to transnational crime and its
control, and the optimal resolution of these issues. Finally, it needs to delineate the relation?
ship of an emerging criminology to a range of disciplines including international law and
comparative politics that address some of the same concerns.

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