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Mangai Natarajan (Ed.): International Crime and Justice
Cambridge University Press, 2011 (533 pp.)
Mangai Natarajan is Professor of Criminology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York with an impressive career in research and education. In addition to editing International Crime and Justice she is also the founding coordinator of the International Criminal Justice major, one of the most popular and growing majors at John Jay. She has been driven by three factors in preparing an extensive publication in the area of international crime and the response to it: firstly, to prepare study material for students of comparative criminology, criminal justice and similar international criminology subjects; secondly, to collect ideas for further comparative exploration of international crime; while the third motivating factor lies in connecting social control institutions in responding to international crime. The work comprises of sixty-six contributions by internationally established experts, well recognised for their international research activities in criminology and victimology. All the chapters are written in a concise and focused manner and, as such, offer an overview of the most prominent contributions worldwide. They have been modified methodologically and didactically as to suit both populations - the students as well as researchers and practitioners. Let me highlight some chapters in the book which are also interesting for the Slovenian reader: The globalisation of crime, Migration and crime, The role of victimology and human rights, Women and international criminal justice, Culture and crime, International drug trafficking, Trafficking in human beings, Trafficking in art, antiquities, and cultural heritage, The illegal cigarette trade, Cybercrime, Money laundering, Child pornography, Transnational environmental crime, Corruption, Tourist and visitor crime, The rise of Balkan organised crime, Genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, The role of the United Nations, International Cooperation and Criminal Justice, World policing systems, Cross-border policing, The European Union and judicial cooperation, International research and crime statistics -internationally comparable aspects and sources for the research of international crime and justice.
Natarajan states that the world is getting smaller and that the communication among criminologists is intensifying - crime does have international implications but its' consequences are, as a rule, local, and the fight against it calls for local solutions. This publication communicates the need for a thorough rethink about studying the assumptions of the modern criminology, practice of the social control institutions, and the role of criminology in its response to crime. Besides that, it_
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suggests expanding university programs in the field of international crime and justice, as well as training experts for understanding complex forms of crime that surpass everyday property and violent crime. International crime poses a higher risk and a threat to public order than people able to imagine. When responding to international crime, rule of law has to be respected and an efficient judicial system, as a basis for socioeconomic development, has to be enabled. Criminology, especially comparative criminology, contributes to increased understanding of international crime and our response to it. Globalisation and studying transnational crime, which goes over national borders and violates laws of more than just one country demands political and legislative coordination and regulation. Serious international criminal offences, such as genocide, crime against humanity, war crime, and organised crime demand a special treatment from both, criminological and victimological aspects. The events of September 11, 2001 changed the opinions on international crime and social control practices and the need for studying terrorism and the response to it. Furthermore, past decades have witnessed increasing international crime, which calls for better understanding and an international response on a global level.
Criminology explores the nature, size, and the consequences of crime and the social response to it. Mainstream criminology deals with the crime of people from lower social classes, especially men. The challenges of international, comparative criminology are connected with exploring corporate crime, cross-cultural crime context and different responses to such a form of crime. The response to complex forms of international crime needs to be well based, organised, set within organisational and legislative regulations, appropriately carried out and assessed. The rule of law is not a simple result of economic and social development - it is a pre-condition for successful socioeconomic development of the society. The nineties of last century witnessed a start of the intensive globalisation, which pushed criminologists into acquiring new skills and observing crime from a new international perspective. Before that, there were two disciplines: comparative criminology and comparative criminal justice. The emergence of new technologies and opportunities for new offences pose a real challenge for criminology. The United Nations has also recognised the serious danger of international crime and the need for a coordinated response. The formalisation in criminology in terms of creating a new criminology branch came two decades later when Hagan and Rymond-Richmond gave it a name international crime and justice (p. XXIV). Victimology, criminology's younger sister, gets even more emphasised in this part, as international and transitional crime causes suffering of innocent victims.
The reasons for the exploration of international crime and justice, in the editor's opinion, are as follows: crime causes damage and suffering to millions of innocent people worldwide. International crime normally violates human rights. There is a need to develop a system to respond to international crime and violation of human rights by developing international justice and creating institutions that prevent crime and respond to it. The victims of state crime are very badly, or not at all, protected and this is why appropriate agreements to deal with this problem have to be prepared. Judicial systems vary greatly across the world and this consequently calls for comparative exploration of systems, justice and the response to crime. The offenders in international crime are politicians, as well, and they often escape from
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the hand of justice in their countries and seek asylum in another country. Motives for granting asylum have to be discovered and extradition of the criminals ensured. We also need to understand the historic and cultural background of crime against humanity, so that the underlying causes of such behaviour could be removed. Some forms of international crime are difficult to prosecute for reasons of sovereignty of countries and a lack of resources in international organisations, for example United Nations. The activities of regional institutions have to be intensified so that judicial bodies in different countries can act in a coordinated way (for example Eurojust).
The establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is an important step forward in striving for an international judicial system, and its operations need to be improved as to become a leading force of international peace and justice. Truth commissions also play an important role in encouraging international judicial system and responding to victimisation. Children and women are victims of crime in many parts of the world so it is important to improve their social status and develop international mechanisms for protecting their rights.
Globalisation has affected big migrations from one part of the world to another and this is why the risk of victimisation of the immigrants needs to be lowered. A lot of local crime goes beyond national borders. It is important to understand cultural, social, political, economic, and environmental factors that contribute to preventing such crime.
The aggressiveness of organised crime networks, the financing of organised criminal activities, and complex activities of criminal associations have to be challenged to minimise the opportunities as well as maximise the control and make it more efficient. Police activities vary from country to country in terms of organisation, integrity, and efficiency and we need to intensify international police operations to make Europol and Interpol more efficient. International finance centres enable numerous transactions and are, without any consequences, used by organised crime and terrorists.
This is why the power of security mechanisms in banks needs to be increased to lower the opportunities for illegal money laundering. Transnational criminal activities affect quality of life in many parts of the world. The concentration of criminal activities of some criminal associations is more typical of environments where control mechanisms are not well developed. Such countries need help to establish a judicial system and social control in order to respond to transnational crime. Terrorism poses a serious threat to world order and peace and we need to understand political, social, economic, and cultural circumstances as to be able to respond to it in a more efficient manner. Technological advances have not only enabled better quality and considerably faster communication among people from different parts of the world - they have also created opportunities for new forms of crime. Traditional definitions of crime are no longer appropriate to understand new manifestations of crime, especially cybercrime. The mission of criminology and criminal justice is to train and educate people who will be controlling and studying crime, not only at local and national level but will also be active at the level of international crime and justice.
This volume presents a comprehensive and contemporary approach to understanding contemporary forms of international crime and responding to it in
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a multi-disciplinarian way. This is reflected in the publication structure and in its compiled contents.
The first chapter is dedicated to international criminology. It presents international and transnational crime, globalisation, ordinary activities and migrations, examples of criminological analysis of international crime, the role of victimology, treatment of children and women in international criminal justice, and the role of culture in understanding international and transnational crime.
The second chapter is about the issues of law, punishment, and philosophies of crime control around the world. The authors debate different judicial systems, punitive and crime control philosophies around the world. An important part of this chapter gives an overview of preventing crime around the world.
The third chapter is about transnational crime. It includes contributions about trafficking in human beings, vehicles, arms, art and antiques, cultural heritage, and cigarettes. Apart from that, cybercrime, international fraud, money laundering, and child pornography are also presented. They are followed by naval crime, international environmental crime, corruption, as well as tourism and visitor crime.
The fourth chapter includes articles about organised crime and terrorism with contributions about transnational organised crime, organised Balkan crime, Russian organised crime, Italian mafia, associations of organised crime in Asia and Columbian drug cartels. This chapter also talks about international and domestic terrorism, blackmailing, and gives an overview of terrorism with practical measures for its prevention.
The title of chapter five is international crime. The authors present topics such as genocide, war crime, crime against humanity, humanitarian law and Apartheid in South Africa, as well as the role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the context of defining criminal offences in light of military aggression where country leaders are to be held responsible.
The sixth chapter deals with the issues of ensuring the activities of international judicial system. The chapter presents United Nations and its role in maintaining order, peace, and security; passing international agreements and coordinating the establishment of international criminal justice and the operations of international criminal tribunals, as well as international hybrid courts for specific forms of crime. A lot of attention is given to International Criminal Court (ICC) - to its activities and to the rights of victims.
In the seventh chapter which is about international cooperation and criminal justice the authors deal with systems in police organisations, the importance of controlling borders, regional cooperation, and the cooperation among judicial institutions in Europe and in an international environment, especially in terms of police international activities when responding to international crime with attempts to prevent money laundering.
The eighth chapter presents international criminological research and crime statistics. The authors tackle the issues of measuring the nature and size of transnational and international crime, which is a pre-condition of the development of international criminology. Main sources of crime and delinquency data at the international level are presented. Apart from the quantitative indicators, the
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authors in this chapter go on to discuss the qualitative criminological research of international crime. The last - ninth chapter is dedicated to presenting research sources with an emphasis on World Criminal Justice Library Network (WCJLN) and to instructions for searching information connected with international and transnational crime in magazines, internet databases, and public media.
This publication is a basis of criminology which deals with international crime and justice, as transnational and international crime is a huge source of threatening people and producing innocent victims. General globalisation leads into globalisation of criminology with research and pedagogical activities of criminologists. This comprehensive publication, which includes contributions from most established criminologists that deal with international crime, is an extraordinary source of information, ideas, attempts, examples and practices in understanding and analysing crime in our global society and responding to it. It is recommended for research criminologists and practitioners in criminal justice, as well, as it is based in such a way that every topic is presented in a systematic and concise way. It is also a starting point for debate, searching for solutions in terms of crime control and creating new comparative international research projects. The book is also a very useful study tool for Slovenian universities, especially for postgraduate criminology studies at the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana, and criminal justice and security studies at the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, University of Maribor.
Gorazd Mesko
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