Globalization of Criminal Laws: A solution to Transnational Crime

Valeria Giberti

November 15, 2011

World Politics: Professor Craig

Briefing Paper

Globalization of Criminal Laws: A Solution to Transnational Crime

Transnational crime is one of the major threats that our world faces today. According to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), a “transnational” crime is an offense made in more that one country, or it is committed in a country other than where it was planned, or is committed in one country but involves a criminal group that commits acts in more than one country. Corruption and bribery of public officials, human, drug, and arms trafficking, fraud, money laundering, identification theft are all crimes that rise in the communities in the US and all over the world. These activities have an exceptionally negative effect on the social and economic aspects of the global community, and on the growth of undeveloped countries. Most importantly, these actions pose a security threat to any country that may or may not be involved in the crimes. For example, the Asian transnational crimes have been able to cross into the US territory without any struggles. “According to members of the faculty of the Fuzhou Police College in China, the principal forms of transnational crime involving China and the United States are kidnapping and human trafficking,” (Alberto). The article states that the Taiwanese used fake IDs to retrieve a Taiwanese passport to travel in the US by the Chinese that were being smuggled. There are many Chinese that would do anything to leave their country; some would even pay smugglers to transport them to either Taiwan or even the US (Alberto). Because they had a legitimate passport, the authorities could not stop the criminals. Although crime and criminals have always crossed national borders, with the increase in the international and technological dimensions caused by globalization, transnational crime has reached a new high. The dispersion of global mobility permits the threatening of the stability and security of nations.

In order to fully grasp this concept, it is important to understand the effects of globalization of the world. First off, “globalization is the increasing integration of the world in terms of communications, culture, and economics; may also refer to changing subjective experiences of space and time accompanying this process,” (Goldstein and Pevehouse). Many people view globalization in various ways. Some view it as a process that is beneficial to the social and economic aspects of the world; they believe that this process is inevitable. On the other hand, others believe it as a process that could potentially increase the gap between the rich and the poor, and cause a lot of uneasiness throughout the international community.

With the constant mix of cultures and people, it is inevitable to have clashing differences strong enough to cause violence and uproars. “As an effect of globalization, today states are increasingly faced crimes which crossed national borders. Thus, more and extra international cooperation is an essential component of criminal investigation or prosecutions,” (Harnlati). By saying this, Harnlati believes that there is a need to have more regulations for what leaves and enters a country. I agree with what the author has to say, however, Harnlati does not take into consideration the different policies that limit governments from intervening in other countries without violating state-rights or some kind of international status quo. For her claim to work, criminal laws regarding transnational crime would have to become globalized. Although it is a plausible alteration, nations will not be willing to adopt another countries laws because then there would be no sense of identity and uniqueness between the various nations. As Louise Shelley, an expert on American organized crime, said, “Globalization of crimes thrives on the inability of the criminal law itself to globalize,” (Nelken). With globalizing criminal laws, not only is the importance of sovereignty of the nations overlooked, but also it does not take into consideration the various types of people that live in the various nations. Although laws are supposed to put everybody on an equal playing field, “history has shown that laws have sometimes served as instruments of repression, exclusion and domination, and that some legislations prohibiting or legalizing certain behaviors may sometimes be intended to serve the interests of particular groups or to undermine other groups,” (Ezeonu). If all the criminal laws or laws in general are made universal, then unnecessary harm will come to those that are innocent. Consequently, the system that has always worked for the nations will be changed, causing uneasiness and discontent among the ones that lose profit during the change. However, until the international system can efficiently, and without repercussions, equalize all the criminal laws for all the nations, transnational crime will still exist.

The inability of the international powers to establish common criminal laws creates a great threat not only nationally and internationally, but also “implications for public safety, public health, democratic institutions, and economic stability across the globe,” (Transnational Organized Crime). Although there have been efforts to reduce the growth of crime throughout the world by the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, criminals are adapting and using the rules to their advantage. Since there are many sets of rules in various countries, criminals have the opportunity to commit transnational crimes without any repercussions. Also, their methods have developed so that transnational perpetrators can easily smuggle drugs passed the Mexican or Canadian border without even being stopped for a search. In this case, Shelley’s claim would stand because with universal criminal laws, more perpetrators would be caught, causing less crime to be committed.

Transnational crime has grown all over the world and it is mostly caused by the unstoppable phenomenon known as globalization. Globalization effects crime as it helps strengthen the demand for illegal goods and services and generates incentives people to engage in illegal practices. Globalization is said to also contribute to the reducing of the ability of authorities to control such activities. Consequently, as the world becomes increasingly interconnected and interdependent, the nation-states seem to be losing more of the sovereignty and autonomy because their formal control systems are weakened. The more the system is spread thin, the less will it be protected. A way to stop these criminal events would be to have universal criminal laws targeted to all forms of transnational crime. Although the idea might look very appealing on paper, policies and status quos do not allow such rules to be established because of the fear of dismantling of a nation’s authority.

Works Cited

"Transnational Organized Crime: A Growing Threat to National and International Security." The White House. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. .

Alberto, Gonzales R., Schofield B. Regina, and Hagy W. David. "Asian Transnational Organized Crime and Its Impact on the United States." National Institute of Justice. U.S. Department of Justice, Jan. 07. Web. 7 Dec. 2011. .

Ezeonu, Ifeanyi, and Emmanuel Koku. "Crimes of Globalization." The Global South 2 (Fall 2008). Project Muse. Web. 7 Dec. 2011. .

Goldstein, Joshua S., and Jon C. Pevehouse. International Relations. New York: Longman, 2008. Print.

Harnlati, Ditulis O. "An Overview: Transnational Crime Issues In International Criminal Law Associated With MLA Regim." Media Publikasi Peraturan Perundang-undangan Dan Informasi Hukum. 01 Feb. 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. .

Nelken, D. (2008), "Globalization and the growth of transnational crime", in McCusker , R. (ed.), Transnational Crime: A global perspective, The Marketing & Management Collection, Henry Stewart Talks Ltd, London (online at http://hstalks.com/go)