Jay Albanese
Professor of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University
Key Findings
- Transnational crimes have three broad objectives: providing illicit goods, providing illicit services, and infiltrating business or government operations.
- There are nine types of offenses (drug trafficking, stolen property, counterfeiting, human trafficking, cybercrime and fraud, commercial vices, extortion and racketeering, money laundering, and corruption).
- International efforts have aimed at not only the perpetrators of organized crime but the circumstances that facilitate the crime in particular markets.
- International responses are more effective than efforts by single countries due to the size and scope of the criminal market, though there is also a role for individual nations to collect data.
- Globally, tools are needed to assess these illicit markets to determine their relative threat and harm.
Description
In the article, “Deciphering the Linkages Between Organized Crime and Transnational Crime,” Albanese examines transnational crime—violations of law that involve more than one country in planning, execution, or impact—and considers the links between this kind of crime and organized crime. Recently, traditional depictions of organized crime as an ethnic, neighborhood phenomenon have given way to discoveries of emerging transnational enterprises involving trafficking, fraud, and corruption on an international scale. The author classifies transnational crime as a form of organized crime given its multinational aims and the extent of organization required for success, suggesting that transnational organized crime is the modern extension of organized crime. He concludes with recommendations for more effective international prevention and responses to transnational organized crime.