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Summary Literature Transnational Organised Crime
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Summary of all literature for the Transnational Organized Crime course for the minor criminology in Utrecht
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Transnational organizedcrime
Literature
Sociological theories of crime, P. Rock
This chapter gives a overview of different sociological theories
- Anomie theory, founded by Emile Durkheim (1893, 1897)
Based on the changing French society.
Mechanical solidarity -> organic solidarity
Not only economic, but also moral regulation (emphasize on period of change)
In the transition phase (?) the state lacked legitimacy.
Anomie= A disordered state of society due to a lack of norms
“Anomie theory: most people strive to achieve culturally recognized goals. A state of
anomie develops when access to these goals is blocked to entire groups of people or
individuals. The result is a deviant behaviour characterized by rebellion, retreat, ritualism,
innovation, and/or conformity” -> Merton
Difference from strain theory is that there is a crisis
=lack of norms
- Control theory, not “why do they do it?” but “why do we not do it?”
People commit crimes because they want to and find it enjoyable.
Broken bond with society, lack of attachment
Commitment, involvement and belief – Hirisch (self-control)
- Rational choice theory, centered around the economic man
Looking for ways to maximize personal utility, moral or immoral alike.
Ren Clarke: effort, risk, reducing rewards
- Routine activities theory, crime can be committed by anyone who has the
opportunity -> focus on the situation not the individual
Clarke & Felson: motivated offenders, suitable targets, absence of a capable guardian
- Crime, control and space
Social ecology, urban mapping
The concentration of social groups in cities -> zones – Chicago school
o Central business district
o ‘zone in transition’ (= most problematic)
o Stable working class
o Middle class housing
o Outer suburbia
Traditions of delinquency -> cultural transmission
Influence of something as small as your address
,Bottoms: maps of offending & social control ‘defensible space’, territorial sentiment,
surveillance has an influence
Automatic exercise of power
- Radical criminology, find the ‘real’ nature of crime & repression
Racism, exploitation, etc. Crimes of the system and powerful. Scapegoats used to distract
from them.
Crimes are not the problem of the poor, but the wrongdoing of the powerful and that is
what should be analyzed.
Faced with critique solution= left realism
- Functionalist criminology, deviance & control maintain social order – crime seen as
beneficial to society
The impact of institution on institution, society on society, etc. is inevitable and affecting
itself. What appears to on the surface undermine social order (like crime) is actually
accomplishing the reverse.
Signification
People do not respond to the actual world, but their ideas of it. Central to this is reflectivity
(=being able to think of yourself).
Labelling theory, deviant behavior is behavior that people label so
The influence of language.
Secondary deviation in response to agents of criminal justice (response to a response)
Subcultures can promote delinquent acts
Chapter 2: Theoretical perspectives on organized
crime, E. kleemans
1. Alien conspiracy model
Made by policymakers where the ‘mafia’ was seen as an alien conspiracy (alien as in
foreign). It was a problem of outsiders that threatened American society. Ethnic centered
and crime as product immigrants bring
2. Bureaucracy model
Organized crime a s bureaucracy/hierarchy, division of tasks, etc. This theory is partly true
for big organizations, but not for the small businesses that make up a big part of the criminal
activities. Some big organizations also resemble a brotherhood more than a business.
3. Illegal enterprise theory
Emphasize on similarity between legal & illegal activities. Using economic theories.
4. Protection theory
Based on the control the mafia have in certain places e.g Sicily. These places usually lack
state control and the mafia offers protection and provides what the state can’t.
5. Social embeddedness, social capital and criminal networks
, Organized crime interacts with its social environment, financial stakes are high and
certainties are low. This causes distrust which in legal interactions is mediated by contracts.
In illegal interactions there is an importance of networks and social embeddedness. Not
“who is in charge” but “who depends on who”.
6. Logistic or situational approach
Looking at the situation, instead of traits of the offender. The focus is on specific events
instead of focusing on big organizations.
7. Emerging theoretical issues
- Criminal careers in organized crime
- Questioning the link between ethnicity & organized crime
- Transit crime, mafia transplantation and adaption of traditional mafia groups
Chapter 4: How to research organized crime, D. Hobbs
Researching organized crime can be difficult because there is no clear definition.
Furthermore, obtaining date can be an issue because not everyone is ready to talk to
researchers or share their data. Some data might also have a political use and thus is not
entirely objective. Transnational organized crime can pose its own issues as well because
cooperation between countries is needed.
Academic researchers often use law enforcement data. By the time third parties such
as academics get to examine case files, details irrelevant to the prospect of successful
prosecution often have been removed. This causes a loss of data.
Four types of research:
- Counting exercises of government departments, law enforcement agencies, NGOs,
and international organizations
- Surveys (problem of definition and the participants not knowing if their victimization
was a product of ‘organized’ crime)
- Quantitative and economic studies (Reuter), economics of illegal markets
- Penetration indexes (combined data & correlations)
+ historical/archival studies: focus on context (also seeing current crime in a historical
context), impact of changes in the law, correlations
Network analyses: social transactions (+ embeddedness), based on information such as
wiretapping or testimonies, schematic representation of a criminal network
Ethnography: qualitative study, overt fieldwork + new= virtual ethnography
Interviews can also be a huge source of information. Some participants are more
approachable than others due to the type of crime, all though approachability can also
come from incarceration. Interviews with the consumers or demand side is also interesting.
An issue when it comes to the research of crime is that the ones who create the ‘problem’
are the same ones who have and gatekeep the date to research this phenomenon.
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