Competing National and Ethical Interests in the Fight Against Transnational Crime: A U.S. Practitioner's Perspective (From Crime and Law Enforcement in the Global Village, P 169-186, 1997, William F McDonald, ed. -- See NCJ-167298)

• NCJ Number: 167308
• Author(s): T G Snow
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Anderson Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

After an overview of how transnational law enforcement interests can compete with other vital national goals, this paper analyzes some conflicting interests implicated "inside" the field of transnational criminal law enforcement.

Abstract

The analysis contains two parts. First, the author considers three examples of unilateral measures taken by the United States in response to transnational crime. They are extraterritorial subpoenas, the "luring" of fugitives away from a foreign jurisdiction from which their formal extradition is not possible, and the forcible abduction or kidnapping of fugitives from foreign states. The discussion highlights some of the competing political and ethical interests implicated in such law enforcement actions. Second, the paper examines the political and ethical dilemmas that can arise when states take cooperative measures to assist one another in the fight against transnational crime; for example, should one state provide law enforcement cooperation to another when the two states have different concepts of criminality, appropriate punishment, or due process? The author discusses how specific examples of these issues arise and are handled by the United States. The paper concludes by proposing some general prescriptive guidelines for how the tensions identified might be resolved. 30 notes