Structures, Strategies, and Tactics of Transnational Criminal Organizations: Critical Issues for Enforcement

• NCJ Number: 194002
• Author(s): Margaret E. Beare
• Date Published: March 2000
• Length: 10 pages
• Sale Source: Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: Canada
• Note: Provided to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service as a courtesy by Dr. Margaret Beare, Director of the Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption at York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. http://www.yorku.ca/nathanson. Presented at the Australian Institute of Criminology, Australian Customs Service, and Australian Federal Police Transnational Crime Conference, Canberra, Australia, March 9-10, 2000.

Annotation

This paper discusses eight issues that relate to the structures, strategies, and tactics of transnational organized crime and to law enforcement efforts to address this form of criminality, with emphasis on the implications for Canada.

Abstract

The first issue is the interaction among politics, the media, and resource allocations and the resulting tendency to characterize the problem inaccurately and make policy and resource allocation decisions that have little to do with the control of smuggling of crime of any sort. The second issue is the need for less rhetoric and more empirical research as a basis for policymaking. Additional issues include the need to focus on criminal markets and conduct a market by market analysis, the sparse and often unreliable information evaluating the impact of transnational crime and the impact of law enforcement efforts to address it, and lack of clarity about the concepts of organized crime and organized transnational crime. Further issues include the need to focus on the local bases of transnational crimes, the organization of policing for enforcement related to organized crime and transnational crime, and consideration of alternative policing options for law enforcement related to transnational crime.