NCJ Number
197561
Date Published
2002
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This chapter discusses the European Union's perceived threats to its security as well as the insecurity and threats to personal safety for marginalized non-European Union citizens who are vulnerable to victimization and abuses in the European Union.
Abstract
The chapter focuses on organized crime as the mainstay of European Union concerns regarding the criminal threat to European Union posed by the "outsiders," along with the case of victims of human trafficking as the "flipside" of this security threat. The chapter begins with a discussion of a series of overlapping concerns that explore the globalizing security threat viewed as residing with transnational organized crime as it relates to European Union policy and experience regarding criminalizing labels, perpetrators, and actual victims. The author argues that the undesirable immigrants have become the European Unions's social "other" and the scapegoats for security anxieties. The author questions the European Union's construction of itself and its member states as the primary victims of transnational organized crime. Believing that transnational organized crime impacts most directly on some of the most marginalized and vulnerable people in the European Union, the chapter critiques the European Union's claim to view and serve all crime victims equally. The author argues that the "least desirable" victims, notably women trafficked for sexual enterprises, are not offered the protection and support they need. Although significant developments are being made in an effort to assist victims of sexual trafficking through European Union-wide criminal justice initiatives, there is still considerable progress that should be made in this area. 21 notes and 30 references