Introduction
The Australian Crime Commission’s (ACC) 2011 report (the report), “Organised Crime in Australia”,1 provides a valuable contribution to the public discussion of organised crime in Australia. The report discusses the context against which organised crime takes place and also describes the various forms and enablers of organised crime. In addition, the report asserts two primary points: that organised crime poses a threat to Australia’s national security, and that it is both more complex and more diffuse than ever before. Yet the report could be interpreted as exaggerating both the novelty and level of the threat posed by organised crime. Neither of these is an unforgivable feature of the report and, indeed, are probably to be expected from the government agency saddled with the responsibility for coordinating the Australian Government’s response to organised crime. (It is not breaking any new ground to suggest that government agencies seek to safeguard their financial base and support by “massaging” the import of the problems they each face.) Despite this last fact, the accuracy of the report’s two primary claims is questionable.
Before discussing these two points, however, a further problem with the report cannot go unchallenged, and that is the conspicuous absence of any serious discussion of corruption and the role this plays in both facilitating and entrenching organised crime. The linkages between organised crime and corruption are well-established in the international literature2 and have long been studied by such bodies as Transparency International and the United Nations3. In contrast, the ACC’s brief discussion (amounting to just one page of a 101 paged report) and casual rejection of corruption in Austral...
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Parliament House, Canberra, 2007 accessed 15 August 2011
Rudd, K., The First National Security Statement to the Australian Parliament, Address by the Prime Minister of Australia, The Hon. Kevin Rudd MP, Australian Government, Canberra, 4 December 2008, , accessed 21 August 2011
United Nations Centre for International Crime Prevention, Corruption and Organized Crime, UN, New York, 2000, accessed 15 August 2011
United Nations, “United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocols”, last updated 2011, UN, New York, accessed 15 August 2011
When dealing with corruption, first question to ask or to clarify is what corruption is. NSW Research (2002) describes corruption anything from gaining materialistically by virtue of position (for eg. getting a special discount at stores) to engaging in ‘direct criminal activities’ (eg. selling drugs). Newburn (1999) believes that there is a thin line between the definition of ‘corrupt’ and ‘non-corrupt’ activities as at the end, it is an ethical problem. For common people, however, bribery generalises corruption.
In Australia there has been a historic link between OMCG and crime and violence, it is this association that has led to the current VLAD law in Queensland and other states considering harsher laws as well. Bikie gangs are targeted for drugs, the selling of stolen cars, firearms marketing, terrorization and violence, and with Australia has over 6000 and growing members belonging to around 45 outlaw gangs, ranging across Darwin to Tasmania it is hard for the police to maintain order (News, 2013). A day
Pace, Denny F. and Jimmie C. Styles. Organized Crime: Concepts and Controls. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice Hall: 1975.
344. The. Australian Institute of Criminology, [Online]. Available at: http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/0/C/5/%7B0C5DFDDF-7A72-43F9-80A1-CA6D51B635B6%7Dtandi344.pdf, [Accessed 14 April 2011].
Human trafficking has been entwined into the structure of governments, arms trade, drug trade, and even spreads as far as terrorism. For many years it has been a fact that the money that has been made by selling other humans to the highest bidder. It is also known that the organized crime operations generate one of the most profitable resources to the organization. These organizations use this money for theirs or other’s crime and end up in the hands of drug lords. Drug lords, in order to promote their own business give money to support terrorist groups and activities. Security after September 11, 2001 has recognized human trafficking as a national and international security risk.
The problem of transnational criminal organization poses some unique challenges to the law enforcement community. The scope of these organizations’ activities and personnel creates exponentially more work for law enforcement than relatively isolated or contained criminal acts by individuals or small groups. Random and personal crimes committed by individuals can usually be handled by police at the local level, as the investigation is limited to the known crime (or crimes) that have been committed and reported. In these cases, identifying and apprehending the perpetrator is possible through investigation of the evidence of the specific instance of crime. This is not the case with large criminal organizations. The scale of criminal activity committed by transnational criminal enterprises dwarfs those committed by lone “local” offenders. Organized criminal enterprises have a pattern of wide-scale criminal activity on a daily basis that involves the participation of many individuals. Transnational criminal organization are somewhat like the mythological nine-header Hydra – when one of its heads was cut off, it would quickly grow back. So, in order to any impact on the organizations as a whole, law enforcement must target their leadership and coordinate their arrests. To achieve this end, law enforcement must work meticulously to identify the entire scope of the criminal enterprise’s operations and map of it organization – identifying key personnel and associates. Not only that, but in the course of this intelligence gathering, law enforcement must also gather credible evidence that will help bring about a conviction in court. A main analytical technique that can be used against transnational criminal organization is network ...
Terrorist and criminal organization have internal problems that can be exploited by law enforcement and policy makers. Form author Nikos Passas we understand that terrorist organization have a lot of different methods of funding, including crime and charities. According to Passas the best way to combat this is to increase transparency and traceability in economic transactions, which was also concluded by author Jonas R. Want in his article discussing the regulation of Hawala. By doing this globally we can combat the financing of terrorist and criminal groups by having better knowledge of the movement of their money. According to author William Phil’s two thousand and seven peace, following the money is the most powerful tool in combating illegal financial transactions. The argument is supported by an Bichler, Bushes, and Malm’s article that states that understanding the market system in which criminal organizations operate is necessary when identifying the key players and mechanisms used. Overall, strengthening financial transaction transparency will help law enforcement combat both terrorist and criminal organization which will have great affects on both organizations
Muncie, J., Talbot, D. and Walters, R. Crime: Local and Global, William Publishing, (Devon). P. 3.
Australia is dependent on technology, everything from state security, economics and information collaboration is more accessible resulting in an increased reliance on digital networks. The rapid increase in cyber activity has a symbiotic relationship with cyber crime. The evolving nature of cyber crimes are constantly leaving counter measures obsolete in the face of these new technologies. Australia takes insufficient action against cyber crime, inaction is based on Australia’s previous focus on counter-terrorism. This study will use the Australia’s National Security Strategy 2013 to show the increasing trend towards cyber security. Unfortunately the Australia Government is lacking in the presence of this growing phenomenon. Recently cyber crimes including attacks from Anonymous and Wiki-leaks prove that no network is completely secure. This study will conclude that the exponential growth of the Internet has resulted in an inability to properly manage regardless of the governmental strategies being implemented.
When people think of organized crime they think of the Italian mob and the Russian mafia. They are the ones that they see in movies and on television, and the ones that they hear about the most. However, they were created a couple centuries after their Asian counterparts, the Yakuza in Japan, and the Triads in China. These Asian syndicates were founded in the sixteenth and seventeenth century and consisted of merchants and other people in what was basically the middle class. They were just groups of poorer people who were just looking for protection or were trying to help other people. The first organized crime syndicates were a kind of Robin Hood, they helped the poor. They weren’t big or powerful, and they didn’t have large numbers. The Italian mob was the same way, small numbers and very little power. Over time though, these organizations began to grow beyond even what their founders pictured. As this started to happen, and these organizations became more of a nuisance, governments started to take notice. They began trying to stop them by either slowing the growth or causing them to cease existence. Despite efforts to eradicate organized crime, it is stronger than ever.
The general public of Australia has a common aspect when associated with their sources of knowledge of crime. Many would agree the media, especially newspapers and television, are their most frequent and well known source of crime activity. The media updates society with data about the extent, frequency and types of crimes committed (Moston and Coventry, 2011, p.53). Studies highlight our grasp of crime is majorly derived from the media, with a lack of exposure to police statistics or victimisation surveys. There is a concern in correlation to this fact since the media has inconsistency and inaccuracy in reporting crime. Due to this, the media can misrepresent victims and perpetrators, downsizing them to recognisable stereotypes (Moston and
Many organizations and programs are working to stop human trafficking and its insubordinate criminals. Organizations, such as the United Nations Conven...
Reduce the Threat, Incidence and Prevalence of Violent Crime and Drug Trafficking: FY 2011 Overview. (2011).Intelligence (p. 6). Washington, D. C. Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2011factsheets/pdf/reduce-drug-trafficking.pdf
With the world changing and advancing with technology, criminal organizations are taking advantage of new opportunities. The advancement of travel, ease of communication, and an increase in demand, has all contributed to the globalization of crime. Every nation has been affected by the globalization of crime and the problem continues to grow.
SANDU, A., & NIŢU, M. (2013). CORRUPTION AND ORGANIZED CRIME. Contemporary Readings In Law & Social Justice, 5(2), 454-460.