Showing papers in "European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research in 1993"

Cross-border Crime

Abstract: ARTICLES: 1. Editorial 2. Will open borders result in more crime? A criminological statement - M. Killias 4. Organized crime markets in a turbulent Europe - P.C. van Duyne 5. Mafia money-laundering versus Italian legislation - E.U. Savona 6. The extent of cross-border crime in Europe: the view from Britain - M. Levi 7. The potential for the growth of organized crime in Central and Eastern Europe - M. Joutsen 8. Cross-border crime in Belgium - B. de Ruyver, W. Bruggeman and P. Zanders 9. Ambiguities between criminal policy and scientific research: the case of fraud against the EC - D. Ruimschotel 10. Varia: R. Stablova and Z. Kasparova on the actual drug problem in the Czech Republic; 11. Boutellier about another European journal on the crime problem; 12. International congress on cross-border crime and international cooperation 13. Crime Institute's profile: Centre for the Study of Public Order

Police observation and the 1990 schengen convention

Abstract: In spite of the different conditions, all of the five countries which originally signed the Schengen Convention seem to allow and use observation as a method of criminal inquiry, at least to a certain extent. However, the only country in which practically every type of observation is based on statutory provisions is Germany. The interpretation that the Constitutional Court has given to the privacy and the freedom of the individual has led to the situation that Germany now has an extremely detailed and vast system of legislation on breaches of privacy by the state in general and on observation in particular. One could therefore think that the reason for the existence of this German legislation is a typically German one. But is this really true?

Political ideologies and drug policy

Abstract: Drug use holds a prominent place in the history of social conflict, because it lends itself as an easily identifiable symbol for otherwise invisible characteristics (or characteristics the allusion to which would be regarded as improper and therefore would become self-defeating). Therefore, drug policy has frequently been a weapon in social conflict rather than an unbiased response to objective difficulties. Some examples may help clarify this point. I will discuss in brief the ideological debate on coffee, alcohol and cannabis respectively and then turn to some contemporary issues, around the so-called hard drugs.

Subsidiarity, police cooperation and drug enforcement: Some structures of policy-making in the EC

Abstract: In this article I have tried to move away from the usual questions of European drug enforcement policy — its characterization in terms of toughness or tolerance, the growth of police powers, the polarization of debate on the war on drugs versus human rights. Instead, I have tried to focus on some structural issues, present and future.

Pharmacology and fashion

Abstract: The use of mind-altering drugs would appear to be a near-universal human attribute, across known historical t ime and the otherwise complex twists-and-turns of custom and culture revealed by social anthropology. What history and anthropology also reveal, however, is that the social meanings of drug use are subject to many forms of shift and change. So that at different times and in different places what is to be defined as a 'drug ' , what forms of drug use are to be regarded as acceptable or unacceptable, the way in which any given drug is to be used, and how the use of drugs is to be socially controlled, are matters which are addressed in sometimes radically different ways. The same drug in different cultures can even be associated with different and opposed meanings in terms of its psychopharmacological effects as.Ruth Benedict (1961) noted in her discussion of the Pueblo Indians who, although they sometimes used powerful hallucinogenics such as datura ( j imson-weed or ' loco ' weed) did not associate their use with the production of visions as did their neighbours such as the Apache, but rather incorporated datura use in rituals such as one which aimed to detect the identity of a thief. These kinds of variations in the social meanings attached to drugs must clearly be situated centrally in any attempt to understand drug use or to combat the potential i l l-effects of drug misuse (Pearson, 1992a). Indeed, so profound is this social construction of reality that it suggests to some commentators that drug policies are merely arbitrary. It is only one small step further in this line of thinking to view drug controls as unnecessary. There are many complexit ies within different arguments for the ' legal izat ion ' or 'de-cr iminal izat ion ' of drugs (Nadelman, 1992), and not all of them direct ly invoke the concept o f cultural relativism. Some of these arguments proceed from an economic basis, involving free market principles or cost-benefi t analysis, while others invoke a libertarian morality in favour of the free expression of individual choices. While some issues from the political Left and others from

Cross-border crime in Belgium

Abstract: In summary we can state that judicial assistance stands to lose further ground with respect to police cooperation. The Schengen Agreement authorized and legitimized the autonomy of the police which they themselves had already assumed in the legal assistance process. At national level the situation is worsened by the insufficient statutory regulation of the investigation prior to prosecution and by the absence of a well functioning judicial control thereof. Above all the research indicated that not all magistrates/prosecutors showed the same amount of interest in direct involvement in the international legal civil system, a disturbing conclusion in the light of the increasing internationalization of crime phenomena (De Ruyver, 1992). The manner in which the judicial assistance functions fails to deal with geographically determined and limited types of group crime, as in the study area. Crime organized in a businesslike manner and at the same time requiring greater expertise and cooperation with respect to the investigation prior to prosecution, remains a fortiori beyond concern.

The potential for the growth of organized crime in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract: There is a clear potential for growth in organized crime in Central and Eastern Europe. The criminal justice system in most countries in the region is undergoing a crisis in morale, resources and direction, sapping its possibility to respond effectively. One of the fears in Western Europe is that organized crime will begin to cross the borders from the East. So far, this appears to have occurred only on a small scale, primarily in connection with organized theft, drug-trafficking and the illegal sale of firearms. The slow pace of this development may be due to the lack of suitable international contacts, and to the fact that sufficient profits appear to be available in the domestic market. Furthermore, operating in the West has drawbacks and dangers: it is more expensive, there may be competition from local organized crime, and the police may be more efficient.

Drug trafficking networks in Europe

Abstract: In view of the enormous investments and financial interests at stake together with the necessity to maintain continuity of supply and distribution, only professional narcotic drug organizations and groups will be able to sustain a fixed share of the market. In order to gain some insight into the size of organized crime in the Netherlands, an in-depth study was conducted to this end in 1991. Police information from all over the country was gathered and analyzed. Almost 600 criminal groups appeared to be active in the Netherlands. 73 percent of them appeared to be involved in drug trafficking. Criminal networks active in Europe would be more readily identifiable if our European counterparts conducted similar into the organizational structures of criminal gangs operating in their country. If the existing plans for the creation of Europol, starting with an European Drugs Unit — a non-executive European Intelligence service in the area of narco-crime — are realized, this would be a major step forward in achieving this.

Police Cooperation and Private Security

Abstract: ARTICLES: 1. Editorial 2. Establishing Europol - R. Woodward 3. The accountability of European police institutions - N. Walker 4. Modernity, rationality and the baguette: cooperation and the management of policing in Europe - S. Holdaway 5. Where does politics meet practice in establishing Europol? - J. Wilzing and F. Mangelaars 6. Police observation and the 1990 Schengen Convention - H. Bevers 7. Legitimation of the private security sector in France - F. Ocqueteau 8. Varia: K. Gonczol on the changing face of crime in Hungary; 9. M. Rosternsson on the European Football Championships 1992; 10. E. van den Heuvel about a handbook on the European state 11. Crime Institute's profile: The Research and Planning Unit of the Home Office