Organised crime covers a wide range of activities, including drug trafficking, illegal trafficking of people, and fraud. The existence of a land border does not impede these operations; instead in many cases it is used to their advantage. In response, law enforcement strategies must include a transnational, multi-agency approach. This book critically analyses the extent to which Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have been successful in implementing effective action against transnational organised crime. It explores the adoption of key law enforcement strategies and measures in these jurisdictions, and evaluates how regional (EU law) and international (UN Convention) standards have been implemented at the national level. Drawing on interviews with over 90 stakeholders including the Department of Justice Northern Ireland, the Department of Justice and Equality in Ireland, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and An Garda Síochána, Tom Obokata and Brian Payne discuss the factors affecting the effective prevention and suppression of organised crime, particularly in relation to cross-border cooperation. In exploring challenges of transnational crime and cooperation, this book will be of great use to students and researchers in international and transnational criminal law, criminology, and crime prevention.
The Committee recognises the commitment and effort of individual HMRC officers in the fight against fuel crime in Northern Ireland, but says that as HMRC was allocated an additional £917 million in 2010-11 to bear down on tax avoidance and evasion across the UK, it should make a more concerted effort to eradicate the problem in Northern Ireland, where it is most prevalent. There is particular disappointment in the lack of progress on developing new "markers": chemicals added to fuel to mark it out as rebated, which are removed to enable it to be fraudulently sold at higher prices. Northern Ireland is estimated to have lost £70 million in 2009-10. Only five years ago this figure was as high as £250 million but fuel fraud remains a particularly serious problem for Northern Ireland. While 4% of diesel sold in GB is thought to be illicit, in Northern Ireland the comparable figure is estimated to be 12%. District councils in Northern Ireland foot the bill for cleaning up the harmful wastes left by laundering - about £330,000 in the last five years. The problem is also particularly acute in Northern Ireland because of links between organised criminal gangs and paramilitaries. The Committee is concerned at the apparent limited success of assets recovery as a deterrent. This lack of deterrence is exacerbated by the poor record for imposing custodial sentences in Northern Ireland. Between 2001 and 2009, only four people received custodial sentences for fuel fraud in Northern Ireland
Organized crime is now a major threat to all industrial and non-industrial countries. Using an inter-disciplinary and comparative approach this book examines the nature of this threat. By analysing the existing, official institutional discourse on organized crime it examines whether or not it has an impact on perceptions of the threat and on the reality of organized crime. The book first part of the book explores both the paradigm and the rationale of policy output in the fight against organized crime, and also exposes the often ‘hidden’ internal assumptions embedded in policy making. The second part examines the perceptions of organized crime as expressed by various actors, for example, the general public in the Balkans and in Japan, the criminal justice system in USA and circles within the international scientific community. Finally, the third part provides an overall investigation into the realities of organized crime with chapters that survey its empirical manifestations in various parts of the world. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, criminology, security studies and practitioners.
Organised crime covers a wide range of activities, including drug trafficking, illegal trafficking of people, and fraud. The existence of a land border does not impede these operations; instead in many cases it is used to their advantage. In response, law enforcement strategies must include a transnational, multi-agency approach. This book critically analyses the extent to which Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have been successful in implementing effective action against transnational organised crime. It explores the adoption of key law enforcement strategies and measures in these jurisdictions, and evaluates how regional (EU law) and international (UN Convention) standards have been implemented at the national level. Drawing on interviews with over 90 stakeholders including the Department of Justice Northern Ireland, the Department of Justice and Equality in Ireland, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and An Garda Síochána, Tom Obokata and Brian Payne discuss the factors affecting the effective prevention and suppression of organised crime, particularly in relation to cross-border cooperation. In exploring challenges of transnational crime and cooperation, this book will be of great use to students and researchers in international and transnational criminal law, criminology, and crime prevention.
Progress towards devolution in Northern Ireland during the 2005 Parliament : Seventh report of session 2009-10, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written Evidence
Organised Crime and the Law presents an overview of the laws and policies adopted to address the phenomenon of organised crime in the United Kingdom and Ireland, assessing the changes to these justice systems, in terms of the prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of such criminality. While the notion of organised crime is a contested one, States' legal responses treat it and its constituent offences as unproblematic in a definitional sense. This book advances a systematic doctrinal critique of these domestic criminal laws,laws of evidence and civil processes. Organised Crime and the Law focuses on the tension between due process and crime control, the demands of public protection and risk aversion, and other adaptations. In particular, it identifies parallels and points of divergence between the different jurisdictions in the UK and Ireland, bearing in mind the shared history of subversive threats and counter-terrorism policies. It also examines the extent to which policy transfer is evident in the UK and Ireland in terms of emulating the United States in reacting to organised crime.
This report finds that relations between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland are closer than has ever been the case and that co-operative arrangements in place in the spheres of policing and law enforcement have never run more smoothly or been more effective in countering crime and bringing its perpetrators to justice. The border provides considerable opportunities for the highly experienced and inventive organised criminal gangs, frequently arisen from paramilitary groupings, that have blighted Northern Ireland's life for several decades. Criminals exploit the room opened for them by the border, such as the jurisdictional issues that arise out of having two systems of law and law enforcement operating in an area so criss-crossed with roads, streams and other crossing points. The inquiry has found many good examples of work done by the law enforcement agencies on both sides of the border. The value of institutional contacts between organisations such as the PSNI and An Garda Siochana is inestimable. Chapters in the report cover: policing and co-operation; criminal justice and co-operation; areas for closer co-operation (including scope for legislative change and sex offenders and public safety).
The Routledge Handbook of Irish Criminology is the first edited collection of its kind to bring together the work of leading Irish criminologists in a single volume. While Irish criminology can be characterised as a nascent but dynamic discipline, it has much to offer the Irish and international reader due to the unique historical, cultural, political, social and economic arrangements that exist on the island of Ireland. The Handbook consists of 30 chapters, which offer original, comprehensive and critical reviews of theory, research, policy and practice in a wide range of subject areas. The chapters are divided into four thematic sections: Understanding crime examines specific offence types, including homicide, gangland crime and white-collar crime, and the theoretical perspectives used to explain them. Responding to crime explores criminal justice responses to crime, including crime prevention, restorative justice, approaches to policing and trial as well as post-conviction issues such as imprisonment, community sanctions and rehabilitation. Contexts of crime investigates the social, political and cultural contexts of the policymaking process, including media representations, politics, the role of the victim and the impact of gender. Emerging ideas focuses on innovative ideas that prompt a reconsideration of received wisdom on particular topics, including sexual violence and ethnicity. Charting the key contours of the criminological enterprise on the island of Ireland and placing the Irish material in the context of the wider European and international literature, this book is essential reading for those involved in the study of Irish criminology and international and comparative criminal justice.