THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF ORGANISED CRIME: AN OVERVIEW
THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF ORGANISED CRIME: AN OVERVIEW

Author(s): Elena Ancuta Franţ
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence
Published by: Editura Universităţii »Alexandru Ioan Cuza« din Iaşi
Keywords: economic effects; organised crime; transnational organised crime;
Summary/Abstract: This paper consists in an overview of the economic effects of organised crime. The topic, although of an importance largely acknowledged, has received little detailed attention. Organised crime is a phenomenon which severely affects our present-day society. Despite the efforts made to reduce it, organised crime remains at high levels. It is without doubt that the economic effects of organised crime are significant. However, quantifying these effects is not an easy task, as organised crime has multiple forms and performs a great variety of illegal activities. Also, when analysing the costs of organised crime, we must refer to the costs generated by crime control activities, carried out at national level and, also, at international scale. These crime control actions include activities aimed at preventing, prosecuting, and sanctioning the members of organised crime. Overall, the costs of organised crime, be it national or transnational, are hard to estimate. Given the situation, experts argue that it is better to estimate, if possible, the minimum costs, related to specific crimes (for example, drug trafficking, human trafficking, corruption within certain categories of public offices). An important issue which we intend to analyse is whether there is a difference between the costs generated by the Mafia-type organised criminal structures and organised criminal groups which consist mainly of networks, structured. Also, we assess that it is necessary to determine how states should cooperate, to quantify (at least approximately) the effects of transnational organised crime, as this implies a systematic international cooperation. All these evaluation processes are needed, because knowing the economic effects of organised crime, in all its forms, helps authorities to identify the most vulnerable areas and, therefore, choose the best methods to fight and to sanction organised crime, and, maybe the most important, to prevent organised crime. Keywords: economic effects; organised crime; transnational organised crime.

• Details
• Contents