Le trafic d’armes à feu au sein de l’Union européenne est une menace préoccupante contre l’espace de liberté, de sécurité et de justice poussant l’Union et ses États membres à réagir afin de renforcer leur cadre juridique. Néanmoins, il est difficile d’apporter aux problématiques posées par le trafic d’armes à feu une solution légale du fait de ses caractéristiques et sa transversalité. Les stocks d’armes à feu se trouvant aux frontières de l’Union européenne sont détournés afin d’être introduit dans l’espace sans frontières par de multiples acteurs aux intérêts et motivations diverses. Ces traits de caractères rendent difficile la mise en place d’un cadre juridique harmonisé dans des domaines restant sous le joug de la souveraineté nationale. Ces difficultés ont entrainé le développement d’un cadre juridique imparfait et limité créant des failles juridiques dont les trafiquants profitent. Néanmoins, les solutions existent et sont pour certaines déjà présentes dans le cadre normatif de l’Union européenne. Cependant, l’évolution du trafic d’armes à feu et de ses acteurs conduit également à envisager le développement de nouveaux mécanismes et de nouveaux pans du droit / Firearms trafficking within the European Union is a worrying threat to the area of freedom, security and justice, prompting the Union and its Member States to react in order to strengthen their legal framework. Nevertheless, the issue of firearms is complex to legislate because of its characteristics and its cross-cutting nature. Firearm stocks at the borders of the European Union are diverted in order to be introduced into the border-free area by multiple actors with diverse interests and motivations. These characteristics make it difficult to establish a harmonised legal framework in areas that remain under the yoke of national sovereignty. These difficulties have led to the development of an imperfect and limited legal framework creating legal loopholes from which traffickers benefit. Nevertheless, solutions exist and some of them are already present in the European Union's normative framework. However, the evolution of firearms trafficking and its actors also leads us to consider the development of new mechanisms and new areas of the law

Criminal career research postulates that offending behaviour develops over time during the course of one’s life. Thus, delinquency is not an isolated incident which occurs at a certain moment in time. This research comprises a mixed-method study of the criminal career of 40 offenders who perpetrated robberies against the banking and CIT industries. Through this research, an exploration is made for possibilities of using criminal career research to develop results which will guide crime prevention policies. The qualitative methodology used for this research included semi-structured interviews in order to collect information on motivations of armed robbers and the various mechanics (i.e. planning, recruitment, group dynamics) of the crime of armed robbery. Through the use of structured questionnaires, biographical data, information on risk factors and figures on the different aspects of a criminal career, such as age of offending onset, offending frequency and seriousness, and career length, were all gathered. The general findings of this research demonstrate that offending onset occurs between the ages of 11 and 15 with petty crimes, and then escalates to serious crimes. Secondly, witnessed throughout the dissertation is the fact that development of delinquent behaviour is not a result of a single risk factor but an outcome of multiple risk factors. Subsequently, a suggestion is made for the introduction of multifaceted deterrence programmes, which will holistically deal with the various offending risk factors (i.e. family, community and the offender’s personal risk factors as well as peer and school dynamics). Thirdly, armed robbers are responsible for various other crimes in the process of committing the offence of robbery. Accordingly, this study confirms the criminal career notion that a small number of chronic offenders are responsible for a large number of offences. That is why it is recommended that policy makers pay attention to disrupting the criminal career of this small number of high risk offenders. / Department of Criminology and Security Science / M.A. (Criminology)

Criminal career research postulates that offending behaviour develops over time during the course of one’s life. Thus, delinquency is not an isolated incident which occurs at a certain moment in time. This research comprises a mixed-method study of the criminal career of 40 offenders who perpetrated robberies against the banking and CIT industries. Through this research, an exploration is made for possibilities of using criminal career research to develop results which will guide crime prevention policies. The qualitative methodology used for this research included semi-structured interviews in order to collect information on motivations of armed robbers and the various mechanics (i.e. planning, recruitment, group dynamics) of the crime of armed robbery. Through the use of structured questionnaires, biographical data, information on risk factors and figures on the different aspects of a criminal career, such as age of offending onset, offending frequency and seriousness, and career length, were all gathered. The general findings of this research demonstrate that offending onset occurs between the ages of 11 and 15 with petty crimes, and then escalates to serious crimes. Secondly, witnessed throughout the dissertation is the fact that development of delinquent behaviour is not a result of a single risk factor but an outcome of multiple risk factors. Subsequently, a suggestion is made for the introduction of multifaceted deterrence programmes, which will holistically deal with the various offending risk factors (i.e. family, community and the offender’s personal risk factors as well as peer and school dynamics). Thirdly, armed robbers are responsible for various other crimes in the process of committing the offence of robbery. Accordingly, this study confirms the criminal career notion that a small number of chronic offenders are responsible for a large number of offences. That is why it is recommended that policy makers pay attention to disrupting the criminal career of this small number of high risk offenders. / Department of Criminology and Security Science / M.A. (Criminology)