Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the measures in the prevention and control of organised crime by government agencies based in Limpopo Province. The research was qualitative in nature and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 law enforcement officers from the DPCI, DSSL, SAPS, Home Affairs, SARS Customs and Excess, AFU, and the NPA PCLU. Data was analysed though thematic analysis. The results revealed that the government strategies in Limpopo still require concerted efforts in the prevention and control of organised crime. The government has identified measures to fight organised crime and has adopted the criminal justice response/ institutional and the legislative response to the crime. The measures taken by various units are found to be ineffective in dealing with organised crime since organised criminal networks are often flexible, dynamic, innovative and resilient. Furthermore, corrupt activities and collusions by law enforcement officers hinder the effective implementation of the strategies to control organised crime. The findings of the study show that there is coordination and communication among the law enforcement agencies such as the DPCI, SARS, Home Affairs, and the NPA PCLU, among others. This coordination is envisaged through intelligence, information sharing and interoperability. The study highlighted poor implementation of the multi-agency approach as one institution is expected to facilitate and lead the prevention of organised crime (which is the DPCI). The findings further highlight, for example, that the smuggling of illegal cigarettes is currently a challenge for the provincial government as a highly committed organised crime. The study recommends for the development, by the government, of an Organised Crime Threat Assessment in order to effectively recognise the need for responses, which should be based on a sound understanding of the nature and characteristics of the organised crime environment. In addition, it recommends for the development of an Organised Crime Response Plan to align efforts to identified critical organised crime threats. The study further recommends for the adoption, by the government, of relevant multi-agency approaches in addressing organise crime – both operational and policy or regulatory – which will underpin a whole-of-provincial government approach to organised crime. KEY WORDS: Organised Crime, Criminal, Crime Prevention, Crime Control, Effectiveness, Coordination.

A comparative study of Norway and Scotland's effort to address and counter the threat of organized crime in a globalized world. Marte Skaatan Ramberg The concept of organized crime is a rather "fussy", with over two hundred definitions to its name. This master thesis aims to debate the concept of organized crime and utilizing the concept for an investigating look at Norway and Scotland`s effort to cut and combat the effect of organized crime. Whilst tackling the ambiguity of organized crime the thesis also share some light on the security aspect of organized crime for the state and for the individual, using the framework of human security and traditional state-centric approach when evaluating the impact of organized crime. Different polices and laws shared between Norway and Scotland along with their objectives is also discussed all centered around the research questions - How does Norway approach and counter the threat of organized crime compared to Scotland? - What are the successes and failures with these strategies?

The thesis examines the results of the international commission against impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), founded in 2006 by an agreement between the government of Guatemala and the UN. It represents a unique tool of UN, connecting in its mandate national and international elements, whose singular goal is a fight against contemporary national crimes, in contrast to a more classical model of UN, which focuses predominantly on international or past crimes. The thesis tries to answer whether the level of corruption and presence of organized crime in the state institutions was lowered during the mandate of CICIG, whether the level of impunity was lowered at the national courts and how big of a role could be attributed to CICIG. The analysis is diveded into two parts. In the first one, based on a few key indicators, the institutional situation in crime prosecution in Guatemala is evaluated before and after the mandate of CICIG. In the second one, with the use of a process-tracing method, the role of CICIG in 3 key cases is analysed, especially concerning the power of its influence in Guatemala. A short discussion about the good and bad characteristics of the CICIG model concludes the thesis.

Temporary postponement of criminal prosecution Abstract The diploma thesis deals with the procedural institute of temporary postponement of criminal prosecution, while providing a complete analysis of situations in which individual forms of this institute can be used. Furthermore, the diploma thesis offers a basic digression into the issue of corruption and organized crime, with a special focus on legal instruments which are able to make the fight against these adverse criminal phenomena more efficient. The diploma thesis analyses in detail the process of application of temporary postponement of criminal prosecution, highlights the pros and cons of this procedure, while the work does not omit the process of enshrining this institute in Czech law or its legal predecessor. The thesis tries to answer the question of whether the temporary postponement of criminal prosecution is the most helpful and effective tool, and therefore, last but not least, it also deals with other options that can be considered as suitable alternatives to this institute. Key words opportunity, corruption, organized crime, procedural instruments

Contains 400 of the most important and publicized scandals throughout the world since the beginning of the twentieth century. This title contains topics that include scandals that rocked the worlds of banking and finance, education, government and politics, health and medicine, publishing and journalism, and sports and entertainment.

The most challenging and spoken criminal phenomenon today is indisputably organised crime. It is a crime that both the general public, business community, commentators, researchers, scholars, journalists, writers, politicians, prosecutors, jurists and presiding officials debate with different interpretation and understanding of the concept as well as the manifestation of the phenomena. Debates on the subject have seen the dawn of rival terminologies of organised crime and crimes that are organised. While the United Nations has not assisted the nations in finding a definition of what organised crime is, the confusion has spread throughout the globe and South Africa has not been spared the pandemonium. The objective of this study is to comparatively assess the present understanding and setup in South Africa in comparison with Italy, Tanzania and the United States of America, identify the root causes of the confusion and find possible remedies to liberate the situation. The research concludes with the findings and recommendations. / Criminal and Procedural Law / LL.D.

Drug trafficking is popularly associated with high-levels of violence; however, this relationship does not hold across all cases. This dissertation asks: why do traffickers sometimes decide to use violence, but other times demonstrate restraint? Building on recent work on criminal politics and patterns of drug violence, this dissertation explores how criminal organizations’ choices of strategy impacts drug-related violence in the areas where they operate. I specifically focus on a certain type of trafficker that has received less attention in the academic literature to-date: Central American transportistas. I argue that politics and institutions incentivize drug traffickers to use different strategies in different locations. Specifically, traffickers’ strategies are determined first by whether or not the country where they are operating has institutionalized corruption. In countries where there is institutionalized corruption, the centralization of political power and electoral competition are important in determining whether traffickers will pursue collusion strategies or attempt to co-opt politics. In the absence of institutionalized corruption, I argue traffickers are left with evasion as their only means of operation. These strategies lead to different levels of narco-related violence: collusion results in the lowest levels of violence, evasion yields moderate levels of violence, and co-optation produces the highest levels of violence. In addition, I explore how traffickers’ relationships to communities at the local level further impacts their modus operandi and levels of violence. I show how narcos have assumed roles traditionally associated with the state and gained support and legitimacy within some communities in Central America. I argue that support for illicit economies occurs when (1) traffickers are operating in their own communities, (2) in rural spaces, (3) in highly marginalized areas, and (4) are not reliant on evasive strategies. Communities where narcos have greater levels of support experience lower levels of violence, all else being equal. Moreover, narcos’ strategies vis-à-vis both states and communities have implications not just for the overall level of violence, but also for the visibility, geography, and nature of the violence. I explore this theory with comparative ethnographic methods, drawing on over two years of fieldwork in several drug trafficking hubs along the Caribbean coast of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. During this time, I conducted participant observation and spoke with over 200 individuals, including politicians, residents, police, drug dealers, and both former and current traffickers ranging from low to relatively high-level. Ultimately, there are policy lessons evident in the differences in violence related to narco strategies vis-à-vis both states and communities. Illicit economies do not have to be violent. Policy priorities should shift away from intercepting drug shipments and arresting transportistas and instead focus on limiting violence related to the drug trade. / 2025-02-28T00:00:00Z

[pt] Neste trabalho desenvolvemos e testamos um modelo para explicar a escolha entre diferentes atividades criminosas nas favelas. No modelo, os criminosos dessas comunidades escolhem uma ocupação entre ser assaltante, ser traficante de drogas, ser miliciano ou trabalhar honestamente. Mostramos que essa escolha depende da renda do indivíduo, bem como da riqueza média da comunidade e das comunidades vizinhas. Mostramos ainda que a transição do tráfico para a milícia é brusca, mesmo sem externalidades nas atividades criminosas, e essa mudança depende exclusivamente da razão entre a renda da favela e a renda dos bairros vizinhos. A segunda parte desse trabalho é empírica. Nas regressões básicas, o efeito dessa razão sobre probabilidade de uma favela ser dominada pela milícia em oposição ao tráfico é estimado como positivo e significante. Entretanto, quando controlamos para medidas de distância da favela a órgãos públicos o coeficiente associado a essa relação perde significância. / [en] In this article we develop a model to explain the choice between different criminal activities in favelas. Criminals in these communities may choose between being muggers, drug dealers, militiamen or working honestly. We show that this choice depends on the agent’s wealth, his community’s average wealth and the wealth of the communities near him. Also, we have shown that the transition from drug dealing to militia is abrupt, even in the absence of externalities across criminal activities and that furthermore this change depends exclusively of the ratio between the favela’s wealth and the wealth of its vicinity. This article’s second part is empirical. In the basic estimations, the effect of this ratio over the probability of a favela being ruled by a militia in opposition to drug dealers is estimated as positive and significant. However, when we control for measures of distance to public institutions, the coefficient associated to this ratio loses significance.

This dissertation examines the relationship of political instability and economic failure to predatory organized crime in multiple nations. This is an important issue since each year the increase in predatory crime networks contributes to international economic failure, security risks, and the spread of organized crime. In an effort to understand the relationship between state failure and economic failure on the one hand, and organized crime on the other, this study will seek to address three goals. First, the study tests the degree to which variables that imply economic failure and state failure correlate with predatory organized crime. Second, the study determines the extent of the relationship between the social and economic indicators and predatory organized crime in multiple nations. Third, the study examines the future implications of predatory organized crime predictor variables in the context of national strategies to eradicate or reduce organized crime. This study investigates the relationship in failed states between predatory crime groups and various economic and state stability indicators. In particular, this study examines the impact of seven predictor variables on the variation in Predatory Organized Crime in 122 countries. The findings suggest that the state failure hypothesis correctly articulates the failure of the state to offer key social goods such as security, stability, and justice, thereby producing an environment where crime groups assume state responsibilities. The findings also support the economic failure hypothesis that poor economic outcomes such as high unemployment, low SES, and a dependency on an underground economy encourage the development of criminal groups. The ultimate goal of this study is to assist policy makers, policy analysts, scholars, and officials at donor agencies and international financial institutions in establishing effective tools for identifying and removing predatory organized crime units. Analytical results provide general support to all hypotheses. Moreover, policy implications for predatory organized crime control in developing countries are discussed. The author's objective is to increase understanding of this issue and show the need for further research.

Localized crime exists all over the world; however there are certain crimes that have effects globally. These crimes are committed by organizations with worldwide networks, posing a unique problem for law enforcement. Police agencies must coordinate their international efforts with many different nations that utilize disparate legal systems in order to suppress these criminal operations. The objective of this thesis is to provide information on some of the various topics related to the issue of transnational organized crime and law enforcement's response. Literature on various areas of organized crime such as drug and human trafficking, money laundering, and corruption is presented to further understanding of these topics. Additionally, literature discussing responses to international organized crime will also be included. Two case studies are presented and analyzed to help illustrate the information found in the literature. As criminal organizations become more global, law enforcement has to respond accordingly. This thesis provides an amalgamation of scholarly research to present a broad overview of the issues related to this topic.