Meeting the Challenge
of Transnational Crime
by James O. Finckenauer
Photosource:PhotoDisc
National Institute of Justice Journal s July 2000
3
J
ust as many aspects of our
lives have become part of a
global village—transportation,
communications, economic
affairs—so, too, has crime taken on
a global dimension. The same political
and economic changes and technological
advances that support easy
international travel, communication,
and business transactions
also facilitate a criminal’s ability
to commit crimes that transcend
borders. And because the United
States is the world’s richest country,
it represents the most opportune
target for transnational crime,
which is defined by the United
Nations as “offenses whose inception,
prevention, and/or direct or
indirect effects involve more than
one country.”1
For most of its history, NIJ could
serve its primary constituents—
State and local policymakers and
practitioners—quite well by focusing
on research and development
within the borders of the United
States. But criminal justice officials
today are increasingly being asked
to deal with offenses and offenders
whose origins and connections lie
outside the country. Drugs and drug
offenders are the most obvious of
these, but by no means the only
ones. Transnational crimes include
trafficked prostitutes from Southeast
Asia or the former Soviet Union;
migrant workers being exploited in
sweatshops or farm fields; an array
of credit card and banking frauds;
automobiles stolen for shipment
overseas; guns smuggled in an
effort to evade regulation; and
children trafficked through Canada
and Mexico for use by child pornography
rings. And the list could
go on.
The escalating threat associated
with the new forms of crime was
highlighted by a crime bill called
the International Crime Control
Act (ICCA) of 1998, which was
introduced exactly 30 years after
the Omnibus Crime Control and
Safe Streets Act of 1968 created
NIJ. This bill did not become law,
but its goals are suggestive of problem
areas needing attention on the
international stage: denying safe
haven to international fugitives,
streamlining the investigation and
prosecution of international crime
in U.S. courts, promoting global
cooperation among law enforcement,
and responding to emerging
international crime problems.
Factors That Make
Transnational Crime
Possible
In a recent report of a workshop
commissioned by NIJ, the National
Research Council said that transnational
crime was being affected
by three related factors:
s Globalization of the economy.
s Increased numbers and heterogeneity
of immigrants.
s Improved communications
technology.2
These factors do not “cause”
transnational crime. Rather, they
facilitate crime, or in some cases,
they are criminal opportunities in
themselves. For example, immigration
does not cause crime. The
desire to immigrate, however, may
cause people to violate immigration
quotas and regulations and may lead
to illegal immigration, which in
turn is exploited by criminals.
Most of the causes of transnational
crime are not new; they are, in fact,
quite similar to factors that drive
crime in general: disparate socioeconomic
conditions, which stimulate
migration and its antecedent trafficking
in persons; the desire for
illegal goods and services, which
moves crime into the transnational
realm when the suppliers are in one
country and the consumers are in
another; and the universal greed
for money and power.
about the author
James O. Finckenauer is the Director of NIJ’s International Center. His two most recent
books are Scared Straight: The Panacea Phenomenon Revisited (1999) and Russian
Mafia in America (1998). He is on leave from his position as Professor of Criminal Justice
at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
...immigration does not cause crime.
The desire to immigrate, however,
may cause people to violate immigration
quotas and regulations and may lead to
illegal immigration, which in turn is
exploited by criminals.
The Unique
Challenges of
Transnational Crime
The challenges in preventing and
controlling transnational crime stem
from several sources. For example,
some crimes arise out of particular
cultural or societal conditions and
experiences that differ from one
country to another. Behavior that is
acceptable in one country may be
illegal in another. Crimes that arise
out of electronic communications,
such as money laundering, are
not bound by national borders.
The whole panoply of so-called
cybercrimes are almost by definition
transnational crimes, since cyberspace
is not constrained within
these borders. The traditional
desire to hide crime and elude law
enforcement is met more fully by
the increasing ease of global travel
and communication.
The challenges in dealing with
transnational crime arise from the
national orientations of laws and
law enforcement. Every country has
its own laws and law enforcement
system to deal with crime. But
what about crime and criminals
that cross national borders? Former
Deputy Assistant Attorney General
Mark M. Richard has noted that
“the international community is not
well positioned to respond to such
issues [as foreign nationals committing
a crime in the United States and
escaping to their home country],
[because] extradition and other
procedures are archaic, based upon
19th century standards, and of
limited use today.”3
Ignoring the transnationalization
of crime would be akin to adopting
a “head in the sand” strategy.
American police, prosecutors,
judges, and corrections officials,
as well as regulatory agencies—the
customers for cutting edge research
knowledge to help them understand
and combat crime—would be shortchanged
by such an outdated strategy.
Both criminal justice practitioners
and researchers would be forced
to do their jobs with only partial
and very limited information.
It was the recognition of this changing
reality and of the ensuing need
that led NIJ to create a new
International Center in 1997.
NIJ’s International
Center’s Challenge
The International Center’s mission
is to stimulate and facilitate research
and evaluation on transnational and
comparative crime and justice issues
and to disseminate the knowledge
gained throughout the national and
international criminal justice com-
munities.
Stimulate and Facilitate
Research and Evaluation.
To accomplish this aspect of its
mission, the International Center
motivates researchers (principally
from the academic community, but
not exclusively so) to study transnational
crime and justice issues and
to conduct comparative research
(i.e, parallel studies conducted in
more than one country about a
topic that does not necessarily have
transnational aspects). Comparative
international research brings unique
challenges (see “Challenges Inherent
in Comparative International
Research”), and the International
Center has adopted an educational
role in working with researchers
whose approaches and methodologies
may be foreign to each other.
In 1997, NIJ announced the
International Challenge Grants to
encourage American researchers to
seek counterparts in other countries
to conduct joint comparative studies.
Of the first three projects funded
under this program, two are
transnational studies and one is
comparative. The two transnational
studies are examining human trafMeeting
the Challenge of Transnational Crime
4
Ignoring the transnationalization of crime
would be akin to adopting a “head in the sand”
strategy. American police, prosecutors,
judges, and corrections officials, as well
as regulatory agencies—the customers
for cutting edge research knowledge
to help them understand and combat
crime—would be shortchanged by such
an outdated strategy.
National Institute of Justice Journal s July 2000
5
ficking from China to the United
States and trafficking of children
through Canada and Mexico to
the United States. The comparative
study is examining juvenile justice
processing in Denver, Colorado, and
Bremen, Germany. Both comparative
and transnational studies can
make unique contributions to our
understanding of crime and justice
issues, and study findings will have
implications for criminal justice
policy.
An example of how the International
Center can stimulate
evaluation comes from a request
NIJ received from the U.S.
Department of State. The United
States funds several prison-based
drug treatment programs in the
Philippines and Thailand. Both
countries are experimenting with
therapeutic communities as their
predominant drug treatment
modality and as part of the U.S.
drug demand reduction strategy.
The State Department asked NIJ
to visit the sites, assess the programs,
and determine if their
circumstances would permit a
rigorous evaluation of the programs’
effectiveness. After the
International Center submitted
its report, the State Department
contacted American, Philippine,
and Thai researchers who might
conduct the evaluations.
The Center’s International Visiting
Fellowships are an example of
how NIJ can facilitate research
on transnational and comparative
crime and justice issues. Three
International Fellows have studied
(1) transnational organized crime
emanating from the former Soviet
Union; (2) the organization of black
markets, corruption, and crime in
selected countries of the Newly
Independent States (from Eastern
Europe and the former USSR);
and (3) restoration of civilian
policing in countries that have
undergone peacekeeping operations,
such as Bosnia, Haiti, and Kosovo.
See “Special Initiatives,” page 6, for
activities that are making a significant
contribution to our understanding
of transnational crime.
Disseminate Knowledge. The
International Center serves as an
export-import bank of information
through the exchange of ideas and
knowledge among law enforcement
agencies, academic institutions, and
others in the criminal justice community,
both here and abroad.
The means for this dissemination
include reports, articles, books, and
other materials in both paper and
electronic formats.
Helping to link the International
Center to the rest of the globe is the
World Justice Information Network
(WJIN) and the Internet Studio,
operated by the Rule of Law
Foundation under a cooperative
agreement with NIJ.4
WJIN is an
Internet-based community of
some 6,000 criminal justice scholars
and practitioners from more than
100 countries who share information
through a global virtual library
and an online forum.
Through links with WJIN and the
National Criminal Justice Reference
Service, the International Center
Challenges Inherent in Comparative
International Research
Grantees working on transnational
or comparative research issues
with international partners have
experienced a number of challenges
common to this type
of research. Their experiences
indicate that all parties must
exercise creativity and willingness
to be innovative and open with one
another. The solution worked out
in one country may not work for
another research team in another
country—for example, what works
for an American-Ukrainian team
may not work for an AmericanChilean
team.
Typical challenges include:
s Language barriers.
s Cultural differences. Issues
about confidentiality and
revealing the names of human
subjects vary considerably from
one country to another.
s Empirical standards. The
rational-empirical standard in
American social sciences often
contrasts starkly with research
approaches in other countries.
For example, American
researchers appreciate the
value of the peer-review
process, but this is not so
everywhere.
s Methodological approaches.
Comparative international
researchers must develop an
understanding of the various
methodologies adopted by
their counterparts and tolerate
divergent methodologies.
Parochialism and egocentrism
will impair a project.
provides a portal to the world’s
largest database of criminal justice
literature for both a domestic and
an international audience.
Dissemination also takes place
through conferences, meetings,
and workshops of various kinds.
For example, in 1998 the International
Center coordinated or
participated in nearly 40 meetings
for international visitors to the
Office of Justice Programs and NIJ.
These meetings involved 117 visitors
from 34 countries who learned
about research being conducted in
the United States and about how to
initiate and maintain an exchange
of information with NIJ. In cooperMeeting
the Challenge of Transnational Crime
6
Special Initiatives
Among the numerous initiatives
that the International Center has
undertaken during the past year
are two that deserve special
mention.
Affiliation With the
United Nations
NIJ is a member of the UN Crime
Prevention and Criminal Justice
Program Network, along with
approximately a dozen regional and
interregional institutes from around
the world. The Center serves as
NIJ’s principal liaison with these
institutes and the UN Center for
International Crime Prevention in
Vienna, Austria.
Center staff have played a major
role in assisting the UN as it
mounts studies of transnational
organized crime, corruption, and
human trafficking. The Center is
directly engaged in researching
transnational organized crime
groups operating in the United
States as part of the UN’s global
study and has been assisting in the
development of the UN Convention
on Transnational Organized Crime.
The Center also organized a workshop
on women as victims and
survivors for the United Nations
Congress held in Vienna, Austria,
in April 2000. This workshop outlined
a host of issues that need to
be addressed by the global community
and presented examples
of effective programs operating
around the world.
Partnership With Ukraine
Perhaps the most challenging,
but in many ways most exciting,
activity during the past 2 years has
been developing the United StatesUkraine
Research Partnership,
which operates within the framework
of a joint United StatesUkraine
commission called the
Gore-Kuchma Binational
Commission.
Funded with $1.1 million from
the State Department, this project
supports American and Ukrainian
researchers who are collaborating
on joint studies of organized crime,
drug trafficking, and human trafficking
in Ukraine. The project is
also assessing law enforcement
training delivered to Ukrainians by
Americans and is building Internet
connectivity among American and
Ukrainian researchers and practitioners.
Results of the research
partnership are expected toward
the end of next year.
NIJ’s involvement in Ukrainian
criminal justice issues illustrates
a key raison d’etre for the International
Center. Some might ask:
Of what interest or value is
Ukrainian criminal justice research
to American criminal justice, and
ultimately to American taxpayers?
The answer is multifaceted.
First, Ukraine is the third largest
recipient of U.S. foreign aid, it
supports American interests in the
former Soviet Union, and it is a
repository of significant nuclear
capability. Ukraine shares, with
Colombia and Nigeria, the highest
priority status of the State Department.
The United States, thus,
has an interest in helping Ukraine
reduce crime and improve law
enforcement as part of the effort
to achieve political, economic,
and social stability.
Second, the United States has
invested heavily in law enforcement
training in Ukraine. American
policymakers and law enforcement
participants need to know how
effective the training has been.
Finally, and most practically, it
is in America’s best interests to
assist Ukraine in solving its crime
problems—whether they be in
trafficking women, children, drugs,
arms, or nuclear materials, or in
some type of organized crime—
before they spill over the borders
into Europe and the United States.
By doing so, NIJ helps to achieve
the crime control and safe streets
goals set for it 30 years ago.
National Institute of Justice Journal s July 2000
7
ation with Howard University’s
South Africa studies program, the
Center cohosted a workshop on
treatment, training, and health care
in South African prisons and jails
for South Africa’s Minister of
Correctional Services.
In the years leading up to the
creation of NIJ over 30 years ago,
crime in America was very much a
domestic issue fueled by crime in
the streets, urban riots, disregard
for law and order, and poor policecommunity
relations. Concerns
about international crime were
virtually non-existent. With the
exception of a few issues, such as
drug smuggling, transnational
crime was not considered a major
problem at that time.
Today, more than three decades
later, the crime situation in the
United States is vastly different.
Crimes that originate in one country
and occur in another and criminals
who migrate across national
borders have become almost commonplace.
As this phenomenon
changes the face of American crime,
NIJ’s International Center will continue
to advance awareness of these
types of crime and knowledge of
how to respond to them.
NCJ 183454
Notes
1. “Results of the supplement to
the Fourth United Nations
Survey of Crime Trends and
Operations of Criminal Justice
Systems, on Transnational
Crime (Interim report by the
Secretariat),” United Nations,
April 4, 1995.
2. Peter Reuter and Carol Petrie,
eds., Commission on Behavioral
and Social Sciences and
Education, Transnational
Organized Crime: Summary of
a Workshop, Washington, D.C.:
National Academy Press, 1999.
3. Statement from a focus group
conducted by NIJ’s International
Center, March 19, 1999.
4. The Rule of Law Foundation, a
nonprofit organization based in
Washington, D.C., has a successful
history of implementing
international projects related to
the design and development of
Internet-based information
systems for criminal justice.
Crimes that originate in one country
and occur in another and criminals
who migrate across national borders have
become almost commonplace. As this
phenomenon changes the face of
American crime, NIJ’s International Center
will continue to advance awareness of
these types of crime and knowledge of how
to respond to them.
For More Information
s Visit NIJ’s International Center at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/international.
s Visit the World Justice Information Network, a part of NIJ’s effort to create links around
the globe, at http://www.justinfo.net.
s Contact the International Center at 810 Seventh Street NW., Washington, DC 20531,
e-mail: intlcntr@ojp.usdoj.gov.