Causes of Global Crime

The marxist perspective

16 mins

AO1 P One cause of global crime according to marxists is the criminogenic

values and norms people are socialized into by global capitalism.

Ex Global capitalism refers to capitalism that transcends national borders,

and it has been facilitated by worldwide market liberalization and
integration.

AO2 Sm 1 Today, we live in what David D. Hale called 'the Second Great Age of
Global Capitalism'.

Sm 2 According to Taylor, characteristics of global capitalism such as

marketisation have encouraged the rise in global crime as it encourages
the free market ideology of neoliberalism. Marketisation, characterized
by companies spending large amounts on advertising to promote what
Marcuse labels as false needs to the masses, has given rise to a
materialistic society that associates status and success with the
acquisition of wealth and consumer goods.

AO3 An Therefore, people are willing to engage in criminal activities such as the
production and distribution of counterfeit products. In 2016, a joint report
by the OECD and EUIPO concluded that imports of counterfeit and
pirated goods, especially of designer goods and labels, are worth nearly
half a trillion dollars a year, or around 2.5 percent of global imports.

Eval Globalization is not a single watertight phenomenon. It is intermixed with

many phenomena such as industrialisation, growth of international law, a
shift towards capitalism and the rise of democracy. Where the effects of
one end and the other begins is still unclear.

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 AO1 P Another cause of global crime is poverty.

Ex Evidence suggests that economic deprivation and domestic political

conflict such as war shapes the supply of global drugs.

AO2 Sm 1 In the developing world, poverty and war have forced some farmers to
abandon conventional crops in favor of illicit cash crops. For example, In
Bolivia, farmers switched to planting coca plants due to the strain the
decision of major companies such as Coca-cola to replace tin cans with
aluminum put on the economy. This is because the drug cartels were
willing to pay a greater price for illicit cash crops than farmers would get
for conventional crops.

Sm 2 Cohen and Kennedy argue that the illegal trade in cocaine and heroin is
the most lucrative of all international crimes. According to Claire
Hargreaves, the USA alone consumed about 28 million dollars worth of
cocaine in the 1990s.

AO3 An Such lucrative financial prospects entice those in vulnerable economic

positions who seem to have no alternative to ensure the survival of their
family and themselves. As a result of this, they turn to farming illegal
cash crops in order to avoid abject poverty. It is clear, therefore, that
poverty and financial insecurity are major contributors to global crime, as
they push individuals in need of money to grow illegal cash crops that
are highly valued by criminal organizations such as cartels.

Eval

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AO1 P Sociologists argue that unemployment has shaped the demand for
global drugs.

Ex Global economic recession in the 1970s and the deindustrialization of

Europe and the USA caused by the decision of TNCs to shift their
manufacturing to the developing world brought about economic
depression, long-term unemployment and severe economic deprivation,
and this has coincided with a rise in the recreational drug use such as
 heroin in areas such as the UK and in the former industrial heartlands of
Chicago, Detroit and Baltimore.

AO2 Sm Amy Bognert supports this hypothesis, pointing out that heroin and
cannabis are being consumed mainly by young adults living in
lower-socio economic urban neighborhoods in the USA.

AO3 An This suggests that the negative effects associated with low employment
prospects such as low self esteem, boredom and humiliation could be a
significant factor influencing the decision to use hard drugs. Therefore,

Eval

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AO1 P Another cause of global crime is international tourism.

Ex Some poorer countries are viewed as a haven for sexual predators who
visit as tourists and exploit women and children in the local sex industry,
who are vulnerable due to financial insecurity.

AO2 Sm 1 Diane Pearce

(1978) coined the phrase ‘the feminisation of poverty’ to illustrate that
women wherever they are in the world have always experienced more
poverty than men.

Sm 2 According to Cohen and Kennedy

In Thailand and the Philippines, sex tourism is the highest earner of
foreign exchange into the country.

AO3 Sm 3 A report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime states that
Southeast Asia, including Thailand and the Philippines, is a major hub
for child and teenage prostitutes.

Eval
AO1 P The rise in global crime can also be linked to economic globalization.

Ex Marxists argue that the deregulation of the world’s financial system has
allowed global criminals and the super rich to launder profits from illegal
actvities through the use of shell companies.(1) In addition, the
digitalization and the globalization of the banking sector enables tax
evasion through the use of offshore accounts.
For example, places like the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and
the Bahamas have become tax havens, which Bullough refers to as
moneyland.

AO2 Sm 1 For example, in 2012 the United States authorities investigated and
fined a big bank known as HSBC 1.9 billion dollars for allowing the
Mexican cartels to use the bank to launder its money.

Sm 2 According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the

estimated amount of money laundered globally in one year is 2 - 5% of
global GDP.

AO3 An

Eval

AO1 P The liberal migration policy in Europe has also contributed to the
increase in international crimes.

Ex The open door policy of the European Union that makes it easy for
people to freely move from one EU country to another. This is because it
makes it easy for criminal gangs to operate as they are able to send
their representatives into Europe, where they engage in criminal
activities.

AO2 Sm 1 For example, 20% of the crimes committed in western European

countries are committed by other nationalities.

Sm 2 Franco
These people who commit crimes in other countries are referred to as
global outcasts.
AO3 An

Eval

AO1 P Global crime has been facilitated by the advent of global capitalism due
to increased interconnectedness.

Ex Global crime is often organized along business lines and is facilitated by

access to international commercial networks associated with the spread
of global capitalism.

AO2 Sm 1 Castells
Argues that globalization resulted in the development of physical, digital
and financial networks that cut across national borders and which led to
knowledge as well as goods and people moving quickly, easily and
cheaply across the world.

Sm 2

AO3 An Capitalists use these physical networks to enable them to undertake

illegal trade such as drug trafficking to become rich at the expense of the
poor.

Eval