GLOBAL CRIME – intricately intertwined with

revolutionary technological, financial,

communications, economic, cultural and political
changes that characterize globalization, and it is
increasingly difficult to separate criminal activities
from legitimate global transactions.

Global crime is also linked to global poverty and

inequality, global migration, growth of global cities,
the expansion of free trade, rapid communications
and computer technologies.
 The GLOBALIZATION OF CRIME
Global crime has existed with legal commerce for
centuries. Alliances are common among criminal
organizations involved in trafficking in humans,
drugs, weapons, and various illicit products.
Criminal networks have benefitted more than
nation-states from the information revolution,
economic links, and other aspects of
globalization.
To an unprecedented degree of poignancy,
globalization heightens the awareness of the
economic and social disparities between the rich
and the poor within nations and between rich and
poor countries.
Not only do poor people perceive themselves as
losers in the process of globalization, they have
little incentive to adhere to rules that they
perceive to be adverse to their interest.

Although organized crime imposes excessive

burdens on society, particularly the poor, many
criminal groups, in order to gain political influence
and legitimacy, invest in social services, athletic
facilities, housing, and medical services.
These areas have been largely neglected by
many governments as part of the privatization
process required by economic globalization.
Ultimately, global crime is integrated into the
fabric of these societies and enjoys official and
unofficial protection. Consequently, there has
been an unprecedented escalation in such
crimes as trade in pirated goods, illegal arms,
human trafficking, and illegal drugs.
 THE GLOBAL DRUG PROBLEM
Norway [rank first in the world in terms of
income, health care, life expectancy, and
education] is regarded as having one of Europe’s
worst drug problems.
No society has managed to escape the
consequences of the global drug trade, because
the global drug problem is so closely
intertwined with other areas of globalization.
The growth of the opium trade was influenced
partly by China’s huge trade advantage with
Portugal, Holland, and Britain.
•Whereas China had silk, teas, pottery and other
items that Europeans wanted, Europe had little
to trade with China.
•Europeans, who had trafficked in opium in
parts of Asia, decided to sell it to China in order
to reduce the trade imbalances.
The British East India Company paid Asian farmers to
produce opium, which it then sold to independent
wholesalers. Opium cultivation in India grew steadily,
and the British pressured China to import it.
•Chinese resistance to the importation and
consumption of opium ultimately led to the Opium
Wars with Britain in 1939 and 1942. British military
power was instrumental in the legalization of opium in
china in 1958.
•The Portuguese, French, Spanish, and Dutch also
participated in the trade, creating opium addicts in
their colonies as well as in Europe.
Toward the end of the 19th century, the demand for opium in
Europe and America was on the rise, due to several factors:
1. Advancement in medical practices – discovery of morphine
and heroin
2. Cultural and economic changes that resulted from the
Industrial Revolution, particularly the consumption of
natural stimulants.
3. Migration of Chinese to America and elsewhere
4. Growth of global trade
5. Rise of mass-consumption habits, influenced by marketing
and mass communication
6. Military conflicts – demand for drugs to diminish pain.
•Heroin was smuggled in from areas that
cultivated opium poppies, primarily the Golden
Triangle countries [ Burma/Myanmar, Thailand
and Laos] and the Golden Crescent countries
[Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran].

•Cocaine came primarily from Colombia, Peru,

Bolivia, and other South American countries.
•Marijuana, now increasingly grown within
consuming countries, came primarily from
Mexico, Jamaica, Colombia, and Thailand.
Industrial countries are now themselves major
sources of illegal drugs. Night crowds world wide
routinely use Ecstasy, a euphoria-producing
psychedelic drug.

Distinctions between legal and illegal drugs are

diminishing as more people abuse medical
prescription medications.
 Cocaine

Heroin

Marijuana Ecstasy
Heroin is usually smoked ('chasing the dragon'), snorted or
prepared for injection. Heroin is a powerful pain killer and has
euphoric qualities. The combined effects make heroin a very
effective escapist drug.

Effects include: sense of wellbeing, feeling warm and content

drowsy and untroubled, sense of calm
feeling of pleasure, absence of worry, anxiety or pain

Cannabis (marijuana, grass, dope, pot, puff, weed)

Cannabis is usually smoked with tobacco. It is available in the form
of resin, dried and chopped leaves and - less commonly - oil. The
main active compound in cannabis is THC.
The effects of the drug are varied and include:
Euphoria, laughter, vivid sensations
imagery and hallucinations, persistent ideas, paranoia
EFFORTS TO CONTROL THE DRUG PROBLEM
1. War on Drugs – stresses supply side control
and harsh treatment of drug users.
2. Drug prevention and harm reduction –
emphasizes the need to keep drugs out of
society and to treat drug abuse as a disease.
America’s enactment of the Harrison Act in
1914 – required distributors and medical
prescribers of specified drugs to be
registered and pay taxes.
Opium Control Board – was established by the
League of Nations to monitor countries
compliance with international agreements on
controlling drugs.
Harm-reduction approaches acknowledge the
weakness of the war-on-drugs approach.
Holland decriminalizes possession and use of
small amounts of “soft” drugs [marijuana],
provides “safe injection rooms” so that addicts
can avoid public places, distributes sterile
syringes to reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS.
STRATEGIES TO REDUCE GLOBAL DRUG USE
America vs. Europe
U.S. stresses eliminating the growth of drug crops, cutting
off supplies, and punishing drug abusers.
America continues to have serious drug m, and drug
supplies have not been significantly reduced.
Metamphetamine labs can be found across the united
states and prescription drugs are widely abused. America
has the largest prison population in the world, due to the
large number of Americans who are imprisoned for
violating drug laws.
Europeans treat drug addiction as a medical problem, do
not arrest people for possessing or using small amounts of
drugs, and generally believe that focusing primarily on the
supply of drugs and declining to acknowledge that demand
for drugs is a major part of the problem will not reduce
global drug usage.

Evaluate the effectiveness of the European and American

approaches to drugs. Do you think the war on drugs is
counterproductive?
GLOBAL SMUGGLING OF MIGRANTS
In June 2000, British customs officials discovered
the bodies of 58 illegal Chinese immigrants in a
sealed compartment of a tomato truck.
- Chinese communities worldwide provide
extensive networks of connections that enable
global smuggling operations to be efficient and
lucrative. Price – between $30,000 and $60,000.
They pay an initial 10% of the smuggling cost and
relatives pay the rest once the migrants arrive at
their destinations.
I remember the term being used as early as the 1970s: TNT, which
meant tago ng tago (hiding and hiding) and referred
to Filipinos who went overseas usually as tourists, and then
stayed on without the proper papers. At that time, TNT mainly
referred to Filipinos in the United States.

Dangers of Being an Undocumented OFW

1. You will not be entitled to OFW benefits.
Tax-free shopping at Duty Free, exemption on travel tax and
airport terminal fee, housing loan benefits, and benefits from
OWWA.
2. You may be exposed to harsh working conditions.
3. You are at a higher risk of being punished.
4. You only have limited channels to seek help with.   

.
Cheng Chui-Ping [known as
Sister Ping] – she used her
entrepreneurial skills to build
a global smuggling network.
She sold clothes and operated
a restaurant. She was able to
bribe immigration officials and
obtain false documents for
migrants.
She received more than $ 40
million from her smuggling
network, making her a major
player.
CONTEMPORARY SLAVERY AND HUMAN
TRAFFICKING
Human trafficking – the forced or coerced
movement of people across national borders as
well as within countries.
Contemporary slavery – the transporting people
under false pretenses from one area to another,
where they are subjugated to forced labor or
prostitution.
•Human trafficking is a growing problem, partly because it
combines high profits, increasing demand, abundant
supply, relatively low risk of punishment, increasing sexual
tolerance worldwide.
•Because trafficking is conducted by individuals and small
groups, it is difficult to detect and control.

Feminization of migration – the increasing percentage of

women in the migrant population.
Many women are employed as domestic helpers, in
service industries, and in the entertainment industry as
dancers, strippers, and sex workers.
•Women and girls are generally perceived as replaceable
commodities by human traffickers. Although virtually all
societies have experienced human trafficking for sexual
purposes, this practice seems to be more prevalent in
several Asian countries.
•Netherlands, Germany, Japan, United Arab Emirates,
Israel, Greece, South Korea, Turkey, Austria, Belgium,
Bosnia, USA, and Canada are the principal destinations.

•Many young women worldwide are seduced by romantic

images of the West to take risks that often result in their
sexual exploitation. Poverty has usually been a major
factor influencing human trafficking.
•Forced to leave orphanages at at age 16 or 17, many
become homeless.

•Abandoned by impoverished families.

•The role of the state shrinks and privatization becomes

dominant, financial support for social services has
diminished globally.

•Revolutions in communications and transportation

facilitate the proliferation of matchmaking services, many
of which are owned and operated by organized crime.
The rapid growth of sex tourism in Asia and elsewhere
reinforces the sexual exploitation of women and girls
within their societies. What’s more, the AIDS pandemic is
influencing human traffickers to find younger women and
girls, especially virgins, because customers believe they
are less likely to be infected with HIV and AIDS.
Legalizing Sex Trade
In Germany, 3 out of 4 sex workers are foreigners
In Netherlands, 1 out of 2 sex workers are foreigners
The Netherlands legalized prostitution is a $1 billion a
year industry and roughly 5% of that country’s economy.
In Germany, sex trade contributes approx. $4.5 billion.
 Very few traffickers are prosecuted and
convicted.
Illegal immigration status of trafficked
women becomes impediment to punishing
criminals involved in trafficking.
In 2006, John Miller persuaded Japan to
reduce the number of entertainment visas
for women from the Philippines from 80,000
to 5,000 a year.
 CRIMINAL GANGS AND KIDNAPPING
Globalization helps gangs to grow
Internet enables them to form alliances, to learn
from each other, and to terrorize. Repeated
exposure to violent television programs, movies,
video games, and magazines – reinforces their
violent behavior.
Ethnic conflicts and civil wars, combined with easy
access to guns, provide fertile ground for gang
violence.
Young people between the ages 16 and
24 tend to commit most of the crimes,
especially in densely populated areas.
Poverty and the decline of social services
often combine to influence parents to
abandon their children, making them
vulnerable to gangs.
Gang violence – increases political instability,
weakens democratic institutions, increases
human rights violations, and impedes
economic development.
Kidnapping is often an integral component
of gang violence.
Gang violence usually generates counter
violence by vigilante groups, the military, and
police officers.
Gang members recreated their violent
lifestyles.
They routinely force residents of poor
neighborhoods to pay protection fees,
demand war taxes from businesses, and often
murder individuals who refuse to or cannot
pay them. Rapes of young women, homes are
robbed, school children are turned into drug
addicts, and kidnappings occur frequently.
 MONEY LAUNDERING
Many criminals open bank accounts without
having to face any financial scrutiny.
Money laundering – the concealment of
money obtained from illegal activities and
finding ways to make the money appear as
though it was derived from legitimate
sources.
Many banks in the Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayaman Islands,
Nauru, Liechtenstein, Panama, and elsewhere have strict
secrecy laws designed to conceal money and allow it to be
easily transferred and invested in legal activities.

Grand Cayaman , with a population of approx. 36,000 is

one of the largest financial centers in the world. Although
generally perceived as a tourist destination, Grand
Cayaman is dominated by banking and financial industries.
- More than 2,200 mutual funds, 500 insurance companies,
60,000 businesses, and 600 banks and with almost $800
billion in assets.
For many years, the United states expressed
little interest in preventing money
laundering, partly because it viewed such
efforts as impediments to free markets and
financial globalization.
Many American sheltered money from
dictators and others from around the world.
Ex. Riggs Bank in Washington DC sheltered
funds from Augusto Pinochet, former dictator
of Chile.
The issue of money laundering is complicated by
the very nature of financial globalization and the
speed and complexity of financial transactions in a
global economy.
Technological revolutions facilitate concealing both
legitimate income from taxation authorities and
financial gains from drug trafficking and other
global criminal activities.
Furthermore, the proliferation of financial
institutions globally makes gov’t regulation of
them extremely difficult.
ILLEGAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED ANIMALS AND PLANTS
Divergent perceptions
• Elephants are regarded as exotic by residents in rich
countries
• Many Africans view them as threats to their safety and
their crops.
• Carefully managed animals and plants can play a major
role in eco-tourism and other aspects of economic
development

Illegal wildlife trade also raises such issues as sustainability

and biological diversity.
 ILLEGAL TRADE IN HUMAN ORGANS
Countries purchasing organs are wealthy and countries
supplying organs are generally poor.
• Average seller is around 29 yo.
• Average buyer is around 48 yo.
Issues:
• Organ theft – medical centers used human heart valves
obtained illegally from cadavers of poor people.
•Organs are illegally obtained from morgues.
•Inauthentic death certificates that indicated the wrong
ages and causes of death for several donors. [donors with
communicable diseases.
 CYBERCRIMES AND PIRACY
Just individuals use the internet to conduct
legal business, organized crime as well
individuals take advantage of this technology
to commit crimes. In fact, a national survey
commissioned by IBM Corporation in 2oo6
found that most internet users believe that
they are more likely to be victims of
cybercrime than a physical crime.
 CYBERCRIMES AND PIRACY
Cybercrimes – standard crimes committed online or
harmful behavior that is connected to computers.
Examples: fraud [online shopping], pornography,
smuggling, copyright and software piracy, identity theft,
and extortion.
The proliferation of online shopping has been a boon for
cybercriminals. eBay, the biggest online marketplace, has
roughly 180 million members worldwide and more than
60 million items for sale at any particular time. Both
distance and anonymity conspire to render the
commission for fraudulent activities.
Software Piracy
The essential role of computer software in global
operations makes it a prime target for cybercriminals. So
pervasive is software piracy that many ordinary individuals
do not perceive stealing software as a crime.

•Widespread use of credit cards and the growth of

electronic banking facilitate a wide array of fraudulent
activities.

•Crashing in global systems and impeding their operation

-Penetrating security organizations and threaten vital
national interests.
- criminals demand ransom; to avoid computer systems to
be disabled, the VIP paid.
Criminals employ sophisticated viruses to disable
computer systems.
•“Love Bug” virus originated in the Philippines
affected millions of computers worldwide. Such
viruses are occurring with increasing frequency.
• 2006, “Kama Sutra” virus was programmed to
overwrite documents, images, and compressed
computer files. The virus infected computers
through an e-mail that promised racy pictures.
 GLOBAL RESPONSES TO CRIME
Countries are ill equipped to effectively respond to global
crime activities.
The hierarchical structure of countries is a liability in an
increasingly decentralized global society.
Globalization has diminished the ability of states to
exercise effective jurisdiction over their territories and yo
regulate trade.

Interpol [International Criminal Police Organization] – a

global clearinghouse for police information that assist
countries in criminal cases.
Based in France, Interpol has a budget of roughly $ 25
millions in 2001. global criminal organizations make more
than $ 1.5 trillion a year.
Interpol’s role is important.
It collects and analyzes data obtained from member
countries for strategic and tactical intelligence reports,
supports global crime investigations, organizes operational
working meetings among countries, and organizes
regional and global conferences.
178 countries have joined Interpol.
UN Convention Against Transnational
Organized Crime – a global agreement that
outlaws bank secrecy, keeps prosecutors
worldwide in contact by e-mail, allows
international arrest warrants to be sent by e-
mail, provides videoconferences to allow
witnesses to testify without having to travel
around the world, and creates international
witness protection programs.
GLOBAL DRUG PROBLEM
CONTEMPORARY SLAVERY AND HUMAN
TRAFFICKING
MONEY LAUNDERING
ILLEGAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED ANIMALS
AND PLANTS
ILLEGAL TRADE IN HUMAN ORGANS
CYBER CRIMES AND PIRACY