International Crime and Transnational Crime Notes PDF

International Crime and Transnational Crime A broad term covering any crime punishable by a state with international origin or consequences - A crime recognised as punishable by the international community (eg. Drug trafficking) Categories of International Crime: -​ Crimes against the Interna...

International Crime and Transnational Crime A broad term covering any crime punishable by a state with international origin or consequences - A crime recognised as punishable by the international community (eg. Drug trafficking) Categories of International Crime: -​ Crimes against the International Community (eg. Genocide, War Crimes, crimes against Humanity, Crimes of Aggression) -​ Transnational Crime (Human Trafficking) Transnational Crimes: Crimes that take place across international borders. -​ Similar to domestic crimes but involves movement across borders (eg. fraud, hacking, drug trafficking, human trafficking) -​ May originate in one country but the result or injury may occur in another Globalisation, Trade liberalisation and Technology and increased the type and volume of transnational crimes -​ Provision of illicit goods (drug trafficking, trafficking in stolen property, weapons trafficking and counterfeiting) -​ Provision of illicit services (commercial sex and human trafficking) -​ Infiltration of business and government (fraud, racketeering, money laundering, and corruption) affecting multiple countries. Transnational crimes may cross many borders -​ Causes of transnational crimes - Differences in socioeconomic conditions between countries - The desire for prohibited good or services - Differences in political ideology - Belief that the transnational element will prevent detection (eg tax evasion, international money laundering) - Prove or financial gain - Revenge Transnational crimes will usually be prosecuted under the law a country's domestic jurisdiction -​ The target country will usually be enforced through local legislation.  -​ Prosecution can be difficult especially with the increase of technology allowing criminals anonymity, thus prosecuting such crime will need the affected countries to cooperate internationally. Eg. The AFP tipped off the Indonesian Police about the Bali 9 taking attempting to smuggle drugs out of the country to Australia, They were charged under Indonesian Domestic law. Chan and Sukamaran were executed in 2015. (Australia did not want to jeopardise further communication by treating this cade any differently, two are returning, the other executed by firing squad) Dealing with International Crime: Domestic Measures Australian law enforcement cannot operate in a foreign country and Australian courts do not have jurisdiction over crimes committed under foreign laws, so their effectiveness is inhibited without cooperation from foreign countries. Australia's response can be extradition, mutual assistance and prosection (eg. R v Tang) -​ Based on communication, agreement and extradition treaty. Extradition - Returning a person accused of committing a crime in another jurisdiction back to the country where the crime was committed Returning a person accused relies on two factors - the matter is also an offence in Australia or/and the punishment cannot be more extreme or harsher than the maximum penalty in Aus Transnational Crime: -​ Be prosecuted under the law of one and another country's domestic jurisdiction. -​ For many crimes the element of the crime will not be complete until the border is crossed, so the target country will usually be the enforcer through domestic legislation. -​ Technological elements and its anonymity, make it difficult to prosecute -​ Trans-border detection and enforcement of criminal laws relies on global cooperation between affected countries. Australian Assistance with Foreign Jurisdictions in Criminal Matters The Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1987 (Cth) regulates assistance to foreign countries The Attorney General can refused a request if: -​ The offence is a political offence  -​ The purpose id discriminatory -​ The request would prejudice Australian sovereignty or national security -​ The offence is not recognised under Australian law Extradition Treaties Extradition - the legal surrender of a suspect or convicted criminal by one jurisdiction to another to face criminal charges or sentence -​ Extradition is governed by the Extradition Act 1988 (Cth) A treaty must be in place before Australia will extradite a person: -​ Alleged offence must be an offence in Australia -​ Punishment cannot be more severe than that of the Australian courts. Domestic Measures AFP -​ Has posts in, more than 25 countries, deploys international police for monitoring and peacekeeping as well as specialist training for transnational crimes -​ Protects embassies -​ Child protection, terrorism operations, human trafficking, drug operations -​ Continues to develop relations with other regional bodies to combat transnational crime Operation Ironside was a long-term, covert investigation into transnational and serious organised crime allegedly responsible for large drug imports, drug manufacturing and attempts to kill. -​ A 3 year operation, the AFP and the FBI monitored criminals’ encrypted communications over a Dedicated Encrypted Communications Platform. We built a capability that allowed law enforcement to access, decrypt and read communications on the platform. We captured all the data sent between devices using the platform. Commonwealth Attorney-General Department -​ Reports and provides advice on Australia's compliance with its international obligations -​ Overseas legislation and provides advice on their implementation -​ Provides general info to the public and parliament on the status of Australia's efforts against transnational crime. Australian Crime Commission (ACC) - has been replaced by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission -​ Provides critical intelligence to combat transnational serious and organised crime, they collect, assess and disseminate intelligence and policing information (Government funds them 60 million dollars per year) Australian Customs and Border Protection Services  -​ National agency responsible for the security and integrity of Australian border. Works with government and international agencies to detect and deter the unlawful movement of goods or people across international borders. Australian High Tech Crime Centre (AHTCC) Created in 2002 to coordinate all Australian law enforcement authorities in fighting serious types of crime that involve technology - has representatives from ever australian jurisdiction + is funded by all states and territories Numerous state and territory bodies that investigate transnational crimes due to their cross jurisdictional nature -​ Eg. In NSW there are the Independent Commission against Corruption, the NSW Crime Commission, Police Integrity Commission and divisions within NSW police. State and territory bodies eg NSW Police force -​ Share intelligence, focus on cooperation and coordination Transnational Crime -​ The Australian Government funds the following law enforcement agencies to deal with transnational crime AFP - Australian Federal Police -​ Established under the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 (CTH) to enforce Commonwealth Criminal Law and to protect Australia's interest from crime in Australia and overseas. - Role has considerably grown with and increase in transnational crime. International Measures -​ Cooperation between governments through international treaties and organisations targeted at specific types of crime -​ International Courts and tribunals -​ Co-operations and intelligence sharing between national agencies to tackle problems of trans-border crime INTERPOL -​ Originated in France, aims to share information internationally. (Headquarters are located in Lyon, France. There are seven regional offices globally and a representative office at the UN and EU) The largest international police organisation with 190 member countries -​ Enables police globally to work together to fight international crime Crime priority crime areas: -​ Drugs/criminal organisations -​ Public safety and terrorsim -​ Financial and high tech crime -​ Human trafficking -​ Fugitives -​ Corruption They provide targeted training, expert investigative support, relevant data and secure communication channels -​ Action is taken within the framework of existing laws in different countries and in the spirit of the UDHR. Convention Agaisnt Transnational Organised Crime The UN Convention against TN Organised Crime began in 2000 and has three protocols that counties become a party to once they sign. -​ Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons especially Women and Children -​ Protocol against the smuggling of Migrants by Land, Air and Sea -​ Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of Trafficking and Firearms Signatories must ensure their own domestic criminal offences regulate participation of organised crimes, money laundering and other corruption - have extradition procedures in place It upgrades the capacity of national authorities to deal with transnational organised crime networks. Pacific Transnational Crime Network (PTCN) Formed in 2002 as a response to increases in regional transnational crime, Initiative of the AFP that strong relationships were needed between Australia and its pacific neighbours. HQ in Samoa, attempts to combat criminal activity such as drugs, arms smuggling, money laundering -​ Pacific nations are considered vulnerable to TN crime due to lack of resources in law enforcement and crime detections (poverty, unsustainable foundational resources.) The largest methamphetamine laboratory in the southern hemisphere was discovered and dismantled in Fiji for potential markets in Aus, NZ, EU and USA The formation of the PTCN has significantly reduced operational costs for the AFP Limitations: -​ Some states may lack the skills, training and resources to combat crime (AFP Transpecific) -​ The increase of technology and globalisation has increased the scale of TN crimes -​ Political Unrest and State Corruption may also inhibit Crime detection and prosecution -​ States where rule of law may be weak become targets by organised crime groups -​ State require significant cooperation and sharing of skills, resources and intelligence -​ There has been some success, homeware TN crimes still going to remain, thus an increased effort is needed to tackle future issues Preliminary Crimes Offences that precede the committing of a crime that has not actually been completed (ie offender was unsuccessful or interrupted) Attempt: Still considered to be an offence and will usually be punishable by the same penalty. Some attempts are dealt with specifically (eg. attempted murder) -​ In some cases there could be a reasonable explanation for the conduct in question so the prosecution need to prove the offence was all but completed, despite the intention to complete it. (eg. R v Whybrow (1951) failed electrocution)