The Impact of Globalization on the Experiences of Perpetrators and Victims of Crime

Introduction:

Globalisation is one of the most important phenomenon of the 21st century. Apart from having an impact on the development of communication channels, transportation, financial networks and opening markets, globalisation also impacts the growth of the illicit and illegal activities that proliferate in the globalised environment. This essay critically analyses the impact of globalisation on the victims and perpetrators of crime, with emphasis on drug smuggling, human trafficking, and terrorism.

Globalisation and Transnational Crime

Research indicates that there is a rise in drug trafficking, which can be attributed to the global forces that facilitate trafficking across borders (United Nations Office on Drugs, & Crime, 2010). Drug traffickers have taken advantage of the forces of globalisation, like improved communication, transportation and financial systems that have allowed the world to get smaller and closer (United Nations Office on Drugs, & Crime, 2010). This also has implications for criminal business activity, such as, drug trade, prostitution, illegal arms trade, and human trafficking, which are also facilitated by the use of the same market forces that allow the development of licit business activity. The emergence of illegal markets in the important global cities for example, has led to the conditions that are conducive to illicit trade (Salt, 2000). By helping facilitate crime in transnational contexts, globalisation has specific implications for both perpetrators of the crimes as well as the victims. Therefore, it can be said that globalisation affects both perpetrators as well as victims in specific ways. For the perpetrators, globalisation offers new opportunities and markets; for the victims, globalisation presents more threats and risks.

To define globalisation first, one may refer to an early definition of this phenomenon by Giddens (1990), where he says that globalisation is where “local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa” (p.64). Thus, one way of defining globalisation is that it is a phenomenon that sees the impact of happenings in one place, in another place. In the context of the present times, this impact of local happenings is felt more strongly because of the development of information networks, such as, Internet and the development of communication technologies, such as Social Media. Stiglitz (2015) has defined globalisation as a complex range of processes that are shaped by political and economic factors. This is more relevant to business activity in a globalised world where economic and political factors are shaping much of the responses of the business activity. In a similar way, OECD (2001) has defined the “globalisation of industry” as reflected in the evolving pattern of cross-border business activities (p. 13). Yet another definition of globalisation was provided by Lall (2002), where he notes:

“Globalisation is a multi-faceted phenomenon, and each facet may have different effects on employment, varying by country, time, industry, policies and the like. It comes as a part of large array of economic, technical, social, legal and policy changes, each with interactions and feedbacks, making is difficult to separate the effects of globalisation” (p. 2).

Lall (2002) reflects correctly on the complex nature of globalisation and the processes that define globalisation. The definitions provided above help to establish that globalisation is a complex phenomenon and process which has significant impacts for business, trade, and communication. Globalisation also has a significant impact on the growth of transnational crime. Transnational crimes are those that have cross border impacts and can be perpetrated in more than one country, usually through organised criminal groups (Boister, 2003). Therefore, these are the crimes that involve the use of territories of more than one country, as there is a transit of criminal activity from one country’s borders to the other’s (Boister, 2003). In this context, Williams (2013) makes an important point where he says that the increase of international trade, development of information and communications revolutions, and further development of a global financial system have provided conditions that encourage and facilitate the growth of both licit and illicit business. Due to these developments, the experiences of the perpetrators of illicit criminal activity have changed as they now have new opportunities to operate across national borders, which also leads to higher profits for them (Williams, 2013). To this end, the Queer Ladder Theory has been used to explain the conditions that lead to involvement of people in organised crime for the purpose of attaining economic empowerment (Okoli & Orinya, 2013).

Transnational organised crime groups have been compared to the multinational companies in the context that they like the multinational companies are also looking to make larger profits, employ strategic priorities for globalised activity, and involve more than one country to conduct their activity (Potter, 2006). Due to the impacts of globalisation, there is now a greater scope for transnational criminal activity to proliferate and the same factors that are attractive to licit business activities, such as, availability of cheap human labour, resources in the developed countries, open markets, and improved transportation, are also significant for the illicit criminal activities’ proliferation (Potter, 2006). Picarelli (2009) has proposed a typology of three groups of transnational crimes. According to him, transnational organised crimes can be committed by small trafficking groups that are made up of few entrepreneurial individuals, or cooperatives consisting of individuals and small groups, or single large criminal organisations (Picarelli, 2009).

An example of a transnational crime, which is affected by globalisation and in which the change in the experiences of victims and perpetrators is seen due to increased globalisation is that of human trafficking. Human trafficking and drug smuggling are also interlinked and affected by the same processes of globalisation. Human trafficking involves the transfer of victims across the border and due to the nature of the trade, there are domestic and international implications in this crime. The forces of globalisation that are involved in the facilitation of this crime, also makes it difficult for the states to control or limit the incidence of this crime, as noted by Roza Pati:

“The dehumanization of individuals, which it so often entails, takes place within and outside the borders of one state and one legal system. When trafficking occurs within a single state, the government of that state can address the issue comprehensively and effectively within its borders. However, when any element of the process relates to a foreign state, be it the nationality of the victim or the state in which the victim is temporarily crossing during his or her trafficking passage, not only is the control of the state over this activity legally and factually limited, but the victim is also put in a precarious position” (Pati, 2011, p. 82).

The experiences of the victims involved in human trafficking have become more precarious, as noted by Pati (2011) above, which is due to the globalised nature of the crime that presents difficulties in controlling the crime or the perpetrators. Pati (2011) uses the term ‘dehumanisation of individuals’ to show the impact of the crime on the victims and the way victims are perceived by the perpetrators. For this reason, human trafficking is considered to be a serious transnational crime, which is linked to other serious crimes, such as, forced prostitution, slave trading, forced organ transplantation, and drug smuggling through use of human beings (Boister, 2012). Indeed, the Interpol has noted that illegal drugs trafficking is one of the three most most widespread global criminal activities, which needs to be seriously tackled with global measures (UNESCO, 2010).

An important point that needs to be made of the experiences of perpetrators in the context of globalised crime is that the proliferation of global networks has means that major criminal syndicates are not just involved in one kind of criminal activity, but are increasingly showing a propensity to combine different kinds of illicit activities and then using the same global channels to do their business. In this regard human, drugs, and arms trafficking, are generally proliferated by the same criminal syndicates as seen in the work of criminal syndicates are seen in Mexico and Central America that are involved in multiple trafficking activities involving both human victims and drugs and arms trade (Hawley, 2010). Thus, in Mexico, drug cartels are also involved in human trafficking, abductions, arms trafficking, human organ trafficking and software piracy (Hawley, 2010). This complicates the experiences of the victims, to may be abducted for the purpose of human trafficking or prostitution across borders, and in the process whose bodies may be used to transport drugs from one country to the other. Human victims of these crime syndicates are therefore put at more risk of dangerous crimes as seen in a single incident in 2010 in Mexico, when 72 dead bodies of immigrants were discovered in an area that is known to be the war zone of the drug cartels (Hawley, 2010).

Globalisation has also led to the facilitation of transnational terrorism as cross border networks, such as, communication networks, financial systems, and logistics, facilitate the commission of international terror acts (Nassar, 2009). Transnational terrorism is defined as a phenomenon where “victims are located in a different country or citizens of a different country than that in which terrorists originate” (Zimmermann, 2011, p. S153). Perhaps the most famous example of such globalised terror is the September 11, 2001 attack in the United States, although it is not the only example as there has been a spate of transnational terror activity since 2001, facilitated by the forces of globalisation (Nassar, 2009). The forces of globalisation has led to an increase in recruitment by terror organisations through the use of Internet and Social Media, from local groups and populations around the world (Nassar, 2009, p. 114). Even citizens of western nations have been proved to not be protected from such nefarious criminal activity as there is specific targeting of citizens of United States, United Kingdom, France, and Belgium to name a few western countries (Nassar, 2009). On the other hand, globalisation and the improved communication systems have also led to the exposure of the fact that there are communities across the world that are excluded from the economic benefits of globalisation, which are manifested in Social Media posts that exude general prosperity of the western populations (Khan & Estrada, 2017). Exclusion from economic development may be a reason why some communities or groups of people may be more susceptible to joining terror organisations or drug cartels (Krieger & Meierrieks, 2011). Added to that is the ease with which terror organisations and drug cartels are able to reach out to people with their propaganda due to the proliferation of communication technologies (Khan & Estrada, 2017). The ability to use different media for reaching out to a larger audience has been one of the significant fallouts of the information age in context of terrorism (Khan & Estrada, 2017).

Conclusion

Globalisation presents new opportunities to the perpetrators of crimes, such as, terrorism, drug trafficking and human trafficking. The open markets, telecommunications, information technologies, global financial systems, all make is easier for perpetrators of transnational crimes, especially organised crime syndicates, to conduct their nefarious activities beyond the borders of states. There is an increase in drug trafficking and many crime syndicates combine illicit trade in drugs, with arms smuggling and human trafficking. For the victims of these crimes, globalisation presents new threats because victimisation can take on multiple forms. A victim of human trafficking can also be made a drug carrier; or be subjected to forceful organ removal for organ trafficking. Globalisation opens new markets for such illicit operations and facilitates these operations in the same way as licit trade is facilitates in international contexts. Therefore, as beneficial globalisation has been for licit business, it has provided the same benefits for the illicit businesses, thereby improving the experiences of the perpetrators of crimes, but further complicating the position of the victim of these crimes.

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