Criminology Part I

Prof. Gerhard Muller is a famous criminologist and a prominent specialist in the fight against organized crime. For more than two decades he has headed the United Nations' Commission for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, and is a classifier of international mafia groups. The world has become small. Air passenger traffic rose from 26 billion to 600 billion man-miles in the period between I960 and 1992. World imports in­creased from $330 billion in 1960 to $3,500 billion in 1990. Billions of dollars daily change hands by electronic transfer, and nearly half of this wealth is con­cealed from taxmen in order to keep its origin secret.

When criminal acts, deals and schemes violate the laws of more than one country, they are said to be transnational crimes. The UN has classified all transnational crimes into 17 groups.

MONEY LAUNDERING aims at legalizing ill-gotten profits. A huge portion of this money is earned through bribery, corruption, black-market activ­ity, tax evasion, and especially through arms smuggling, the sale of stolen art objects, and dug trafficking.

It has been established that the annual proceeds from the illicit sale of nar­cotics worldwide are between $300 billion and $500 billion. What do the dug barons do with this fabulous wealth? In the United States, nothing, because this is dirty cash. But it can be laundered abroad and brought back to the U.S. to buy whole industries, real estate and political influence.

The most common way of laundering money is to take it to a foreign coun­try clandestinely, and place it in bank accounts there via repeated international transfers, after which it will be impossible to trace its origin. Finally, the "clean" bills are legally invested in the economy but remain under the underworld's control.

We do not know the true magnitude of money laundering, but investigation by the Group of Seven industrialized nations is yielding fruit. Investigation is carried out in those countries where the secrecy of bank deposits is guarded by law; the aim of investigation is to secure information on suspicious bank ac­counts.

TERRORISM. Only recently, most Americans knew little about the scope of international terrorism because their country was not affected. The ter­rorist act at New York's International Trade Center, the explosion during the Olympic Games in Atlanta, and the blowing up of American planes made them aware that Americans and American interests are becoming a target of interna­tional terrorism.

Governments in all countries (except those that support international ter­rorism) hoped to curb international terrorism through international negotiations and accords. But every round of talks left the adherents of a "Firm hand" dis­satisfied. As a result, acts of terrorism are continuing, while modern communi­cations and means of transport are making it easier to commit such acts. Gov­ernments that are tough toward terrorists must therefore be prepared for sudden terrorist retaliation.

An international mechanism that would ensure the arrest and extradition of international terrorists is still in the making. Criminologists are still studying the problem of terrorism, which knows no state frontiers.

1. What is Prof. Gerhard Muller famous for?

2. What is the aim of money laundering?

3. How are ill-gotten profits earned?

4. How did the governments try to do away with international terrorism?

5. What measures can we take to curb international terrorism?