Organized Crime In Europe

Within the Criminology community, a debate is unfolding about whichmodel is most appropriate to apply to understanding of thephenomenon of 'organized crime'. A key component of thedefinitional problem revolves around the question of whetherorganized crime is best conceptualized in terms of the characteristicsof a group or a criminal activity. Historically, the main focus has beenupon organized crime group and modes of operation. Most recently, inEurope the trend has been towards an activity focus. However, thiskind of research model has neither been recognized nor been paidenough attention by Chinese criminology. Therefore it is veryimportant for us to understand what happened in Europe and introducesome new concepts into our criminology. This paper thus thoroughlyexamines new developments of criminology concerning organizedcrime in Europe and consequent operational and strategic responseswith the aim to provide reference for Chinese criminology. Thestructure of this paper has been divided into four chapters with total30,000 words.The first chapter focuses on the definitions of organized crime used byEuropean Union, European countries, United Nations and otherinternational organizations. We shall understand that the definition oforganized crime is of key significance since the definition used by aparticular country explicitly or implicitly, will be reflected in thetasking of analysts, whose work will determine, at least in part,operational and strategic responses and allocation of resources toaddress the phenomenon.The second chapter deals with the characteristics of organized crime inEurope. While addressing this question, the author tries to combineboth the structure and activities of organized crime based on the ideathat research of organized crime must be conducted both from anorganization aspect and from an activity aspect.The third chapter makes a general study into Europe's political andlaw enforce initiatives concerning the fight against organized crime atthe level of European Union. This chapter is an essential part of theoverall assessment of the situation concerning organized crime inEurope.The fourth chapter focuses on recent developments of organized crimein Europe which involve internationalization, commercialization andother trends. As a result, law enforce agencies of Europe are facing aformidable opponent. The opponent is utterly flexible, mobile andfluid in composition; ready to undertake any profitable criminalenterprises; essentially unbound by national borders to, increasingly,ethnic belonging; well rehearsed in providing goods and services tocriminal markets, and making the most of technological and otherdevelopments in their activities. On the other hand, national lawenforce agencies cannot effectively counter transnational organizedcrime since they are limited by their national jurisdiction. Commentsare also made about other international initiative and regionalco-operation ventures in Europe.