Organised Crime and the Move Towards Legal Markets: Comparative Perspectives
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck Clore Management Centre
No booking required
The programme for this event is available here.
In the modern context of increasing regulations, decreasing border controls, and consequent changing practices and organisation of criminal groups, it is fundamental to reflect on the nexus between legal and illegal actors, legal and illegal markets and the grey areas in between. Indeed, in the past few years a tendency has been noted in the modus operandi of different forms of organised crime, which consists in their expansion towards legal markets and sectors, and increasing contacts with legal actors. The attempt by organised criminal groups to use legal actors and tools in order to meet the goals of their association calls for an in-depth study of the phenomenon.
Scholars and law enforcers have been trying to understand how organised criminal groups, and in particular mafia-type organisation, are evolving and hijacking legal economies and social life of the societies in which they are active. As the activities of organised criminal groups are getting more and more sophisticated, the threat towards the public sectors increases, as licit companies can be used to clean money made illegally or semi-legally. In this sense, it is crucial to identify the enter points exploited systematically by organised crime in order to infiltrate the legal sector. Other than the practical issues of understanding the functioning of contemporary organised criminal groups across globalised markets, this theme bears theoretical implications, as once again we are asked to reflect on what value does the phrase 'transnational organised crime' hold, and if it can help us understand the operations of organised criminal groups across the world.
The papers presented at this conference will explore the ways in which organised criminal groups are infiltrating the economic and social life of the societies in which they settle. As this modus operandi has been noted by scholars in a number of different countries, we approach the problems from different perspectives. We will be discussing 'traditional' ways of colonisation of the legal sphere such as corruption, fraud, money laundering through the public sectors, as well as new ways in which criminal groups are using licit entities in order to conceal and control the flux of money. The insights will show us what are the common threads and approaches across borders in how criminals exploit their networks in order to expand and use legal tools and actors, and on the other side how the system willingly- through 'unethical' actors- or unwillingly- through defects in the regulations and practices- provide the opportunities for crime to enter the public sector.
This conference welcomes academics, researchers and students who are interested in engaging in discussion around a theme that is taking more and more space within the debate about organised crime. The conference start at 9.30 will be divided into three panels: Convergence of legal/illegal marketplaces, tools and actors, Corruption and engagement with legal actors, Use of legitimate businesses to conceal and assist illegal transactions. A social event will follow for those who wish to discuss matters more in details.
Speakers
Martina Baradel (Birkbeck, University of London)
Dr Bina Bhardwa (ICPR)
Prof Liz Campbell (Durham University)
Dr Maziyar Ghiabi (EHESS, Paris)
Prof Michael Levi (Cardiff University)
Dr Tiggey May (ICPR)
Prof Vincenzo Ruggiero (Middlesex University)
Dr Anna Sergi (University of Essex)
Dr Sappho Xenakis (Birkbeck, University of London)
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This event is part of the School of Law's 25th Anniversary celebrations. The School of Law, Birkbeck was founded in 1992 as a Department of Law with three members of academic staff. Over the last twenty-five years it has become a School comprising the Departments of Law and Criminology as well as the Institute for Criminal Policy Research, four research Centres, 40 members of staff and an overall student body of over 1,000. The School is proud of being a pioneer in establishing and developing a hub for the field of critical legal studies. While our national and international reputation has been forged through critical legal research, more recently we have gained recognition for critical criminological and activist research, socio-legal scholarship and policy-engaged empirical research. In recognition of this the last Research Excellence Framework exercise ranked us as being in the top 10 law schools in the UK and in the top 3 in London, while our research environment was judged conducive to producing research of the highest quality.
In this our 25th Anniversary year we will be holding a series of events reflecting on our history and successes as well as looking forward to the opportunities and challenges facing critical legal and criminological teaching and scholarship in the 21st century. Find out more about the 25th Anniversary celebrations here.
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