OVERVIEW OF PREVENTING AND COMBATING ORGANIZED CRIME

OVERVIEW OF PREVENTING AND COMBATING ORGANIZED CRIME Professor Ismail ZEJNELI1 Assistant professor Vedije RATKOCERI2 Abstract This research paper presents a general overview of preventing and combating organized crime as observed from both the national perspective concerning the Republic of North Macedonia and the international perspective concerning various legal acts and policies recognized on a global level. Such legal study, moreover, establishes the objectives to display the current legal mechanisms simultaneously criticized by their efficiency in the fight and prevention against organized crime within the country and beyond. The research methods used within this paper include a comparative-legal approach of the considerably vague notion of organized crime, as well as a critical analysis concerning legal acts related to the prevention and fight against organized crime. The results of the research methods implemented are displayed within each section of the paper and simultaneously reflect upon the expected ramification of this study. Although not explicitly stated in theory, the implications of this study in a practical manner consider criticisms toward the vagueness of the notion of organized crime, the attempt to achieve a globally accepted concept of organized crime, as well as the effectiveness of the number of international and national legal acts in the Republic of North Macedonia addressing the issue of organized crime. Keywords: criminal law; organized crime; criminal policy; national security; criminology. JEL Classification: K14 1. Introduction Criminality means "the totality of all crimes committed in a certain time, space and period. Crime, as a whole of crimes committed, is divided into primary and secondary crime. Primary criminality means crimes that have been committed for the first time, for which criminal proceedings have been conducted by the competent authorities, while secondary criminality represents the repetitions of criminal behaviours and their treatment two or more times in the criminal procedure bodies" 3. It has been more than a decade since former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh targeted global organized crime as a priority threat to national security, defining it as “a continuing criminal conspiracy having a firm organizational structure, a conspiracy fed by fear and corruption” 4. There are different definitions of the notion of organized crime, depending on their purpose and the legal-dogmatic and criminal-political functions of defining this notion. From the aspect of the criminal-legal treatment of the organized participation of more persons in a criminal offense, the most appropriate is the definition that combines the criminal-laws elements and goals of the special and reinforced reaction: the commission of criminal offenses by a criminal association with intent to achieve profit or power, by using force or by exploiting a special position in society, by reducing risk by engaging in legal economic, political and other activities and by a pre-established system of protection from prosecution.5 According to Prof. Kambovski, organized crime is defined as: “Committed criminal offenses by criminal associations for the purpose of gaining benefits and/or gaining power, by using violence, or by exploiting one's position in society, by reducing the risk with the involvement of the legal, economical and political activities, as well as with a system previously prepared for protection from criminal prosecution.”6 Ismail Zejneli - full professor of criminal law, PhD, South East European University, Faculty of Law – Tetovo, Republic of North Macedonia, . 2 Vedije Ratkoceri - assistant professor of criminal law, Phd South East European University, Faculty of Law – Tetovo, Republic of North Macedonia, . 3 R Halili, Criminology, Prishtina, 2016, p. 16. 4 Ibid, p. 17. 5 Vlado Kambovski and Ismail Zejneli, Criminal Law, Tetovo, 2018, p. 238. 6 Ibid, p. 239. 1 Perspectives of Law and Public Administration Volume 11, Issue 2, June 2022 242 The term "organized crime" was first used in 1896 in a report by the Association for the Prevention of Crime in New York. There, the term was used for prostitution and gambling protected by public officials. According to the report, organized crime considered all illegal businesses that involved politicians, police officers, lawyers and professional thieves, whenever their crime was organized. As trade and travel restrictions between countries disappeared and world economies became increasingly interdependent, so did international crime syndicates. 2. A comparative-legal approach of defining organized crime regarding international law Article 3 of the 2000 UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime7 (the Palermo Convention) defines the activity of a criminal group. According to this Convention, an organized crime group means a structured group of three or more persons, which exists for a certain period of time and acts with the intention of committing one or more criminal offenses, or acts defined by the convention to gain direct or indirect financial benefit or any other form of benefit. Serious offenses are those for which a sentence of at least four years is provided. A structured group is a group that is not formed by chance, for the momentary commission of a crime and that should not have formally defined roles of its members, continuity in its membership or a developed structure. The Convention imposes an obligation on the signatory states to incriminate such offenses: the consent of one or more persons to commit a serious criminal offense, followed by the commission of the offense by one of the participants or membership in an organized criminal group, participation in the activities of an organized criminal group, organization, direction, incitement, facilitation or counselling in the commission of serious criminal offenses involving an organized criminal group. The United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) can be considered the most important attempt to date to achieve a globally accepted concept of organized crime. This convention entered into force in September 2003. By June 2006, it has been ratified in all project areas by most member states of the Council of Europe and the European Union. This is the most valuable legal instrument for Europe and the region. UNTOC applies to organized crime, corruption, money laundering and obstruction of justice, provided that the offense is of an international nature and involves an organized criminal group as defined in the Convention. Considering the main characteristics of organized crime, we can mention the following: - the criminal organization has a permanent character; it is not created solely for the commission of a number of criminal offenses, nor a specific time. - once created, it tends to remain in operation. - membership in criminal organizations is done through threats or propaganda and very rarely voluntarily. Or (...truncated)