Karlsruhe Dialogues 2010

was born in the Netherlands in 1946 and is Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology. After his studies in criminology and philosophy and his PhD at the Catholic University in Leuven/Belgium, he started to work as assistant professor of criminology. Amongst others, he was professor of criminal law and criminology and chairman of the evaluation committee for the criminology program of the Faculty of Law at the University of Leuven as well as professor and pro-dean of the Faculty of Law of the Erasmus University Rotterdam/Netherlands. At Tilburg University, Faculty of Law, in the Netherlands, Fijnaut is professor of international and comparative (criminal) law since 2000, special professor in the regulation of gambling since 2004 and chairman of the Department of Criminal Science since 2008. His main expertise lies in comparative (criminal) law, international criminal law, police and criminal justice and organised crime. Fijnaut has more than 400 publications in several languages, such as his book “Organised Crime in Europe: Concepts, Patterns and Control Policies in the European Union and Beyond”, which represents the first attempt to systematically compare organised crime concepts, as well as historical and contemporary patterns and control policies in thirteen European countries. Furthermore, he is the founder and editor of European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, an English-language journal in European criminal law, and the general editor of the International Encyclopedia of Criminal Law, a series in comparative criminal law that plans to publish a volume on criminal law in every major country.

ZAK asked Prof. Dr. Cyrille J.C.F. Fijnaut to answer the following question:

Globalization makes it possible that organized crime expands. What can be done against it at the local level?

Organized crime is quite often labeled as being a transnational problem. However, this definition conceals the fact that various forms of organized crime such as racketeering and large scale extortion, as well as the supply of (illegal) goods and services on black and white markets, are to a great extent local phenomena. Consequently, local authorities bear an important responsibility in the containment of organized crime. Measures they can undertake include the screening of applicants for licenses, tenders and subsidies in vulnerable sectors of the economy, ensuring that local regulations are supported by effective administrative enforcement in these sectors whilst concurrently taking measures to guarantee the integrity of the administration itself. In most instances the effectiveness of these methods presupposes close cooperation with police, judicial and tax authorities.