Skip to main content
Social Sci LibreTexts

13.1: International Crime or Transnational Crime? Some Definitions

  • Page ID
    77161
  • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    In 1995, the United Nations (UN) defined transnational crime as offences “whose inception, perpetration and/or direct or indirect effects involve more than one country” (UNODC, 2002, p.4). In 2000 the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime defined an offence as transnational if it met one of these four conditions: if it is committed in more than one state, if it is committed in one state but a substantial part of its preparation, planning, direction, or control takes place in another state, if it is committed in one state but involves an organized criminal group that engages in criminal activities in more than one state, and finally, if it is committed in one state but has substantial effects in another state. [1]

    Transnational crimes therefore involve offences that cross international borders or which affect the interests of more than one state. It can be distinguished from domestic crime (offences that occur within a single national jurisdiction) and international crime (offending that is recognised in international law and against the world community). Examples of international criminal offences that are subject to prosecution are those that threaten world order and security, crimes against humanity and fundamental human rights, war crimes, and genocide (Partin, 2015). For example, in 2001 the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia reached a verdict that the rape and sexual enslavement of women and girls in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina that occurred in 1992 constituted crimes against humanity. (See Chapter 6 for a discussion of offences against international criminal and humanitarian law.)

    The UN has identified several different categories of transnational crime: drug trafficking, trafficking in persons, organ trafficking, trafficking in cultural property, counterfeiting, money laundering, terrorist activities, theft of intellectual property, illicit traffic in arms, aircraft hijacking, sea piracy, hijacking on land, insurance fraud, environmental crime, fraudulent bankruptcy, infiltration of legal business, corruption and bribery of public officials, and other offences committed by organized criminal groups (UNODC, 2002, p. 4).

    There are also a number of new and emerging transnational crimes that have been identified by the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime including cybercrime, identity-related crimes and fraudulent medicine (UNODC, 2018).


    13.1: International Crime or Transnational Crime? Some Definitions is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

    • Was this article helpful?