ACONF. 187/7 difficult to find Officials are reluctant to reassign existing (f This also holds true for the prevention of criminal justice system resources to new crime prevention terrorism, a form of crime that often combines elements of programmes, in particular when the effectiveness of these violence with propaganda, politics and warfare. There is a is in doubt. Even in countries where crime prevention is grey zone between violent crime and the crime of political now an established component of criminal policy, the violence, which has only recently received scholarly resources devoted to it are tiny compared with those attention. 5 devoted to the criminal justice system (b) As mentioned previously, the theory and practice of the main forms of crime prevention ar IV. The challenge of preventing unequally developed. The most difficult challenge will be organized crime finding the resources to support research on crime prevention through social development, given that this 10. Organized crime, whether national or transnational form of prevention is of greatest interest to developing is widely perceived as a growing threat to civil society countries and countries with economies in transition Many transnational crimes, such as drug-trafficking, primarily in the developed world, but not all developed particular threat to developing countries and countries with countries have yet recognized its potential. This situation economies in transition. These crimes seem likely is likely to change as the result of the wider dissemination increase with increased globalization and, with the of information about the theory and practice of crime associated increase in international trade, the expansion of prevention. The transfer of knowledge about crime business and leisure travel and the greater erosion of prevention from the more to the less developed world political borders presents a greater challenge. It is likely that situational 11. It is also widely recognized that traditional legal or prevention can be adapted successfully to conditions in the enforcement responses to organized crime cannot succeed can be said or a. however, it is unclear whether the same alone and must be combined with prevention. The Centre child development and community crime for International Crime Prevention, in its role of coor- prevention approaches, since these depend on a social dinating the preparation of the draft United Nations nfrastructure that may not exist in developing countries Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, has and countries with economies in transition. Furthermore, acknowledged that prevention is a core element of the it is unclear how technical assistance about crime strategy(see articles 22 and 22 bis ). Further, it is under prevention can be delivered from the more developed to stood that not every Member State will be in a position to the less developed parts of the world implement the Convention fully without technical assis- (d) To date, most crime prevention efforts have tance from the United Nations. It is acknowledged that the bulk of the official crime statistics--predatory property tion and technical assistance--can Member States work crimes. assaults, domestic violence and vandalism. It is both nationally and internationally to curb the spread of unclear whether the preventive approaches developed to transnational organized crime date can be applied more widely to other kinds of crime. 12. Opinion and techniques vary on how to prevent One significant group of these(discussed in section Iv organized crime. To the extent that it thrives on disad- below)includes organized and transnational crimes, but vantage, social development, community development and there are many other crimes that have received little child development may all have a part to play in preven- preventive attention. These include child pornography, tion. The programme developed in Palermo to educate corruption, fraud and economic crimes, hate crimes and people about the dangers of organized criminal groups crimes against migrants and tourists one example. However, disadvantage is not the key to (e) It is also unclear whether the crime prevention understanding organized crime. Rather, the key seems to approaches developed to date can be effectively applied to be that in every society, developed or not, illegal oppor prevent completely new forms of crime, such as those tunities abound to make large sums of money. It is these associated with the Internet opportunities which permit organized crime to flourishA/CONF.187/7 4 difficult to find. Officials are reluctant to reassign existing criminal justice system resources to new crime prevention programmes, in particular when the effectiveness of these is in doubt. Even in countries where crime prevention is now an established component of criminal policy, the resources devoted to it are tiny compared with those devoted to the criminal justice system; (b) As mentioned previously, the theory and practice of the main forms of crime prevention are unequally developed. The most difficult challenge will be finding the resources to support research on crime prevention through social development, given that this form of prevention is of greatest interest to developing countries and countries with economies in transition; (c) Crime prevention is a concept recognized primarily in the developed world, but not all developed countries have yet recognized its potential. This situation is likely to change as the result of the wider dissemination of information about the theory and practice of crime prevention. The transfer of knowledge about crime prevention from the more to the less developed world presents a greater challenge. It is likely that situational prevention can be adapted successfully to conditions in the developing world. However, it is unclear whether the same can be said of child development and community crime prevention approaches, since these depend on a social infrastructure that may not exist in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Furthermore, it is unclear how technical assistance about crime prevention can be delivered from the more developed to the less developed parts of the world; (d) To date, most crime prevention efforts have been focused on traditional forms of crime, which provide the bulk of the official crime statistics—predatory property crimes, assaults, domestic violence and vandalism. It is unclear whether the preventive approaches developed to date can be applied more widely to other kinds of crime. One significant group of these (discussed in section IV below) includes organized and transnational crimes, but there are many other crimes that have received little preventive attention. These include child pornography, corruption, fraud and economic crimes, hate crimes and crimes against migrants and tourists; (e) It is also unclear whether the crime prevention approaches developed to date can be effectively applied to prevent completely new forms of crime, such as those associated with the Internet; (f) This also holds true for the prevention of terrorism, a form of crime that often combines elements of violence with propaganda, politics and warfare. There is a grey zone between violent crime and the crime of political violence, which has only recently received scholarly attention.5 IV. The challenge of preventing organized crime 10. Organized crime, whether national or transnational, is widely perceived as a growing threat to civil society. Many transnational crimes, such as drug-trafficking, trafficking in humans and money-laundering, constitute a particular threat to developing countries and countries with economies in transition. These crimes seem likely to increase with increased globalization and, with the associated increase in international trade, the expansion of business and leisure travel and the greater erosion of political borders. 11. It is also widely recognized that traditional legal or enforcement responses to organized crime cannot succeed alone and must be combined with prevention. The Centre for International Crime Prevention, in its role of coor￾dinating the preparation of the draft United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, has acknowledged that prevention is a core element of the strategy (see articles 22 and 22 bis). Further, it is under￾stood that not every Member State will be in a position to implement the Convention fully without technical assis￾tance from the United Nations. It is acknowledged that only with this three-part strategy—legal response, preven￾tion and technical assistance—can Member States work both nationally and internationally to curb the spread of transnational organized crime. 12. Opinion and techniques vary on how to prevent organized crime. To the extent that it thrives on disad￾vantage, social development, community development and child development may all have a part to play in preven￾tion. The programme developed in Palermo to educate people about the dangers of organized criminal groups is one example. However, disadvantage is not the key to understanding organized crime. Rather, the key seems to be that in every society, developed or not, illegal oppor￾tunities abound to make large sums of money. It is these opportunities which permit organized crime to flourish