International Conventions and the Failure of a Transnational Approach to Controlling Crime Business

The article argues that without a realistic understanding of criminal enterprise located against the commercial forces shaping contemporary market contexts, then domestic, bi-lateral, regional and international control initiatives are not only likely to fail in their regulatory objectives, but the premises on which they are constructed may heighten the market conditions for crime business profitability. The international convention-based approach to regulating transnational and organised crime is the framework from which a critique of non-market-centred law enforcement control concentrations is developed. This critique reveals the transposition of flawed normative control considerations from domestic to supra-national control contexts, and shows how this in turn constrains and is constrained by organised crime research. The article suggests the need for a novel methodology to reveal and understand crime business in its specific market realities and conditions. The analysis calls for a shift away from the normative ascription to supply-directed regulatory emphasis. In conclusion, conventional crime control perspectives and directives can usefully be critiqued from their international as well as their domestic frames, enabling the creation of a refined and more holistic legal response at each level of criminal enterprise that is supported and not retarded by business-grounded and market-reliant research understandings.