Illicit Organisations - Organised Crime and Terrorism

This project is broadly conceived and has focused initially on research around illicit Organisations – especially organised crime and terrorism. Major work has been completed in 2010 by Professor Peter Grabosky and Professor Michael Stohl (University of California), with ‘Crime and Terrorism’ published by Sage in 2010.

Professor Peter Grabosky was a Visiting Professor at the School of Law, University of Manchester in June 2011, and also a Dae H. Chang International Visiting Scholar at the School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University in March 2011. He was also awarded the Herman Mannheim Prize for Comparative Criminology at the 2011 International Society of Criminology Congress in Kobe, August 2011.

In addition, a number of papers have also been produced. Considerable work involving organised crime, especially outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) in the Australian context has been undertaken and this is now the principal focus of work going into 2012 and 2013.

Impact:

Ms Julie Ayling and Professor Rod Broadhurst made submissions to the Australian and South Australian parliaments (e.g. Submission to the Inquiry into the Crime Legislation Amendment (Serious and Organised Crime) Bill (No.2) 2009. Canberra, ANU/CEPS). In April 2011, Rod Broadhurst and Julie Ayling made a written submission to the South Australian Legislative Review Committee Inquiry into Criminal Intelligence, and on 8 June 2011, Julie Ayling gave oral
evidence before the Committee. An op-ed piece has also been published by Julie Ayling on ‘Bigger push for better laws after bikies’ court win’, Canberra Times 4 July 2011, p.11.

New Projects:

Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMCG): an evaluation of legislative responses and police counter-measures in Australia

This study reviews recent attempts by some states to strengthen police powers in response to the violence of OMCGs and their apparent transformation to national and transnational actors. Recent High Court cases such as R v Totani and Wainohu v New South Wales have blunted attempts to use anti-association laws as a means of disrupting these crime groups. We compare the different laws across Australia and assess their impact on OMCG by drawing on both qualitative and quantitative measures of criminal activity. This project will continue into 2012 with a focus on both crime services and the relationships between organised crime and transnational crime. We anticipate that further empirical work will be completed through 2012 and a research monograph ready for publication in 2013.

Chinese Organised Crime

A joint project on organised crime in Greater China in conjunction with the City University of Hong Kong (Prof. Wing Lo and Dr Lena Zhong) and the Chinese People’s Public Security University (Prof. Wang Daiwei) has been submitted to the HK Research Grants Committee for the 2011 round for funding 2012-2013. This involves data collection in Greater China including homicides related to organised crime and should generate valuable data about the role of Chinese organised crime in transnational crime and its implications for Australia. The project overlaps with the comparative policing in Asia programme below. The CI has also been invited to submit a paper on Chinese organised crime to a forthcoming issue [2013] of Trends in Organised Crime.

Significant 2011 & forthcoming outputs:

Broadhurst, R. (2012). Chinese ‘Black Societies’ and triad-like organised crime in China. In F. Allum & S. Gilmour (Eds.), Handbook of Transnational Organised Crime (Chapter 10), London: Routledge.

Ayling, J. (2011). Criminalising organisations: Towards deliberative lawmaking. Law and Policy, 33(2): 149-178.

Ayling, J. (2011). Gang change and evolutionary theory. Crime, Law and Social Change 56(1), 1-26.

Ayling, J (2011). Pre-emptive strike: How Australia is tackling outlaw motorcycle gangs. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 36(3), 250-264.

Ayling, J. (forthcoming). Australia. In M. Beare (Ed.), Encyclopaedia of Transnational Crime and Justice, Sage.

Ayling, J. & Broadhurst, R. (forthcoming). Organised crime in Australia and New Zealand. In L. Paoli (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Organised Crime. Oxford: OUP.

Ayling, J. & Broadhurst, R. (forthcoming). The suppression of organised crime: New solutions and problems. In T. Prenzler (Ed.), Policing and Security in Practice: Challenges and Achievements, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave-Macmillan.

Broadhurst, R. & Farrelly, N. (forthcoming). Organised crime ‘control’ in Asia: Experience from India, China and the Golden Triangle. In L. Paoli (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Organised Crime. Oxford: OUP.