Organized and Economic Crime: A Common Problem

Abstract

This chapter deals with the phenomenon of organized crime that has emerged as an urgent and serious problem in all transition countries. The authors analyze the influence of the profound political and economic changes that formed the basis of the shift from a totalitarian regime into a democratic, market-oriented society. Rising crime rate and the growth of new forms of crime were concomitant circumstances of this process. Serious economic and financial crime emerged, using and abusing the new economic situation, especially the process of privatizing former state property. Organized and economic crime have often been very closely linked: nevertheless the authors document the key differences between these two categories of crime. From the data currently available and the comparative analysis it allows, it can be stated that the developmental characteristics, forms and features of organized and economic crime among the states in question are very similar, even when an extraordinary factor as beneficial for crime as the armed conflict in the Balkans is taken into account.