Illegal Gain Research Articles

The deterrence effect of criminal sanctions against environmental crime in Finland: an application of the rational choice model of crime

Applying the rational choice model of crime, this study estimates the optimality of sanctions for environmental crimes, the social cost of these crimes and the expected gain to the offender with Finnish court data from 327 criminal cases in the period 2013–2018. Sensitivity analyses are conducted for the optimal fine, the expected gain from the crime and its social cost. The time-lag and uncertainties related to the restoration of the environmental harm are explicitly included in the model and the empirical analysis. The average fine was much lower than the optimal fine even when taking into account the constraint posed by the offenders’ wealth and disregarding the time-lag and uncertainties related to the restoration of the environmental harm. The use of prison sentences was also suboptimal. Even when the illegal gain was fully forfeited, the expected gain from the crime to the offender remained positive. Our results suggest a need to increase the cost of punishment by higher fines and reliable forfeiture of the illegal economic gain. They also point to the importance of systematically estimating both the environmental damage and the illegal gain from the crime as these were available respectively for only 24% (N = 79) and 3% (N = 11) of all cases.

The victim and the subject as elements of the object of the «abuse of influence» offense

The paper examines the features of the object of the crime provided for by Art. 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, such as the victim and the subject of the crime. It has been established that in the course of the commission of this offense, the victim is usually excluded. An exception is only the qualified structure of the crime, which is related to the demand of unlawful benefit (Part 3 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). A natural person becomes a victim when extortion is committed, provided for in Part 3 of Art. 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, since, as is known, extortion involves the threat of violence against the victim or his close relatives, restriction of the rights, freedoms or legal interests of these persons, damage or destruction of their property or property in their custody or under protection, or disclosure of information that the victim or his close relatives wish to keep secret. The debatable issue regarding illegal gain as a subject or means of committing a crime, provided for in Art. 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, has been researched. It has been argued that unlawful benefit should be recognized as the subject of this criminal offense, since the socially dangerous acts described in this article, which consist in the offer, promise or provision of unlawful benefit, as well as in the acceptance of the offer, promise or receipt of unlawful benefit, are committed for the purpose of unlawful benefit, regarding it, as well as the presence of such a criminal offense as abuse of influence is connected with its properties. At the same time, the unlawful benefit specified in Art. 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine cannot facilitate the commission of this crime, since the actual actions in relation to it constitute criminal influence. This crime is embodied precisely in the actions regarding the wrongful gain. Without illegal benefit, there will be no act, and therefore there is no reason to talk about ensuring its commission or facilitating it. It has been determined that an unlawful benefit could be the means of committing a criminal offense only if the provision of Art. 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine covered the actual criminal influence on decision-making by a person authorized to perform the functions of state or local self-government.

Exploration of Issues Related to Confiscation of Illegal Gains in Foreign Exchange Administrative Penalties

Exploration of Issues Related to Confiscation of Illegal Gains in Foreign Exchange Administrative Penalties

The Procedural aspects of illegal gain

The Procedural aspects of illegal gain

Concept, features and types of corruption

Corruption is a negative dynamic objectively existing social phenomenon, which necessitates its constant research in order to create new, change existing mechanisms for its detection, prevention and counteraction. In the process of working on a scientific article, such general scientific methods as hermeneutic and classification method were used. The hermeneutic method was used during the analysis of the etymological meaning of the term corruption and certain provisions of international legal acts, the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption”. The method of classification was used in the process of dividing the concept of “corruption” into types. Among the special scientific methods logical-semantic and logical-legal were used. They allowed us to formulate the main features of corruption as a legal phenomenon.
 The main features of corruption: 1) committed by a special subject of law; 2) is performed within the scope of official authority or related opportunities; 4) is committed for the purpose of obtaining illegal benefit for oneself or other persons; 5) is committed in a certain form (the legislator establishes two forms of corruption: a) acceptance of illegal benefit or acceptance of a promise / proposal of illegal benefit; b) a promise / proposal or provision of illegal benefit to a person specified in Part 1 of Art. 3 of the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption”); 6) the result is improper performance of duties. The main criteria for the division of corruption into types are the territorial feature, form of commission, duration, sphere of life, type of legal responsibility to which a person is brought for committing corruption. On a territorial basis, a distinction should be made between domestic (national) and transnational corruption, depending on the form of corruption - bribery, fraud, extortion, embezzlement (misappropriation) of public funds, clientelism, lobbying, favoritism, nepotism, state capture. In addition to these types of corruption, based on the definition of this legal phenomenon, which gives the legislator in the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption”, depending on the form of corruption, the following types should be distinguished: acceptance of illegal gain; acceptance of a promise / proposal of illegal benefit. According to the time of action, a distinction should be made between one-time (one-time action) and prolonged corruption; depending on the sphere of life there is political, economic, managerial, social, legal corruption; depending on the type of legal liability there is corruption, for which the legislator provides for criminal, administrative, civil, disciplinary liability.

Illegal use of fertilized eggs outside the womb (A comparative study)

Illegal use of fertilized eggs outside the womb (A comparative study)

ПСИХОЛОГІЧНІ ОСОБЛИВОСТІ МОТИВАЦІЇ ВІЙСЬКОВОСЛУЖБОВЦІВ НАЦІОНАЛЬНОЇ ГВАРДІЇ УКРАЇНИ

The article presents a theoretical overview of the study of motivation of professional activity in foreign and domestic psychology in general and professional motivation of representatives of the security and defense forces of Ukraine. It is determined that motivation, as a driving force of behavior, plays an important role in the process of forming the personality of a serviceman, his interests in the military profession and awareness of its social significance. Motivation is a special kind of set of processes that regulate the professional activity, focus, selectivity, meaningfulness, dynamism and efficiency of servicemen. It is determined that the vast majority of servicemen have a favorable motivation to serve in the National Guard of Ukraine. For the majority of respondents (more for groups of officers than for contract military servicemen), the profession of a serviceman of the National Guard of Ukraine is a source for self-development, self-realization and achieving the status of a qualified specialist. The differences in the motivational sphere between servicemen-officers and servicemen of contract military service, as well as between servicemen-participants of hostilities and those who do not have such experience are pointed out. It is determined that there is a certain share of servicemen (relatively more of them among contract military servicemen who do not have the status of a combatant than among officers with a similar status) who are more focused on meeting their own needs, namely: solution of material and household problems; obtaining benefits, privileges, power over others; compensation of characterological shortcomings at the expense of the profession; desire to belong to a certain social group; meeting antisocial needs that can be addressed through the status, image of a representative of the security and defense forces, for example, for illegal gain, material reward, etc.

Linguistic examinations in illegal gain cases (communicative and pragmatic study practice)

Linguistic examinations in illegal gain cases (communicative and pragmatic study practice)

Economic crimes in Libya: the phenomenon of illegal earning and money laundering before and after the February 17, 2011 revolution

Economic crimes in Libya have become a source of concern for all honorable Libyans who aspire to build their desired state. Economic crime was and remains the foremost enemy of economic development in this afflicted country. And as a first step to learn how to combat this bad phenomenon, this study identified methods of illegal gain before and after the February 17, 2011 revolution in Libya, with reference to the role of the political system in the growth of this phenomenon. In Libya, for the non-political and non-leadership figures, in the absence of the institutions of the modern state, with a noticeable weakness in regulatory regimes and security bodies, once the illegal money is acquired (illegally acquired funds) without the presence of criminal evidence can be used to convict or accuse someone, whereupon, the money will be clean and washed, no need for the process of washing. This situation is continued until after the revolution of February 17, 2011. Dictatorial Political system in Libya was one of the difficulties that prevented the process of money laundering fighting and the illegal gain. Dictatorial Political system in Libya was turning a blind eye to criminal activities associated with the illegal gain and money laundering which was executed by Members of the Revolutionary Committees and the Revolutionary Guards in return for (in exchange for) providing the protection to this system in order to stay in power as long as possible. The spread of poverty among the sons of Libyan people contributed to the growing of the illegal gain phenomenon and money laundering. The lack of effective oversight bodies and security agencies has also contributed to the growth of all negative phenomena within Libyan society.

Запобігання корупційним злочинам, учиненим поліцейськими

The purpose of this article is to reveal the legal content of the term “corruption crime” through the prism of domestic and international law, formulation of key determinants for criminal offences of corruption the police on the basis of questionnaire data. Methods. Regarding the Commission of corruption crimes by the officials of law enforcement agencies testify to the successful use of the method of questioning and interviewing. Methodology. Due to the method of analysis and synthesis were able to structure the international legal acts in the sphere of combating corruption, the dialectical method gave the opportunity to form the basic conceptual and categorical framework of anti -corruption legislation, highlighting key definitions. Scientific novelty. The article author gives a private approach to the identification of signs of corruption crimes through analysis of doctrinal opinions and self-generated insights and proposals for possible ways of improvement. In particular, it is proposed in the theoretical plan to understand the criminal punishments envisaged by the Criminal Code of Ukraine as socially dangerous and punishable intentional acts that contain signs of corruption and committed by special subjects. Conclusions. On the basis of the analysis highlighted the causal relationships and the negative consequences of corruption offenses committed by police officers. It has been established that police officers are most susceptible to committing such corruption offenses as abuse of office, illegal gain, excess of authority or official authority, and official negligence. The overwhelming motivation for crimes committed in the field of official activity by National Police officers is: the desire to raise their material standard of living; the desire to satisfy psychological needs (self-expression, achievement of career growth, etc.); the desire to live “wide leg&rdquo

Specifičnosti izvršenja krivičnog dela prevare uz korišćenje informaciono-komunikacionih tehnologija

Historically speaking, along with the development of ICT, the ways of their misuse developed as well. Whoever may have bad intentions will keep finding new methods to abuse these technologies. These methods are based on vulnerabilities of ICT systems, whether they are technical or related to human factor. This paper describes the phenomena of the so-called social engineering and phishing, as modes of performing the criminal offences of fraud and computer fraud, which are used for illegal collection and abuse of the data of ICT system users, in order to mislead them towards acting in a way that causes harm to their own or someone else's possession, with the intention of illegal gain for the perpetrator. Contemporary phishing attacks are very sophisticated, adapted to the potential victims and adjusted to their affinities. The collecting of information regarding a potential victim is most often done via social networks. Therefore, this paper describes the process of planning acts of fraud and explains two most common techniques for data collecting - via social networks and via the victim's illegal router hijacking. A special emphasis is put on the criminal law treatment of these phenomena in the legislation of the Republic of Serbia, as well as on solving the dilemmas about technical terms in fraudulent acts in Serbian and English languages. The authors present different forms of social engineering and phishing in ICT systems, i.e. cyberspace, and discuss if and in which cases their acts have legal characteristics of the aforementioned criminal offences. The authors also present and analyze Serbian criminal legislation,with the emphasis on the crime of fraud and similar crimes, which are, in their essence, special forms of fraud. The stress is put on the crime of computer fraud and its characteristic features in comparison with the crime of fraud. The authors consider the changes in legislation that would lead to reformulating the crime of computer fraud so as to encompass various acts carried out with the use of the information-communication technologies.

Bezpieczeństwo antykorupcyjne dla rozwoju

Corruption, defined as an abuse of the public power for the illegal private gain, is a serious threat to economic and social development and there is no public acceptance for it in the society. Corruption should be seen not as a social disease, but a pathology of the authority system. Effective prevention of corruption is essential for economic and social development, in particular by eliminating corruptive mechanisms, i.e. irregularities causing or increasing the risk of corruption. The state should provide a sense of anti-corruption security in society, and transparency in law and decision-making, the exclusion of conflicts of interest, disclosure and effective control are essential elements of this security. In Poland, significant but not sufficient progress has been made in the field of anti-corruption security framing.

증권 불공정거래 범죄에 따른 부당이득 산정에서 인과관계 증명의 문제

자본시장법상 불공정거래(내부자거래, 시세조종, 부정거래)에 대한 형사소송에서 위반행위자가 얻은 부당이득은 범죄 구성요건 및 양형의 중요 요소이다. 최근까지 형사소송에서 부당이득액 산정은 단순차액방식, 즉 위반행위와 관련하여 얻은 총수입에서 총비용을 공제하는 단순한 방식으로 산정하여 왔다.BR 그런데 2009년 이후 우리 법원은 책임주의 원칙을 강화하여 행위자의 위반행위와 그가 얻은 이득간 인과관계 증명을 엄격히 요구하고 정확한 부당이득액 산정을 요구하는 경향이 이어지고 있다. 이에 따라 거증책임을 지는 검사가 이 인과관계에 대하여 법관으로 하여금 합리적인 의심을 배제할 정도로 입증하지 못하면 부당이득액은 불상 내지 없는 것으로 된다. 이 경우 자본시장법상 가중처벌 조항이 적용되지 못하고, 자유형과 벌금형의 필요적 병과와 몰수․추징 또한 적용될 수 없다.BR 검찰은 법원의 엄격해진 인과관계 증명 요구에 대응하여 사건연구방식(event study)과 같이 널리 활용되는 금융경제학적 방법으로 부당이득액을 산정하고자 한다. 그러나 법원은 동산정방식의 객관성과 신뢰성이 부족하다며 아직은 인용을 거부하는 입장이 주류이다. 이로 인해 위반행위자에 대한 합당한 처벌과 불법수익의 환수가 제대로 이루어지지 못하고 있다.BR 이러한 현상의 개선을 위해서는 일차적으로 현행 법 체계 내에서 법원의 엄격한 인과관계 증명 요구에 부합할 수 있는 부당이득 산정방식으로서 사건연구방식 등 금융경제학적 산정방식의 객관성과 신뢰성을 검증하고 그 타당성이 인정된다면 이를 설득하고 활용방안을 강구할 필요가 있다. 보다 근본적으로는 부당이득과 형벌의 연계성을 삭제하거나 법률상 추정 조항을 두는 등 부당이득액 산정에 관한 현행법의 개정을 모색할 필요가 있다.

Comment of the Global Antitrust Institute, George Mason University School of Law, on the Proposed Revisions to the Guidelines of the Anti-Monopoly Commission of the State Council on Determining the Illegal Gains Generated from Monopoly Conduct and on Setting Fines

This comment is submitted in response to the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China’s public consultation on the Proposed Revisions to the Guidelines of the Anti-Monopoly Commission of the State Council on Determining the Illegal Gains Generated from Monopoly Conduct and on Setting Fines. The Global Antitrust Institute's Competition Advocacy Program provides a wide-range of recommendations to facilitate adoption of economically sound competition policy.

What can IT and Money Laundering Law do to Fight against Cyber Child Sexual Crime?

This paper will assess on how technology and anti-money laundering law perspectives can contribute in tackling cyber child sexual crimes. It is normally and classically problem that always emerge in the discussion of law and information technology (IT) is about the increases of crime. But the abnormal and modern problem is about the modernism of crimes with the high-quality level of crime itself. Cyber sexual crime became one of the highest online crimes which conduct through internet. Grooming, voyeurism, cyberstalking, child pornography happens very often in the world. This paper is using normative research methodology of law, by using statute and conceptual approach. The conceptual approach is using to build an ideal concept of prevention and eradication of the crime of online child sexual abuse. This paper is discussed through a qualitative research. The result of this paper is that Information Technology gives contribution in order to present a way out to tackle this problem, for example by giving solution on its surveillance. Other is from the perspectives of law. Money Laundering can assist in tackling online sexual crime toward children, for perpetrator and/or facilitator and/or pther third party who enjoy the illegal gain of this crime.

Forfeiture of Illegal Gains, Attempts, and Implied Risk Preferences

In the law enforcement literature there is a presumption—supported by some experimental and econometric evidence—that criminals are more responsive to increases in the certainty than the severity of punishment. Under a general set of assumptions, this implies that criminals are risk seeking. We show that this implication is no longer valid when forfeiture of illegal gains and the possibility of unsuccessful attempts are considered. Therefore, when drawing inferences concerning offenders’ attitudes toward risk based on their responses to various punishment schemes, special attention must be paid to whether and to what extent offenders’ illegal gains can be forfeited and whether increases in the probability of punishment affect the probability of attempts being successful. We discuss policy implications related to our observations.

Money Laundering and Banking Secrecy in the Jordanian Legislation

Crimes targeting to damage the property of natural and legal individuals including states are in existence while the objective of people, groups and the entire organizations when committing crimes is illegal property gain in the structure of national, but also of global crime. However, they are insufficient hence they attempt to decriminalize money or other property earned in such manner, e.g. by inserting them into lawful operations and flows. Nonetheless, perpetrators of this kind of crime attempt to hide the right source of money or profit earned in such manner using all means possible. Banking secrecy is one of the main barriers that stand in front of anti-money laundering because it comprises of a barrier to access to bank deposits, and a protection for doubtful funds since it is one of the conventional rules pertinent to the work banks, where clients’ secrets and banking operations are saved by Bank’s commitment by law and custom unless there is provision in the law or in the agreement stating otherwise. This study is aimed at indicating the most significant stages and techniques of money laundering at banking institutions in Jordan and also discussing the function of the Jordanian banks in the light of the pertinent legislation.

Forfeiture of Illegal Gains and Implied Risk Preferences

In the law enforcement literature there is a presumption – supported by some experimental and econometric evidence – that criminals are more responsive to increases in the certainty than the severity of punishment. Under a general set of assumptions, this implies that criminals are risk seeking. We show that this implication is no longer valid when forfeiture of illegal gains and the possibility of unsuccessful attempts are considered. Therefore, when drawing inferences concerning offenders’ risk attitudes based on their responses to various punishment schemes, special attention must be paid to whether and to what extent offenders’ illegal gains can be forfeited and whether increases in the probability of punishment affect the probability of attempts being successful. We discuss policy implications related to our observations.

A Note on the Deterrence Effects of the Forfeiture of Illegal Gains

This paper analyzes how the forfeiture of illegal gains impacts the deterrence of illegal acts. We show that when public authorities introduce a claim on illegal gains as part of a sanction it may, counter-intuitively, increase crime in a setting in which criminals may invest in avoidance activities to lower the probability of detection.

Rational noncompliance and the liquidation of Northeast groundfish resources

The results of a 2007 survey of fishers, managers, scientists, and enforcement officials indicate that noncompliance is a significant problem in the Northeast multispecies groundfish (NEGF) fishery, as it has been for at least 20 years. The percent of total harvest taken illegally is estimated to be 12–24%, which is significantly higher than estimates of 6–14% in the 1980s. Thirty-seven percent of fishers, 61% of fishery managers and 80% of fishery enforcement staff believe that “the combined adverse impact of all violations on the health and manageability of fish resources” is significant, highly significant, or extremely significant. Many fishers believe that illegal fishing will prevent them from ever benefiting from stock rebuilding programs. The deterrence effect of the existing enforcement system in the NEGF fishery is weak because economic gains from violating fishing regulations are nearly 5 times the economic value of expected penalties. For example, by fishing illegally a midsize trawler in the NEGF fishery is estimated to increase expected earnings per trip by $5,500. Fishing violations have a 32.5% probability of being detected, and enforcement data show that a detected violation has a 33.1% probability of being prosecuted and resulting in a penalty. The average penalty assessed for a violation is $20,455 and the settlement amount averages 53% of the assessed penalty. The expected cost of a violation, therefore, is $1,166. When compared with the illegal gain, the economic incentive not to comply is $4,334 per trip. Normative factors, such as moral obligation and peer and community pressure often induce fishers to be law-abiding despite potential illegal gains. However, normative factors favoring compliance in the NEGF fishery are weak because many fishers believe recent fishery management decisions were not justified and that planned stock rebuilding targets and schedules are arbitrary and unfair. Until this situation changes, more enforcement and more certain and meaningful penalties will be needed to improve compliance. Fishing restrictions will need to be tightened to achieve new legally mandated stock rebuilding targets. This will increase economic incentives for noncompliance in the fishery and require even more enforcement and more significant penalties to achieve adequate compliance rates. This article recommends that a “smart compliance policy” be implemented in the NEGF fishery that employs different types of enforcement strategies and penalties with different groups of fishers identified based on their compliance histories. This should include aggressive targeting of frequent violators and criminal penalties and the forfeiture of all fishing privileges for certain types of violations. Funds should be redirected toward incentive programs to support collaborations between other fishers and enforcement staff to increase the number of violations that are detected, reported, and successfully prosecuted.