What is smuggling from a legal perspective?
Discussion: What is smuggling from a legal perspective? What is smuggled and why is it smuggled? Who benefits from smuggling and who is hurt by smuggling and how? Besides smuggling, what other land and maritime border violations threaten the facilitation of legitimate trade? What has the globalization of organized crime meant to international smuggling? (LO4.1 & LO4.2)
Response #1 (Josepth): Professor and Class,
Smuggling, from a legal perspective, is the illegal transportation of goods across international borders, often to avoid customs duties or import/export restrictions (Beken & Janssens, 2018). It is a criminal offense that undermines legitimate trade and poses significant threats to national security, public health, and the economy (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2019).
A wide range of goods are smuggled, including drugs, weapons, counterfeit products, endangered species, and human beings (Albanese, 2018). The reasons for smuggling vary, but often involve the desire to profit from the sale of prohibited or heavily taxed items, exploit price differences between countries, or meet the demand for illicit goods (Beken & Janssens, 2018). Smugglers may also seek to circumvent trade restrictions or embargoes imposed on certain countries or goods (UNODC, 2019).
The primary beneficiaries of smuggling are the criminal organizations and individuals involved in the illicit trade. They profit from the sale of smuggled goods and the evasion of taxes and duties (Albanese, 2018). However, smuggling also harms various stakeholders. Governments lose revenue due to unpaid taxes and duties, while legitimate businesses face unfair competition from smuggled goods (UNODC, 2019). Consumers may be exposed to substandard or dangerous products, and the economy as a whole suffers from the diversion of resources into illegal activities (Beken & Janssens, 2018).
In addition to smuggling, other land and maritime border violations threaten the facilitation of legitimate trade. These include the trafficking of counterfeit goods, which undermines intellectual property rights and consumer trust (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2019). The illegal movement of people across borders, such as human trafficking and the smuggling of migrants, also poses challenges to border security and the integrity of international trade (UNODC, 2019).
The globalization of organized crime has had a significant impact on international smuggling. Criminal networks have become more sophisticated, leveraging advancements in technology, transportation, and communication to expand their operations across borders (Albanese, 2018). The increased connectivity and ease of movement in the global economy have also facilitated the growth of transnational smuggling, making it more difficult for law enforcement agencies to detect and disrupt illicit trade (UNODC, 2019). As a result, international cooperation and information sharing among governments and law enforcement agencies have become essential in combating the global threat of smuggling and other transnational crimes (OECD, 2019).
v/r,
-Joe G.
References:
Albanese, J. S. (2018). Transnational crime and the 21st century: Criminal enterprise, corruption, and opportunity. Oxford University Press.
Beken, T. V., & Janssens, J. (2018). The criminal finances of illicit tobacco trade in the European Union. Global Crime, 19(2), 155-180. https://doi.org/10.1080/17440572.2018.1471992
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2019). Trends in trade in counterfeit and pirated goods. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/g2g9f533-en
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2019). World drug report 2019. United Nations publication. https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2019/
Response #2 (Madeline): From a legal perspective smuggling constitutes the illegal transport of goods. This can include the transfer of products over state or national borders. In general, the ‘goods’ or ‘products’ tend to be contraband, illegal or regulated substances, and/or humans. Some examples of regulated products or illegal substances include drugs, guns, radiological material, and explosives. When these goods and products are smuggled the national security is threatened. Smuggling in this capacity hurts those who are vulnerable to drug addiction, gang violence, and increases the risk of a national emergency.
When the event of humans being transported occurs, it can be voluntary or involuntary. Human smuggling is the voluntary transportation of an individual and tends to be associated with illegal immigration. Human trafficking is the forced transportation of individuals and is associated with forced labor and sex slavery. In some cases, individuals will engage in human smuggling with a trafficker to gain entry into a country, then be trafficked to pay for the smuggling service (Rouhandeh, 2021). Human smuggling can be just as dangerous as human trafficking regardless of voluntary consent. Human smuggling and trafficking hurt the individual being trafficked and the country being trafficked into. In either case of products, goods or humans being smuggled, there is a threat of economic consequence to the target nation. This is due to saturating a market or area of demand. Once money is circulating in the economy from illicit operations, it becomes a dependent stream of income. It is estimated that around 8 to 15 percent of global GDP is attributed to illicit trade activities (Global Agenda Council on Illicit Trade & Organized Crime, 2014). Having a dependency on illicit trade means there will be consequences in the eradication of the trade, therefore disincentivizing the motivation to combat these criminal activities.
Much of this issue means that there is a necessity to depend on other national leaders to work against illicit trade and illegal transnational criminal activities. However, what do we do when national leaders are on criminal transnational organization’s pay roll? Other land and maritime border violations that threaten the U.S. in this are piracy as a universal crime on the high seas, terrorism via border weakness exploitation, and illegal immigration straining the social support network.
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