RESOURCE MATERIALSERIES No. 54

UNAFEI
Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan

September 19991

Mikinao Kitada
Director
Asia and Far East Institutefor the Prevention of Crime andthe Treatment of Offenders(UNAFEI)
1-26, Harumi-cho, Fuchu, Tokyo 183-0057, Japan

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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTORY NOTE ...................................................................... 1
PART ONEWork Product of the 108th International Seminar“CURRENT PROBLEMS IN THE COMBAT OF ORGANIZEDTRANSNATIONAL CRIME”
Visiting Experts’ Papers•Recent Trends of Organized Crime in Europe: Actors, Activities andPolicies against Themby Ernesto Ugo Savona (Italy) ...................................................... 5•The Threats Posed by Transnational Crimes and Organized Crime
Groupsby Frank J. Marine (United States) ........................................... 25•Transnational Smuggling of Aliens and Stolen Vehicles
by Lau, Yuk-kuen (Hong Kong) .................................................. 54•The Evolution of Drug Trafficking in the Pacific Rim
by Lau, Yuk-kuen (Hong Kong) .................................................. 61•Current Problems in the Combat of Transnational Organized
Crime
by Dimitris Vlassis (United Nations Office at Vienna) ............. 68•The Organized Crime in India: Problems and Perspectives
by Madan Lal Sharma (India) ................................................... 82
Participants’ Papers•General Picture of Organized Crime in Japan: The Activities ofOrganized Criminal Groups Based In or Outside Japan
by Yutaka Nagashima (Japan)................................................. 130•Current Problems in the Combat of Transnational Organized
Crime: Pakistan Perspectiveby Tahir Anwar Pasha (Pakistan)............................................ 147•Current Situation of Transnational Organized Crime in thePhilippines
by Alberto Rama Olario (Philippines)...................................... 171

iii

•An Overall Assessment of Transnational Organized Crimeby Muammer Yasar Özgül (Turkey) ......................................... 181
Reports of the Seminar•Topic 1: Current Situation of Illicit Drug Trafficking .................. 195•Topic 2: Current Situation of Organized Crimes (Except Drug
Trafficking) ..................................................................................... 230•Topic 3: Legal Framework against Transnationl Organized Crime
by Criminal Justice Systems in Different Countries ................... 243•Topic 4: Current Situation of Detection and Investigation .......... 250
PART TWOWork Product of the 109th International Training Course“EFFECTIVE TREATMENT MEASURES FOR PRISONERS TO
FACILITATE THEIR RE-INTEGRATION INTO SOCIETY”
Visiting Experts’ Papers•The Importance of the Appropriate Management of Risk andReintegration Potential
by Don A. Andrews (Canada) ................................................... 261•Some Old and Some New Experiences: Criminal Justice andCorrections in Finlandby Matti Laine (Finland) .......................................................... 271•Community-Based Treatment for Offenders in the Philippines : Old
Concepts, New Approaches, Best Practices
by Celia Capadocia Yangco (Philippines) ................................ 283•Effective Treatment Measures for Prisoners and Drug Addicts toFacilitate their Reintegration into Society
by Lohman Yew (Singapore) ..................................................... 301•Current Trends in Correctional Programming in the U. S. A
by Kenneth G. Adams (United States) ..................................... 315
Participants’ Papers•Effective Treatment Measures for Prisoners to Facilitate their Reintegration into Society : The Ghanaian Experience
by Asiedu William Kwadwo (Ghana) ....................................... 327

iv

•Treatment Programmes for Offenders Run by the Hong Kong
Correctional Services
by Chung, Wai Man (Hong Kong) ............................................ 341•Effective Treatment Measures for Prisoners to Facilitate their Reintegration into Society
by Yossawan Boriboonthana (Thailand).................................. 348
Reports of the Course•Rehabilitation Programmes in the Prison to Prevent Prisoners'
Recidivism : The Actual Situation, Problems and Countermeasuresby Group1 .................................................................................. 360•Early Release of Prisoners to Facilitate their Re-integration into
Society: The Actual Situation, Problems and Countermeasuresby Group2 .................................................................................. 391•Rehabilitation and Correctional Programmes in the Community to
Prevent Recidivism by Discharged Prisoners : The Actual
Situation, Problems and Countermeasuresby Group3 .................................................................................. 414
APPENDIX .......................................................................................... 437v

PART IWork Product of the 108th International Seminar“CURRENT PROBLEMS IN THE COMBAT OFORGANIZED TRANSNATIONAL CRIME”

UNAFEI

108TH INTERNATIONALSEMINAR
VISITING
EXPERTS’
PAPERSVISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

RECENT TRENDS OF ORGANISED CRIME IN EUROPE:ACTORS, ACTIVITIES AND POLICIES AGAINST THEM
Ernesto Ugo Savona *I. EUROPE: A CROWDED MARKET
PLACE AND CROSSROADS
The internal situation of the European
Union countries is characterised by therelevant and stable presence of Italianorganised crime groups, not only in the
country of origin. But also in France,
Germany and sporadically, even in Austria
and the United Kingdom. It is alsocharacterised by the development of“domestic bilateral organisations”
operating from country to country, e.g
between Belgium or Great Britain and theNetherlands, for taking advantage of theopportunities offered by drug pricedifferences in these countries. In othercountries there is the presence of domesticorganised groups (gangs), specifically inFrance, Great Britain and Spain.
The European Union is also thecrossroads for other criminal groups
operating internationally. The west
Colombian cartels are still predominant in
the importation of cocaine, helped bynational criminal groups. Galicians in
Spain and mafia in Italy co-operate withthe cartels to import and distribute cocaine
in the whole of Europe. From the south,
Nigerian groups characterise the drugtraffic and exercise their expertise in thearea of fraud. Other groups from the
Maghreb area are involved in hashish
importation. From the East, Chinese
Tr i a d s h a v e e s t a b l i s h e d s t a b l ecommunities in Spain, the Netherlands,
the United Kingdom, Italy, Austria,* Professor of Criminology and Project Director of the
Research Group on Transnational Crime, School ofLaw, Trento University, Italy.

Belgium and Portugal, Their main
activities of drug trafficking, aliensmuggling, local extortion, illegal gamblingand prostitution rackets are interrelated.
Turkish and Pakistani groups control the
trafficking of heroin from the Middle East
and Central Asia, through former
Yugoslavia or other Eastern countries.
Part of Europe’s modern criminal historyis the threat of the progressive expansionof organised groups from eastern andcentral Europe, mainly from Russia. But
to call these groups “Russian” means
keeping an old label for a new product. The
process of criminal fragmentation that ishappening today in Russia, in other CIS
Republics and the states of the former
Yugoslavia should be considered withextreme attention, especially for the future
implications it could have on the European
geography of organised crime. Talks withnational law enforcement agencies in many
European countries confirm that groups ofRussian, Polish, Czech, Rumanian andformer Yugoslav origin are active in Spain,
Germany, Finland, Austria, the United
Kingdom, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Their main activities are drug trafficking,the export of stolen cars, alien smuggling
and prostitution.
II. MULTIPLICATION OF
TRAFFICKING ROUTES AND
RAMIFICATIONS OF EUROPEAN
KEY POINTSThe organised crime development inEurope shows a progressive multiplicationof trafficking routes either by sea, air orland towards Europe and the ramifications

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
from European key points to outside
countries. Spain and Italy are still the
major entry points for cocaine in Europe,
along with Portugal. Spain and Portugal
are, however, also increasing theirimportance as entry points for heroin
coming from the south Asia area andPakistan, via African routes (touchingamong others Angola, Mozambique andCape Vert). Cocaine and heroin from Spain
spreads into Europe through France or by
sea from Italy. In both cases the Italianmafia plays a leading role in controlling thedeliveries.
Transhipments of heroin, Coming from
central Asian regions and Middle Easterncountries, and cocaine from South America,
are also conducted by Nigerians via air
through the main international airline
points. Also Turks and Kurds are involved
in heroin trafficking from the production
points to Germany and the United
Kingdom, passing through the Balkanroutes and Greece. Heroin distribution
inside these European Countries is carriedout by specialised Turkish networks within
their immigrant communities.
The entry of Eastern organised crime
into the international market has changed
and increased the routes traditionally used.
Russia and the other eastern European
regions are increasingly becoming the newtransit routes for drug trafficking as well
as for other criminal purposes, such as cartheft from Germany, The UK and theNetherlands, and illegal aliens smugglingfrom South-East Asia. The Baltic States,
Finland and Sweden are the main pointsof entry into Europe from the North. Twomain migration routes lead throughPoland. The eastern route, controlled by
Russian organised crime, is used totransport Asians, mainly Armenians,
Indians, Afghans and Africans (mostly
Somalis, Algerians and Nigerians). The
southern route is most often used by

6

Balkan residents, mainly Romanians. The
eastern route starts in Moscow, From
Where the Asians and Africans take a train
to Belarus and are then transported by car
to the Polish border with Lithuania, or to
the Ukraine, and finally into the European
Union.
Due to consolidated interaction among
Russian, Chinese and Vietnamese gangs,
Austria has become a transit country forheroin coming from the central Asian
regions and for cocaine arriving via central
Europe and Russia. In the south of Europe,
Albania has replaced the traditional transit
route used through Yogoslavia for drugtraffiking. This route is also used for aliens
being smuggled into Italy, as a point ofentry into Europe. France is a transit routefor hashish originating in South-West Asia
and North Africa. Ireland, due to its coastal
extension, is another entry point for drugs(hashish from North Africa) destined to theUnited Kingdom and continental countries.
Ports and airports in Europe are themain points of ramification inside andoutside Europe. Frequent examples show
Nigerian criminals, specifically active inthis context, as importers of cocaine andheroin along routes involving Lagos(Nigeria), London, Athens, Antwerp(Belgium) and other main international
airline points. They also act as exporters
towards the United States (Chicago) andCanada (Toronto). Part of the heroin
imported by Nigerians and the hashishcoming from South West Asia and Northern
Africa, first crosses France, then is reexported towards other European andNorth American or Canadian markets.
Opium also enters through the Frenchborders and, after being refined locally, isexported as pure heroin.
In the Netherlands, local networks are
becoming the main producers of synthetic
drugs in Europe. From here they are

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
exported through new routes leading outof the European Union, utilised also for
trade in marijuana and hashish, which isstill flourishing. Several internal routes aredesigned to transit synthetic drugs
produced in the Netherlands, andamphetamines produced in Poland, into
Sweden, Finland and other European
countries via Dutch, Belgian and Polishnetworks. Also Belgium is a consumer
market for synthetic drugs and trafficking
is carried out through co-operation between
rooted networks of Belgian and Dutch
citizens.

Criminalisation of money laundering
has solved the problem of distinguishing
between what is formally criminal and theinvestment that becomes criminal becauseof where the proceeds come from.
Organised crime and economic crime
become more closely linked, and the future
trends of organised crime tend towards
those productive activities where
opportunities are big, risk is lower and theorganisation required from criminals
reaches high complexity. Some of these
activities are outlined in the following
paragraphs.

III. ORGANISED CRIME TRENDS
IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Car theft has become an extensive
problem in the European Union, where thenumber of stolen cars almost tripled
between 1989 and 1993. A good indicatorof the quantity of vehicles involved is thenumber of missing cars reported and neverrecovered by the police. Based on the firstnational crime statistics for 1993, it can be
estimated that last year some 250,000
passenger cars disappeared without tracein the European Union.1 The stealing ofcars by Polish, former Yugoslav andRussian criminal networks has become aparticularly profitable market because of
the wide range of expensive cars “offered”
especially in countries such as Germany,
the Netherlands and Finland, and becauseof the huge demand for stolen cars comingfrom countries such as the former Soviet
Union, the Asian states or North Africa.
From Poland the vehicles are taken to theBaltic republics, or the Ukraine, to Russia,
the Caucasus region or Kazakhstan (thenations that have emerged from the Soviet
Union are a common destinations for theflourishing traffic in stolen luxury cars andsport or utility vehicles2). Bulgarian andRussian criminal groups have become amajor force in this particular area of crossborder crime, together with indigenous
crime groups who carry out the theft andrebuild the cars to give them a new identity.
The results are evident in the consumer

Analysis of the inteaction between thepatterns of organised crime money
laundering cycles and patterns of antimoney laundering responses allows us tooutline present trends. In this section,changes in opportunities and mutations inthe structure of criminal organisations will
be considered. Both variables are relevantin terms of policy implications because
their modification through more effective
policies could result in a reduction of theextension of the organised crime problem.
A. Developing a Mix of Illicit andLegitimate Businesses
The traditional distinction between
illicit and legitimate activities, withreference to organised crime, is becoming
less evident in the modus operandi oforganised criminals. At the same time, thedistinction between what is criminal andwhat is not becomes more and more vague.
The escalation of traditional criminal
activities (drug trafficking) and of theinvestment in legitimate industries (thecontruction or tourist industry) of theproceeds generated by criminal activities
is in a continuum.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
states. While less serious than some of theother activities of organised crime, this isan additional source of revenue (often
mixed with organised insurance fraud),
helping these groups to consolidate theirposition in certain countries. In those cases,
co-operation of criminal syndicates with themilitary is of special importance. Untilr e c e n t l y, t h e m a i n m i l i t a r y a i rtransportation centre was situatded on
Polish soil. Thieves steal cars in Germany
and drive them to Poland. Then the cars
are put on board military transportationand flown to Russian military airports.
Russian companies which run the business
are not necessarily part of the criminal
ring, and sometimes they are even unaware(or prefer to be unaware) of the real originof the cars, though, of course, the majority
at least guess where the cars come from.
Practically, all Russian dealers in foreign
cars insist on receiving already renovatedcars from aboard. In cases of stolen cars
(as opposed to genuine second-hand cars)
the renovation takes place in Poland, theBaltic Republics and, on rarer occasions,in the Czech Republic, Slovakia or
Hungary.
Since 1988, the counterfeit industry has
considerably increased the sophisticationof its products and, in some instances,counterfeit credit cards have been of better
quality than the genuine cards they
purport to be. 3 The American Bankers
Association (ABA) and the International
Bankers Association (IBA) have expressed
concern over the extensive use of computer
technology to counterfeit corporatecheques, bonds, securities and negotiable
instruments of governments andcorporations. The counterfeits are virtuallyindistinguishable from the genuine items.
In addition to counterfeit currency, bonds
and other monetary instruments, there has
been an escalation in the international
production and fraudulent use ofcounterfeit access devices: commercial

8

credit cards, telecommunications,computers, identification documents.4 The
number of cases of counterfeit currency inwestern Europe seems to have tripled in
1993, compared to 1991.5 In 1992 and 1993,
printed counterfeit versions of the new one
hundred and two hundred Deutschemark
notes were discovered, coming from Poland
and Italy. Counterfeit money is becoming
big business in eastern Europe. The bleak
economic outlook coupled with an unstablecurrency and high rate inflation, have led
to the Deutschmark and the US dollar
being used in place of the local currency inseveral Newly Independent States where
even basic products can only be obtainedwith foreign currency. Such a situation
provides ideal conditions for the production
and distribution of counterfeit money.
Frauds against the financial interests ofthe European Union are a traditionalsource of illicit proceeds from the
exploitation of legislation or from the lackof domestic controls. These criminal
activities are not only carried out by
professionals in the legitimate industry at
the margin of their business but also byextensive organised crime networks,
which, in Belgium, the Netherlands,
Portugal and Italy, have grown into wellestablished criminal trading communities.
On the expenditure side, in 1995 8% of thecases accounted for 74% of the amounts atstake. These figures lend further support
to the Commission’s belief that fraud
against the European Community is not aquestion of petty pilfering but of large scaleorganised financial crime.6 They intertwine
with normal trade and industry and use
their facilities to sell products and tolaunder profits. Frauds occur at different
stages of the criminal process. Instruments
such as front companies could either
generate illegal proceeds from fraud, orthey could be used to launder proceeds fromother crimes such as corruption. The
number of frauds against the financial

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
interests of the European Union isincreasing, although we do not know if they
are increasing in the number of thosecommitted or those reported. Data recently
produced by the Commission of theEuropean Union7 shows the dimension of
the phenomenon and calls for more
attention to be paid to the problems linked
with international frauds, internationalorganised crime and money laundering.
This criminal phenomenon is not restricted
to food or agricultural products but it
involves goods of every kind through a wide
range of more or less sophisticatedmethods. Other kinds of fraud, carried out
by the same organisations, are VAT frauds
and generally a wide range of financial andcommercial frauds.
Criminal organisations are engaged in
the massive smuggling of illegal aliens into
the European Union from poor regions suchas North Africa, eastern Europe, the former
Soviet Union, Asia and South-East Asia.
The Russian mafia group that controls theroute makes an estimated $12 million ayear on this traffic.8 Most illegal
immigrants coming from the East try toenter Poland through the porous, 102kilometer Lithuanian border. In the firstsix months of 1995, border guards stopped
341 people in 14 groups, mainly from India,
Pakistan, Somalia and Nigeria. 9 The
Southern route is plied mainly by
Romanian, Bulgarian, Turkish and former
Yugoslav citizens. Most of them arrive
legally in Poland, taking adventage of aninternational agreement on visa-free
tourist traffic.10 In Poland the government
estimates that there are 100,000 migrants
waiting to be smuggled into Germany.11
German officials are collaborating very
closely with the Polish government totighten controls along the border, but thesmugglers are diversifying their routes:
Other landing places of choice are
Mediterranean ports such as Marseilles
and the coastal border in Italy. For the year

1993, the International Centre forMigration Policy Development (ICMPD) in
Vienna estimated that migrants frombetween 100,000 to 220,000 in number had
used the help of smuggling syndicates moreor less intensely in one or several phasesof the transfer, in order to reach a western
European state. The estimate by ICMPD
is based on the assumption that between
15% to 30% of immigrants (between
250,000-300,000) entering Europe illegally
have used the traffickers and that between
20% to 40% of those requesting asylum
without founded rights (estimated at
300,000) have done the same. On theassumption that immigrants pay
traffickers sums between $500 USD (pricefor crossing of a west European or Middle
Eastern border) to $25,000 USD (forbringing Chinese people from China into
the USA), ICMPD believes that every
foreigner who reaches western Europe withthe help of traffickers, pays an averageamount of $2,500,USD to $5,000USD. On
the basis of this calculation, ICMPD finds
it realistic to estimate the profit of thetraffic syndicates for that year as aminimum of $100 million to a maximum of$1.2 billion USD. According to ICMPD, theworld profits in this criminal sector for thesame year was around $5 billion USD to$7 billion USD.12
This phenomenon has two effects, notonly is it a threat to the basic ingredientsof national sovereignty, it also places theimmigrants themselves in jeopardy. 13
These would-be immigrants are highly
vulnerable, and women in particular areoften forced into sexual slavery in order topay off their debt to the criminal smugglingorganisations. In fact, the increase in thesmuggling of aliens is directly connectedwith prostitution. Experts estimate that
more than 10,000 young women have been
recruited in east European countries.14
In Europe, considerable alarm has been

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
raised by nuclear materials trafficked bycountries belonging to the former Soviet
Union. Although it is almost clear that forthe moment, rather than criminalorganisations, the traffickers are greedy
freelancers, traders, adventurers oropportunists15, looking for a demand in thearea. It is likely that in the future, criminalorganisations will enter this market for
extortion purposes. If purchasers cannot befound and the material is on hand, thenextortion may appear particularly
attractive. There are currently several
hundred tons of weapon-usable fissile
material under inadequate physicalsecurity and material control in Russia.
Kilogram quantities of weapon-usable
fissile materials have been stolen frominstitutes in Russia since the break-up of
the Soviet Union. Part of this material is
not intercepted before leaving the Russian
borders. The quantities that have alreadybeen stolen (and fortunately intercepted)
are sufficient to make small nuclear
weapons. It has been noted16 that sufficientfissile material can be diverted from
Russian stockpiles, with a high probabilityof success, to provide a sub-national groupwith one or two nuclear weapons, or evena rogue state with a sizeable arsenal.
Infiltration by organised crime groups,
both traditional and relatively new ones,
into the legitimate economy stems mainly
from the need to invest their illicit proceeds
in order to obtain a legitimate income, butalso to reduce the overall risk of being
detected and having their capital seized
and confiscated. Recent stringent antimoney laundering policies adopted by themember states have stimulated, via themoney trail, a more efficient detection of
the real owners of these proceeds, and theseizure of capital of illicit origin. It istherefore likely that organised criminals
are seeking to internationalise themselvesin order to reduce the risk that theircriminal proceeds will be seized andconfiscated.
10

Infiltration of the licit economy stems
also from the need criminals have always
had for respectability. The history of
criminal organisations shows that
infiltration in legitimate businesses
belongs in the evolutionary ladder of many
criminal organisations. American
experience has shown that this has
happened in the past, while the situationof the ex-Soviet Union already displays thisevolution. In the latter country, today’s
criminal class, going through the processof contemporary infiltration into legitimate
businesses and gaining respectability, willprobably be joining the ruling classes oftomorrow.
It is possible to distinguish threedifferent effects and four areas of thelegitimate economy in which organised
criminals operate: the product market, thelabour market, capital and, as aconsequence, the stock market.17
In the product market, the criminal
enterprise can seriously distort competition
among legal enterprises. It strives todishonestly acquire a leading position in
the market or to engage in a coalition withlegitimate enterprises, and it is clear that,in this phase, it also tries to take over therole of the State. This means that criminalorganisations or legitimate enterprises, ina context of different and varying relations,seek to acquire a leading position over themarket, using weapons of voilence andbreaking the rules of competition. The more
the State or its institutions or markets are
weak or weakly controlled and defended,
the more easily attainable this objective
becomes. In the European Union today,
criminal organisations operate where
profits are to be made, but also where theState or its institutions are weaker.
Moreover, crimial penetration within the
ex-Soviet republics is due also to these two
fundamental requisites: the maximisation

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
of profits and the weakness of legislationand control instruments. It is therefore
clear that the major distortions incompetition produced by illicit methods
stunts the entrepreneurial initiative of
those actors operating in accordance withthe law, and that it produces a major lackof equilibrium in the market.
Another important factor is distortion in
the labour market. Two basic distortions
arise in the labour market due to criminal
infiltration. The first is that the criminal
enterprise offers job opportunities at higher
prices and with lower costs than those fixedin the legal market. Control is exerted over
the work-force by the use or the threat ofviolence. By recruiting labour (especiallyforeign illicit aliens), criminalorganisations directly handle job
placements, negotiations, wages, thus
protecting themselves against strikes orother forms of claimant behaviour.
Also of major importance for criminalorganisations is the capital market. Almost
all of the European Union authorities areaware of illicit capital entering capital
markets. In investing their surplus money,
criminal organisations increasingly tend touse professionals and lawyers who makeit possible to conceal the real ownership ofmoney thus averting the risk of its
detection and seizure. It is evident that
financial markets are certainly the mostdesirable sectors for criminal infiltration
today.
But there is a further aspect ofpenetration which is of particularimportance: the effect of stock markets.
Today, an interesting phenomenon within
the European Union is that criminalorganisations tend to invest the laundered
money by acquiring the property ofenterprises. Through the acquisition of alimited corporation, the criminal investor
can gain personal legitimisation, as well

as a profitable, unsuspected way tocommingle licit and illicit funds without
directly using financial institutions.
Depending on the surrounding economy orcriminal culture, such penetration may be
perpetrated through violence, extortion,usury or other more sophisticated financial
methods. This kind of infiltration isparticularly important because it clearly
illustrates the type of distortion produced.
It is also true that today, through theenterprise and its re-capitalisation withcriminal proceeds, a distortion ofcompetition mechanisms may beengendered. Legal enterprises in fact
borrow capital by paying an official interest
rate, not paid by those enterprises thathave the opportunity of resorting tocriminal proceeds to satisfy their need for
liquidity and capital. Of course theseenterprises can operate in the market withmore competitive prices.
B. Changing Structures andRelations of Criminal
Organisations
The increased activities generated by the
new opportunities offered through theglobalisation of the markets seem to induce
criminal organisations to develop in two
different directions: specialisation anddiversification.
The trend towards specialisation in one
or more markets or specific illicit goods is
provoked by a combination of increased
competition among criminal organisations
and powerful investigations by law
enforcement agencies. Both are forcing
criminal organisations to develop theirexpertise and to become increasingly
efficient in their activities. Galicians in
Spain and the mafia in Italy havespecialised as cocaine importers and main
suppliers for Europe. Local criminal groups
in the Netherlands and Belgium havespecialised in the production and export of11

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
synthetic drugs in and outside theEuropean Union, whereas local groups ofwhite collar criminals still based in thesecountries have developed a long-standing
expertise in financial, European Union and
VAT f r a u d s . O n t h e o t h e r h a n d ,specialisation depends also on the
traditional expertise and on the specificgeographical position of the country oforigin to the criminal groups. It happensthat the Turkish and Kurdish drugtraffickers for example, are devoted almost
exclusively to heroin trafficking, becauseof the vicinity of Turkey to the source area,and because of the wide immigrantcommunities in the heart of the European
Union.
Wi t h r e g a r d t o t h e p r o c e s s o fdiversification as opposed to specialisation,some groups are developing a wide set ofopportunities providing goods and services
on an opportunistic basis. They are sold toother criminal organisations even though
they may be competitors in a specificmarket or territory (arms trafficking andhuman smuggling, for example). Nigerians
and eastern European criminal networks(headed by the Russian mafia) havedeveloped their activity of delivery services
for a wide range of products and customers.
The former have started importing cocaine
from the Colombian cartels, extending
further to heroin from South-East Asia.
The latter, due to the geographic position
and the extension of the territory available,
have diversified the products from drugs(both heroin and cocaine) to arms, alien andprostitute smuggling, and are in return
exporting cars and synthetic drugs from
Europe.
In terms of changes in organisational
structure, there are two main changes thatcan be outlined; greater flexibility and more
co-operation with other criminal groups.

12

1. More Flexibility
More flexibility occurs in the compositionof the criminal groups and their operations.
A market with a varying demand for illegal
products or services, such as the European
one, acts as a magnet for present and newadventurers. Criminal organisations
require a flexible structure in order topromptly re-organise their acitivities
according to demand and to the number ofcompetitors. Occasional businesses or
specific targets more often require small
task forces of criminal specialised experts,
who work with external individuals,
providing services and expertise in fields
unknown or not directly accessible to thecriminal organisation. This networking canbe observed in the drug market, where theexample of the Nigerian networks is aclassical one. Small groups of excutives oreven individuals carry out the operationaltasks or missions, co-ordinated andinstructed by a strategic centre in the
country of origin. In the field of fraudcommitted by Belgian or Dutch white collar
criminals, and for car thefts carried out by
Polish and Yugoslav networks, these
networks have acquired a specific expertisein the division of labour for every task.
Flexibility also occurs in a wider gap
between the ranks of the organisational
structure. This means that the hierarchicaldistance between the leaders of a crimeenterprise and the rank-and-file isbecoming increasingly greater. This alsomeans that the “trail of evidence” linking
the crime and the top level has become
obscured, providing insulation against law
enforcement. At the lower levels, work is
carried out by small units (namely “cells”)
which are aware of only a part of theorganisation’s activities or which function
only as servicing units. This phenomenon
has been observed in the drug markets,
where “veterans” are able to recruit a wide
network of trusted executives.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
The organised crime groups analysed
above require a wide range of services,
information and skills. Therefore, theproblem of co-operation comes either
through the collusion/conflict with othercriminal groups or through corruption/
conflict with law enforcement and judiciary
personnel.
2. More Co-operation among Criminal
Organisation18
At the political and law enforcementlevels, attention is being paid to the
problem of collusive agreements among
criminal groups. Recent alarm about suchagreements denotes the awareness that thelevel of competition among criminal groups
in some markets, and its development insome cases towards monopolistic positions
or collusive agreement, is relevant forunderstanding the way in which organised
crime faces opportunities and risks. Since
collusive agreements are made with the
purpose of optimising opportunities andrisk (in this case, trading lesser
opportunities against less risk), in regard
to a monopoly where these two variables
are high (higher prices are an easy target
for the police), it is understandable that law
enforcement agencies are concerned whena trend towards more collusive agreements
develops. For the same reason there is the
opposite concern on behalf of organised
criminals. It is possible to hypothesise thatthese collusive agreements are favoured in
a combination of:• Systemic variables: such as alengthy inter-criminal conflictwith inevitable spreading ofviolence;• Organisational variables: such as
weakness of the organisations due
to infiltration, turncoats,
conviction of the top leaders;• Economic variables: such aschanges in the markets, reductionof resources, demand forspecialisation;• Perception of an increase of law
enforcement risk.
There is a continuum from complete
merger between organisations at the one
extreme, to independent spot market
transactions on a one-off basis, at the other.
These alliances can take many forms,
including operating linkages, licensing or
franchise agreements and joint ventures.
In this case, tactical arrangements, rather
than strategic alliances are developed,
because of the lack of long-term
expectations. In many respects suchactivities seem to be typical of a significant
part of the drug-trafficking industry, thatis, they are carried out by small,independent organisations that have cometogether to exploit a particular trafficking
route and a specific way of circumventing
customs and law enforcement. Many ofthese are small-scale tactical alliances
based on transnational networks, but when
they prove effective they have an inherent
capacity for growth. At the same time, theirloose, fluid nature makes it equallyplausible that they will be disbanded andtheir constituent elements reformed indifferent constellations. Tactical alliances
are made for specific purposes and are often
followed by a search for other partners tomake shipments to different locations
using different modes of concealment.
In the first place, alliances are a rationalresponse, multiplication of the business
opportunities (legitimate and criminal)
provided by the opening of the European
markets. The development of alliances canbe understood as a response by criminal
enterprises to the business environment
and as an attempt to overcome their own
limitations. One of the most importantways to accomplish this is by aggressively

13

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
gaining access to new markets. Sometimes,
at the lower level (mainly involving street
drug smuggling or prostitution rackets),
this access happens with the use of violencein order to establish supremacy among
exploiters of the same market, as inGermany among east European groups orin the United Kingdom among street gangs.
The other way is to co-operate with thoseenterprises which are already entrenchedin these markets, having greater
knowledge of local conditions and being
more attuned to local problems, rather thantrying to insert themselves as competitorson unfamilliar territory. In this case,alliances can also provide an effectivemeans of circumventing restrictions
imposed by government or antigovernmental organisations, which canmake it difficult for foreign organisations
to penetrate the market. In this context,
links are also increasing between criminal
and terrorist organisations. Indeed, thedistinction between terrorist groups
pursuing essentially political objectives
and criminal organisations pursuingeconomic goals is likely to become
increasingly blurred as can be noted in
terrorist groups such as the IRA and the
INLA in lreland and the Kurds in Germany
and Turkey. They all act to achieve
economic support that could be
instrumental in the case of terrorists, orthe end result in the case of organised
crime.
Paradoxically, co-operative tactics offer
a rational and effective response to a highly
competitive situation. Obviously theorganisations already in the market haveto be offered something substantial in
return, or some other form of reciprocity
has to be exercised.
Co-operation among criminalorganisations is often aimed atcircumventing law enforcement andnational regulations. From this14

perspective, it is clear that at least some of
the alliances among them can beunderstood as risk-reduction alliances.
Criminal organisations make allianceswith governments, either throughcorruption or coercion or, more often, a mixof both. A reoccurring feature of thisbehaviour is the extended use of bribery in
Italy in order to enhance control on
territory, to minimise the risk of law
enforcement and to strengthen theirposition against external competitors.
Another example is offered by the criminal
networks carrying out European Union or
VAT frauds which must necessarily develop
ties with institutions both at a national andEuropean level. Even criminal groups
dealing with the transportation of illicit
goods through the European Union borders
must have accomplics at some level in the
Customs sector.
IV. THE EUROPEAN POLICIES 19
The European Union context gives
criminals a fertile ground for theirtransnational activities. The Treaties
establishing the European Community andfollowing Treaty of Maastricht grant a total
freedom in moving capital, goods, services
and persons across the borders of theMember States. It is, therefore,
understandabele how organised criminalrings are taking advantage of thissituation, specialising themselves intransnational illegal behaviours, exploiting
this large possibility of movement within
the Union in connection with the loopholesof national legislation. Consequently
criminals tend to become transnational andorganised, building up illicit enterprises,
moving criminal goods and criminal
proceeds from one country to another,establishing their bases in the most secure
nations and entering those illegal sectors
where they perceive high opportunities for
gain, with low risk.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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Drug trafficking, money laundering,
fraud (especially against the European
Union’s interests), corruption, traffickingof aliens with the scope of their exploitation
are all illicit behaviours that are an everincreasing threat not only to the single
states of the Union, but also to all theEuropean Community. Money launderingin particular is advantaged by all the newtechnologies present in modern society.
This is the way in which the European
Union institutions try to define thephenomenon:“Organised crime is increasingly
becoming a threat to society as weknow it and want to preserve it.
Criminal behaviour is no longer thedomain of individuals alone, but alsoof organisations that pervade thevarious structures of civil society, andindeed society as a whole. Crime isincreasingly being organised acrossnational borders, also taking
advantage of the free movement ofgoods, capital, services and persons.
Technological innovations such as
Internet and electronic banking turnout to be extremely convenient
vehicles either for committing crimes
or for transferring the resulting
profits into seemingly licit activities.
Fraud and corruption take on massive
proportions, defrauding citizens andcivic institutions alike”.20
How can European Union organisms
react to this complex situation? Since theexistence of the European Union, with its
rules and aims, is itself a push factor to
the spreading of organised crime, how do
the European institutions envisage toendow themselves with specific means forcombating organised crime? Unfortunately,
despite the general sovra-national power
given to European institutions within theeconomic framework of the Union, as far
as crime, legal co-operation in criminal
matters and immigration are concerned,

the situations differ widely.
Only since November 1993, does the
Title VI of the Maastricht Treaty, throughthe so-called ‘third Pillar’ of the Union,
make specific provisions in the field ofjustice and home affairs, which includes
immigration, drug addiction and cooperation in civil, penal, custom and police
fields, giving life to a special decision
process. In these fields, Member States do
not fully give up their sovereignty to theEuropean Union, because decisions
continue to be taken unanimously. The
previous informal co-operation has now
been transformed into an institutionalised
method. That is to say that this particulardecision-making standard is a half-way
between the traditional Community
system involving all the European
institutions and intergovernmental cooperation at the diplomatic level.21 While
the European Parliament and theCommission have a very reduced role, theEuropean Council, always unanimously,
can adopt joint actions and decisions (whichbind the Member States to the extent inwhich they contain explicit obligation) andpredispose Conventions. It is mainly in thislegal framework that, at European Unionlevel, the fight against organised crime canbe contained.
It is difficult to draw a detailed pictureof the most recent actions developed
against organised crime in the European
Union’s context. Anyway, the criterion
adopted here is based on the different
illegal activities contrasted, on theimportance of the instruments settled andon the methods of fighting crime.
As drug trafficking and addiction areproblems that afflict all of the Member
States, some efforts have been undertaken
to enhance international co-operation anddata exchanges. The action by theEuropean Union in this sector is based on

15

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
the 1994 Communications from theCommission to the Council and on the
conclusions of the Cannes and Dublin
European Councils (held in June 1995 andDecember 1996 respectively). The aim ofthese instruments is to combat drugtrafficking, to reduce drug demand and todevelop co-operation among countries.
During the European Council held in
Dublin 13 and 14 December 1996, theneed was underlined for harmonisinglaws, developing further co-operation
among law enforcement agencies, paying
attention to synthetic drugs and fully
implementing the European Union’s
Directive on money laundering,considering its application outside theclassical financial sector.22 Also the role
played by information, education andtraining on health matters in reducing
drug demand was highlighted. In thefield of co-operation among nations, theEuropean Council also gave prominence
to the implementation of internationala g r e e m e n t s , s u c h a s t h e Vi e n n aConvention against Illicit Trafficking inNarcotics Drugs and Psychotropic
Substancs, and to a better informationexchange among partners about drugs(especially with countries of Latin
American, Caribbean, central Asia,
central and eastern Europe).
Following this advice, a joint action23 wasissued on the approximation of the laws
and practices of police, customs services
and judicial authorities to combat drug
addiction and to prevent and combat illegal
drug trafficking. This joint action, further
to harmonising legal, police and customs
systems within the nation so as to improve
prevention and fight against illegal drugtrafficking, urges Members States to:combat illicit movements of narcotic drugs
and psychotropic substances within theCommunity (including “drug tourism”);
punish serious drug trafficking offences16with the most serious penalties available
in their penal systems for crimes of thesame gravity; endeavour to change theirlegislation or to fill the legal vacuums inregard to synthetic drugs; take appropriate
steps to combat illicit cultivation of plants
containing ingredients with narcotic
properties; make it an offence to publicly
and intentionally incite or induce others,by any means, to commit offences of illicit
use or production of drugs. On 16 December
1996, the Council issued a resolution aimed
at dismantling the illicit cultivation andproduction of drugs within the European
Union. On 20 December 1996, the Council
adopted a resolution on sentencing forserious drug offences, asking Member
States to ensure the possibility of custodial
sentences for serious illicit trafficking in
drugs. On the same date, the Council
adopted another joint action on theparticipation of the Member States in a
strategic operation planned by the Customs
Co-operation Council to combat drug
smuggling on the Balkan Route. Recently,
on 16 June 1997, the European Council
enacted a joint action related to
information exchange, risk assessment andthe control of new synthetic drugs.
As far as police co-operation related todrugs is concerned, a special unit, theEuropean Drug Unit (EDU), was createdby ministerial agreement in June 1993.
The initial task of this Unit was to solicit
exchanges of information on narcotics andmoney laundering. When talking about
Europol and police co-operation later on,
EDU will be discussed in more detail.
Concerning fraud against the European
Union’s financial interests, in 1994 UCLAF(Unitè Contre la Lutte Anti Frode) wasestablished by the European Commission.
This is a special Unit in charge of theprevention and repression of fraud
affecting the budget of the Union. This typeof fraud, which is seriously damaging not

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
only the right functioning of theCommunity, but also the interests of all
Member States, is more and more in thehands of organised criminal networks.
UCLAF has both legislative andoperational functions, being responsible
not only for studying all kinds of measuresfor protecting the European Union’sbudget, but also, more generally, fordeveloping a contrast strategy against
economic and financial crime prejudicial to
the Community and operationalcountermeasures against counterfeiting.
Another task of UCLAF in that of
information, publishing a yearly report on
the outcome of its activity.24
The most noteworthy actions by theEuropean Union in the fraud sector havebeen:
• Community regulations aimed atco-ordinating the administrative
co-operation between Member
States and the European
Commission in the customs andagricultural fields;• Directive issued on 18 December
1995, on the protection of theEuropean Community’s financial
interests, that, amongst otherthings, defines the acts damaging
the Union’s budget;• Convention on the Protection of theEuropean Communities’ Financial
Interests (adopted by the Council
on 26 July 1995), that fixed acommon definition of fraud andbinds the Member States topunishing this behaviour (and its
instigation or attempt) as acriminal offence in their national
penal systems.
Keeping in mind that corruption is avery common criminal activity practised inorganised criminal networks when doing
business, and in particular, considering thenegative and prejudicial role played bycorruptive practices both at theCommunity and national level, theEuropean Council, on 26 May 1997, drewup the Convention on the Fight Against
Corruption Involving Officials of theEuropean Communities or Officials ofMember States of the European Union. The
aim of this Convention is to strengthen
judicial co-operation in the fight against
corruption. The Convention gives legal
definition of active and passive corruption,
obliging Member States to punish thesebehaviours as crimnal offences if
committed either by national or by
European Union officers. Those committingthese offences, or instigating the conduct
in question, should be punished byeffective, proportionate and dissuasive
criminal penalties, including, in the mostserious cases, deprivation of liberty, which
can give rise to extradition processes. Other
rules foresee the jurisdiction of the Member
States and the total co-operation ofMember States in investigating,prosecuting and carrying out thepunishment of such offences, when they
involve more than one country.
A more and more alarming criminal
question within the European Union is the
trafficking of migrants. This phenomenon
is controlled mainly by powerful criminalorganisations, capable of establishingcontacts among nations, of corrupting
officials, of counterfeiting documents andof controlling black labour markets. In thishuman trade, particularly weak subjects
are women and children, as they can easily
be sexually exploited in host countries. The
European Union institutions have recently
become more aware of this criminal issue.
A Communication, including
immediately effective steps to combat childpornography on the Internet, and a Green
Paper on the Protection of Minor andHuman Dignity were adopted by theEuropean Commission on 16 October 1996.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
A Communication by Commissioner Anita
Gradin on Trafficking in Women for the
Purpose of Sexual Exploitation whose aim
was:“to stimulate a broad policy debate
and to promote a coherent European
approach to this issue....such an
approach should include measures toimprove both international andEuropean co-operation, whilst putting
more effective measures in place atthe national level”.25
The European Council, on its behalf, has
adopted:• a joint action extending the
mandate given to Europol Drug
Unit’s to include trafficking inhuman beings26;• a joint action to establish a
programme for sharing
information among Member
States on trade in human beingsand the sexual exploitation ofchildren (the so-called STOPp r o g r a m m e ) . 27 T h e S T O P
programme should develop coordinated initiatives on the
combating of trade in humanbeings and the sexual exploitationof children, on the disappearancesof minors and on the use of
telecommunications facilities forthe purposes of trade in humanbeings and the sexual exploitationof children. The specific aim of the
programme should be providing
training, exchanging
programmes, holding meetingsand seminars, doing studies andresearch, disseminating
information for judges, publicprosecutors, law enforcement
agancies, civil servants or the
public services that come tocontact with this particular
phenomenon;• a joint action introducing a18

programme of training, exchanges
and co-operation in the field ofidentity document 28 (the so-called
SHERLOCK programme), run by
the European Commission, witha view of making more effective
the action against the false papers
used, especially by clandestine
immigration networks.
Another method for fighting organised
crime within the European Union is tostrengthen legal co-operation in thecriminal area among all Member States.
For example, to facilitate and simplify
extradition procedures for criminals who
have committed particular offences, could
be a good way for speeding up processes
against persons involved in organised
criminal rings operating in thetransnational arena. The Convention on
Simplified Extradition Procedures between
the Member States of the European Union,
adopted by the European Council on 10
March 1995, is aimed at abolishing a
number of bureaucratic formalities when
the person in question agrees to be
extradited. The Convention relating toExtradition between the Member States of
the European Union, adopted by theEuropean Council of Dublin on 27
September 1996, is aimed at increasing the
posibilities of extradition. The requested
State cannot refuse the demand forextradition if the fact is punishable under
the law of the requested State with at least
12 months of liberty deprivation, and by
the law of the requested Member State
with a penalty of at least 6 months ofdeprivation of liberty. In the cases in which
the offences are classified in the requesting
State as conspiracy or association tocommit an offence, the requested Statecannot refuse the extradition, claiming thatits penal law does not provide for the samefacts to be an offence, if the conspiracy or
the association is finalised to commit
crimes related to terrorism and drug

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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trafficking or other forms of serious illicit
behaviours against individual freedoms orcreating a collective danger. It is, in any
case, necessary that these acts should bepunishable by the requesting Member witha penalty of at least 12 months ofdeprivation of liberty. Extradition may not
be refused on the grounds that the person
requested is a national of the requested
Member State. These two Conventions are
currently being subjected to the process of
ratification by Member States.
Furthermore, in the European Union
framework, a new inportant Convention on
Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters iscurrently being drafted. It tends to reducedifficulties deriving from cross-borders
searches of evidence and to makeprocedures simpler and speedier, bymaking it easier to obtain evidence comingfrom other countries, bettering andintensifying cross-border investigations
and allowing contact and informationexchange among investigators and judges
of different Member States.
Considering how criminal groups
prosper, thanks also to the discrepancies
among legal systems of the European
Union’s States, it not difficult to realise
why, in the field of legal co-operation, theinstrument used to contrast the activities
of organised crime is the harmonisating ofpenal legislation of the Member states. A
fruitful example of this attempt is theCouncil Resolution on lndividuals who Cooperate with the Judicial Process in theFight against International Organised
Crime, adopted on 20 December 1996. In
this case the Council calls all Member
States, to take appropriate measures toencourage persons who participate, or haveparticipated, in an association of criminals
or other criminal organisation of any kind,or in organised crime offences, to co-operatewith the judicial process. To co-operatemeans to reveal essential information to

the investigation authorities or tocollaborate in helping authorities todeprive criminal groups of their illegal
resources or of the proceeds of crime.
Information may cover the composition, thestructure or the activities of the criminal
network; the existing links with otherillegal groups or the offences committed orthat might be committed by the criminal
ring. Following the advice of the Council,
Member States should introduce in theirlegislation rules granting benefits to these
individuals who, breaking away from thecriminal organisations they belonged to,help authorities in collecting evidence
essential for reconstructing facts,
identifying perpetrators of crimes andleading to their arrest. Stringent protective
measures should be granted to thesecollaborators and to their parents, children
or other people who, as a consequence ofthe revelations, are likely to be exposed toserious and immediate danger. In the end,
the Council underlines the need forfacilitating judicial assistance among
States for processes involving individuals
co-operation in the fight againstinternational organised crime. Also
keeping clearly in mind that the
instrument of the resolution is not binding
for Member States, the relevance of theCouncil’s act must be stressed, for it
represents a moral imperative and a welldefined way to address criminal organised
networks operating in Europe.
The elaboration of an efficient strategy
against international criminal syndicatesshould result in combating them on aninternational scale, and it should allow for
the circulation of police information andknowledge among the law enforcement
agencies of the Member States, at least as
fast as organised crime gangs crossnational borders. The European Union
institutions have always felt the need forpolice co-operation in the fight againstorganised crime, and have acted

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
accordingly by establishing Europol and
EDU.
In June 1991 in Luxembourg, Heads ofGovernment or States of all Member States
stressed, upon an initiative of the German
Chancellor Kohl, the urgency for creating
a force called Europol. While pending thedrafting of the Convention establishing
Europol, in June 1993 an embroyonic formof Europol, the European Drug Unit (EDU),
was set up through a ministerial
agreement. The initial task of EDU was theexchange of information among law
enforcement agencies on narcotics andmoney laundering. With a joint action
adopted by the European Council on 10
March 1995 29, the role of EDU was better
defined and this Unit was put in charge ofthe exchange of information andintelligence in relation to illegal organised
criminal activities affecting two or moreStates, and of helping police and relevent
national agencies combat them. The
criminal activities to be covered by EDU
were illegal drug trafficking, illicit
trafficking in radioactive and nuclear
substances, crimes involving clandestine
immigration networks and illicit vehicle
trafficking. With another joint action on 16
December 1996 30, the Council extended the
mandate of EDU also to the trafficking of
human beings.
The creation of EDU was principallycaused by the bureaucratic slowness linked
to the birth of Europol. The Convention on
the Establishing of a European Police Office(Europol Convention) was, in fact, drawn
up by the European Council on 26 July
1995, but until now it has not yet been
ratified by all Member States. On the basisof this Convention, and with the aim of
improving the effectiveness of thecompetent authorities in the Member
States and co-operation among them inpreventing and combating terrorism,
unlawful drug trafficking and all other20

forms of serious transnational crime,
Europol has been endowed with different
tasks: to facilitate the exchange of
information among Member States; toobtain, collocate and analyse information;
to notify the competent authorities ofMember States (without delay) of any
information and connections detectedamong criminal offences; to aid
investigation within the Member States; tomaintain a computerised system forcollecting information. In each Member
State a national Unit should be establishedor designed and should serve as a liaison
body between Europol and national
authorities.
At the Dublin European Council of 13
and 14 December 1996, conscious of theneed for serious and co-ordinated approachby the Union to organised crime problems,
the Council expressed the hope of a rapid
ratification of the Europol Convention by
Member States. In this Council further
decisions have been taken, the mostimportant of which was the establishing ofa High Level Group to draw up an action
plan with specific recommendations
covering all the aspects of organised crime.
This action plan, drafted by the HighLevel Group, was adopted by the Council
on 28 April 1997 and can be considered themost serious planning of the activities of
the Union against organised crime. The
final part of this paper will deal more at
length with this action plan because of its
relevance, its recent adoption, its broad anddetailed range of proposals and its longterm programme, that involves all
European institutions and Member States
in an active future collaboration. The
guidelines, expressed in recommendations,that the European Union and Member
States should follow in enhancing theirstruggle against organised crime are veryclear.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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In the field of police co-operation, each
Member State should grant a high level ofco-ordination among all its law
enforcement agencies, providing a single
central contact law enforcement agency to
exchange information and keep contact
with the authorities of other Member
States (Recommendations no. 1-2). The
action plan also asks for the rapid
ratification and implementation of theEuropol Convention, stressing that thepowers of Europol should be broadened toinclude the following:“(a) Europol should be enabled tofacilitate and support the preparation,
co-ordination and carrying out ofspecific investigative actions by thecompetent authorities of the Member
States...; (b) Europol should beallowed to ask Member States to
conduct investigations in specificcases...; (c)Europol should develop
specific expertise which may be putat the disposal of Member States toassist them in investigating cases oforganised cross-border crime...; (d)Full use should be made ofpossibilities of Europol in fields ofoperational techniques and support,
analysis and data analyses files (forinstance registers on stolen cars orother property)...; (e) Access by
Europol may be sought to the
Schengen Information System or its
Europeansuccessor”(Recommendation no.25).
The possibility for Europol to collaborate
with third party countries andinternational organisations should also betaken into account (recommendation n.24).
The Commission, Council and Member
States should develop a comprehensive
policy against corruption, trying to betterthe transparency of public administration.
This object should be achieved by focusing
primarily on prevention elements and:
“Addrµessingµ such issues as theimpact of defective legislation, publicprivate relationships, transparency offinancial management, rules onparticipation in public procurement,
and criteria for appointments topositions ot public responsibility...”,
but also not forgetting “the area ofsanctions, be they of a penal,
administrative of civil character, as
well as the impact of the Union’s policy
on relations with third States”(Recommendation no.6).
Commission, Council and Member
States, together with the professionalorganisations concerned, should always
study and define methods for reducing thesusceptibility of liberal and otherprofessions to organised crime, for examble
through the adoption of codes of conduct(Recommendation no.12):“The Member States and theEuropean Commission should ensurethat the applicable legislation
provides for the possibility for an
applicant in a public tender
procedure,who has committed
offences connected with organised
crime, to be excluded fromparticipation in tender procedures
conucted by Member States and by
the Community. In this context it
should be studied whether and underwhat conditions persons who are
currently under investigation orprosecution for involvement inorganised crime could also be
excluded. Specific attention should be
paid to the illicit origin of funds as apossible reason for exclusion”(Recommendation no.7).
As far as fraud against the financial
interests of the European Union isconcerned, Recommendation no. 10 of theaction plan states that;“The Member States should consult
regularly the competent services of

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
the Commission with a view toanalysing cases of fraud affecting thefinancial interests of the Community,and deepening the knowledge andunderstanding of the complexities ofthese phenomena within existingmechanisms and frameworks. If
necessary, additional mechanisms
shall be put in place with a view toarranging such consultations on aregular basis. In this context, future
relations between Europol and theCommission’s anti-fraud unit (Uclaf)should be taken into account.”

On the basis of Recommendation no. 9,
the structural funds of the Union shouldbe employed to avoid large cities of theUnion becoming grounds for organised
crimial groups:“Particular attention should be given togroups not fully integrated in society,since these may be vulnerable targets
for criminal organisations.”• make as general as possible thecriminalisation of the launderingof the proceeds of crime,
considering the opportunity ofextending this offence to negligent
behaviours;• introduce in the legal systems of
the Member States confiscation
rules that allow confiscation
regardless of the presence of theoffender (including dead or
absconded);• extend the obligation imposed by
Article 6 of the European Directive
on Money Laundering to all
offences linked with serious
crimes and to persons andprofessions different fromfinancial institutions;• address the issue of money
laundering committed via
Internet and other electronicmeans of payment (it has to ber e m e m b e r e dt h a tRecommendation no.5 calls for acrosspillar study in the field ofhigh-technology crime);• try to reduce the use of cash
payments and cash exchanges bynatural and legal persons serving
to cover up the conversion of theproceeds of crime into otherproperties;• Consider common strategies to beundertaken in the fields of
economic and commercial
counterfeiting and in thefalsification of banknotes andcoins, also in view of theintroduction of single currency.

In the field of money laundering andconfiscation of the proceeds of crime, theaction plan (Recommendation no.26)
suggests to the Council, to the Commission
and to Europol to endeavour to:• improve international exchange ofdata;

The action plan (Recommendations no.’s
13-14) also calls for the rapid ratificationof the most relevant international
Conventions concerning criminal matters,such as the European Convention on
Extradition (Paris 1957), the Protocol to theEuropean Convention on Mutual

The action plan also considers thenecessity for countries to harmonise
national legal systems by adopting thesame offences all over the European Uniont e r r i t o r y. S o , o n t h e b a s i s o f
Recommendation no. 17:“The Council is requested rapidly toadopt a joint action aiming at making it
an offence under the laws of each
Member State for a person, present in
its territory, to participate in a criminalorganisation, irrespective of the locationin the Union where the organisation inconcentrated or is carrying out its
criminal activity.”22

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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Assistance in Criminal Matters (Strasbourg1978); the Convention on Laundering,
Search, Seizure and Confiscation of theProceeds from Crime (Strasbourg 1990), theAgreement on Illicit Traffic by Sea,
implementing Article 17 of the United
Nations Convention against Illicit Trafficin Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances (Strasbourg 1995), theConvention on the Fight against Illicit
Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances (Vienna 1988). It also warmly
invites Member States to ratify all the
relevant European Union Conventions: theConvention on Simplified Extradition
Procedure between the Member States of theEuropean Union; the Europol Convention,
the Convention on the Protection of theEuropean Communities’ Financial
Interests, the Convention on the Use ofInformation Technology for Customs
Purposes; the Convention relating toExtradition between the Member States of
the European Union; the Protocols to theConvention on the Protoction of theEuropean Communities’ Financial
Interests.
In conclusion, the Amsterdam Treaty
should also be mentioned which, modifying
yet again the essential structure of theUnion, could also be considered a firstattempt to follow some of therecommendations of the action plan.
Although signed on 21 September 1997,
this Treaty has not jet come into force, for
it is waiting for ratification by all Member
States. In many of its points theAmsterdam Treaty focuses on criminal
problems, requiring different levels of cooperation among law enforcement andjudicial authorities of Member States, andbetween them and Europol, and calling forthe creation of a European research,documentation and statistical network on
cross-border crime within five years. On thebasis of the Articles of the Amsterdam
Treaty, Europol can ask Member States to

conduct joint investigations in specificcases; Member States are invited to set up
joint crime-fighting teams, that can besupported by Europol; easer extradition of
criminals among Member States should bemade possible, and all over the Union acommon minimum standard for rules andpenalties in the field of organised crimeshould be adopted.
NOTES
1. J. Storbeck, “Developments of International
Organised Crime and Future Expectations Within
Europe”, paper presented at the Europe 2000
Conference, The Hague, April 1994, p.4.
2. N. Onishi, “Stolen Cars Find a World of Welcome”,
The New York Times, July 10, 1995.
3. “Chinese Connections”, The Banker, October, 1994.
4. The 1995 INCSR, p.478.
5. J. Storbeck, “Developments of International
Organised Crime and Future Expectations Within
Europe” paper presented at the Europe 2000
Conference, The Hague, April 1994, p.4.
6. Commission of the European Communities,
Protecting the Community’s Financial Interests,
The Fight Against Fraud - Annual Report 1995,
Brussels, 1996.
7. Commission of the European Communities,
Protecting the Community’s Financial Interests,
The Fight Against Fraud - Annual Report 1994,
Brussels, May 29, 1995.
8. E.U. Savona, G. Da Col and A. Di Nicola, “Dynamics
of Migration and Crime in Europe: New Patternsof an Old Nexus”, paper presented at theInternational Conference on Migration and Crime:
Global and Regional Problems and Responses,
Courmayeur, October 5-8, 1996.
9. G. Witkowski, “Illegal Migration West”, The
Warsaw Voice, September 10, 1995.
10. “The New Trade in Humans”, The Economist,
August 5, 1995.
11. Ibid.
12. J. Widgren, “Multilateral Co-operation to Combat
Tr a f f i c k i n g i n M i g r a n t s a n d t h e R o l e o f
International Organizations”, paper presented at
the Eleventh IOM Seminar on International
Response to Trafficking in Migrants and the23

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Safeguarding of Migrant Rights, Geneve, October
26-38, 1994, pp. 5-6. For more details on this topic,
see TRANSCRIME, Migrazione e criminaltà - Ladimensione internazionale del problema, CNPDS,
Milano, June 1996, pp. 53-72. See also E.U. Savoma,
G. Da Col and A. Di Nicola, op. cit.
13. J. Fredman, “Smugglers Move 1 Million Yearly to
Industral World”, The Houston Chronicle, June 12,
1994, p.31.
14. J. Storbeck, op. cit., p.6.
15. R. Atkinson, “Official Say Contraband Not a
Threat”, The Washington Post, August 28, 1994.
16. T.B. Cochran, Prepared Testimony Before the
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, European
Subcommittee, August 23, 1995.
17. Ernesto U. Savona, “Svilppi delle attività criminali
ed ii riflessi nel sistema economico nazionale edinternazionale”, in Economia e Criminalità,
Camera dei Deputati, Rome, 1993, p. 203-213.
18. This section draws upon the contributions of: P.
Williams, “Transnational Criminal Organisations:
Strategic Alliances”, The Washington Quarterly,
January 1995; R. Godson and W.J. Olson,“International Organized Crime”, Society, n. 2. vol.
32, January 7, 1995; E. Kemmelmeier, “Latest
Developments of Terrorism and their Relation with
Mafia Type Organizations”, paper presented at theEuropean Round Table Conference on Institutional
Threats to Parliamentarian Democracy - Organized
Crime, Terrorism, Corruption and European
Structured Answers, The Hague, 20-22 April, 1994.
19. This paragraph is mainly drawn on European
Commission, Directorate-General X, Task Force on
Priority Information Project, Security Supportingan Area of Freedom in Europe, Brussels, 1997, B
Nascimbene (ed.), Da Schengen a Maastricht.
Apertura delle frontiere, cooperazione giudiziaria
e di polizia, Giuffrè editore, Milano, 1995.
20. Action Plan to combat organised crime, adopted
by the European Council on 28 April 1997, Part I,
Chapter 1, paragraph 1.
21. U. Draetta, Elementi di diritto comunitario,
Giuffrè editore, Milano, 1994, pp. 44-45.
22. This Directive (no. 91/308, 10 June 1991) is aimed
at preventing traffickers from laundering theirmoney into European legal financial circuits, asking
Member States to criminalise this behaviour andfinancial institutions to be more strict in controlling24

the identity of their clients.
23. Joint action 96/750/JHA, adopted on 17 December
1996.
24. See, as an example, European Commission,
Protection of Community Financial Interest, Fight
Against Fraud - Annual Report 1996, Luxembourg,
1997.
25. A. Gradin, Communication on Trafficking in
Women for the Purpose of Sexual Exploitation,
Brussels, November 1996.
26. Joint action 96/748/JHA, adopted on 16 December
1996.
27. Joint action 96/700/JHA, adopted on 29 November
1996.
28. Joint action 96/673/JAI, adopted on 28 October
1996.
29. Joint action 95/73/JHA, adopted on 10 March 1995.
30. Joint action 96/748/JHA, adopted on 16 December
1996.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

THE THREATS POSED BY TRANSNATIONAL CRIMES AND
ORGANIZED CRIME GROUPSFrank J. Marine*
I. INTRODUCTION
This conference is especially importantand timely because in the 1990s, theproblems to the world community posed bytransnational crimes and organized crimegroups have increased significantly and arelikely to continue to increase in the near
future. There are several principal reasonsthat account for this unfortunate increasein transnational and organized crime
activities.
First, the increased volume of trade
among nations, which of course has greatly
benefited legitimate business interests, hasalso generated greater opportunities forcriminals to criminally exploit suchbusiness and trade.
Second, the decrease in customs andother regulatory barriers to international
travel and business has also had theunintended effect of aiding criminals
engaged in smuggling of narcotics andother contraband.
Third, similarly, the proliferation of airtransportation connections and the easingof immigration, visa and travel restrictions
in many counties to promote legitimate
interests has also facilitated criminal
activity and the movement of criminals
across international borders.
Fourth, modern advanced
telecommunications and information
systems that are used in legitimate* Deputy Chief, Organized Crime and Racketeering
Section, Criminal Division, U. S. Department ofJustice, United States.

international commercial activity can also
be used by criminal networks to improvetheir own communications and to quickly
carry out criminal transactions, especiallymoney laundering.
For example, through the use ofcomputers, international criminals have an
unprecedented capability to obtain,
process, and protect information andsidestep law enforcement investigations.
They can use the interactive capabilities
of advanced computers andtelecommunications systems to plot
marketing strategies for drugs and otherillicit commodities, find the most efficientroutes and methods for smuggling andmoving money, and create false trails forlaw enforcement or banking security. The
use of computers has enabled Colombian
drug traffickers in particular to keep more
flexible and secure records of transactions
and money laundering activities.
International criminals take advantage ofthe speed and magnitude of financialtransactions and the fact that there are few
safeguards to prevent abuse of the system
to move large amounts of money without
scrutiny.
Fifth, international criminals are
becoming more sophisticated in theiroperations, using modern businesstechniques and technology to facilitate
their criminal activities and to thwart law
enforcement efforts. Such organizations
also employ individuals with specificexpertise to facilitate their criminal
activities, including transportation
specialists, computer experts, financial
experts to launder their money and manage

25

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
business investments, and attorneys toidentify loopholes in laws and regulations
that enable criminal networks to laundermoney and establish front corporations andbusinesses.
Sixth, unfortunately, consumption ofillegal drugs has increased in somecountries leading to greater problems posedby trafficking in illegal narcotics.
Seventh, the breakup of the Soviet Union
in 1991 and the related break up of theSoviet Bloc has led to the development ofmany organized crime groups that haverecently engaged in substantial criminal
activities, especially effecting the European
community and the United States.
Eighth, the new governments that haveemerged from the former Soviet Bloc aremaking significant advances, but still have
not yet had enough time to develop andimplement laws, regulations and businesspractices to adequately address the
problems of crime and public corruption
posed by organized crime groups.
In sum, these and other recent
developments and trends have contributed
to growing transnational criminal activities
and the expansion of organized crimegroups. The cost to the world community
caused by organized crime groups andtransnational crimes includes not only lossof billions of dollars, lose of life and physicalinjuries, but also entails substantial public
corruption. The combined effect of theseadverse consequences tends to undermine
the security and stability of governments
themselves. Indeed, the adverse
consequences of such criminal activities
can not be understated. It is therefore
essential that the international community
continue to work together closely to addressthese very serious problems facing us all.

26

II. DEFINITIONS
It is important to note that the conceptsof transnational crimes and organizedcrime are different and distinct, eventhough they are interrelated and overlap.
As I use the term, “transnational crimes”
refers to serious crimes that either
significantly affect more than one country
or are carried out across national borders
and thus involve criminal activity in morethan one country.
As I use the term “organized crime”, I
am not referring to a particular offense orcrime. Indeed, in the United States there
is no criminal offense designated“organized crime”; as in the United States
it is not a crime “per se” merely to be amember of an organized crime group. Thisis so because in the United States criminal
offenses are defined by the specific conductthat is made criminal, and not by thenature of the group that is committing theoffense. Therefore, it is a crime for anyone
to commit conduct that is made criminal
regardless of whether the offender is or is
not a member of an organized crime group.
M o r e o v e r, U n i t e d S t a t e s l a w
enforcement does not use any particularrigid definition of “organized crime”.
Rather, United States law enforcement
uses an extended list of criteria or
attributes that typically are shared byorganized crime groups. Thus, organizedcrime groups possess certain
characteristics which include but are notlimited to the following :(1) The groups have a hierarchicalstructure and continue over an
extended period of time and are selfperpetuating. That is, theorganization continues its illegal
affairs even after the death or
imprisonment of some of its leaders

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
and members.
(2) T h e i r i l l e g a l a c t i v i t i e s a r e
conspiratorial.
(3) In at least part of their activities, they
commit or threaten to commit acts ofviolence or other acts which are likely
to intimidate.
(4) They conduct their activities in amethodical, systematic, or highly
disciplined and secret fashion.
(5) They insulate their leadership fromdirect involvement in illegal activities
by their intricate organizational
structure.
(6) They attempt to gain influence ingovernment, politics, and commerce
through corruption, graft andlegitimate means.
(7) They have economic gain as theirprimary goal not only from patently
illegal enterprises such as drugs,
gambling and loansharking, but also
from such activities as laundering
illegal money through andinvestment in legitimate business.
As you can see by this criteria, UnitedStates law enforcement uses the term“organized crime” to refer to organizedcrime groups that reflect thesecharacteristics, and the term does not referto a particular offense or crime.
I realize that others may define“organized crime” differently and I do notmean to suggest that these criteria are theonly criteria for defining or describing
organized crime. Rather, I am only statingthat these are the criteria that federal law
enforcement uses in the United States.
By way of emphasis, the key attributesof an organized crime group are that thegroup has a hierarchical structure,continues its illegal activities over an
extended period of time, is selfperpetuating, and engages in diversified
criminal activities for profit.
It is also noteworthy that while virtually
all serious and sophisticated criminal
activity involves some degree of“organization”, and some degree of joint
conspiratorial undertaking, suchorganization, in my view, does notnecessarily make such criminal activity“organized crime”. If that were the case,then virtually all serious crimes would beconsidered “organized crime” because
virtually all serious crime involves“organization”.
It bears emphasis that, in my view, theterms “transnational crime” and “organizedcrime” are not synonymous. Althoughorganized crime groups may commit
transnational crimes, organized crimegroups also often engage in criminal
activities that mostly affect the country inwhich they operate with little direct effecto n o t h e r c o u n t r i e s . C o n v e r s e l y,transnational crimes are not only
committed by organized crime groups, but
are also committed by offenders who are
not members of recognized crime groups.
I hope that the distinctions I am drawing
between transnational crimes andorganized crime will become clearer as I
discuss these concepts in more detail andillustrate my point by specific examples.
With these definitions in mind, I would
now like to briefly summarize the principaltransnational offenses that in my view
affect the United States and many othercountries. By no means does the list
necessarily contain all transnational
crimes, however, I would like to focus on
the principal ones in my view. Then, I

27

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
would like to briefly describe the principalorganized crime groups that are operatingin various countries that also have impact
on many countries.

methamphetamine, an illicit drug
associated with particularly violent
aberrant behavior, in their lifetime.
Every day, some 8,600 young try anillegal drug for the first time.

III. TRANSNATIONAL CRIMES
A. Drug Trafficking
The worldwide illicit narcotics industry
is one of the greatest threats to social
stability and welfare in the United States.
In addition to the terrible human cost of
addiction and associated health concernsincluding HIV and AIDS-endured by usersof illicit narcotics, drug abuse has asignificant impact on the social fabric that
affects all Americans. Drug abuse
undermines family cohesion and has aterrible daily and often lifelong effect on
the lives of children across the country.
Drug abuse also promotes antisocial
behavior and disrespect for laws andinstitutions. The drug trade brings with ithigh levels of street crime and violence byaddicts needing to pay for drugs and by
drug groups fighing for turf.
The economic costs to United States
citizens are high—lost productivity at thework place, medical care, spending for drug
rehabilitation and social welfare programs,
and in the financial and personnel
resources required by federal, state, andlocal law enforcement agencies and judicial
and penal systems to deal with drugrelated crimes.
• According to the most recent publicly
available survey data, about 13
million Americans—6.1 percent of thetotal population—used drugs on acasual, monthly, basis in 1996. The
survey data indicates that in 1995
there were approximately 3.3 million
chronic users of cocaine and some
810,000 heroin addicts in the UnitedStates. It is estimated that nearly 5
million Americans have tried28• In 1995, United States citizens spentapproximately $57 billion dollars on
drugs—including $38 billion topurchase cocaine and $10 billion on
heroin from overseas sources. The
economic costs to society are evengreater; in 1990, the total costs ofdrug abuse—including health carecosts, lost productivity, and the costsof crime—were estimated to be $67
billion, of which $46 billion was
related to crime and criminal justice.
• Drug use costs United States citizens
roughly $17.5 billion per year inhealth-related costs, according to a
recent estimate. The annual deathrelated costs of drug abuse accountfor an additional $3.2 billion. At least$6.3 billion of these costs are
estimated to be from AIDS
transmission driven by drug use.
• Drug use has a significant effect onwork place productivity. Drug users
are times more likely to be late forwork, 10 times as likely to be absent,
and five times more likely to fileworker’s compensation claims. They
are responsible for 40 percent of allindustrial fatalities and incur
medical costs three times as high as
their drug-free coworkers.
• There is a strong correlation between
drug abuse and crime. In 20 of 23
cities in 1996 in a program sponsoredby the National Institute of Justice,
more than 60 percent of adult males
arrested for crimes tested positive forat least one drug. In 1995, almost
255,000 people were incarcerated in108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
state prisons and nearly 52,000 infederal prisons for drug offenses,
about 60 percent of federal prison
population was there for drug-related
crimes.
To put it mildly, these costs in money andhuman suffering from use of, andtrafficking in, illegal drugs are deplorable.
There in no doubt that the United States
has a serious problem with the degree ofillegal drug use. Unfortunately, othercountries are also experiencing an increasein illegal drug use. For example, it isestimated that in the Peoples Republic ofChina the number of registered drug
abusers increased between 1990 and 1995
from 70,000 to 520,000. In Pakistan theheroin addict population is estimated tohave grown from virtually none in 1980 totwo million. Likewise, the use of cocaine
and other illicit drugs has substantially
increased in Russia and other countries ofthe former Soviet Bloc since the breakupof the Soviet Union.
This demand for illegal drugs drives the
supply. Regarding the supply, Southeast
Asia remains the greatest source region forheroin in the world, accounting for 60
percent of the world’s production. Burmais the world’s largest producer of illegal
opium and heroin, accounting for
approximately 50 percent of the world’s
illicit production. Laos is also a large
producer of opium and marijuana. Other
countries in Asia are transit routes for illicit
opium and heroin, including Thailand,
Vietnam, Cambodia and the People’s
Republic of China.
Colombia continues to lead the world in
cocaine production. Extensive drug cartels
use Mexico and Central America as staging
or transhipment areas for United Statesbound cocaine, which is smuggled into theUnited States primarily through thesouthwestern border and southeastern
United States.
Colombian drug organizations are
historically familial-based organizations
involved in cocaine trafficking and, to alesser extent, the trafficking of marijuana.
Distribution in the United States is
directed by sophisticated organizedstructured groups. Cocaine wholesale-level
distribution and money laundering
networks comprised of multiple cells
function in a number of major metropolitan
areas. These organizations are fully
equipped with the most up-to-datetechnology, including personal computers,
pagers, and facsimile machines for use in
their daily operations. United States
operations are coordinated on a daily basisby key figures in Colombia. Primary UnitedStates bulk cocaine distribution centers
include southern California, southern
Florida, southern Texas and New York City.
Recent cases indicate that Colombian
drug organizations are increasingly using
gangs operating in Mexico to provide drug
smuggling services. The terrible violence
associated with these drug cartels is wellknown. The violence and corrupting
influence of these drug cartels is sosignificant that they constitute direct
threats to the stability of governments inCentral and South American countries
where they operate.
Recently, Nigerian organized crimegroups have become major suppliers ofheroin to regions in the United States.
Cases that have been prosecuted indicatethat Nigerian drug organizations typicallysmuggle only small quantities of drugs at
a time using thousands of couriers, rather
than smuggling large bulk shipments as
do other drug trafficking organizations.
Illicit drug trafficking clearly poses
formidable problems for the law

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
enforcement agencies of the United Statesand other countries. The Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) andthe Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)are the principal federal law enforcement
agencies in the United States responsible
for combating illegal drug trafficking. Theirprimary strategy involves the targeting of
the largest or major drug trafficking
enterprises for investigation andprosecution so that the enterprise itself canbe dismantled or disrupted.
In addition to attacking the suppliers ofillicit drugs, it is also imperative to reducethe demand for illicit drugs.
The Director of National Drug Control
Policy in the United States has
implemented a comprehensive five year
strategy designed to reduce the demand forillicit drugs which includes: educational
and advertising programs to educate
children and parents about the harmful
effects of drugs, to persuade people to rejectillegal drug use; and to increase drug
treatment and rehabilitation efforts to help
people refrain from using illegal drugs.
B. Alien Smuggling
Sophisticated alien smuggling networks
traffick in “human cargo”. Alien smuggling
is fast becoming a global problem as
residents of many countries, particularly
Mexico, the Peoples Republic of China,
India, Pakistan and other counties seek
new homes and economic opportunities in
Canada, Japan, the United States, Western
Europe and other countries. According toa United Nations Study, in 1994, the profits
turned from smuggling illegal aliens acrossinternational borders approached $9.5
billion.
The United States is not alone inexperiencing a serious problem with illegal
immigration. In the last two years,
estimates indicate that more than half a30

million illegal immigrants were smuggled
into Western Europe. Japan has also
experienced an increase in illegal
immigration from other Asian countries.
The vast majority of migrants who enterthe United States and other countries
illegally are motivated by economic reasons- they seek jobs and greater economic
opportunity. In some cases, the aliens are
fleeing political persecution or are seeking
greater political freedom in other countries.
Therefore, there are substantial
humanitarian concerns and issues related
to the global problem of alien smuggling.
However, alien smuggling also poses
substantial problems for law enforcementin the United States and elsewhere.
According to the Immigration andNaturalization Service of the United States(hereinafter INS), approximately fivemillion illegal aliens reside in the UnitedStates. By reside, I mean persons who haveremained in the United States for morethan 12 months. Therefore, this five million
does not include many, perhaps hundredsof thousands, of temporary illegal migrants
who may come to the United States to work
for several months and then return to theirhome country, and does not include aliens
who stay a short period of time beyond thelegal limits of their admission. INS
estimates that about 54 percent of these
five million illegal aliens are from Mexico.
Although Mexico by far is the largest
source of illegal aliens in the United States,
other countries such as El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti are also
principal sources of illegal migration in the
United States. Moreover, Central andSouth America are increasingly serving astransit zones for aliens from other areas,
including Asia and Eastern Europe. Alien
smuggling networks and routes have been
established throughout Central America tomove local migrants, as well as illegal

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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aliens from other areas. Tactics used byalien smuggling organizations run the
gamut of all available means oftransportation including large boatloads of
migrants, air travel of a few individuals tolarge groups of alleged tourists, tocommercial buses, trucks and vans.
The smuggling of aliens from thePeople’s Republic of China to the UnitedStates has posed particular problems forUnited States law enforcement. Between
1991 and 1997, the United States Navy andCoast Guard interdicted a total of 43 ships
carrying over 4,000 migrants, mostly fromthe Fujian province in the People’s Republicof China. A series of prosecutions in Boston,
New York, Honolulu, San Francisco and
Hawaii has established that an Asian
organized group known as the Fuk Chinggang that operates primarily in New Yorkand California was responsible for muchof smuggling of boatloads of aliens from thePeople’s Republic of China.
The dangers involved in such smuggling
ventures are highly significant. The
prosecutions I mentioned established thatin many instances the boats were
overcrowded, unsanitary, lacked adequate
food and supplies and were unsafe. In one
tragic incident in 1993, a ship, the Golden
Venture, carrying over 100 aliens from thePeoples Republic of China ran aground off
the coast of New York City and 10 aliens
died as a result.
In addition, these prosecutions haveestablished that the aliens and theirfamilies are exploited if the alien is
successfully smuggled into the UnitedStates. The smuggling fee of $20,000 to$30,000 per alien is clearly beyond themeans of a Peoples Republic of China
migrant to pay. Consequently, thesmugglers have threatened, kidnapped,
and assaulted aliens and their family
members to collect the smuggling fees andoften force the alien to work illegal
gambling or prostitution businesses, or
sweatshops in the garment industry until
the smuggling fees are paid.
Similar harmful consequences stem fromsmuggling operations involving migrants
from Central and South America. For
example, unsafe and overloaded vehicles
have contributed to accidents resulting indeath and injuries.
The costs to the United States associatedwith illegal migration is substantial. To
address alien smuggling and related
matters, the Immigration andNaturalization Service’s overall budget has
more than doubled within five years from
$1.5 billion in fiscal year 1993 to $3.1 billion
in fiscal year 1997.
A November 1997 report by the UnitedStates General Accounting Office indicatesthat illegal immigrant families receive over
one billion dollars in welfare payments andFood Stamps alone. One state, California,
alone spends about $830 million each year
to incarcerate illegal aliens who have been
jailed for criminal acts. The financial costs
associated with United States interdiction
and deportation procedures are also high.
For example, the costs exceeded $7 million
to deport 158 migrants and 11 crew
members seized in a boat carrying
migrants from the Peoples Republic ofChina destined for Hawaii in May, 1995. I
would imagine that other countries areexperiencing similar problems and costs
related to the global prolems arising fromillegal migration.
To address these problems, the UnitedStates has recently nearly doubled the sizeof INS border patrol agency. United States
law enforcement working with the Coast
Guard and Navy and other agencies has
increased its efforts to interdict boatloads
of illegal aliens and to repatriate them.

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Criminal penalties for alien smuggling
have been increased, a mandatory
minimum of three years’ imprisonment
upon conviction for smuggling an alien for
financial gain. For example, in January
1998, the ship’s captain and two crew
members convicted of smuggling a boatloadof over 100 aliens from the People’s
Republic of China were sentenced in Boston
to 12, 10 and 8 years in jail. INS also
continues to work with other countries to
identify alien smuggling networks and to
standardize entry and documentary
requirements for international travel tominimize the risks of counterfeit
documents.
C. Money Laundering
Money laundering is designed to prevent
governments and law enforcement
agencies from knowing the source of illegal
proceeds and from tracing the money to its
sources. The primary motive of professional
criminals is to obtain financial profits fromtheir varied criminal activities. Thus thecriminal activities that drive the need tolaunder money are very broad, ranging
from laundering illegal proceeds from drugtrafficking and racketeering enterprises towhite collar crimes such as commercial andbank frauds, bribery and tax evasion.
• The amount of funds generated
around the world by illegal activities
requiring legitimization is on theorder of hundreds of billions of dollars
annually; most estimates place theamount of money being launderedannually between $300 billion to$500 billion.
• In addition to drug trafficking
proceeds, substantial amounts ofmoney are transferred abroad to belaundered or otherwise hidden,
costing the United States
Government tens of billions of dollars
annually in tax revenue losses. A

32

1993 study on transfer pricing
concluded that the United States was
deprived of at least $30 billion—and
possibly as much as $100 billion—in
tax revenue that year as a result oftax evasion or money laundering
through transactions between UnitedStates firms and their foreign
partners.
The infrastructure for launderingcriminal proceeds, all of which must beplaced and “legitimized” in the legal
economy, is extensive and worldwide.
Banks, nonbank financial institutions —which include brokerage houses,
commodities dealers, currency exchange
services, and casinos — and other
legitimate businesses are part of the money
laundering network. Investment inlegitimate business enterprises provides
cover for criminal activities, as well as aplausible source of wealth and income todeny it was obtained illegally. Use of front
companies to launder illegal proceeds andto finance illicit transactions arewidespread by criminals worldwide.
The international banking and financial
system is routinely used by launderers tolegitimize and transfer illicit proceeds.
Once illicit proceeds are in theinternational banking system, electronictransfers of funds makes it difficult to track
how laundered money flows. Tens of
thousands of banks worldwide areconnected to electronic funds transfer
systems. The flow of illicit money, however,is only a tiny fraction of the trillions ofdollars that move daily through theinternational financial system, more than
$1 trillion moves daily through the UnitedStates-based Clearing House Interbank
Payments System (CHIPS), which handles
nearly all international dollar transfers. In
most cases, banking and other financial
institutions probably serve more as
avenues of opportunity for launderers

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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rather than willing participants.

occurred outside the United States.

Foreign banking systems that offer bankand corporate secrecy, or where there is
weak enforcement or an absence ofregulations against illicit financial
activities, are most appealing tointernational criminals seeking to launderillicit proceeds or to stockpile funds insecret accounts and shell companies.
Criminals also take advantage ofcorruption in many banking sectors, bothto place money into banking systems andt h e e c o n o m y, a n d t o h a m p e r a n yinvestigation of illicit financial activities.

The expansion of computer technology
throughout the world has also led toincreased opportunities for transnational
criminals to gain access to confidential
information and to use the interactive
capabilities of advances in computers andtelecommunications systems to facilitate
fraudulent schemes and the movement ofillicit money other assets.

D. Financial Fraud
Wide-ranging and complex financial
fraud schemes by international criminalorganizations are stealing billions of dollars
annually from United States citizens,businesses, and government programs.
Financial fraud crimes have become moreprevalent in recent years as criminalorganizations take advantage of thesignificantly greater amounts of personaland corporate financial information now
available and the ability to access that
information through computer technology.
The Association of Certified Fraud
Examiners estimated financial losses fromfraud perpetrated by domestic andinternational criminals in the UnitedStates at more than $200 billion per year.
A 1995 survey of personal fraud
victimization estimated the annual
tangible costs associated with fraud
schemes to be $45 billion.
Credit card fraud is another major
financial fraud that crosses international
borders. Chinese gangs in the UnitedStates particularly have been adept at
carrying out a wide variety of credit cardfraud, including counterfeit credit cards.
Major credit card issuers estimate fraud
losses to have been in excess of $2 billion
dollars in 1996, about one-third of which

E. Bank Fraud and Threats toInternational Banks andFinancial Institutions
The use of banks and other financial
institutions by international criminals tolaunder money, finance illicit transactions,or facilitate fraud schemes can underminet h e i r c r e d i b i l i t y, w i t h s i g n i f i c a n trepercussions for the international
financial system. Financial institutions
rely on their credibility in international
financial transactions—including loans,investments, large fund transfers, andmanaging stock and equity funds—and thefailure of a large institution can affectglobal makets. Allegations that a financial
institution is involved in criminal activity
raises the possibility that its services andbusiness practices are corrupt, scaring
away investors and customers.
Efforts by some countries to develop
modern banking systems can be greatly
inhibited by involvement in theirburgeoning financial sectors. In cash-andcredit-scarce countries like Russia, forexample, criminal groups can gain
influence over banks and access to loans
for their enterprises simply by threatening
to withdraw their funds from the bank.
Criminal organizations that acquire control
or significant influence in banks or otherfinancial institutions sometimes use themto make loans to front companies that are
not repaid, which can undermine thecredility and solvency of the banks,

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
sometimes forcing the international
financial community to come to the rescue.
The collapse of Latvia’s Bank Baltija inAugust 1995—the largest commercial bankin Latvia at the time of this failure—illustrates the threat posed by criminal
control of financial institutions. Criminals
used the bank to make loans to their own
front companies, which were not repaid,
and defrauded accounts of as much as $40
million. This massive fraud caused thebank to fail, provoking a major financial
crisis in Latvia.
F. Counterfeiting
Counterfeiting of United States currency
and the currencies of other nations remains
a long standing problem, especially withimprovement in copying and production
technologies.
G. Transnational Crimes Involving
Intellectual Property
Counterfeiting and other forms of
copyright, trademark, and patent
infringement and sale of pirated products
distort international trade, undermine thelegitimate marketplace, and cause
extensive losses of revenue to both domestic
and foreign industries. The illegal
duplication of United States films, compact
disks, computer software computer
software, pharmaceutical, and clothing
trademarks major—sectors of UnitedStates export earnings—causes annual toUnited States companies of up to $23
billion.
H. Corrupt and Criminal Business
Practices
Companies in the United States andother countries are victimized by the global
problem of corrupt business practices,
including commercial bribery to obtain
lucrative business and government
contracts. In a three-year period between
May 1994 and April 1997, foreign business34

companies were alleged to have offeredbribes for 180 contracts valued at $80
billion.
I. Illegal Arms Trafficking
International criminal networks that
are—or could be—used for illegal arms
trafficking and brokering deals andsmuggling sensitive materials andtechnologies related to weapons of mass
destruction threaten interests of theUnited States and many other countries.
Although United States prosecutions ofsuch cases have been relatively few innumber, they have been significant.
For example, in 1997, a group ofindividuals connected to employees ofstate- run arms companies in the People’s
Republic of China were convicted in
California of smuggling 2,000 AK47s andother arms into the United States.
J. International Car Theft Rings
A relatively recent and significant
criminal activity carried out by Russianand Asian organized crime groups involves
extensive networks to steal luxury cars byhijacking or through fraud in the UnitedStates. The cars are then smuggled out of
the United States for sale in foreigncountries in Asia and Europe.
K. Prostitution
Asian and Russian organized crimegroups are also significantly involved in
obtaining women from Asia and former
Soviet Bloc countries to work in the UnitedStates as prostitutes. Often the women arebrought to the United States throughfraudulent visas and passports under false
promises of assistance to obtain legitimate
employment. However, the women areforced into prostitution until they pay theorganized crime figures substantial
amounts of money under threats ofphysical harm and under threats to expose
their illegal alien status to the authorities.

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In my view, these are the principal, but
by no means all, transnational offenses
that adversely affect the United States andother countries, and they pose formidable
problems to the global law enforcement
communities. I would next like to briefly
discuss the principal organized groups
operating in the United States and othercountries.
IV. ORGANIZED CRIME GROUPS
A. United States—Based Organized
Crime Groups
As I stated earlier, United States
authorities use a multi-faceted criteria to
identify a group that constitutes “organizedcrime”. To briefly repeat, the central factors
are whether the group has a hierarchicalstructure, is self-perpetuating andcontinues over time and engages indiversified criminal activities for profit.
Under these criteria, La Cosa Nostra,
commonly referred to as the LCN, is themost significant organized crime group
operating in the United States. The LCN
is a nationwide criminal organization
divided into approximately 24 families that
operate in the major cities in United States.
Five families exist in New York City and19 other LCN families are centered in otherlarge cities in the United States. However,for most part, the LCN’s criminal activities
are focused in the United States and tosome extent in Canada and have little
direct effect on other countries. Of course
there are some notable exceptions
including, but not limited to, the LCN’s
involvement in narcotics trafficking, money
laundering and stock frauds which aresignificant transnational crimes. But, theseare exceptions to the general proposition
that the LCN’s criminal activities,
especially the LCN families outside of New
York City, involve matters largely confinedto the United States.

The same is true for Asian organizedcrime groups operating in the UnitedStates. Thus far, the evidence indicatesthat Asian organized crime groups in the
United States primarily operate in and arecontrolled in the United States without
substantial ties to foreign organized crimegroups. However, there are notable
exceptions, such as their involvement inalien smuggling, money laundering,
narcotics trafficking and trafficking instolen cars which are transnational crimes
with substantial ties to criminal associates
in countries outside the United States.
There may be other exceptions as well.
Having said that, it remains generally thecase that for the most part Asian organizedcrime groups in the United States consistof relatively small groups of various ethnic
Asians that lack the structure, long term
continuity and breadth of activities as does
the LCN. The evidence thus far indicatesthat the principal criminal activities ofthese ethnic Asian organized crime groups
in the United States include home invasion
robberies and burglaries, robberies andextortion of businesses, other extortions,gambling, credit card and other fraud andrelated crimes of violence that are focusedon the particular communities in the
United States where the gang members
live or operate.
B. The Boryokudan
I am sure most of us are familiar with
the Boryokudan, which are large organizedcrime groups operating in Japan. However,thus far the evidence does not indicate thatthe Boryokudan poses a substantial threat
in the United States. Indeed, over the past
15 years there have only been three or four
federal prosecutions in the United States
involving criminal activities in the UnitedStates by the Boryokudan.
C. Triads
Again as you may know, Triads are
relatively large criminal organized crime

35

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
groups operating in Hong Kong, thePeople’s Republic of China and Taiwan.
However, thus far the evidence indicatesthat Triads, as such, do not pose asubstantial threat to United States law
enforcement. Various Triad members havebeen prosecuted in the United States,
mostly for drug trafficking, and there isevidence that Triad members have usedtheir Triad affiliations to facilitate theircriminal activities in the United States.
However, thus far the evidence does notindicate that Triads are firmly entrenchedin the United States and does not indicatethat Triads have cells operating on an
ongoing basis in the United States.
Probably, the greatest threat in the UnitedStates posed by Triads involves their drugtrafficking activities.
D. Italian Organized Crime Groups
The principal organized crime groups
operating in Italy are the Sicilian Mafia or
Siclian Cosa Nostra, the Camorra based in
Naples, the ‘Ndrangheta based in Calabria
and the United Sacred Crown based in
Puglia. Although, these organized crimegroups engage in transnational crimes
affecting Europe and elsewhere, thus far
the evidence does not indicate that thesegroups engage in significant criminal
activities in the United States. In the mid
to late 1980’s there were several important
prosecuions in the United States of Sicilian
Mafia members and associates for drugtrafficking and money laundering offenses.
Since then, there has not been evidence inthe public record that Italian organizedcrime groups have a significant presencein the United States, although there
continues to be some drug trafficking andmoney laundering prosecutions of persons
tied to Italian organized crime.
E. South American Drug Cartels
As I previously stated, South American
Drug Cartels, such as the Cali and Medillin
drug cartels, continue to have a significant

36

impact on the United States through theirextensive drug distribution and money
laundering networks.
F. Russian Organized Crime Groups
United States law enforcement agencies
use the term “Russian Organized Crime”
to refer not only to organized crime groups
operating in Russia, but rather the term
more broadly encompasses two generalcomponents: First, Russian organizedcrime refers to organized crime groups
operating in or headquartered in countries
in Eastern Europe and Asia that wereformerly part of the Soviet Union and theSoviet Bloc, which for example would
include Russia, Poland, Hungary, Georgia,
Armenia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and others.
And second, Russian organized crime refers
to organized crime groups operating in the
United States that have a nexus to thecountries that formerly comprised theSoviet Bloc.
1. Outside the United States
I would like to first discuss the Russianorganized crime groups operating in or
which are centered in the former Soviet
Bloc countries. The collapse of the Soviet
Union and the Soviet Bloc in 1991 createda vacuum of authority. As new governments
began grappling with the awesome
problems of developing laws, regulations
and business practices to govern emerging
private businesses, economic activities andgreater political freedom, criminals have
exploited both the new economic andpolitical opportunities and the absence ofcomprehensive legal structures. In
particular, Russia’s efforts to privatize theeconomy, that is—the sale of state-owned
industries to the private sector, has been
fertile ground for criminal exploitation.
In 1993, Russian President, Boris Yeltsin
declared that crime was “the number one
threat to national security.” Figures for1994 from the Russian Ministry of the

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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Interior, commonly referred to as the MVD,
indicate that there are over 8,000 criminalgroups in Russia with approximately
100,000 members. These criminal groups
operate in over 50 countries, they are firmly
entrenched in the Former Soviet Union andSoviet Bloc countries, and are expanding
to the United States, the Caribbean, SouthAmerica, Israel and the Middle East.
“Thieves-In-Law” represent the “oldguard”of these Russian organized crimegroups. The MVD estimates theirmembership to be roughly 750 to 800.
Thieves-In-Law is a loosely organizedgroup of elite criminal leaders whose roots
stem from organized gangs in former Soviet
prisons. Thieves-In-Law are selected bytheir prison peers for membership, observe
strict codes of conduct, engage in ritual
cermonies and sport physical markings. In
these respects the society of Thieve-In-Law
are similar to traditional organized crimegroups such as the Sicilian Mafia and the
LCN in the United States.

arises from the looting and illegal exportof natural resources and other assets, often
carried out with the assistance of corrupt
government officials.
A recent prosecution in the UnitedStates illustrates this. In January 1998, aRussian emigre was covicted in San
Francisco, California, on tax charges. The
charges arose from an investigation into
an elaborate scheme to sell in the UnitedStates approximately $180 million in gems
and precious metals obtained from theRussian Federation, with the assistance ofcorrupt officials in the Russian Federation.
The gems were supposed to be processedin the United States, but the conspirators
sold the gems and used the money to buy
expensive residences, real estate, cars andother assets. Several officials of theRussian Federation have been charged
with corruption offenses in Russia.

There are at least 20 to 25 major Russianorganized crime groups operating in orcentered in the former Soviet Bloc
countries. These are relatively largeorganizations, with key membership
ranging from several hundred to 1,000
active criminals. They have a hierarchicalstructure and are devided into brigades orcrews of members. These criminal
enterprises engage in a wide variety ofcriminal activities, including murder,
extortion, kidnapping, trafficking in drugs
and weapons, money laundering,
prostitution, fraud, theft and related public
corruption.

There are many other examples ofcorrupt capital flight from former Soviet
Bloc countries. In the United States, there
have been numerous investigations ofhighly suspicious wire transfers of
substantial sums of money, in some casesin the millions of dollars to hundreds ofmillions of dollars, from entities in former
Soviet Bloc countries to entities in UnitedStates where there is no apparent
legitimate explanation for these transfersof money. Although some of these cases
have led to successful prosecutions, manyremain unsolved because of the difficulty
to trace the money and to determine theultimate believed illiegal sources of themoney in the countries outside the UnitedStates.

I would like to briefly discuss a few ofthese criminal activities. Perhaps thegreatest threat to the stability of theRussian Federation and other new
govenments of the former Soviet Bloc thatis linked to Russian organized crime groups

Other kinds of fraud carried out by
Russian organized crime groups also arebecoming more prevalent. For example, in
1996, a group in Los Angeles was convicted
for a $4 million fraud against theGovernment of Kazakhstan on a contract

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
to sell Cuban sugar to Kazakhstan.
Advance payments were made by thegovernment of Kazakhstan to theconspirators in the United States, but thesugar was never delivered. Indeed, thefraud was quite brazen since it is not lawful
for companies in the United States to sell
Cuban sugar to anyone. Similar contract
fraud schemes have involved false promises
in the delivery of meat, alcohol, petroleum
and other products.
As previously stated, in the 1990’s
narcotics consumption increased in Russia
and other former Soviet Bloc countries.
There is evidence that Russian organizedcrime groups are responsible for much of
the drug trafficking and have formed
alliances with South American drugtrafficking organizations and Italianorganized crime groups to handle
distribution of narcotics in the former
Soviet Bloc countries.
Russian organized crime groups havebeen deeply involved in arms trafficking
with the assistance of current and former
corrupt government and military officials.
Several recent prosecutions in the UnitedStates, including a pending indictment in
Florida of a Russian emigre Ludwig
Fainberg, involved efforts sell illegal arms
allegedly obtained from Russia.
Some of these cases have also involved
offers to sell nuclear grade weaponsmaterials. However, thus far there havebeen no cases in the United States in which
nuclear grade weapons materials havebeen delivered. But, given the significant
dangers inherent in trafficking in nuclear
grade weapons materials, the UnitedStates will, of course, continue to vigorously
investigate possible cases of suchtrafficking.
2. In the United States
Next, I will briefly discuss Russian

38

organized crime activities in the UnitedStates. There are two general categories
of Russian organized crime groups
operating in the United States. The firstcategory consists of the traditional largeorganized crime groups based in Russia
and other countries of the former Soviet
Bloc that I have just discussed. Some ofthese groups are trying to establish afoothold in the United States, and arecarrying out criminal activities in the
United States through associates living in
the United States.
The Ivankov organization centered in
New York City illustrates the first category.
Vyacheslav Ivankov operated an illegalorganization in New York City involving
extortion of an illegal organization in New
York City involving extortion and fraud,
and the organization had direct ties to
Russian organized crime groups outside
the United States. In 1996, Ivankov wasconvicted on extortion charges in the
United States and sentenced to nearly tonearly 10 years in jail.
Another case illustrates the firstcategory. In January 1997, Ludwig
Fainberg was indicted in Miami, Florida,
on federal charges involving drugtrafficking efforts to smuggle cocaine from
Ecuador to St. Petersburg, Russia and forthe interstate transportation of stolen
property. The conspirators were also
attempting to purchase a Russian diesel
submarine to be used to smuggle drugs.
In another drug case, in December 1997,
Oleg Kirillov, a Russian organized crimeleader based in Russia, was indicted in afederal court in Miami, Florida, forconspiring to export cocaine from theUnited States to Russia.
The second category of Russianorganized crime groups in the UnitedStates commonly referred to as

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS“fraudsters”, are emigres from the former
Soviet Bloc countries living in the UnitedStates who engage in various kinds offraudulent and other criminal activities.
Fraudsters are smaller, less centralized
and less hierarchical groups of criminals
than the first category of more traditionalorganized crime groups. Moreover, while
fraudsters may have some ties to Russianorganized crime groups centered outside
the United States, for the most part the
fraudsters criminal activities are “homegrown”, that is, they focus on activities in
the United States with little or no direction
from groups outside the United States.
United States authorities are still not
sure how much of Russian organized crime
activity in the United States falls within
the first or second category. Russianorganized Crime activity in the UnitedStates is a recent development, and we still
have a lot to learn. Thus far, the evidence
indicates that most Russian organizedcrime criminal activity in the United States
falls within the second category, that is
fraudsters centered in the United Stateswith little or no direction from Russianorganized crime groups outside the UnitedStates. But, our assessment may change
as we learn more about fraudsters’
activities.
A few cases illustrate the activities of
Russian fraudsters. A series of successfulprosecutions in the late 1980s and 1990s,
in Los Angeles, New Jersey, New York andPhiladelphia established that Russianfraudsters formed an alliance with UnitedStates LCN members to defraud state
governments of many millions of dollars indiesel fuel excise taxes. The conspirators
carried out their scheme through extortionof businessmen and through establishing
sham gasoline companies that evaded thepayment of the excise fuel taxes.
The most notorious fraud scheme

perpetrated by a Russian organized crime
enterprise was the massive medical
insurance fraud conducted by the
Smushkevich brothers in Southern
California in the late 1980’s. Michael andDavid Smushkevich were emigres from
Lithuania who together with their spouses
and eight associates, embezzled private
insurers and the United States governmentof over one billion dollars. The brothers
operated mobile health care diagnostic
laboratories. Patients were solicited by
telephone to receive supposed “free”
examinations at their mobile clinics. The
patients were asked to sign forms giving
the clinics the rights to their insurance
benefits. The bills were then submitted toinsurers claiming that doctors had ordered
the tests. At its peak, the operation
involved 500 companies.
There are numerous other prosecutions
and investigations involving Russianfraudsters’ carrying out similar health carefraud schemes to defraud state and federal
governments. In addition to such fraud,money laundering by Russian fraudsters
in the United States is a very significant
problem. As I mentioned earlier, there are
numerous cases involving suspicioustransfers of hundreds of millions of dollars
from former Soviet Bloc countries to theUnited States that are under investigation.
As you can see, Russian organized crime isa very recent phenomenon that poses
increasing threats to the United States andmany other countries.
V. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it is clear thattransnational crimes and organized crimegroups’ criminal activities are very
comprehensive and pose formidable
problems for the global community.
Therefore, I am sure that you will agree
that it is imperative that we all continue
to work closely together to combat theseworldwide problems.
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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54

UNITED STATES RESPONSES TO THE THREATS POSED BY
TRANSNATIONAL CRIME AND ORGANIZED CRIME GROUPSFrank J. Marine*
I. UNITED STATES DOMESTIC LAWENFORCEMENT RESPONSES
In my first paper I described the natureof the principal transnational crimes andorganized crime groups affecting theUnited States and other countries, and thesubstantial threats to the world community
arising from these criminal activities. I
would now like to discuss some of theinvestigative techniques and prosecutive
tools and strategies that law enforcement
has used with some effectiveness in the
United States to combat such criminal
activities. I hasten to add, however, thatwhile I believe that these tools have beeneffective in the United States, they may not
be transplanted easily into other countries.
As we all know, there are differences among
the countries of the world regarding their
history, size in population and territory,geographical location, political, social andeconomic systems, cultural values andsocial structure that greatly influences theappropriate policies and procedures
adopted by any particular country toaddress criminal activities and otherproblems. Therefore, I do not mean tosuggest that the approaches of the UnitedStates are the only ways, nor do I mean tosuggest they are the best ways. Rather, it
is for each country to decide for itself on
appropriate course of action to combat
criminal activities.
Equally, I do not mean to suggest that
law enforcement is capable of completely
eliminating transnational crimes and* Deputy Chief, Organized Crime and Racketeering
Section, Criminal Division, U. S. Department ofJustice, United States.

40

organized crime activities. Such perfection
simply does not exist in the real world. But,
I firmly believe that working together we
can substantially reduce the threats posedby the adverse consequences of criminal
activities.
II. INVESTIGATIVE TECHNIQUES
1. Electronic Surveillance
The single most important law
enforcement weapon against organizedcrime by far is electronic surveillance.
Virtually all the major federal UnitedStates prosecutions against the leadershipand members of the La Cosa Nostra (LCN)
over the past 20 years have involved
electronic surveillance. Electronic
surveillance is likewise becoming anequally important weapon against Asianand Russian organized crime groups.
The reasons are obvious. First, there isnothing as effective as proving the crime
through the words of the defendantthemself. There are often credibility
problems with co-conspirators as witnesses
since they are criminally involved andreceived some form of a deal orconsideration for their testimony. Whereas
electronic surveillance evidence provides
objective reliable evidence of crimes
through the statements of the participantst h e m s e l v e s . M o r e o v e r, e l e c t r o n i csurveillance enables law enforcement tolearn of conspirators plans to commit
crimes before they are carried out, whichenables law enforcement to surveil theactivities , such as delivery of contraband
and conspiratorial meeting, or to disrupt
and abort the criminal activities as

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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approriate. In that regard, electronic
surveillance is particularly helpful inpreventing crimes of violence fromoccurring.

must establish why such otherinvestigative techniques appear to beunlikely to succeed if tried, or will be too
dangerous to try.

Indeed, electronic surveillance isespecially helpful in transnational crimes
because it enables law enforcement tointercept conspirators in the United States
discussing their crimes with their criminal
associates in countries outside the United
S t a t e s . Wi t h o u t s u c h e l e c t r o n i csurveillance, it would be very difficult for
United States law enforcement to obtainevidence of such conspiratorial planningagainst the co-conspirators operating
outside the United States.

In executing the electronic surveillance,
the government must “minimize” theinterception of innocent conversations.
That is, the government must takereasonable steps to assure that only
conversations relevant to the crimes underinvestigation are intercepted and that
innocent conversations are not intercepted.
In practice, the monitors must turn off therecording machines when conversations
are not discussing matters relevant to thecrimes under investigation.

Although electronic surveillance isextremely valuable, it is also a very
sensitive technique because of legitimate
concerns for a person’s privacy interests.
Accordingly, United States law imposessignificant restrictions on electronic
surveillance. First, electronic surveillance
is authorized to obtain evidence of only
some specific serious offenses listed in thegoverning statute. To obtain electronic
surveillance, agents and government
attorneys must submit an affidavit to a
United States district court judge whichcontains specific facts establishingprobable cause to believe that subjects ofthe electronic surveillance are committing
certain specified offenses and that it islikely that relevant evidence of such crimes
will be obtained by the electronic
surveillance. Thus, the government mustobtain the approval of a neutral
independent judge to conduct electronic
surveillance.

Such court-authorized electronic
surveillance is limited to 30 days, the 30day period may be extended for additional30-day intervals provided that all therequirements are met every 30 days andapproved by the judge.

Moreover, before electronic surveillanceis permissible, the government must
establish probable cause to believe thatinvestigative techniques other thanelectronic surveillance have been tried andfailed to obtain the sought evidence, or we

2. Undercover Operations
When it comes to organized crime
control, undercover operations are second
only to electronic surveillance; indeed, thetwo techniques often go hand-in-hand.
In undercover operations, law
enforcement agents may portraythemselves as criminals such as drug
dealers, fences for stolen merchandise,money launderers or even hitmen willingto commit murder for hire. Through such
undercover operations, law enforcement
agents are able to infiltrate the highest
levels of organized crime groups by posing
as criminals because other real criminals
will discuss their criminal plans with theagents to get their assistance in committing
crimes.
The agents also gain the confidence ofcriminals, who will in turn often reveal
their past criminal activities to the agents,

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
as well as plot with the agents to engage
in additional ongoing criminal activities.
Combined with eavesdroping, theundercover approach provides
comprehensive coverage of the targets’ dayto-day activities. But this technique also
carries the potential for problems andrequires exceptional preparation. For one
thing, there is always the physical safetyof the undercover agent to consider. To
prevent the premature disclosure of his or
her identity , the agent must be provided
with a fully substantiated past history(called “backstopping”) and careful
briefings of the targets’ modus operandi.
Every conceivable scenario that mightmake the targets suspicious of or hostile
to the agent must be considered in advance.
And the undercover agent themself must
undergo careful testing (including, if
necessary, psychological profiling) toensure that s/he possesses the intangible
qualities whereby they will “fit”
comfortably into the new identity.

avoid harm to the public, our Departmentof Justice has set up Undercover Review
Committees, comprised of seniorprosecutors and investigators, to review,
approve, and control all sensitive
undercover operations. To be approved, an
undercover proposal must:

Another danger in undercover
operations involves potential danger —either physical or financial — to the public.
Undercover techniques need wide public
support to be successful. The quickest way
to lose public support for undercover
operations is to operate them in a way thatvictimizes the public. Unlike
eavesdropping, which is relatively passive,
undercover operations frequently deal with- and sometimes intentionally mislead —the public. For example, suppose there isan undercover business selling products tothe public while advertising itself
unofficially to criminal as a place wherestolen property can be taken. Not only
could the government be liable for any
defects in the products it sells to the public,
it might be indirectly responsible forencouraging thieves to steal property by
virtue of supplying them with an outlet.

Regarding such dangers, when law
enforcement learns of potential crimes ofviolence, law enforcement authorities are
required to take necessary steps to preventthe violence from occurring, which could
include warning the potential victim orarresting the subjects who pose a threat or
ending the undercover operation.

In order to balance these concerns and42

i. Be in writing;ii. Contain a full factual description of
the suspected criminal activity andthe participants therein;iii. Set out in detail the proposed
undercover scenario, the expertise of
the undercover team, the duration of
the project (not to exceed six months
unless extended), and the anticipatedlegal issues (such as entrapment) ;andiv. Evaluate the risk to the agents andthe public.

Undercover operations are especiallyessential and are very successful innarcotics trafficking cases because
traffickers always need customers to sell
their contraband. Agents, posing as buyers,
can obtain direct and substantial evidence
against the drug traffickers by buying theirproduct. Likewise, long term undercover
operations are essential to infiltrateorganized crime groups that continue theirillegal activities over many years. For
example, FBI agent Joseph Pistone worked
undercover for six years as a jewel thief
under the alias Donnie Brasco to infiltrate

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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the highest levels of the Bonanno LCN
family in New York City. This undercoverwork led to the convictions of many LCN
leaders and members. A recent film “Donnie Brasco” was made about his highly
successful undercover work.
3. Informants
Another critical law enforcement
technique involves the use of confidential
informants. I am a big fan of sherlock
Holmes, and as a law enforcement official,would love to think that we could solveorganized crime problems using ourdeductive reasoning powers to sift throughintricate clues and arrive at the correctconclusion “who done it” , like the famous
Sherlock Holmes. Unfortunately, Sherlock
Holmes is fiction. In reality, we do not solveorganized crime cases the Sherlock Holmes
way. Rather, we solve such crimes throughelectronic surveillance, undercover
operations and also through the third mostimportant tool, — the use of confidential
informants.
When United States law enforcement
uses the term confidential informant, werefer to an individual who is not willing totestify and who provides information or
assistance to the authorities under apromise that we will try to keep theiridentity confidential. We cannot absolutely
guarantee such confidentiality because inrelatively rare circumstances courts may
conclude that due process, or concerns offundamental fairness, require that a
confidential informant’s identity bedisclosed to a defendant charged with acrime where the informant can provide
evidence that could exculpate thedefendant. Absent such a rare case, we areable in most cases to keep an informant’s
identity confidential.
Confidential informants are typicallymotivated to provide information to theauthorities in exchange for money orlenient treatment regarding charges
pending against them or likely to bebrought against them. In many cases
confidential informants are themselves
engaged in criminal activities whichenables them to provide valuable direct
evidence of criminal activities by theircriminal associates. Confidential
informants frequently provide theinformation that enables law enforcement
officials to obtain judicial warrants
authorizing electronic surveillance. Many
successful prosecutions of the LCN
leadership have involved information
supplied by confidential informants who
provided information for many years about
the leadership of the LCN; indeed some of
the informants have been made membersof the LCN. Incriminating evidence by
informants who deal directly with the LCN
leadership is simply invaluable to breakthrough the layers of insulation that theleadership uses to conceal their activities.
However, there are high risks associatedwith the use of informants. Sometimes,
informants do not fully disclose their own
criminal activities, or they falsely implicate
their enemies in crimes, or they engage inunauthorized criminal activities. In thatlatter respect, under United States law, law
enforcement may authorize informants toparticipate in some forms of non-violent
criminal behavior that would otherwise beillegal, if they were not acting as
informants with authority to engage in theactivities. For example, depending on thecircumstances, in order to protect aninformant’s cover and to enable them to be
in a position to obtain incriminating
evidence against others, informants may
be authorized to participate in illegal
gambling, trafficking in stolen property,
and other non-violent crimes. Therefore, it
is important for law enforcement to closely
monitor the activities of informants tominimize the danger that the informant
would use their association with law

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
enforcement to shield their own
unauthorized criminal activities.

crime such as an LCN family, or an Asianor Russian organized crime group.

On balance, however, experience teaches
us that as a general rule, the benefits fromthe use of informants greatly outweigh therisks. But, we must be ever vigilant of therisks.

In one sense the RICO statute did notactually create a new offense because
murder, arson, extortion, and all sorts ofbusiness crimes (to name a few of RICO’s
46 predicate offenses) were already madecriminal when RICO was enacted in 1970.
But RICO was still a dramatic legislative
initiative because it permitted many ofthese generically different crimes to be
charged in a single indictment, even, in asingle count, so long as those crimes werepart of a defendant’s patttern of acts that
related to the enterprise.

III. PROSECUTION TECHNIQUESAND WEAPONS
1. The RICO Enterprise Theory ofProsecution
Obviously, the goal in every organizedcrime case is to convict the highest levelsof a crime organization. To do so,prosecutors need the proper tools. First andforemost, prosecutors need an “enterprise”
or “racketeering” statute designed
specifically for this purpose.
Several countries already have enacted
such legislation. Italy, for example, has ananti-Mafia statute; Japan, our host country,
recently enacted statutes derected against
the Boryokudan. Officials from Russia,
Great Britain, and from several countries
in Eastern Europe have recently shown
interest in “enterprise” legislation. An“enterprise” statute in this context is one
that explicitly prohibits participation in acrime group through specified unlawful
activity.
In the United States, the most famousof all anti-racketeering laws is called RICO,
an acronym for the Racketeer Influenced
and Corrupt Organizations Statute. In
general, it provides heavy penalties (up tolife imprisonment under certain
circumstances) when a defendant conducts(or conspires to conduct) the affairs of anenterprise through a pattern of specified
acts known as “predicate” crimes. An“enterprise” can include anything from a
corporation, to a labor union, to a group ofindividuals working together to commit

44

In addition, there are some features of
RICO that are particularly effective inorganized crime cases. For example, as longas one of the predicate crimes alleged
against a defendant occurred within thelast 5 years before the indictment isbrought, the next previous crime in thepattern of racketeering need only be within
10 years of the most recent crime. The third
most recent crime need only have occurred
within 10 years of the second act and soon. The reach-back feature of RICO,
therefore, can extend 15 or 20 years or more
into the past. (Except for statutes like
RICO, indictmnts in the United States
generally cannot allege crimes that
occurred more than five years prior to thedate of indictment).
RICO’s reach is not only long, it is broad.
As noted, the predicate crimes which
qualify as RICO predicates run the gamut
from several forms of violence, robbery,
murder, extortion to fraud, securities
offenses, most forms of vice (gambling,
extortion, obscenity, prostitution, etc.), andillicit investment in legitimate businesses.
Were it not for RICO, most United Statesjudges would prohibit the prosecution ofsuch diverse crimes in a single case,especially if 10 or more defendants were108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
charged. Instead, the court would most
likely require a series of smaller trials,
which is exactly what crime groups hopefor, because they understand that the best
way to conquer a prosecution is to divide
it. In a series of smaller trials no one jury
gets to see the entire picture. Organizedcrime, by contrast, is a picture composedof many crimes, all linked by a single chainof-command to the same enterprise. Any
effective prosecution of a crime family
would thus necessitate proof of these many
crimes in a single trial. RICO permits this.
RICO allows the jury to see the entire
pattern of crimes committed by anorganized crime group. In bringing atypical RICO prosecution, for example, we
may charge six or more racketeers withperhaps a dozen of even more predicate
crimes covering a decade. In each allegedpredicate crime, some, but usually not all,of the defendants are named. In somecases, RICO indictments have charged
numerous defendants with committing
more than 50 offenses as part of a patternof racketeering activity.
As powerful as RICO is, very few RICO
prosecutions were actually brought againstorganized crime until the early 1980s eventhough RICO was adopted in 1970. Part of
the reason was that RICO has always beena very complicated and powerful
instrument; it took nearly 15 years forFederal prosecutors to feel comfortableenough-about RICO to make it thecenterpiece of mob prosecutions. Anotherreason was that the investigativetechniques necessary to build a suitable
RICO case, such as electronic surveillance
and undercover operations, were notroutinely used against organized crimebosses in the 1970s. To be sure, there werea lot of investigations and prosecutions ofracketeers for street crimes, but these cases
rarely pierced the insulation behind which
big organized crime bosses hid.

In the early 1980s, as already noted, theFederal Government (primarily the FBI)
made a determined effort to infiltrate thesecret headquarters of LCN bosses,
listening to their plans and reconstructing
their crimes. In turn, Federal prosecutors
agreed to bring more and more complicated
RICO charges. As a result, more successful
cases against organized crime bosses havebeen brought in the last 15 years than in
the prior 80 years. In fact, prosecutors
discovered that RICO worked equally wellwhether the defendants were mobsters
charged with murders and extortions, or
public officials charged with taking bribes.
Naturally, due to their sensational
revelations, RICO mob cases received
extensive media coverage. At this point it
is clear that control of organized crime in
the United States would be inconceivable
without RICO. In addition, RICO was the
key charge against panamanian dictator
Manuel Noriega and the Philippines’
President Ferdinand Marcos. RICO cases
have also been brought against hundredsof police officers, judges, and public officials
for official misconduct, and against
terrorist groups, radical hate groups, street
gangs, stock manipulators, and drug
cartels.
We are now successfully using RICO toattack newly emerging organized crimegroups such as Asian and Russianorganized crime groups, just as we didagainst the LCN.
Like any powerful tool, RICO could beabused. To protect against potential
abuses, the Organized Crime andRacketeering Section (OCRS) has a special
unit of attorneys who carefully review all
proposed RICO indictments for legal andfactual sufficiency. The unit also ensuresin every case that RICO is necessary; whenother, less powerful statutes would do justas well, the use of RICO charges is not

45

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
approved.
2. Organized Crime Strike ForceUnits
As I previously stated, the LCN is thenumber one organized crime problem in the
United States. The LCN is an extensive
nationwide criminal organization.
Therefore, it was essential to attack the
LCN through a closely coordinatedn a t i o n w i d e e f f o r t . H o w e v e r, l a w
enforcement is very fragmented anddecentralized in the United States. The
United States Department of Justice at thefederal level is divided into 94 different
United States Attorneys offices throughout
the country that operate with considerable
independence of the main JusticeDepartment located in Washington, DC. In
addition, there are literally hundreds,
perhaps over 1,000 state, county and city
prosecutors’ offices and police departmentsthat have criminal jurisdictions that are
totally independent of the federal
Department of Justice. This fragmented
prosecutorial authority makes nationwide
coordination difficult. These difficulties are
made even greater when you factor in thelarge territorial size of the United Statesand its relatively large population of over
260 million people.
To improve coordination of federal efforts
to attack organized crime, in the late 1960s
the Department of Justice created 24
specialized prosecutive units called
Organized Crime Strike Forces, located in
the cities where the 24 LCN families weremost active. These Strike Force Units werestaffed by career prosecutors who wereexperienced in electronic surveillance,
undercover operations, and long term
proactive investigations. Moreover, these
prosecutors are only allowed to work onorganized crime matters. To assure thatthey work only on organized crime mattersand to assure that the Strike Force cases
are properly coordinated from a national

46

perspective, supervising prosecutors inWashington, DC are able to maintain thefocus of efforts against the LCN and to see
to it that relevant information developedby one Strike Force office gets to anotheroffice in another part of the country that
may need it.
Moreover, because the supervisors inWashington, DC, are aware of all LCN
investigations and prosecutions in the
United States, they are able to reduce
duplication of efforts and coordinate
investigations and prosecutions conductedby more than one office.
The creation of these Strike Force Units
proved to be invaluable. Over the past 25
years, the vast majority of all the major
convictions of LCN bosses and members
were obtained by these Strike Force Units.
Although the LCN remains strong in themetropolitan New York City area whereroughly 80% of the LCN members operate,the LCN has been substantially weakened
in other parts of the United States particularly in San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Kansas City, Milwaukee, St. Louis, andother cities.
Although the Strike Force Units were
initially created to combat the LCN, their
mission was expanded in 1990 to combat
Asian and Russian organized crime groups.
In 1990, the Attorney General of the UnitedStates adopted a national strategy tocoordinate the federal attack against thennewly emerging organized crime groups
operating in the United States. The Strike
Force approach became the centerpiece ofthat national strategy since it had been so
successful against the LCN. The Strike
Force Units were well equipped to handle
the new challenges because of theirexperience, and also because the Strike
Force Units were already located in thecities where the Russian and Asian
organized crime groups were most active.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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Not surprisingly, the Russian and Asian
organized crime groups are active in thesame large cities as the LCN.
To implement this national strategy, theAttorney General created the Attorney
General’s Organized Crime Council, themembers of which are the heads of theFederal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA), theDivision of Enforcement of the Securities
and Exchange Commission, the Secret
Service, the Marshals Service, the Customs
Service, the Postal Inspectors, and theInternal Revenue Service. The Council
meets as necessary, and at least once
annually, to set the official priorities of theFederal Government’s organized crime
program, which currently are LCN, Asian,and Russian organized crime. In order to
set these priorities, each agency and thecountry’s 94 top Federal prosecutors (called
United States Attorneys) are required eachyear to file written plans assessing the
problems posed by organized crime groups
in their districts and for attacking
organized crime groups in their districts.
The Department of Justice’s Organized
Crime and Racketeering Section thenreports its analyses of these plans to theCouncil. The most important feature of thissystem is control. It obligates the regional
prosecutors and agents to keep constantpressure on La Cosa Nostra and Asian andRussian crime groups, and prevents themfrom succumbing to periodic temptations
to assign prosecutors and agents to nonorganized crime cases.
Implementing this national strategy has
enabled the Federal Government tocoordinate its nationwide efforts againstorganized crime groups and to keep thepressure on them to prevent them fromexpanding their corrupt influences onsociety.

3. Witness Security
Another valuable asset of theprosecutor’s arsenal has been the federal
witness security program. Because of theviolent nature of organized crime, witness
intimidation is a significant problem. To
address that program, in 1970 theDepartment of Justice created the federal
witness security program. Witnesses areadmitted to the program when they areable to supply significant evidence inimportant cases and there is a perceived
threat to their security. Once in the
program, the witness and his or her family
are given new identities, relocated toanother part of the United States where
the danger to their security is lessened, andare given financial assistance until thewitness is able to secure employment.
Since the beginning of the witness
security program, 6,816 witnesses havebeen admitted into the program along with
8,882 family members for a total of 15,698
persons in the program. The average cost
is $75,000 per witness per year and$125,000 per family per year.
As you can see, the program is very
costly, but the results have made it worth
the cost. Since 1970, over 10,000
defendants have been convicted throughthe testimony of witnesses in the program.
Last year, 208 convictions were obtainedand 2 million dollars was seized.
The vast majority of protected witnesses,
about 97 percent, have criminal records.
However, the recidevist rate for witnesses
in the program is 21 percent, which is half
the rate of those released from prison.
4. Forfeiture
It cannot be overstated that making
money is the primary goal of organizedcrime and transnational criminal activities.
Therefore, it is imperative to take the profit
out of crime. Strong forfeiture laws do just47

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
that. Forfeiture is a criminal penalty formany offenses in the United States.
Generally speaking, upon conviction for an
offense that carries forfeiture as a penalty,
a defendant may be ordered to forfeit all
profits or proceeds derived from thecriminal activity, any property, real or
personnel, involved in the offense, orproperty traceable to the offense such as
property acquired with proceeds of criminal
activity. For example, if a defendant uses
a residence or car to distribute drugs, thatproperty is subject to forfeiture. Thus, aconvicted defendant may be ordered toforfeit all proceeds of the criminal activity
including money and other forms ofproperty.
In addition to criminal forfeiture, civil
forfeiture laws also allow the government
to obtain property used in criminal
activities. The principal difference between
criminal and civil forfeiture is that criminal
forfeiture is limited to a convicted
defendant’s personal interest in property
subject to forfeiture, whereas civil
forfeiture focuses on the property itself.
For example, suppose a defendantrepeatedly used a house to sell drugs, buts/he did not have an ownership interest in
the house. If convicted of drug dealing, thathouse is not subject to criminal forfeiture
because the defendant did not own thehouse. However, a civil forfeiture law suit
could be brought against the house as adefendant, even if the owner of the house
was not engaged in criminal activity. The
house, nonetheless, is subject to civil
forfeiture because it was repeatedly used
to facilitate criminal activities, and theowner did not take adequate steps toprevent their house from being used for
criminal activities.
There are various defenses to such civil
forfeiture, such as the “innocent owner
defense”, but I do not want to digress into48

the complexity of United States forfeiturelaw. To some extent I have generalized andoversimplified United States forfeiture law
which is complex, so as not to detract ourattention from the main point I am trying
to make. That is, that criminal and civil
forfeiture laws are powerful weapons in theprosecutors’ arsenal to take the profit outof crime.
5. Money Laundering
Strong money laundering laws go handin-hand with forfeiture laws to be powerfulweapons against criminal activities. Under
United States money laundering laws, it
is a crime to knowingly conduct a financialtransaction with the proceeds of certain
specified unlawful activity set forth in thestatute, with either the intent to promote
the specified unlawful activity or with theintent to conceal the specified unlawful
activity. The term transaction is broadly
defined to include “a purchase, sale, loan,pledge, gift, transfer, delivery, or otherdisposition” and “with respect to a financial
institution includes a deposit, withdrawal,
transfer between accounts, exchange ofcurrency, loan, extension of credit,
purchase or sale of any stock, bond,certificate of deposit, or other monetary
instrument, use of a safe deposit box, or
any other payment, transfer, or delivery by,through, or to a financial institution, bywhatever means effected.”
As you can see, the money laundering
statute covers nearly every imaginable typeof transaction. Moreover, the penalties formoney laundering include forfeiture which
greatly enhances law enforcement’s efforts
to take the profit out of crime.
For example, in one recent case in
Boston, defendants were convicted oflaundering $136 million in drug proceeds
for Colombian drug traffickers. The
defendants received the cash drug
proceeds, and used it to buy money orders

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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cashiers checks, or gold to conceal theillegal source of the cash; this constituted
money laundering. The defendants argued
that they should only be required to forfeit
the 5% laundering fee (or roughly $7
million) that they charged the drugtraffickers since the $136 million belonged
to the drug traffickers. The court rejected
this argument and held that thedefendants were liable for forfeiture of theentire $136 million that they laundered.
Other examples of money laundering
illustrate the breadth of the statute. For
example , proceeds of fraud that are
deposited in bank accounts or otherfinancial institutions which is commingledwith legitimate money in accounts under
the names of nominees constitutes money
laundering subjecting, under somecircumstances, the entire amounts in theaccounts to forfeiture, including the money
obtained legally as well as the crime
proceeds.
In many cases, not just organized crime
cases, money laundering violations coupledwith forfeiture have proven to be powerfulweapons to take the profit out of crime.
6. Sentences
Finally, I would like to briefly discuss
United States sentencing laws. Fairpunishment upon convictions of crimes toprotect society is obviously the ultimate
goal of all prosecutions. Perhaps mostimportant is the protection afforded byincapacitating the convicted criminal
through incarceration. To be sure,
imprisonment substantially reduces, butdoes not totally eliminate, opportunities forcriminals to continue their their illegal
activities.
In 1987, the United States Federal
Government adopted a comprehensivechange in its sentencing laws to makepunishment more definite and more

uniform throughout the federal system.
First, federal parole was abolished.
Therefore, a sentence of 10 years in jailmeans a defendant will not be paroled at ashorter time and the defendant will
actually serve 10 years in jail, with somemodest reduction for good behavior whilein jail. Other changes involved substantial
restrictions on the discretion of judges in
imposing sentences. Pursuant to thechanges, sentences are now determined byapplication of a complex numericalweighing system. Under the formula,specific numbers are assigned to relevant
factors such as the type of offense, thenature of the underlying circumstances,the defendant’s role in the offense and thedefendant’s criminal history. The numbers
are added up and the defendant isgenerally sentenced to a guideline range
according to the resulting number. Again,
I am oversimplifying complex legal
provisions.
The end result of these reforms has beenthat more defendants have been sentenced
to prison for longer terms. According to datafrom the Department of Justice’s Bureauof Justice Assistance, the state and federal
prison population in the United States rose
50 percent from 1990 to 1997, and has been
increasing 6.5 percent annually. The stateand federal prison population in the UnitedStates is now 1.7 million prisoners. During
the last 25 years, the federal and state
inmate population has increased six foldfrom 200,000 in 1972.
The increases in the length of jailsentences and the number of defendants
imprisoned has been one important factor
contributing to the reduction of serious
crime in the Untited States. According to
the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports released
in 1997, between 1992 and 1996, overall
crime in the United States dropped 10.3
percent, violent crime droped 16.3 percent,murder dropped 20.4 percent, robbery

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
dropped 23.2 percent, aggravated assault
dropped 12.1 percent and property crime
dropped 9.3 percent.
I recongnize that this drop in crime isdue to a number of factors and not justputting more people in jail for longer
periods of times. But career criminals do
not just commit the one crime they areconvicted for, rather they commit many
crimes each year. Therefore, it seems to me
that putting more career criminals in jailfor longer periods of time will prevent themfrom committing those crimes whichsignificantly contributes to a reduction incrime.
I would now like to turn my discussion
from the principal aspects of the UnitedStates domestic responses to transnational
crimes and organized crime to what we aredoing together with other countries in theinternational arena to combat suchcriminal activities.
IV. UNITED STATES RESPONSESIN THE INTERNATIONAL ARENA
1. Extradition
It is imperative that international
criminals be denied a safe haven.
International extradition treaties remain
the most effective legal mechanism toobtain the return of international fugitives.
In 1990, the United States sought theextradition of 1,672 accused or convictedcriminals. By 1996, that number had
jumped to more than 2,894, including
numerous fugitives wanted for murder,
major drug trafficking offenses, money
laundering, multi-million dollar financial
scams, and other serious crimes committed
against the United States.
The United States is currently party toover 104 such extradition treaties. The
United States Departments of State andJustice, with appropriate input from other50

law enforcement agencies, are involved inan active program to negotiate modern
treaties in order to replace old, outdated
instruments, to create extradition treaties
where none previously existed, and toensure that new crimes are covered byextradition treaties.
In the past five years the United States
has entered into new extradition treaties
with Spain (1993), the Bahamas (1994),
Jordan (1995), Malaysia, Bolivia (1996),
Philippines (1996), Hungary (1997),
Switzerland (1997) and Hong Kong (1997).
United States extradition treaties with thefollowing countries are pending approvalof the United States Senate: Antigua andBarbuda, Barbados, Cyprus, Dominica,
France, Grenada, Luxembourg, Poland, St.
Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the
Grenadines, Spain, and Trinidad andTobago.
The United States is also pursuingefforts to secure extradition without atreaty. We encourage the international
community to work together to deny safe
havens to international criminals throughprocedures consistent with domestic andinternational law.
2. Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties(MLATS)
In light of the international nature oftransnational and organized crime
activities, it is also essential to be able totimely obtain the testimony of witnesses,
bank records, other financial records andother evidence from foreign countries, andin some cases from several different
countries, and for the United States to give
similar assistance to other countries.
Therefore, Mutual Legal Assistance
Treaties have become important tools to
address international criminal activities.
Barely 20 yeays ago, the United Statesentered into its first MLAT. Today, there

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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are 19 MLATs in force that extend to 23
countries. In the 104th Congress, theSenate gave its consent to five additional
MLATs with Austria, Hungary, Korea, thePhilippines, and the United Kingdom. The
number of United States madeapproximately 928 requests for mutual
legal assistance in criminal matters. In
1996, that number had increased toapproximately 1,644 requests.
The United States Department of Stateand Justice have worked together innegotiating 14 additional MLATs that will
require ratification by the Senate,including agreements with Australia, Hong
Kong, and Poland. The United States also
has signed a multilateral MLAT with theOrganization of American States (OAS),
which potentially could create MLAT
relations between the United States andthe 33 other member states of OAS.
Where there is no MLAT in force, theUnited States is hopeful that law
enforcement agencies will be able toexchange information and provide mutual
assistance in ways that are fully consistent
with the laws of the countries involved.
Such joint cooperation is essential toeffectively combat the international
criminal activities of sophisticatedcriminals who seek to exploit thedifficulties inherent in international
investigations.
3. Expanding the Presence of UnitedStates Law Enforcement Agents
AbroadTough United States laws that protect
United States citizens and interests abroad
will be of little value if the United States
does not establish an investigative and law
enforcement infrastructure to pursue
violations of these laws. United States law
enforcement officials stationed abroad
work shoulder to shoulder with theirforeign counterparts to investigate crimes

against United States nationals committed
overseas. Where offenders are identified,these officials also work to locate,apprehend, and return the perpetrators ofsuch crimes through extradition, expulsion
or other lawful means. They also facilitate
the arrest and extradition of international
fugitives located in the United States andwanted abroad.
The need for a major United States law
enforcement presence abroad is well
documented. For example, in 1996 and1997, foreign offices of the United States
Customs Service handled over 3,850 cases.
Moreover, there is often a direct tie between
the work of these overseas offices anddomestic criminal investigations. For
example, over 80 percent of the 7,068 cases
pending in FBI Legal Attache offices
overseas at the end of 1996 originated from
United States FBI field offices. Also, thenumber of cases worked by FBI agents inthe new Moscow Legal Attache office grewfrom 20 in July 1994, to 289 through July
1997 — a fifteen-fold increase. In their firstyear, the new Customs Service offices in
Moscow and in Pretoria, South Africa,
handled over 50 and 30 cases, respectively.
A substantial number of these cases involve
fugitives from United States courts, crimes
committed abroad against United Statesnationals, and other serious violations ofUnited States criminal laws.
The United States would like to expand
its law enforcement presence in othercountries to work with the host countries
to respond to this growing need. For
example, the FBI hopes to establish new
FBI offices in 24 foreign nations and to
expand existing offices in an additional 23
countries. Similarly, the Customs Service
hopes to open 11 new offices in Europe,Asia, Australia, and the Americas,
complementing 26 existing offices. The
DEA hopes to augment its already sizeable
presence with further expansion into the51

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Newly Independent States from the former
Soviet Bloc, Latin America and othercurrent and emerging centers of drug trade.
These expansions will bolster UnitedStates law enforcement abilities to arrestand punish fugitives who have committed
crimes against the United States, todismantle international organized crimerings, and to strengthen law enforcement
and judicial systems around the globe.
To complement the increasing numberof United States law enforcement
personnel overseas, it would be helpful toexpand the Department of Justice’s cadreof overseas attorneys. Their role includes
facilitating requests for extradition andmutual legal assistance, providing
substantive legal guidance on internationallaw enforcement and treaty matters, andincreasing cooperation between UnitedStates and foreign prosecutors. In 1990, theUnited States handled approximately
2,208 extradition and 1,784 mutual legal
assitance requests both to and from theUnited States. By 1996,those numbers had
nearly doubled, jumping to 3,963
extraditions and 3,407 mutual legal
assistance requests. Furthemore,
approximately 25 percent of all extradition
requests and 9 percent of all mutual legal
assistance requests were in support of stateand local prosecutors. This increasing
caseload requires United States attorneys
in other countries to respond to requests
for information, and to facilitate thetransfer of fugitives and evidence to andfrom the United States. Currently, theDepartment of Justice has prosecutors inBrussels, Mexico City, Paris, and Rome.
The planned expansion includes additional
attorneys in Manila, Brasilia, Athens, andAsia.
4. International Training
In 1995, the United States working with
Russia, Hungary and other countries in
Eastern Europe established the52

International Law Enforcement Academy(ILEA) in Budapest, Hungary. This
academy offers law enforcement officers
from Eastern and Central Europe an eightweek personal and professional
development program modeled after theFBI’s National Academy in Quantico,
Virginia near Washington, DC. The UnitedStates is working with other countries toestablish a similar training academy inAsia.
In addition, United States law
enforcement officials participate in a wide
variety of other training and technicalassistance with other countries concerning,among other matters, fraudulent document
detection, alien smuggling, border control
enforcement, narcotics trafficking,organized crime, money laundering andasset forfeiture. Such training is mutually
beneficial to the United States and otherparticipating countries because we are able
to learn about each others’ problems anddevelop strategies and techniques toaddress these problems. It affords avaluable opportunity to work together toaddress common law enforcement
problems and issues of mutual concern. The
United States is also working with the
Ukraine and other countries to develop
prosecutors’ units modeled after the UnitedStates Organized Crime Strike Force
Units.
5. Coordination with Internationaland Multilateral Organizations(1) The United States is currently working
together with the G8 nations and theUnited Nations in the initial stages ofdeveloping an international crime
convention addressing transnationaland organized crime activities.
(2) The G7/P8 Senior Experts’ Group on
transnational organized crime has
produced 40 recommendations tocombat transnational organized crime,

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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inventories of international
conventions and institutions relating totransnational crime and inventories ofmember countries’ relevant domestic
criminal laws.

analysis, we have no other choice but tocooperate, or else sophisticatedinternational criminals who do notrecognize international boundaries will
triumph.

(3) The United Nations International Drug
Control program (UNDCP) is currently
developing a global program on money
laundering that includes a model
money laundering statute and legal
and technical assistance and training
for Southeast and Southwest Asia.
Similarly, the United States, Japan,
and other countries created the
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) toaddress international money
laundering.
(4) The United States also continues towork with many countries on bilateralefforts to combat transnational andinternational organized crime criminal
activities.
(5) Finally, the United States and over 170
other countries have long worked with
the International Criminal Police
Organization (INTERPOL) whichfacilitates a broad range of bilateraland multilateral police-to-police
cooperation.
V. CONCLUSION
There is no doubt that the worldcommunity shares substantial common
problems posed by transnational criminals
and organized crime groups. Therefore, wemust continue to work closely together todevelop new techniques, as well as toimplement approaches that have proven tobe successful, in our common fight against
such international criminal activities . We
must share information and cooperate to
identify, investigate and prosecute the mostsignificant international criminals andorganized crime groups. In the final

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54

TRANSNATIONAL SMUGGLING OF ALIENSAND STOLEN VEHICLESLau Yuk-kuen*
I. INTRODUCTION
Transnational smuggling is generally
regarded as the moving of unmanifested
goods across and beyond internationallyrecognized boundaries defining thesovereignty of countries. The intention isto evade the control on prohibited items or
legitimate taxation. Since the end of theso-called Cold War, the liberalization of
trade restrictions has increased thepotential of both trade between nations andtrade across the globe. The result has beena growth in organized transnational
smuggling activities involving not only
goods, but also aliens.
T h i s p a p e r, w h i c h w i l l c o v e rtransnational smuggling of aliens andstolen vehicles, is based mainly on theknowledge and experience gained by theHong Kong Police in the investigation ofthese types of crimes. Other law
enforcement agencies are likely to haveencountered similar criminal groups intheir own jurisdictions and identified themethods of operation of such groups, aswell as the extent to which they haveglobalised.
II. SMUGGLING OF ALIENS
The term “alien smuggling” was firstcoined in the United States of America todescribe the organized passage of nonindigenous citizens into the country acrossits land border. “Aliens” are broadly
categorized by the authorities into twogroups according to their personal* Director of Crime and Security, Hong Kong Police
Force Headquarters, Hong Kong.

54

circumstances. Those seeking better lives
away from impoverished homelands,
increased employment and financial
opportunities are classified as “economic
aliens”, while those fleeing persecution
because of their different political,
religious, cultural views or because of war
are classified as “political aliens”. It is thesmuggling of the former category, i.e.,
economic aliens, that has become a concern
for an increasing number of police forcesin different parts of the world, and will befocused in this paper.
The smuggling of aliens is different totraditional smuggling in two respects.
Firstly special attention is required toensure the safe carriage of living people.
Secondly illegal aliens represent a dual
benefit for the criminal syndicatesorganizing the clandestine operation.
While goods may earn a profit, aliens not
only pay to be transported but they can also
be used as indentured workers in slave-like
conditions in destination countries. Thus
the profits for the syndicate can be far
greater and longer lasting.
The transport needs for trafficking inaliens varies between the use of air, sea andland routes. Related needs include theacquisition of visas, passports and othertravel documents from corrupt officials orforgery syndicates, the provision of staging
houses en route to destinations toaccommodate the migrants, and thepurchase and modification of vessels for the
carriage of ‘human’ cargoes, plus therelated registration, manifests and import/
export documentation. It is, in short, aresource intensive operation.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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Investigations in Hong Kong andoverseas uncovered criminal syndicatesutilizing increasingly sophisticated means
to transfer aliens out of their homecountries. In 1992, fishing vessels speciallymodified for carrying Chinese illegal
migrants were intercepted in Honolulu andLos Angeles. These dilapidated vessels
were manned by a crew of criminals andenforcers and packed full of paying illegal
migrants. The enforcers maintained
discipline and abused the illegal aliens
until they landed at their destination. The
migrants were then disembarked andtransferred into the criminal economy of
the Chinese underworld. This was
identified as the most common and costeffective method used by smuggling
syndicates at the time.
Before long, smuggling syndicates
upgraded their means of transport toocean-going vessels. However, the degreeof human suffering inflicted on the humancargoes did not diminish with the change
to more powerful conveyance. The grave
tragedy was particularly highlighted in
1993 when the ship “Golden Venture” ranaground off New York, U.S.A. carrying 300
Chinese illegal immigrants, and ten ofthem died whilst attempting to swim
ashore.
The use of open-top containers to
smuggle aliens has been evident more
recently in Hong Kong and interestingly
enough several cases have revealed
Japanese connections. One example which
may illustrate this connection was that in
January 1997 at the port of Kobe. Police
intercepted and arrested 30 Chinese illegal
immigrants who had been concealed in an
open-top container onboard a vessel which
had departed from Hong Kong and was
operated by a Hong Kong-based shipping
company. Intelligence was exchanged
between the Japanese and Hong Kong
Police which resulted in the successfulprosecution of two persons in Hong Kongin connection with the incident.
A second example relates to information
received which indicated that an unknown
number of illegal immigrants were beingtransported to Japan in an open-top
container, again in 1997. Close liaison
between the Hong Kong and Japanese
Police resulted in the container being
searched on its arrival in Japan.
Unfortunately no illegal immigrants were
found. However the container contained
the remnants of food, bottles of water andfaeces, indicating that illegal immigrants
had been loaded and later unloaded
elsewhere.
Whilst smuggling by sea provides aneffective means to transport a large
number of aliens in one single run, the past
few years have also seen the use of long,erratic and circuitous routes over land andby air for those aliens who are willing orable to pay a higher fee, involving the useof forged travel documents or passports
substituted with false particulars. The
land/air route from southeast Asia
meanders through the former Soviet
Union, Europe and South America to the
U.S.A. There are two reasons for this: thedispensation with border controls within
the European Union countries and thecollapse of a centralized authority in
Russia, and the Newly Independent States.
Whatever the mode of transport thesmuggling syndicates use, one common
feature that characterizes their operations
is their reliance on clan relationships todevelop local infrastructures to facilitate
the recruitment of illegal migrants fromtheir home countries, and to organize theirsubsequent illegal employment in thedestinations. Although, when compared todrug trafficking and goods smuggling, aliensmuggling is a relative new comer totransnational crime problems, its potential

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
for generating substantial criminal income
for the syndicates involved is apparent.
It has been reported that the price formoving an alien from southern China toJapan is US$20,000 and to the U.S.A,
US$33,000. To fund these fees, illegal
migrants borrow money from relatives orfriends but more usually from thesmuggling syndicates at exorbitant rates
set by them. As a result, both theimmigrants and their family members may
become indentured workers or forced toturn to crime to repay the debts.
An American estimate was that, in 1994,
over 100,000 Chinese illegal immigrants
had arrived in the United States by land,sea or air. A simple calculation indicatesrevenues in excess of US$3 billion is
generated each year from passages alone
but, when indentured work is taken into
account the revenues derived by the
syndicates will be much higher.
Intercepting transnational smuggling
has never been an easy task, aliens
smuggling is particularly so. Because of
their illegal status, aliens do not normallyperceive law enforcement officers as apotential source of assistance, but rather
as a threat to their precarious stay. Suchan attitude is shared by their fellowclansmen and employers, albeit fordifferent reasons, and has resulted inadditional obstacles to law enforcement
agencies in their intelligence gathering.
This, coupled with the fact that smuggling
syndicates are difficult to infiltrate due tolanguage and cultural barriers and that thetrue victims of this type of crime are lessobvious, has naturally meant that the
problem of alien smuggling has notreceived its deserved attention until
recently.

III. SMUGGLING OF STOLENVEHICLES
In contrast with the laborious
requirements for the smuggling of aliens,the moving of vehicles involves
comparatively simple procedures. There
are three principal stages, beginning withacquisition.
(1) First acquiring vehicles, which may be
conducted by stealing by professional
car thieves, or purchase through bogus
trading and transportation companies
using fraudulent means.
(2) C o n c e a l i n g t h e v e h i c l e s f o rtransportation may involve theconstruction of secret compartments
within the conveying vessel. On theother hand, vehicles can be dismantled
and shipped as parts from the source
and reassembled at the destination.
(3) Delivery can simply be by way of adriver taking it across a border, or may
require a team such as the crew whena vessel is used.
In recent years smuggling syndicateshave turned to use containers, which offer
a more flexible alternative with far lower
risks. The use of containers allows thesmuggler to choose a land or sea route fromsource to destination, enables movement
throughout the day and night, shields thecontents from view and, of criticalimportance, allows the use of innocent
parties to handle transportation.
Containers are an internationallyaccepted method for transporting goods byland, sea and air from source to destination
and are thus a better vehicle fortransnational syndicates as they expand
their scope of their operations.
What is more significant is the low level

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108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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through legally designated terminals andcustoms checkpoints. Take Hong Kong as
an example. In a normal year, between 13
and 14 million containers are processed
through Hong Kong’s container terminals.
Over 8 million cargoes carrying trains andgoods vehicles arrive and depart each year,
while about 300,000 sea borne cargoes areprocessed. The sheer volume of traffic
renders comprehensive inspection of
shipments impossible.
Actual inspection rates range between
1 to 3 percent. This low rate of inspection
makes chance detection less likely,
especially when combined with theconcealment that comes with a carefully
chosen mode of transport. Between 1991
to 1993, in the detected cases in Hong Kong
only 2 percent of stolen vehicles werecarried in containers. From 1994 to 1997,
this had grown to a massive 71 percent.
Vehicle smuggling syndicates operatewith a high degree of organization in which
participants can be divided into a numberof possibly overlapping roles, such as car
thieves, jockeys, car yard workers, crossborder lorry drivers and the staff of bogus
companies established locally or overseas.
Other participants acting in a support role
will provide concealment and storage of thecontraband, and will arrange for thenecessary manifests, licenses and otherpaper work.
Two cases of syndicated transnational
vehicle smuggling will clearly illustrate themethods of operation used. In the first, in
1997, new left hand drive luxury vehicles
were obtained by syndicate members in the
United States by making the minimum
down payments to genuine car suppliers.
On receipt of the vehicles, the syndicate
would organize its shipment to Hong Kongas perfectly legal goods. Once arrival had
been confirmed by the receivers in Hong

Kong, the syndicate would report thevehicles stolen in the U.S.A.
The remainder of the vehicle cost would
be covered by insurance payments whilethe vehicles were exported to China from
Hong Kong within a few days of arrival. It
was intended that, by the time U.S.
investigators had traced the route takenfrom the U.S.A. the vehicles would havelong crossed the border into China.
The second case is equally illustrative
but may be of more interest to vehicle
owners in Japan. In January 1997, 14
containers in four shipments, originatingfrom Japan were found on arrival tocontain a total of 56 suspected stolen
vehicles. The prompt assistance of liaison
officers in the Consulate General of Japanin Hong Kong led to the early confirmationthat all of these vehicles had already beenreported stolen in Japan.
When the first nine containers arrived
and before the forged papers could bepresented for their release, the consignee
named on the shipping documents wasapproached for payment of charges.
Confirmation that he had not ordered theconsignment triggered a joint Police,
Customs and Excise Department
investigation.
By tracing the syndicate back throughthe tractor driver who turned up to collectthe cargo, three arrests were made. One of
the arrested persons was known to thepolice for his involvement in vehicle crimes,
and a web of false addresses, bogus
companies and sham consignees wasestablished.
Investigation by officers of the Tokyo
Metropolitan Police Department confirmed
not only the places from which therecovered vehicles had been stolen, namely,
Chiba, Kanagawa, and Tokyo, but also

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
details of the shipping company and agent
responsible for sending the containers toHong Kong. Investigation also indicatedthat the syndicate comprises of probably
five to six Chinese criminals who had senta further six containers, containing 19
stolen vehicles, in three shipments to HongKong. These vehicles were subsequently
recovered. This, however, is the only
known case of transnational smuggling ofstolen vehicles involving a Hong Kong
Chinese syndicate.
The above examples have shown thatinternational co-operation is vital in thedetection of vehicle smuggling. Many law
enforcement officers are already aware of
the availability of the International Stolen
Vehicle Database, which is maintained by
the Interpol General Secretariat in Lyon,
France. This facility enables countries to
input and retrieve details of stolen vehicles
which is an invaluable tool forinternational cooperation in theinvestigation and neutralization of vehicle
smuggling syndicates.
IV. TACTICS IN TACKLING THE
PROBLEM
Having detailed the scope and nature of
the problem, it is worthwhile to describe
some of the measures that have been taken
to counter smuggling activities,
unilaterally, bilaterally or multi-laterally
by law enforcement agencies.
Firstly, the primary tool in all police
investigations and operations is the timely
and effective use of criminal intelligenceto the benefit of prosecuting those involved.
Anti-transnational smuggling is no
exception. In the earlier part of thispresentation, the difficulties in cultivating
information on the activities of thosesyndicates involved have been explained.
They include cultural and language
barriers, the code of silence shared by those58

people who know what is going on, and theutilization of clan relationships by theclosely knitted syndicates. Despite all these
difficulties, given the large volume of tradeand passenger traffic that goes througheach major port every day, an operationthat is not supported by good intelligencecan not stand any realistic chance of
success. To give the problems the priorities
they deserve and to assign an appropriate
level of resources will be the first important
step towards developing a more effective
intelligence system against these activities.
Secondly, and what many law enforcers
consider to be of most importance, is theidentification of the “money trails” and theseizing of the syndicates’ assets. Money, inthe quantities now involved cannot, despite
the best efforts of criminals, move easily
or without leaving a trace. Furthermore
such trails often provide a clue to the size
and the sophistication of the syndicates andtheir operations. As a result of making it
an offence to assist criminals in laundering
their crime proceeds and by empowering
the court to confiscate such proceeds,
enforcement actions have succeeded inbringing members of smuggling syndicatesto justice and in tracing and seizing theassets that they have derived from theirillicit activities.
U s e d i n t e l l i g e n t l y, m o n e t a r yinvestigation can be a great aid to tacklingtransnational organized criminal
syndicates. Early detection of unusual
monetary movements may provide a timely
indication of how and where criminalgroups move their funds. In this regard
the Hong Kong Police is keen to continue
with the development of efficientmonitoring programmes in liaison withcountries to which the flow of criminal
assets is directed.
Thirdly, co-operation from those
innocent parties that have been

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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unwittingly involved in the process is tobe secured. In this regard, the Hong Kong
Police has attempted to establish wider
communication channels with its locally
based shipping companies who can provide
invaluable information concerning thebooking of open-top containers or othercircumstances which meet known
smuggling profiles.
F o u r t h l y, l i a i s o n w i t h o v e r s e a s
authorities in the affected destinations is
also maintained for the speedy exchange
of intelligence and information on
smuggling activities so that action can betaken to intercept and arrest syndicate
operatives. Past investigations show thattime is always a critical factor which can
influence the outcome of anti-transnational
smuggling operations. Hong Kong is in a
fortunate position to have a number ofLegal Liaison Officers from countries in the
Pacific Rim posted to the Territory whichenables the speedy passage of information
to take place.
Last, but by no means least, weaving the
disparate strands of information together
to form a usable picture is now far easier.
Technology has played a major role and theHong Kong Police has been fortunate
enough to be able to develop analyticalprogrammes which can link scraps ofinformation on people, places and things
together in an orderly structure which canbe interactively apprised by intelligence
analysts.
These tactics are by no means
exhaustive. To be able to keep an upper
hand in the fight against the criminal
syndicates who are a blight on society,continued effort in looking for new
techniques is a must.
V. CONCLUSION
As long as smuggling is a profitable

activity there will be criminals who will
weigh the relative risks and rewards oftheir actions and decide to take the chance.
Unchecked at an early stage, such activities
will globalise, and become a major law
enforcement problem.
To counter this trend, a way has to befound to increase their risk and to reduce
their reward. If their chance to make profit
is reduced, or the opportunity to keep it
once made can be taken away, the incentive
for them to become criminally involved insmuggling may be reduced; although it cannever be completely removed.
Whilst increased efforts in identifying
suspect vessels used in sea-borne
smuggling operations, and increased
penalties for those found to be modifing or
adapting these for use in transporting
illegal immigrants can reduce the meansof transportation available to smuggling
syndicates, an enhanced intelligencesystem can provide the much needed basefrom where enforcement actions can be
guided with greater accuracy.
On the international level, co-operation
between not only the countries directly
affected, but those who will be affected bychanges in routes or the influx of criminal
funds, are needed to thwart the massive
networks and resources that smugglingorganizations possess.
Given the economic and politicaldifferences that exist amongst countries
today, one does not require a crystal ball to
predict that smuggling activities willcontinue to thrive. It has already been
widely accepted among social scientists
that “social problems will rarely be solved
but only be alleviated”. As far as smugglingof aliens and stolen vehicles is concerned,
this statement only represents half of thetruth. For police officers who have been
involved in the fight against such activities,

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
they all know that even alleviation will notcome easily, and not without a concerted
international enforcement effort.

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THE EVOLUTION OF DRUG TRAFFICKING
IN THE PACIFIC RIM
Lau Yuk-kuen*
I. INTRODUCTION
This paper concerns the evolution of
drug trafficking in the Pacific Rim and themany changes that have taken place in the
drug trafficking scene in this region during
the past thirty years. It also covers apersonal view on the probable evolution ofillicit trafficking in the Pacific Rim.
Broadly speaking, the drugs that are
being abused in the region can be divided
into four major categories. These areopiates, cannabis, cocaine and psychotropic
substances. In each of the following
sections, the focus is on the current
developments in the illegal trafficking ofthese substances in the Pacific Rim.
II. OPIATES
Opiates are considered first, not only
because they are the oldest problem among
the four categories, but also because they
are the most widely abused in many
countries. The term, “opiates” includes
opium, morphine and heroin.
During the past thirty years, manychanges have taken place in the illegal drugtrafficking scene. Changes have included
the personalities involved, the smuggling
methods, the form of the drug being
smuggled, the routes used and the locationsof transit and storage centres. One thingwhich has gone virtually unchanged overthis long period of time is the direction of
the traffic.

* Director of Crime and Security, Hong Kong Police
Force Headquarters, Hong Kong.

Thirty years ago, the direction of thetraffic in opiates was from the southeast
to northwest, that is, from the source of
their production in the Golden Triangle(the mountainous area lying between
Thailand, Laos and Burma, now the
Republic of Myanmar), to the United States
where the drugs were sold at prices up to
20 times as high as the original cost in the
producing country. After thirty years, thedirection of traffic remains virtuallyunchanged.
On the production side, some changes
have taken place, but these have been
related more to the personalities involved
than anything to do with the drug itself.
Even the surrender of the infamous opiate
drug lord Khun Sha in the Golden Triangle
to the authorities in 1996 does not seem tohave a significant lasting impact on theavailability of the drug in the region.
To the pessimists, it can be verydisheartening that, despite the resourcesthat have been spent on the prevention andinterception of drugs, and or the education
and rehabilitaion of drug abusers, there
has virtually been no change in the supply
and demand of the drug over this thirtyyear period. Law enforcement officers,
however, see the situation quite differently.
Compared to thirty years ago, numerous
new check points have been set up along
the routes and borders between the
producing and the consumer countries asa result of the joint efforts of governments,
making it much more difficult for drugtraffickers to capitalize on any
opportunities.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Also, thirty years ago, opiate drugs weretransported from the producing countries
in large consignments using sea routes tointermediary countries in the region before
they were transported onward to theUnited States. At that time, many
countries in the region were not yet openedup, hence the choice of intermediarycountries was quite limited. Hong Kong,
being one of the more conveniently locatedcities between the United States and theGolden Triangle, was quite naturally
chosen by traffickers as one of their transit
centres. The capital, connection and theexpertise required for transporting a large
quantity of drugs in single consignmentsin those days, when internationaltransportation was far less well developed
than today, meant that the trafficking
syndicates at that time had to be wellorganized.
In terms of seizures, the sixties andseventies must have been the more
rewarding period for drug enforcement
officers. They had fewer but bigger targets,and the drugs seized in each significant
case could be weighed in hundred-kilogram
units. Around that time, indeed up to theearly eighties, the Hong Kong police had
successfully intercepted many of theselarge drug consignments, and had brought
the syndicates involved to justice.
To rid themselves of their reputation as
major opiate transit centres, intermediarycountries sought, in addition to
enforcement actions, to strengthen
legislative controls to make the life of drugtraffickers more difficult. Some chose to
introduce capital punishment as adeterrent. Hong Kong chose to tighten up
the control of the chemical substances
required for converting morphine base toheroin, and to introduce legislation topunish drug traffickers who used Hong
Kong as their operating base, even though
the drugs involved never transited through62

Hong Kong.
Both measures appear to have produced
positive results. The joint shortage of therequired chemicals, and effective
enforcement action, have together forced
drug traffickers to relocate their refining
centre away from Hong Kong, reducing thechance of being caught red handed during
the refining process. Morphine base, whichis the basic ingredient for manufacturing
heroin, and which at one time constituted
a significant portion of the opiate drugs
seized in the territory, has dropped fromthe 551kg seized in 1972 to zero in 1983
and after. The amended drug legislation
has also given the enforcement agencies apowerful weapon to fight againstinternational drug traffickers byprosecuting them for conspiracy to traffic
in drugs outside Hong Kong. Many once
infamous traffickers have ended up behindbars for lengthy periods of imprisonment,with sentences of up to 30 years.
The effective law enforcement inintermediary countries has seen many
drug traffickers choose alternative routes
to avoid losses. Increasingly they use other,less conveniently located, countries astransit centres even though this means
greater costs and, in some cases, if caught,a more severe punishment. It is thechanging patterns of transnational drugtrafficking that have fostered a closeworking relationship among drug
enforcement agencies in the region,
something which, in the view of many drug
enforcement officers, is the most importantelement for tackling international drugtrafficking.
New air routes and the opening up ofcountries in the region have speeded upchanges in the last decade. The direct
supply of high-grade heroin rather thanmorphine base or opium from the source
countries means that drug trafficking

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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syndicates are less dependent onpharmaceutical expertise. The prerequisitethat a syndicate must have a chemist andrefining centre before it could act as aninternational broker has gone. Anyone withthe required connections can now, almost
single-handedly, arrange his own supply ofheroin, in small consignments, from thesource to the consumer countries. The
amount of capital required for financing
this type of small run is substantiallyreduced, so is the size of the syndicates.
The collapse of the large syndicates has
seen an increase in the number of smaller
syndicates operating under much less wellorganized structures.
Syndicates of all sizes have increasingly
turned to countries which are lessexperienced in drug enforcement as theirtransit and storage centres. This is only
natural. In countries with less experiencein drug enforcement, the drug traffickers
stand a lower chance of being caught. It is
for this reason that countries which wererarely mentioned among drug enforcement
officers in the sixties and seventies have
gradually emerged as preferredintermediary countries by opiate
traffickers, and a new chapter ofinternational cooperation in the fightagainst drug trafficking has begun.
One of the countries exploited byinternational drug traffickers of late has
been China. Its first major joint operation
with drug enforcement agencies outside thecountry can be dated to 1988. In thatground-breaking joint operation 60 kg ofheroin were concealed by a drug syndicate
in gold fish that were shipped to the UnitedStates from Shanghai, China via HongKong. The operation was very complicatedin view of the protocols and the formalities
that the enforcement agencies in the threeplaces had to go through, but was very
successful resulting in the arrest of a totalof 14 members of the syndicate including

i t s m a s t e r- m i n d . A c l o s e w o r k i n g
relationship has since developed between
the agencies and has been instrumental to
the subsequent neutralization of a major
drug trafficking syndicate in southern
China. This, in 1996, resulted in the seizureof some 600 kg of heroin.
To sum up, the main direction of trafficof opiate drugs has been from the southeastof the region to the northwest, crossing the
Pacific Ocean. This is likely remain so in
the next few decades, although alternative
markets have come to the fore as a resultof economic development throughout theregion. The syndicates involved in the trade
have increased in number but now operate
under a less well organized structure.
Increasingly, emigration will see more
networks of contacts between persons inthe source countries and in the consumer
market, based upon the common cultural
identity of members, marking
international drug trafficking no longer a
privileged area for sophisticated criminal
syndicates. Drug traffickers will continue
to explore new routes to minimize theirrisk, and countries in the region which are
currently not attractive to them for lack oftransportation or communication facilities
will soon find themselves being used astransit centres as and when they improvetheir facilities. The development of newroutes from the Golden Triangle in the west
to east and southern Chinese cities, as an
example, is now well documented;
something which was outside theimagination of even the most creative
thinking drug enforcement officers say 30
years ago.
III. CANNABIS
Compared to the opiates, cannabis has
a shorter history of abuse, at least on theeastern side of the Pacific Rim. Thirty years
ago, in Hong Kong, cannabis was seen as asymbol of the liberal western society, and63

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
was abused only by a handful of expatriate
people. The main growers of cannabis are,according to the Hong Kong seizure record,
Cambodia, Colombia, Laos, Mexico, thePhilippines and Thailand, while the mainmarkets would appear to be in the UnitedStates and Europe.
However, the westernization of Asia’s
own countries provides an ever growing
market for a drug which is popularly
thought of as less addictive than most. Take
Hong Kong as an example. For the ten-year
period between 1978 and 1987, a total of
743 kg of the drug were seized, compared
to 20,826 kg in the following ten-year
period. Indications were that, of the 20,826
kg seized, only some 7,200 kg had been
intended to be on-shipped to overseas
markets. The amount which is believed tohave been for local consumption has
increased by almost twenty times.
The rise in abuse of cannabis may
eventually equal that of opiates, as the
drug has been widely seen as a relatively
harmless one. The belief that cannabis isless harmful is reinforced by the extremely
low sentencing tariffs meted out by the
courts, and the frequent calls for its
legalisation in many countries.
The debate regarding the legalisation orde-criminalisation of cannabis is conductedon many levels, many of them political.
Social issues aside, there is little doubt in
the minds of many drug enforcement
officers that there are cases in which
progression towards opiate abuse has been
facilitated by initial experimentation withcannabis. In their experience, addicts do
not respond to situations with any degreeof common sense. The search for a stronger
experience has been quoted by many
addicts as the reason for abusing opiates.

64

IV. COCAINE
All drugs that are widely abused today
have their own legitimate use. Cocaine is
no exception. The drug, in the limited
amounts that could be ingested from thechewing of the raw leaves, helped
indigenous natives in South America tofunction at high altitudes on a low-levelsubsistence diet. The upsurge in its abuse
would appear to be a direct result of theboom years in North American society.
Greater wealth and opulent lifestyles led
to experimentation with a drug which wasconsidered safe as it was not associatedwith needles or the less salubrious side ofthe drug culture. Like cannabis in the
1960s, it became fashionable to take “coke”
in the 1980s and 1990s. In the lower levelsof society, the major impact is moredefinitely attributable to the cheap,
smokable form now known as “crack”.
The source countries for cocaine continue
to be Peru and Bolivia, with processing
taking place in Columbia. Successful action
against the infamous cartels has led to thedevelopment of smaller, lower-profile
syndicates, in the same way as the opiate
scene has developed in Asia. The popularity
of cocaine goes through peaks and troughs,
and seizures have shown a notable decline
in the Americas over recent years. There
have been indications that traffickers
would seek to enter East Asian markets
where other stimulants are prevalent,
However, the high transportation costs andlack of significant Latino communities in
East Asia, which could provide trusted
middlemen, have hampered efforts in thisrespect. The current rising market foramphetamines in Asia would tend toindicate that cocaine will form only a smallpart of overall drug seizures in this sectionof the region.

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V. PSYCHOTROPIC SUBSTANCES

VI. THE BROADER VIEW

After the opiates, cannabis and cocaine
which are relatively natural products, theworld has now seen a gradual shift tosynthesized drugs. The use and traffickingof amphetamines and their derivatives are
now increasing throughout the Region.
Chemical synthesis does not create areliance on large expanses of land or theweather when manufacturing
amphetamines. Harvesting periods are ofless importance in the clandestine
manufacture of amphetamines although
one of the necessary precursor chemicals
remains plant-based ephedrine. It has thus
been inevitable that where easier, and lessvisible methods of drug production are
invented, the illegal syndicates will turnto them for profit.

Having examined developments in theillegal trafficking of different categories ofdrugs, it is useful to examine the broader
picture of the Region. The term “PacificRim” encompasses the land masses which
either border, or lie within, the world’s
largest ocean-the Pacific. The physical andcultural characteristics of the area’s
inhabitants are extremely diverse. Due toits enormous size, the Pacific Ocean has
acted as a formidable natural barrier tocultural exchanges, not only in early times
but also in modern times.

The expansion of what is described as
the “rave party” or “dance scene”
throughout the region and the subsequent
abuse of the tablets associated with it, hasbegun here as it did in Western cultures,and is likely to continue for the foreseeable
future. Tablets such as the Ecstasy family
are now generally thought of as “safe”
drugs by those who abuse them.
The opening up of the two chemical
giants-Russia and China-and theagricultural bases they represent have had
definite effects on amphetamine abuseworldwide. Factories producing MDMA are
allegedly rife in Poland and other counties
of the old Soviet Bloc, while China isallegedly the largest supplier of organic
ephedrine (the main precursor formethylamphetamine “ICE”). Syndicates
based in China would appear to be theprincipal suppliers of ICE in the Region,for Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines andthe Republic of Korea.

Politically, the region is as diverse as its
peoples. Some countries are highly
conservative, while others are very liberal.
Some countries have governments drawn
from the military, some are communist led,
while others are more akin to Western styledemocracies.
Socially, there is an equally wide
spectrum. The Pacific Rim includes someof the richest nations as well as some ofthe poorest. In terms of the legal systems
in place, the nations of the Pacific Rim areequally diverse. Different laws and judicial
practices exist, together with different
standards of proof or admissibility ofevidence.
It is against this background ofdifference that the enforcement agencies
in the region have achieved far more
successes than in most other areas of cooperation. Most of the countries of the
Pacific Rim are signatories to the various
international treatise and conventions in
respect to drug trafficking. Even in the caseof some of the poorer economies where
there may be a lack of financial resources
or expertise to tackle the trade in illegal
drugs, genuine attempts are still being
made to join forces to combat thetraffickers.

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In addition to international co-operation,
another powerful weapon that has been
adopted by nations against the illegal trade
has been the introduction of legislation toempower courts to confiscate the proceedsof drug trafficking. The significance of thismove is threefold.
Firstly, confiscation strikes directly at
the power base of the drug syndicates,
instantly stripping them of their assets
once caught and convicted, making it
difficult for them to recover.
Secondly, confiscation provides nations
with an immediate financial incentive to
put more resources into drug enforcement,
as it can effectively shift a proportion of
the financial burden of fighting drugtrafficking from the government to the drugtraffickers, who now finance the authorities
with their ill gotten gains when caught.
Thirdly, and perhaps more importantly
from the viewpoint of law enforcement, thisapproach opens up a whole new area ofinvestigation which is much more revealing
than the traditional methods. By following
the money trail rather than the drug trail,
investigators now find they have a muchbetter chance of identifying the ‘Mr. Big’ of
their targeted syndicates, and of bringing
him to justice.
This new weapon was used in the UnitedStates in the 1980’s, and has now becomea standard item in many of the Pacific Rim
nations’ anti-drug trafficking policy. In
terms of hard figures, Hong Kong has
restrained or confiscated assets worth some
US$63.5 million within the eight years
since the confiscation law was introduced.
VII. THE FUTURE
The foregoing has been largely positive.
However, despite concerted attempts to
reduce illegal drug abuse through66

treatment and education, the consumer
demand for drugs seems to have increased
rather than decreased. This has createdever increasing financial opportunities forthe trafficker to exploit.
Of particular concern must be theincreasingly addictive nature of thederivatives now available. The
modernization of communications andtransportation systems throughout theworld have not only enabled a growth in
the sophistication of trafficking syndicates,
but also expanded the markets throughincreased exposure to drug abuse. Hugefinancial rewards from such illegal
enterprises can now be hidden throughnumerous legal and illegal financial
vehicles and the scale almost defies theimagination. The annual turnover of someof the larger syndicates is estimated to
exceed that of some smaller nations. Now
more than ever, as the next century
approaches, the strengthening ofinternational co-operation will be ofparamount importance with globalizationof the drug trade.
As to the most widely abused drugs ofthe future, it is fairly easy to see that there
has been a shift towards synthetic drugs.
The reasons for this are apparent: large
areas of land are no longer required andproduction is no longer limited to the two
harvest seasons each year, each dependent
upon the weather. Synthetic drugs, being
far more potent, weight for weight, theirtransportation is much easier, and thisincreased potency can produce such intense
effects that a craving for repetition or
addiction can be generated by one or two
exposures. This is contrary to the carefully
fostered view that such drugs, which
require no injection, are far safer. There
are already suggestions that Thailand, asource country for heroin, now has an
addict population which seems to haveshifted almost completely to the abuse of

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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ICE because this drug, a stimulant rather
than a depressant, is so much more intense
and addictive.
VIII. CONCLUSION
For those who have been involved inattempting to reduce the trafficking in
drugs of abuse, it is obvious that the region
still suffers from a significant drug
problem. While there is still a large demandfor heroin, cocaine and cannabis, we are
now seeing an ever increasing trend
towards amphetamine-related andsynthetic drugs. The traditional
approaches adopted to target drug barons
may not have the same effect whensynthesis can be used to create a drug
supply so simply and easily.
It is not known what new drugs may
enter the market in the next few decades,
a similar situation to that which precluded
the prediction of Cocaine, ICE and Ecstasy,
becoming common drugs of abuse. At thesame time, technological change are taking
place at such a pace that they may rapidly
make currently used enforcement tactics
outdated and ineffective. The search foranswers to new challenges must, therefore,
continue.
If any one lesson, learnt from theexperience of the past thirty years, was tobe singled out as of overriding importance,
it would be that the globalisation of crime
had to be met by a globalisation oflegislative and enforcement efforts tocounter it. Today, fewer barriers exist andofficers from different nations are moreable to share their experience, establish
working contacts and explore new ideas.
It is in this sharing that new solutions canbe found.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54

CURRENT PROBLEMS IN THE COMBAT OF
TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME
Dimitris Vlassis*
I. TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZEDCRIME IN PERSPECTIVE
Law-abiding citizens are becoming
increasingly aware of and concerned aboutcommon crime. Indeed, the fear of crime
seems to permeate our lives. We worry
about being mugged or robbed in a parking
lot; our wives and daughters are afraid of
being raped or molested while walking
home from work or school; many of us livein terror of having our children kidnapped,
or entrapped into drug circles. We put
alarms in our cars, place bars on our
windows, trying to make our homes as
secure as prisons; at the same time weaccept to live as prisoners.
The tools of crime have becomefrightening. Not to mention the misery it
leaves in its wake, the financial damage tosocieties is staggering. The economic priceexacted on our nations is enormous, while
its social and hidden human costs are evenhigher. In addition to traditional and“street” crime, the consequences of certain
new forms of criminality present real andpresent dangers to progress and a brake todevelopment. Economic crimes, including
fraudulent bankruptcy and illicit outflow
of capital, tax evasion, computer crimes
and the theft of works of art representing
the cultural heritage of nations, havebecome especially troubling, as they arevery difficult to detect and control,
particularly when they are inter-linked toc o r r u p t i o n a n d a b u s e o f p o w e r.
* Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer,
Centre for International Crime Prevention, Officefor Drug Control and Crime Prevention, United
Nations Office at Vienna.

68

Environmental offences and criminal
negligence damage the human habitat,
sometimes irreversibly and disastrously.
Sea piracy, including against refugees, thetrafficking in persons across borders,
particularly women and children, and othercrimes, including smuggling of humanorgans or the mistreatment of migrants,
add a new dimension to human
exploitation. Violence is extending its reachfar beyond national frontiers; withterrorism introducing a random and highly
dangerous element into international
relations, and with the covert arms tradecreating a “deadly convergence” between
subversive movements, drug traffickers
and local warlords.
Crime strikes not only its mostimmediate victims, but seriously
undermines the foundation of trust uponwhich government rests, by eroding its
authority and legitimacy, wherever alleged
offenders manage to escape apprehension
and sanctioning. It is high time to promoteworldwide a culture of legality andtolerance, instead of accepting a culture oflawlessness and violence, which
dangerously threatens national
institutions and their principal foundation:
global values. Nations have decided to join
efforts to reduce crime not only because it
constitutes a serious infringement of ourinalienable right to live in peace andtranquility, but also because it impedes thequest of countries to growth, stability andsteady progress towards democracy.
Throughout the world, there isrecognition of the need to develop more
effective, ideally global, strategies to108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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prevent and control crime, especiallytransnational organized crime. The task
before us is in my view even greater,
because the development of better andmore effective solutions is not the only
need; we must reassess the very nature anddimensions of the problem, and the policies
that can serve the common purpose of
dealing with it. But we must also reflectvery seriously on the impact of crime ingeneral, and transnational organized crimein particular, on our lives and economic
activity. We must gear our minds to thinkbeyond (and to challenge) perceptions moreor less well ingrained. We need to reassess
our interests and look beyond traditionalroles and stereotypes. If we do that, I am
sure we will discover that:(a) transnational organized crime is aphenomenon with multiple facets whichhave hardly been thoroughly studied;(b) organized criminal groups areconscious of and ready to seize theopportunities presented to them byglobalization and the growing trends
towards trade liberalization to expand theiractivities and operations, in spite of theincreased awareness of the problem on thepart of Governments;(c) in view of the increased opportunities,
but also in order to thwart efforts that go
together with the increased awareness,organized criminal groups are forming
alliances and re-examining theirstructures, as well as their targets andmodus operandi;(d) the public and private sectors sharemuch more than we previously perceived.
They share not only common interests but
also common values.
We must begin, as a matter of urgency,
to think in terms of new partnerships tosafeguard these values and protect mutualinterests.
While the forms of crime affecting ourlives and the viability of our societies are
numerous, organized crime is one of themost nefarious manifestations. Organizedcriminal groups are spreading theiroperations around the globe and areengaging in a variety of activities that
range from the traditional to the modern,with an increased level of sophistication.
They also display a remarkable ability toshift across borders and from activity toactivity with speed and adaptability thatwould be the envy of any legitimate
business.
The amounts of money generated bythese activities are mind-boggling. Leaving
aside some of the more “traditional”
activities, like drug trafficking, by way of
example, it is estimated that if car theft
and its illicit trafficking were a legitimate
business, it would rank fifth in the Fortune
500. Overall, the annual profits oforganized crime are estimated, according
to some sources, at one trillion dollars
world-wide; almost as much as the UnitedStates annual federal budget.
Free trade and high-speed
telecommunications make it easier toengage in multiple activities and to laundermoney across national borders, with anestimated one billion dollars in crime
profits wire-transferred though the world
financial markets every day. Moreover, theexport of precious raw materials, including
chemical, biological and nuclear material,is increasingly attracting the attention, andoften falling into the hands of, organizedcrime.
Through its interfaces with other licit
and illicit activities, organized crime isinfiltrating national economies, taking
advantage of the difficulties of following thetrail of criminal proceeds. It has become

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
clear that only by tackling organized crimein a concerted manner can we hope to makeinroads into a problem that transcends
borders and exceeds the capacity ofnational mechanisms operating alone.
Developing countries and emerging
democracies are becoming a target fororganized criminal groups operating acrossborders, because of their vulnerabilities
while their institutions are either young
or in the process of being built. Often, thesophisticated modus operandi of thesegroups is no match to the criminal justicesystems of developing countries andcountries with economies in transition. The
need for foreign capital to give new life to
the economy and assist these countries in
e n t e r i n g t o d a y ’s c o m p e t i t i v e a n ddemanding global market, frequently
obscures the long-term threat posed by theinvestment of criminal proceeds. Criminalgroups are keen to enter developing
countries and economies in transition, notonly because of their potential, but also
because of the decreased risks involved.
The advantages that such groups enjoy, due
to the sizeable amounts of money at theirdisposal and their ability to eliminate
competition through intimidation andviolence, make risks that would daunt any
legitimate business perfectly acceptable.
The consolidation of their power places ingrave danger the growing economies of
those countries, particularly in terms of
their future development, theircompetitiveness in the international arena,and their stability.
The situation has become even morealarming with the expansion of organizedcrime and the growing tendency oforganized criminal groups to diversify theiroperations in response to a principle thathas been driving international business
forever: reduce risks and maximize
p r o f i t a b i l i t y. S o m e y e a r s a g o ,criminologists were drawing a clear

70

distinction between the activities oforganized crime and the areas in which it
was operating, and another elusive formof crime known as “white-collar crime.”
This is no longer the case. While retaining
traditional activities, particularly thosethat continue to be lucrative, and finding
new ways of eluding law enforcement
efforts, organized criminal groups are
increasing their sophistication and turning
to “borderline” economic endeavours. The
advantages are obvious. Countries are stillin the process of analyzing the potential
for malfeasance of a broad range of new
economic activities and products available
to individual and institutional investors,
before they can even attempt to conceive,
elaborate and enforce adequate
regulations.
In addition to the obvious advantage ofconcealing wealth and laundering
proceeds, organized criminal groups are
drawn to the great possibilities for reaping
sizeable, perfectly legal profits before
anyone has even realized whether there
was anything wrong. Since this type ofcrime is often “victimless”, such activities
offer the additional advantage of not
drawing public attention, which puts
increased pressure on national authorities
for action.
Finally, such activities come with added
value: power, which organized crime has
never shunned if the price for obtaining it
was right. There is another feature in thistype of crimes that is both an additional
advantage for criminal groups and anincalculable danger for modern societies.
The successful engagement of criminals in
economic crimes is often viewed by the
public as an act of cunning and evenbravery. Social criticism for the perpetrator
is directed not at the commission of thecrime but at the failure to escape justice.
This attitude is a sign of the times andamply demonstrates the corrosive effects

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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that such crimes have on the social fabric.
It is fundamental that this attitude bereversed, because it can prove equally or
more dangerous than the offences
themselves. We must not shy away fromthis responsibility, which does not rest only
on Governments, but must be equallyshared by everyone, with the private sector
playing a prominent role.
What are the problems facing individual
countries and the international communityin effectively dealing with organized crime?
Policy-makers, legislators and criminal
justice officials think in a certain way. We
are all aware of the simple truth thateveryone is captive of his/her own
experience. We are trained according tocertain principles and standards, and weare naturally inclined to base ourreasoning, organize our work and approach
problems and seek solutions on the basisof these principles. These standards may
be part of our upbringing, our education,
our professional training or our experience.
Together with these standards andprinciples, we are also guided by certain
values which we believe are paramountand should be protected.
Policy-makers are trained to think interms or certain organizational structuresthat must be respected in making andimplementing policies. Legislators and law
enforcement officials are trained to thinkalong the fundamental lines of theirrespective legal systems in elaboratinglaws and in implementing them. When
faced with the necessity to put in place
functioning and effective mechanisms ofcooperation, responsible officials areconstrained by the fundamental principlesof their thinking and of the instruments
defining their mandate and the margins
within which they can operate or negotiate.
In order to comprehend the problem
calling for cooperation, people have thetendency to try and either break it down
to elements with which they are familiar
or try to project the problem (and its
constituent elements) within their own
overall perspective and operating
environment. This effort is manifested inseveral ways, principal among them being
the use of terminology. Consequently, in
discussions and negotiations on
international cooperation, government
representatives tend to reason in ways that
conform to their terminology and to theirnational legal frameworks and structures.
Furthermore, there are always effort toensure that the mechanisms ofinternational cooperation are designed insuch a way that would, if possible, not run
counter to national norms and legal
regimes.
Organized crime attacks the very
fundamental values that we are trying toprotect and on which we base ourperception of structures, norms andstandards. It also exploits lacunae and gapsthat exist in legal systems and in legal
thinking. It benefits from the limitations
that the mode of reasoning discussed above
imposes on mechanisms of international
cooperation. If we are to deal effectively anddecisively with organized crime, we must
challenge our way of thinking and change
the way we operate.
Let me make one thing absolutely clear
at this stage. The fundamental precept ofcriminal law is, and must remain, theprotection of individuals and society. Any
action against organized crime (or any formof crime for this matter) must not bedesigned or undertaken in a way thatwould jeopardize or compromise
fundamental rights and freedoms of theindividual or society. This is one of thereasons that the task is even more difficult.
Effective action against organized crime
requires an unreserved commitment to71

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
international cooperation. It also requires
the will of Governments, and ultimately
everyone involved in policy-and decisionmaking, as well as civil society to conform
legislative instruments and practices to theneeds of international cooperation, insteadof the other way around. This means thatcountries should be willing and ready toamend their legislation in order to maketheir legal and law enforcement regimes
able to converge with those of othercountries in order to ensure that no matter
which activity, no matter in which
geographical region, and no matter who are
the perpetrators, organized crime groups
find no safe haven. Furthermore, this will
and readiness must be manifested by all
countries from all regions, and theircommitments must be sustained over time.
Action cannot be limited because of thetransnational nature of organized crimeand its ability to shift its operations acrossborders in response to increases in the risks
it is facing. The commitment must be
sustained over time for two reasons. First,
because of the strength and resilience oforganized criminal groups and, second,
because of the power organized criminalgroups wield due to their wealth and thecomparative advantage this wealth gives
organized criminal groups over law
enforcement authorities which invariably
operate with limited budgets. One may be
tempted to ask: is this a last cause? Are
efforts by law enforcement authorities
doomed to merely trying to catch up?
Optimism, albeit with caution, should
guide us in answering these questions.
Pooling resources, relying on active andgenuine cooperation, and constantly
increasing the professional capacities andthe knowledge of law enforcement andcriminal justice personnel can be theelements of successful action. But, more
importantly, there is need for functionalframeworks for international cooperation,
coupled with appropriate mechanisms at72

the national level.
II. UNITED NATIONS ACTIONAGAINST TRANSNATIONALORGANIZED CRIME
The work of the United Nations instrengthening international cooperation
against organized crime dates back twenty
years. The issue and its various aspects
have been debated and analyzed bysuccessive congresses on the prevention ofcrime and the treatment of offenders,starting with the Fifth Congress in 1975.
This debate has, of course, evolved throughthe years to reflect changing perceptions
and priorities of States, but also theincreased understanding of the real
dimensions of the problem.
The Fifth United Nations Congress on
the Prevention of Crime and the Treatmentof Offenders examined the “Changes in
Forms and Dimensions of CriminalityTransnational and National” under agenda
item 5. In what could today, with thebenefit of hindsight, be termed prophetic,
the Congress focussed on crime as businessat the national and transnational levels:
organized crime, white-collar crime andcorruption. Crime as business wasrecognized as posing a more serious threat
to society and national economies than
traditional forms of crime. While it was aserious problem in many developed
countries, the national welfare andeconomic development of the entire society
in developing countries was found to be
drastically affected by such criminal
conduct as bribery, price-fixing, smuggling
and currency offences.
In 1980, the Sixth United Nations
Congress, under agenda item 5 entitled“Crime and the Abuse of Power: Offences
and Offenders beyond the Reach of the
L a w, ” a d d e d n e w e l e m e n t s t o t h einternational perception of organized

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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crime. Among these offences were thosecrimes with respect to which the law
enforcement agencies were relatively
powerless, because the circumstances
under which they had been committed weresuch as to decrease the likelihood of their
being reported or prosecuted. Organizedcrime, bribery and corruption were among
the first examples listed.
The issue was considered further by theSeventh Congress in 1985 under Topic 1“New dimensions of criminality and crime
prevention in the context of development:challenges for the future.” The Congressemphasized that multiple illicit operations
carried out by international criminal
networks represented a major challenge tonational law enforcement and tointernational cooperation.
In 1988, a high-level plenipotentiary
conference, held in Vienna, adopted theUnited Nations Convention Against Illicit
Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances. At the end of
August 1996, 136 States were parties to
the Convention, which represents one of
the most important binding international
instruments against drug trafficking, anactivity in which transnational criminalorganizations are regularly engaged.
In 1990, within the framework of its
To p i c I I I “ E f f e c t i v e n a t i o n a l a n dinternational action against: (a) Organizedcrime; (b) Terrorist criminal activities,” theEighth Congress examined the problem oftransnational organized crime in the lightof new historic developments. The rapid
increase in the number of independent
countries, together with the growing
expansion of criminal activities beyond
national borders, had created the need for
new international institutions that could
introduce a measure of order and enhancethe effectiveness of crime prevention
efforts. On the recommendation of theCongress, the General Assembly made asubstantive step towards strengthening
international cooperation by adopting theModel Treaties on Extradition, on Mutual
Assistance in Criminal Matters, on
Transfer of proceedings in Criminal
Matters and on Transfer of Supervision of
Offenders Conditionally Sentenced or
Conditionally Released (resolutions 45/116,
45/117, 45/118 and 45/119 respectively).
The Congress also adopted a set of
guidelines against organized crime inresolution 24, which was welcomed by theGeneral Assembly in resolution 45\121. In
resolution 45/123, the General assembly
urged Member States to implement theseguidelines and invited them to makeavailable to the Secretary-General theirnational legislation against organizedcrime and money laundering.
Pursuant to General Assembly
resolution 45/108 of 14 December 1990 theMinisterial Meeting on the Creation of an
Effective United Nations Crime Prevention
and Criminal Justice Programme was heldin Versailles from 21 to 23 November 1991.
The General Assembly, by resolution 46/
152 of 18 December 1991, adopted a
proposed Statement of Principles andProgramme of Action, which, inter alia
established the Commission on Crime
Prevention and Criminal Justice (a 40member functional Commission of the
Economic and Social Council).
The Commission was established andheld its first session in 1992. On its
recommendation, the Economic and Social
Council adopted resolution 1992/22, bywhich it determined that one of the priority
themes that should guide the work of theCommission and the United Nations Crime
Prevention and Criminal Justice
Programme would be “national andtransnational crime, organized crime,
economic crime, including money
laundering, and the role of criminal law in73

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
the protection of the environment”. The
Council also adopted resolution 1992/23, in
which it noted the recommendations of two
Ad Hoc expert group meetings held in 1991,
in Smolenice, Slovak Republic, and in
Suzdal, Russian Federation, and requested
the Secretary-General to continue theanalysis of the impact of organized criminal
activities upon society at large. The
Commission, also at its first session,
adopted resolution l/2 by which it requested
the Secretary-General to examine thepossibility of coordinating efforts made at
the multilateral level against launderingof the proceeds of crime and related
offences, and to propose means for technicalassistance to requesting Member States indrafting legislation, training law
enforcement personnel, in developing
regional, subregional and bilateral
cooperation and in providing advice.

on the structural characteristics of criminalorganizations. Countries were called upon
to begin the process of harmonizing theirlegislation, while special attention was paid
to the need for countries to ensure that
their criminal justice systems had thecapacity to prevent and control
transnational organized crime in all of its
manifestations. Equal attention was given
to the need for the international
community, particularly donor countries
and financing institutions, to assist
developing countries and countries witheconomies in transition, to bridge the gap
between the capacity of their law
enforcement authorities and criminal
justice systems in general, and the abilityof organized criminal groups to shift theiroperations from activity to activity and to
elude efforts against them by usingsophisticated methods of operation.

The efforts of the United Nations, andthe awareness and interest displayed by
the intemational community through theCommission on Crime Prevention andCriminal Justice, led to the organizationof one of the most significant events in thehistory of the United Nations Crime
Prevention and Criminal Justice
Programme. The World Ministerial
Conference on Organized Transnational
Crime was organized in Naples, Italy, from21 - 23 November 1994. The 142 States inattendance (86 of them at the Ministerial
level, while others were represented bytheir Heads of State or Government)
unanimously adopted the Naples Political
Declaration and Global Action Plan against
Organized Transnational Crime, which
was later approved by the General
Assembly (resolution 49/159 of 23
December 1994).

The Naples Political Declaration and
Global Action plan stressed the need for theinternational community to arrive at a
generally agreed concept of organized crime
as a basis for more compatible national
responses and more effective international
cooperation. Particular attention was given
to more effective bilateral and multilateral
cooperation against transnationalorganized crime, asking the Commission
on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
to examine the possibility of a convention
or conventions against transnationalorganized crime. Furthermore, theprevention and control of the laundering
and use of the proceeds of crime wereconsidered essential elements of any
international effort.

The Naples Political Declaration and
Global Action Plan emphasized the needand urgency for global action against
transnational organized crime, focussing

74

The Commission on Crime Prevention
and Criminal Justice followed up on theimplementation of the Naples Political
Declaration and Global Action Plan at its
fourth and fifth sessions (Vienna, 30 May 9 June 1995 and 21 - 31 May 1996
respectively). On its recommendation at its

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
fourth session, ECOSOC adopted
resolution 1995/11 of 24 July 1995, in which
the Secretariat was requested (a) to initiate
the process of requesting the views ofGovernments on a convention orconventions; (b) to collect and analyze
information on the structure and dynamics
of transnational organized crime and on the
responses of States to this problem, for the
purpose of assisting the international
community to increase its knowledge on thematter; (c) to Submit to Member States at
the next session of the Commission a
proposal on the creation of a central
repository of existing legislative andregulatory measures and information onorganizational structures designed tocombat transnational organized crime; (d)to submit proposals to the Commission forthe development of practical models andpractical guidelines for substantive andprocedural legislation in order to assist
developing countries and countries intransition; (e) to provide advisory services
and technical assistance to requesting
Member States in needs assessment,
capacity- building and training, as well as
in the implementation of the Naples
Political Declaration and Global Action
Plan; and (f) to join effort with otherrelevant international organizations inorder to reinforce common regulatory andenforcement strategies in the area of
prevention and control of money
laundering, and to assist requesting Statesin assessing their needs in treaty
development and the development ofcriminal justice infrastructure and humanresources.
An in-sessional intergovernmental
working group was established at the fifthsession of the Commission to review theviews of Governments on a convention orconventions, as well as the proposals of theSecretariat described under (c) and (d)above. The Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice Division, on the basis of information

provided by Member States, prepared areport for the Commission’s consideration
at its fifth session (Vienna, 21 - 31 May
1996), in which the actual situation oforganized crime was reviewed. Most
responding Member States expressed theirfavourable disposition towards aconvention against transnationalorganized crime.
In November 1995, the Divisionorganized a regional Ministerial Workshop
on the Follow-up to the Naples Political
Declaration and Global Action plan, hosted
by the Government of Argentina in Buenos
Aires. The Workshop adopted the Buenos
Aires Declaration on Prevention andControl of Organized Transnational Crime,in which the countries of Latin America andthe Caribbean expressed their support forexpeditious follow-up to the Naples
Political Declaration and Global Action
plan, and endorsed the idea of developing
a convention against transnationalorganized crime, offering a list of elementsthat such a convention should include.
At its fifth session, the Commission
devoted special attention to the issue oforganized crime in general, and to thefollow-up of Naples in particular. On its
recommendation, the General Assembly
adopted, at its fifty-first session in 1996,
the United Nations Declaration on Crime
and Public Security (resolution 51/60). By
this Declaration, Member States undertook
to seek to protect the security and wellbeing of all their citizens, by taking
effective national measures to combat
serious transnational crime, includingorganized crime, illicit drug and arms
trafficking, smuggling of other illicit
articles, organized trafficking in persons,terrorist crimes and the laundering ofproceeds from serious crimes. Member
States also pledged their mutual
cooperation and to promote bilateral,
regional, multilateral and global law

75

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
enforcement cooperation and assistance;
white taking measures to prevent support
for and operations of criminalorganizations in their national territories.
In addition, Member States undertook, tothe fullest extent possible, to provide for
effective exdradition or prosecution of those
who engage in serious transnational crimes
in order to ensure that these criminals findno safe haven.
According to the Declaration, mutual
cooperation and assistance in thesematters would also include thestrengthening of systems for the sharing
of information among Member States, andthe provision of bilateral and multilateral
technical assistance. This is also importantin connection with the agreement ofMember States to take steps to strengthen
the overall professionalism of theircriminal justice, law enforcement andvictims assistance systems, as well as
relevant regulatory authorities. Member
States were urged to become parties assoon as possible to the principal existing
international treaties relating to thevarious aspects of the problem ofinternational terrorism, as well as to theinternational drug control conventions. The
Declaration called upon States to takemeasures to improve their ability to detectand interdict the movement across bordersof those engaged in serious transnational
crime, as well as the instrumentalities ofsuch crime, and to protect their territorialboundaries. Such measures would include
adopting effective controls on explosives
and against illicit trafficking in certain
materials and their components that are
specifically designed for use andmanufacturing nuclear, biological orchemical weapons; strengthening
supervision of passport issuance andenhancement of protection against
tampering and counterfeiting;strengthening enforcement of regulations
on illicit trafficking in firearms; and76

coordinating measures and enhancing
information exchange to combat theorganized criminal smuggling of persons
across national borders.
In connection with the control of theproceeds of crime, Member States agreed
to adopt measures to combat theconcealment or disguise of the true originof the proceeds of serious transnational
crime and the intentional conversion ortransfer of such proceeds for that purpose.
Member States also agreed to require
adequate record-keeping by financial andrelated institutions and the reporting of
suspicious transactions and to ensure
effective laws and procedures to permit the
seizure and forfeiture of the proceeds ofserious transnational crime. Member
States recognized the need to limit theapplication of bank secrecy laws, if any,
with respect to criminal operations and toobtain the cooperation of financial
institutions in detecting these and otheroperations which may be used for the
purpose of money laundering.
Further, Member States agreed tocombat and prohibit corruption and bribery
and to consider developing concerted
measures for international cooperation to
curb corrupt practices, as well as
developing technical expertise to preventand control corruption.
On the very important issue of
corruption, the General Assembly adopted
another resolution, also recommended by
the Commission at its fifth session(resolution 51/59). Entitled ‘‘action against
corruption’’, the resolution represents work
carried out in the context of the United
Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice Programme for the last seven years.
According to the resolution, the Assembly
adopted an lnternational Code of Conduct
for Public Officials, which sets out anumber of principles which Member States

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
can use as a tool to guide their efforts
against corruption. The crime Prevention
and Criminal Justice Division is currently
in the process of revising and expanding a
Manual on Practical Measures against
Corruption, which together with the Codeof Conduct would form a package foradvisory services, training and othertechnical assistance activities. We are also
working on model legislation against
corruption for use in the context oftechnical cooperation adivities. Countries
requesting assistance in this field would
be provided with the model law, which canbe adapted to the particular legal
requirements and other circumstances of
the country, and assisted in making such
adaptations and supplementing thelegislation with regulatory and othermeasures.
In 1996, the General Assembly adopted
another resolution (resolution 51/191) on
the United Nations Declaration against
Corruption and Bribery in International
Commercial Transactions. The resolution,
which approaches the issue of corruption
from another, very important angle,
contains a request to the Commission on
Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice toexamine ways, including through legallybinding international instruments, tofurther the implementation of the
Declaration, so as to promote thecriminalization of corruption and bribery
in international commercial transactions.
The Assembly stressed that this action
should in no way preclude, impede or delay
international, regional of national actionsin this field. The Assembly encouraged
private and public corporations, includingtransnational corporations, andindividuals engaged in internationalcommercial transactions to cooperate in theeffective implementation of the
Declaration. States committed themselves
to take effective and concrete action tocombat all forms of corruption, bribery andrelated illicit practices in internationalcommercial transactions and to call upon
private and public corporations, includingtransnational corporations, andindividuals within their jurisdiction
engaged in international commercial
transactions to promote the objectives of
the Declaration.
Further, in accordance with the
Declaration, which among other provisions
contains elements that bribery may
include, States committed themselves todeny, where not already done, the tax
deductibility of bribes paid by any private
or public corporation or individual to any
public official or elected representative ofanother country and to develop or maintainaccounting practices that improvetransparency of international commercial
transactions and that encourage
corporations and individuals to avoid andcombat corruption and bribery. In addition,
States committed themselves to develop or
encourage the development of business
codes, standards and best practices thatprohibit corruption, bribery and related
illicit practices in international commercial
transactions. Our Commission took further
action on the modalities of implementationof the Declaration at its sixth session in
April last year, while an expert groupmeeting was organized in Buenos Aires inMarch 1997, which made a number ofrecommendations to assist the Commission
with its work.
Reverting to the follow-up to the Naples
Political Declaration and Global Action
Plan, the Economic and Social Council
adopted resolution 1996/27, in which it took
note of the Buenos Aires Declaration andrequested the Secretary-General tocontinue his consultations with Member
States on the possibility of elaborating a
convention or conventions against
transnational organized crime. The Council
also requested the Secretary-General to77

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
assist in the implementation of the Naples
Political Declaration and Global Action
Plan and to meet the needs of Member
States for increased knowledge on the
structure and dynamics of transnationalorganized crime in all its forms, as well as
trends in its development, areas of activity
and diversification. In addition the
Secretary-General was called upon to assist
Member States in reviewing existing
international instruments and exploring
the possibility of elaborating new ones tostrengthen and improve international
cooperation against transnationalorganized crime and to intensify technicalassistance in the form of advisory services
and training. The Secretary-General has
also been requeted to establish a central
repository for national legislation,
including regulatory measures, ontransnational organized crime; information
on organizational structures designed tocombat transnational organized crime; andinstruments for international cooperation,
including bilateral and multilateraltreaties and legislation to ensure theirimplementation. For the purpose ofproviding increased technical assistance torequesting Member States, the SecretaryGeneral has been requested to develop
training manuals for specialized law
enforcement and investigative personnel
on action against transnational organizedcrime, taking into account differences inlegal systems.
In July last year, we organized a regional
Ministerial Workshop in Dakar for thecountries of the African region. In adopting
the Dakar Declaration, the Ministers
reaffirmed their commitment to fightagainst transnational organized crime andreiterated their collective political will to
support the efforts of the Commission
towards the elaboration of an international
convention against transnationalorganized crime. In addition, the Ministers
reviewed and approved two regional

78

projects for technical cooperation aimed atproviding assistance to the Governmentsof the region in strengthening theircapacities to prevent and control
transnational organized crime.
The issue of the convention has come tothe forefront as a result of a resolution
adopted by the General Assembly in
December 1996 (resolution 51/120),
following the initiative of the Governmentof Poland to submit to the Assembly the
text of a draft framework convention
against transnational organized crime. On
the recommendation of the Commission atits sixth session, the General Assembly
adopted resolution 52/85 of 12 December
1997. By virtue of this resolution, an insessional intergovernmental group of
experts was established and held a meetingfrom 2 to 6 February in Warsaw. The
group’s mandate was to elaborate apreliminary draft of a possible
international convention against
transnational organized crime, on the basisof a number of documents andcontributions from Governments, either
individually or in the context of a working
group established at the last session of theCommission.
All this is a summary of the politicalprocess at the intergovernmental level.
This process may sometimes appear to becumbersome and to require considerable
time. It is, however, essential forinternational cooperation, since theobjective cannot be expediency and strong
language but consensus, together withconscious and genuine commitment, which
are the cornerstones of successful action.
While this process is under way, and inorder to encourage it and solidify the gains
that are made, technical cooperation is
crucial. The Centre for International Crime
Prevention has been making every effott
possible to advance the implementation of

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
the Naples Political Declaration and Global
Action Plan and to provide assistance toMember States who wish to strengthen
their capacity to fight organized crime. Of
course, as with almost everything thesedays, this is also a question of resources.
Technical cooperation activities areresource-intensive and the Centre’s regularbudget and extra-budgetary funds have not
kept up with the emphasis placed by theinternational community on the
Programme’s priority role as the providerof timely and practical assistance. The
problem we are facing has become moreacute in the past couple of years with themultiplication of requests from developing
countries and countries with economies intransition, whose needs have grownexponentially with the growth of crime ingeneral, but also with the expansion oforganized crime, and whose expectations
have been raised by the emphasis placedby the Commission on the provision ofpractical assistance and the neworientation of our Programme.
With the limited resources at our
disposal we have managed to provide
assistance to the Economic Community ofWest African States (ECOWAS) in
developing a regional convention on mutual
assistance in criminal matters and in
beginning a similar exercise with regard
to extradition. In South Africa, we assisted
the Government in developing a witness
protection programme, while anotherproject is under development to assist thecountry in strengthening its overall
capacity to prevent and control organizedcrime. In Kyrgyzstan we are currently
helping the Government to develop a
specific project related to the establishmentof a specialized department within the
Ministry of the Interior to fight organizedcrime. We have also managed to respondto Some of the needs of Belarus andUkraine, with the assistance of the United
Nations International Drug Control

Programme (UNDCP), and to carry out
needs assessments in Angola, Argentina,
Armenia, Bolivia, Georgia, Guinea, theFormer Yugoslav, Republic of Macedonia,
Togo and Pakistan. In Bosnia andHerzegovina we have developed a numberof project proposals, together with UNDCP,
while we are implementing a project onstrengthening the criminal justice system.
In Romania, we have developed a projectfor building and strengthening the capacityof the country’s criminal justice system toprevent and fight corruption and organizedcrime. On the occasion of the Buenos Aires
and Dakar Workshops mentioned above,
the Division developed regional technicalcooperation projects on action againstorganized crime and corruption
respectively, which are now awaiting
funding. In June 1996 we organized,
together with the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and
UNDCP, a seminar on drugs and crime forthe five Central Asian Republics. In
November, organized with funding by theGovernment of the United States, aninternational conference on the theft of,and illicit trafficking in, motor vehicles washosted by the Government of Poland in
Warsaw. We are also planning regional
Ministerial Workshops, along the lines ofthe ones held in Buenos Aires and Dakar
for Asia and the Pacific in Manila in Marchand for Eastern Europe, in Kiev, Ukraine,in June.
In 1996, a joint technical cooperation
project entitled “Global Programme against
Money Laundering’’ - aimed at making
international action against money
laundering more effective - was finalized by UNDCP and the Division. The project
consists of a number of specific activities
required at the international level to help
adequately fight money laundering, raiseawareness about the problem, put in place
the necessary legal frameworks, andprovide assistance to the judicial, financial

79

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
and law enforcement sectors. The project
has six immediate objectives: (a) increased
awareness and improved understanding of
the money laundering phenomenon andacceptance of the need forcountermeasures; (b) introduction of
relevant legislation, including promotion ofmutual legal assistance; (c) improved
global infrastructure including for thedelivery of training services; (d) improved
capacity of legal and related law
enforcement systems, including theestablishment of financial intelligence
units or similar bodies; (e) reduced
financial system vulnerability: and (f)improved process of performance
evaluation. Within this framework, theproject will target Priority Countries andassist them to put in place necessary
legislation and other regulations, tocounter money laundering, as well as
undertake activities in infrastructurebuilding and training in the judicial,financial and law enforcement sectors. To
this end, materials will be developed, suchas a compendium of relevant national
legislation and procedures, as well as
computer databases and training materials
of general application. These materials will
be tested in pilot projects. The project wasapproved in October 1996 and the bulk of
the necessary financing has already been
secured. Its execution, which has alreadybegun and is expected to last three years,
is being carried out by UNDCP incooperation with the Centre. The project
also foresees close cooperation with otherorganizations active in the field, such as
the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), in
order to ensure proper coordination of thework done at the international level.
But much more needs to be done. We
must raise awareness among people andwithin the business community about thedangers, the methods of operation and theshort and long-term impact of the activitiesof transnational criminal organizations. We

80must direct attention to the fact thatorganized criminal groups are now involved
not only in traditional and violent crimes,
but are shifting their attention to theeconomic and financial spheres. We must
make everyone aware of the effects of these
activities on our financial systems, ourdaily lives and, most importantly, on ourvalues and institutions. We must allunderstand that no country is immune, nocountry is safe from the operations ofcriminal organizations, no matter what its
level of development. The vast resources
available to criminal organizations makethe race with law enforcement and criminal
justice an unequal one under any
circumstances. It is only a question ofdegree of sophistication, and a question oftype of activities which present less risk
for criminal organizations. International
cooperation holds the key. Genuineinternational cooperation, as well as
forward looking concerted action, can only
stem from knowledge. It is of the utmost
urgency that we develop and disseminate
information. The international community
cannot afford to allow the situation todeteriorate further. It must take measures
now and proceed to practical action basedon agreement and founded on collective
political will, as expressed in Naples andin every international forum since. It is still
possible for such action to be proactive andnot only be composed of damage control orcontainment measures. We must not lose
this opportunity through further delay.
The role that the private sector can playin furthering the process and in developing
and taking the appropriate action againstorganized crime, including money
laundering is central and crucial. Assistingdeveloping countries and countries witheconomies in transition to build andstrengthen their criminal justice system tofight transnational organized crime in allits forms, including money laundering, isa sound investment, and one with high

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
long-term returns. In the last quarter
century, private capital flows to developing
countries have risen 35 times, from $5
billion to $176 billion. These investments,
most of which are long-term can flourish
and their potential and returns can be
maximized only in an environment of
security and stability. The cost ofinvestment can be considerably lower when
not compounded by expenditures forsecurity of installations, personnel andproducts. It is fundamental to any businessthat competition be not restricted throughthe operations of organized criminal groups
and their front companies, or that the
integrity, image and viability of acorporation would not be compromised or
threatened through infiltration by thesegroups or their laundered profits.
As the Secretary-General of the United
Nations said in Davos a few weeks after
he took office, “in the post-cold-war era,peace and security can no longer be defined
simply in terms of military might or thebalance of terror. The world has changed.
...In today’s world, the private sector is thedominant engine of growth; the principal
creator of value and wealth; the source ofthe largest financial, technological andmanagerial resources. If the private sector
does not deliver economic opportunity equitably and sustainably - around theworld, then peace will remain fragile andsocial justice a distant dream.’’A partnership between the private sector
and the United Nations is crucial and wemust work together to forge and sustain
it. The United Nations set the international
norms and standards that make progresspossible. The partnership between the
United Nations and the private sector canhelp ensure that progress and development
are not threatened by crime.

81

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54

ORGANISED CRIME IN INDIA: PROBLEMS& PERSPECTIVES
Madan Lal Sharma*
I. INDIA THE LAND AND PEOPLE
India is one of the oldest civilisations
with a kaleidoscopic variety and richcultural heritage. It covers an area of 32.
87,263 sq. kms extending from the snow
covered Himalayan heights to the tropicalrain forests of the south. As the seventh
largest country in the world, India is wellmarked off from the rest of Asia by
mountains and the sea, which give thecountry a distinct geographical entity. It
has a land frontier of 15,200 kms and acoast line of 7,516 kms. In 1996, India’s
population was 931.9 million. Apart fromEnglish and Hindi, India has 17 otherofficial languages recognised by theConstitution.
India is a Union of States and isgoverned by a written Constitution whichcame into force on 26th November, 1949.
It consists of 25 States and 7 Union
Territories. Due to its colonial heritage,
India follows the Anglo-Saxon common law
system. Article 14 of the Constitution
provides for equality before the law. Article
21 guarantees protection of life andpersonal liberty. Article 20 provides
protection against double jeopardy. Article
39-A mandates the State to secure equaljustice for all. Article 50 provides forseparation of the judiciary from theexecutive in the public services of the State.
‘The Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are in theState List but the ‘Criminal Laws’ and‘Criminal Procedure’ are in the Concurrent
List. Resultantly, the basic criminal
statutes, namely, India Penal Code, 1860;
Criminal Procedure Code, 1973; Indian* Joint Director, Central Bureau of Investigation,
India.

82

Evidence Act, 1872; Indian Police Act,1861and several others have been enacted by
the national Parliament. The States also
have limited authority to legislate on thesubjects falling in the State List. The
Police, being a State subject, is raised andmaintained by the State Government. EachState and Union Territory has a separate
police force. Thus, registration of crime,
investigation and finalisation thereof is the
mandate of the State Police. In addition to
the State Police Force, the Central
Government has set up certain Central
Investigating Agencies, including theCentral Bureau of Investigation (CBI). CBI
was set up under the Delhi Special Police
Establishment Act, 1946. It has concurrent
jurisdiction in the investigative field in theUnion Territories. It can also take up
investigation of cases falling within thejurisdiction of the States under the ordersof the Central Government, but only withthe prior consent of the State Governments
concerned. In addition, the Central
Government has constituted certain otherinvestigating agencies, namely, theNarcotics Control Bureau, theEnforcement Directorate, the Central
Board of Direct Taxes and the Central
Board of Customs and Excise. These
agencies investigate criminal cases fallingin the ambit of special statutes being
administered by them and are empoweredto launch prosecutions. The CBI, however,is the premier investigating agency of theCentral Government and has an omnibus
charter.
II. CRIME SCENARIO IN INDIA
Before I come to the subject of organised
crime proper, it would be useful to have

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
some idea about the general crime situation
prevailing in the country. India, the landof Lord Budha and Mahatma Gandhi, is
growing into a violent society. The violent
crimes that constituted only 8.2 per centof the total crimes registered under Indian
Penal Code (IPC) in 1953 increased to
14.4% in 1994. Gulshan Kumar, a Bombay
music magnate with Rs. 800 crore empire,
was shot dead last year as he refused to
pay a large sum of money demanded by
Dawood Ibrahim gang. This was precededby killings of several Bombay industrialists
and politicialns. 48 persons in 1995 and 71
persons in 1996 were lynched in West
Bengal by the public. 61 Harijan were
killed in Jehanabad District (Bihar) incaste based violence last month. The casteand communal strife claimed 511 lives in
1997,with 3701 injured. The kidnappings
for ransom of rich industrialists,businessmen, top professionals and theirwards are lucrative for the criminal groups
in the metropolitan cities. Delhi witnessed
40 such incidents in 1994; 43 in1995 and23 in 1996. Brutal attacks by the domestic

servants of lonely housewives and oldcouples for looting are a recurring
phenomenon in Delhi. A Benaras
businessman was kidnapped by a gangheaded by a Member of State Legislatureand even after extortion of a huge ransom,
he was killed lest he approach the police
and reveal the gang’s identity. Terrorist
crimes have also taken their toll in termsof human casualties and damage to public
property. 308 bomb explosions in 1997 left
197 people dead and 1109 injured. Delhi
city alone witnessed 26 such incidents lastyear. The crime scenario is, thus, rather
grim.
Table I shows the incidence and the rateof cognizable crimes under IPC and Specialand Local Laws (SLL) from 1986 to 1996:
IPC crime, in absolute number, remained
at about 1.6 million since 1990 but the SLL
crime is increasing rapidly. In 1996, IPC
crime constituted 27.1% of the total crime
registered. Over the decade 1986-96, theIPC crime increased by 19.2% but the SLL
crime increased by 39.8%. However, thelesser increase in the IPC crime does not

TABLE IINCIDENCE AND RATE OF COGNIZABLE CRIMES UNDER IPC AND SLLFROM 1986-1996 (IN LACS)
YEAR
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996

IPC
14.05
14.06
14.4
15.2
16.04
16.7
16.8
16.2
16.3
16.8
16.7

INCIDENCE
SLL
29.8
35.8
37.6
38.4
32.9
33.7
35.5
38.03
32.8
42.6
44.6

TOTAL
43.9
49.9
52.06
53.7
48.9
50.4
52.4
54.3
49.2
59.4
…61.4

IPC
183.5
180.1
180.8
188.5
194
197.5
194.7
184.4
181.7
184.2
179.8

RATE**
SLL
389.6
459.3
472.7
474.0
398.3
396.8
410.1
430.4
365.6
465.3
479.1

TOTAL
573.1
639.4
653.5
662.4
592.3
594.3
604.8
614.8
547.3
469.6
458.9

*A lac=1,00,000.
**Crime per 1,00,000 of population

83

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
appear to truely reflect the intensity,
gruesomeness and social impact of violent
and organised crime.
In this context, it is be useful to look at
the incidence of IPC crimes under major
crime heads as shown in Table II. There
has been 44.3% increase in murders in1995 over 1985. The incidence of rape has
increased by 88.7% over this period.
Similarly, kidnapping and abduction has
increased by 27.3%. However, the dacoity
shows decrease of 25.9%. While robberyshows a negligible decrease over the thedecade, there is about 11% decrease inburglary and theft cases and 3.2% in riot
cases. The incidence of currency
counterfeiting increased by 46.5% over thisperiod. Overall IPC crimes showed anincrease of 22.5% over the decade.
In 1993, the crime rate in murderoffences in India was 4.32 which is lower
than that of Canada (5.63) but higher thanthat of Bangladesh (1.99), China (1.95),
Hong Kong (1.55), Indonesia (0.84), Japan(0.99), Nepal (2.32) and Singapore (2.02).
The crime rate in theft and dacoity cases

was 1.05 in India. It is much lower thanthat of Bangladesh (7.29), Hong Kong
(390.86), Indonesia (28.39), Japan (205.97)
and Singapore (146.18). In India, the crime
rate in burglary offences was 13.91 which
is much lower than most of the countriesof the region. The crime rate in rape
offences was 1.38 which is lower than thatof China (3.62), Hong Kong (1.74) andSingapore (2.75) but higher than that ofJapan (1.29), Nepal (0.98), Indonesia (0.71)
and Bangladesh (0.44).
It is pertinent to mention that crime
under the special and Local Laws (SLL)
constitutes over two-thirds of the totalcognizable crime in India (IPC crime
constituting less than one-third).
Table V shows the incidence of SLL
crime. About 4.29 million SLL cases wereregistered in 1995. There was 38.8%
increase in SLL in 1985. Registration underthe Arms Act has shown a marginalincrease of 3.8% over the decade. However,there was increase of 41.4% under the
NDPS Act. Suprisingly, registration under
the Gambling Act, declined by 23.2 per cent

TABLE IIINCIDENCE OF IPC CRIMES UNDER MAJOR CRIME HEADSCrime Head
MurderAttempt tomurderRape
Kidnapping& abduction
Dacoity
Robbery
Burglary
Theft
Riots
Counterfeiting
OTHER IPCCRIMESTOTAL:

84

1985
25970
-

1991
39174
29778

1992
40105
31202

1993
38240
29725

1994
38577
30020

1995
67464
29571

7289
16051

10410
20079

11708
20518

12218
19830

13508
20983

16754
20426

11254
22501
13035433055499757
1504
69606910831
26428
13208736282
1053094467
88628711308
26444
1272813505821047495133
9070719357
24354
12302032043493838
3728
9030829271
23933
12153630356494344
2851
9243428335
22443
11650729430696520
2203
72258313847311678375

1689341

162993616352511695696

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERSTABLE III
INCIDENCE OF SLL CRIME UNDER MAJOR HEADSCRIME HEADSARMS ACTNDPS ACTGAMBLING
ACT
EXCISE ACTPROHIBITIONACTEXPLOSIVESACTIMMORAL
TRAFFIC ACTANTIQUITY&ART TREASURE
ACTOTHER SLLCRIMESTOTAL:

1985
61987
14277
179419

1991
62025
20944
167113

1992
63893
99478
167193

1993
65532
21087
162800

1994
60289
20304
156926

1995
64331
20194
137737106183106183

95863
95863

95108
95108

96578
96578

102096102096114355114355

3373

5458

8899

6163

4641

5113

14815

14639

12580

12496

10132

8447

10

40

18

66

69

-

232712922844958 2401039

251325127932253232633

309648137735633808448

3286384267476but, registration under the Prohibition
policy being pursued by the States like
Haryama and Gujarat, creating a fertile
ground for organised boot-legging. Crime
under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act
decreased by 43% which is rather
surprising.
A. Convivtion Rate
To secure high conviction rates is not theoverall objective of the criminal justicesystem in any country. Even so, conviction
rate is one of the main indices of its efficacy.
Table IV shows the percentage of IPC trials
completed in the courts and the percentage
of cases convicted.

3350971

TABLE IVDISPOSAL OF IPC CRIMES IN THE
COURTS (PERCENTAGE)
YEAR
1961
1971
1981
1991
1993
1994
1995

TRIAL COMPLETED CONVICTION
30.3
64.8
32.0
62.0
23.9
52.5
16.8
47.8
16.7
45.9
15.5
42.9
15.1
42.1

The percntage of trials completed in agiven year is going down steadily. While
about 30% trials were completed in 1961
and 1971, the percentage came down to
23.9 in 1981 and 16.8 in 1991. The
percentage has further come down to only
15.1 in 1995. Crime head-wise, conviction
rate in IPC crime is shown in Table V.

85

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
TABLE VPERCENTAGE OF CONVICTIONSUNDER MAJOR CRIME HEADS IN 1995
CRIME HEAD
Muder
Attempt to Murder
Rape
Kidnapping & Abduction
Dacoity
Robbery
Burglary
Theft
Hurt
Sexual Harassment
Other IPC crime
TOTAL IPC CRIME% OF
CONVICTION
37.0
36.0
30.0
30.3
27.3
34.1
42.7
45.7
38.4
73.1
45.9
42.1

About one-third of the IPC crime areconvicted by the trial courts, with the
exception of sexual harassment cases
wherein the conviction rate is quite high.
This dose not compare favourably withmost other nations, including UK, USA,
Japan, France and China. However, unlike
IPC crimes, the conviction rate is muchhigher in non-IPC (i.e SLL crimes). Table
VI shows the conviction rate under major
crime heads.
TABLE VICONVICTION PERCENTAGE IN SLLCRIMES IN 1995
CRIME HEADPERCENTAGE
Arms Act
59.6
NDPS Act
48.8
Gambling Act
82.9
Excise Act
74.3
Prohibition Act
69.1
Explosives Act
48.2
Immoral Traffic(P) Act
89.7
Indian Railway Act
96.7
Indian Passport Act
69.9
Forest Act
61.6
Other SLL Crimes
90.4
Total SLL Crimes
85.8

86

The cases instituted under the Arms Act,NDPS Act and Explosives Act are
essentially recovery based. The Police
recovers the contraband or illicit arms
explosives from the possession or premisesof the accused, filing the charge sheet.
Almost 50% are acquittals in narcotic drugs
related cases; which is mainly due to nonobservance of statutory and procedural
requirements by the investigating officers.
This is rather disturbing and calls forproper training of officers and streamliningof systems and procedures.
B. Pace of Trial
The accused has a right of speedy trial
as per the tenets of natural justice. Such aright is inherent in Art. 21 of ourConstitution. However, the reality isdifferent. In the end of 1995, 7.12 million
cases- 4.12 million under IPC and 3.0
million under SLL- were pending trial. Of
the IPC crimes, 0.77 million were pending
trial for more than 8 years. Thus, 18.6%
cases were pending trial over 8 years. It is
common ground that delayed trials violate
natural justice and are also prejudicial tothe interests of the prosecution.
No data for the average time taken intrials is available on an all-India basis.
However, according to a study conductedby S.Venugopal Rao, a distinguished police
officer, in regard to 16 police stations inAndhra Pradesh State, the average time
taken for trial is 15 months in convicted
cases of murder and 28 months in acquittal
cases. In rape cases, it is 21 and 9 months
respectively. In burglarly cases, it is 3 and6 months but in robbery cases the time
taken is 1 month and 21 months
respectively 7.
The study generally shows that the
average time taken in trials is much higher
when compared to countries like Japan,
where the average time taken is only about
3 months. It is also higher compared to
Korea, UK and USA. This is one of the main
contributory factors to the low convictionrate.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
III. ORGANISED CRIME-TOWARDS
A CONCEPTThe core organised crime activity is the
supply of illegal goods and services tocountless numbers of citizen customers. It
is also deeply involved in legitimate
business and in labour unions. It employs
illegitimate methods-monopolisation,
terrorism, extorition and tax-evasion todrive out or control lawful ownership andleadership, and to extract illegal profits
from the public. Organised crime also
corrupts public officials to avert
governmental interference 8 and isbecoming increasingly sophisticated. In
India, in addition to its traditional spheresof activities which included extortion,seeking protection money, contract killing,boot-legging, gambling, prostitution andsmuggling, now added is drug trafficking,illicit arms trading, money laundering,transporting illegitimate activities based
essentially on its readiness to use brute
force and violence. By corrupting public
officials and thereby monopolising or near
monopolising, organised crime aims tosecure for itself power. Later, the money
and power it begets are used to infiltratelegitimate business and several otherrelated activities.9 The recent experiencehas shown that it attempts to subvert andcorrupt our democratic processes.
Involvement of Bombay based criminal
syndicates in the serial bomb blast in 1993,
and the contract killings of several
important social and political leaders in
Bombay, indicates that organised crime inthis part of the country is emerging as aserious challenge to the State. The destabilising effect that organised crime hason the country’s economy, trade andcommerce can hardly be over-emphasised.
Organised crime continues to grow at a
disconcerting speed as the existing laws
and procedures are not powerful enoughto help the law enforcement agencies tocollect adequate evidence to bring criminal

charges and try other remedies againstorganised criminal syndicates as a whole
and thereby incapacitate them fromcarrying out their nefarious activities.
Since the real strength of organised crimelies in its money power with which it buys
political power, it is imperative to destroy
its money power base.
Organised crime is not confined to theboundaries of any one country and has
become a transnational problem. This isevidenced in the fields of drug trafficking,money-laundering, terrorism, gun-runningand illegal immigration rackets. Moreover,advances in science and technology enable
members of organised criminal groups tooperate with high mobility andsophistication, thereby aggravating thealready grim situation.
Organised crime has been studied in
depth in USA since the beginning of thiscentury. The Kefauver Committee (1951)
concluded that there was a nation-wide net
work of criminal syndicates in the USA,fundamentally based on ‘muscle’ and‘murder’ indiscriminately used in runningtheir criminal enterprises.10
The U.S Task Force Report, 196711 , aptly
describes the scourge in the following
words:“Organised crime is a society that seeks
to operate outside the control of theAmerican people and their government.
It involves thousands of criminals
working within structures as complex as
those of any large corporation, subject tolaws more tightly enforced than those of
legitimate governments. Its actions are
not impulsive but rather the result of
intricate conspiracies, carried on overmany years and aimed at gaining control
over whole fields of activity in order toamass huge profits”.
In 1968, the US Congress enacted the
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe StreetsAct. According to it :“Organised crime includes the unlawful
activities of the members of a highly

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organised, disciplined association
engaged in supplying illegal goods andservices, including but not limited togambling, prostitution, loan sharking,narcotics, labour racketeering and otherunlawful activities of such associations”.
This language reflects both a growing
knowledge of the extent and diverse natureof organised crime and a conscious effort
to avoid restrictive definition that might
limit application of the statute.
The 1976 Task Force on Organised
Crime of the National Advisor Committee
on Criminal Justice Standard and Goals
did not endeavour to define organised crime
but proposed a description that attempted
to explain the nature of organised criminal
activity. It listed seven characteristics oforganised crime. It, inter alia, observedthat organised crime is a conspiratorial
crime, having profit as its primary goal 12 .
The Organised Crime Control Act, 1970,
strengthened the existing laws in several
respects in that it, inter alia, provided
immunity to an organised crime witness
and prescribed testimonial compulsion of
the witness. It also criminalised use ofmoney generated by the racketeering
activity and prescribed longer jail terms13.
The preamble of the Act captures thenature and magnitude of the threat posedby organised crime to the society14 :“Organised crime in the US is a highlysophisticated, diversified and widespread activity that annually drains
billions of dollars from America’s
economy by unlawful conduct and illegal
use of force, fraud and corruption;organised crime derives a major portionof its power through money obtained
from such illegal endeavours assyndicated gambling, loan sharking, thetheft and fencing of property, theimportation and distribution of narcotics
and other dangerous drugs, and otherforms of social exploitation; this money
and power are increasingly used toinfiltrate and corrupt our democratic

88

processes; organised crime activities in
the US weaken the stability of the
Nation’s sconomic system, harm innocent
investors and competing organisations,interfere with free competition, seriously
burden inter state and foreign commerce,threaten the domestic security andunderline the general welfare of a nationand its citizens”.
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organisations statute (RICO-1970) has
become the centre piece of U.S federal law
proscribing organised criminal actibity.
In lieu of a definition of organised crime,
RICO defines rackteering activity:“Racketerring is an act or threati n v o l v i n g m u r d e r, k i d n a p p i n g ,gambling, arson, robbery, bribery,
extortion or dealing in narcotics or
dangerous drugs and other denominatedcrime......A pattern of racketeering
activity requires at least two acts ofracketeering activity”.
The Witness Security Reform Act, 1984,
empowers the US Attorney General tochange the identify of a witness, relocate
them and financially support them till they
become self-supporting. The witness is also
given physical protection. The US
authorities secured several convictions ofimportant mafia leaders in the 1970’s
under the deterrent laws (RICO) mainly
due to the witness protection programme.
The penal statutes of several countries,
including Italy, have criminalisedorganised crime. The Italian Penal Codedose not specifically define ‘organised
crime’ but it dose define ‘criminal
association’. According to Article 416 of the
Italian Penal Code, the criminal
association is:“When three or more persons associate
for the purpose of committing more than
one crime, who ever promotes orconstitutes or organises the assochiation,
shall be punished, for that alone, withimprisonment from 3 to 7 years”.
Japan has a special law on the

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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Prevention of Irregularities by gangsters.
It is meant to exercise necessary control
on acts of intimidation and violence carriedout by gangsters, to protect the activities
of Civic Public Organisations and toprevent danger to the life of citizens fromgang-land war. Article 2 of the aforesaidlaw defines gangs as:“Gangs means any organisation likely tohelp its members (including members ofaffiliated organisation of the saidorganisation) to collectively andhabitually commit illegal acts ofviolence”.
The law appears to have wide canvass
as it purports to cover all types of illegal
acts of violence. The main emphasis is on
the collective and habitual commission ofillegal acts of violence of by the membersof an organisation. The Acts also provides
for designation of a gang by the Prefectural
Public Safety Commission after giving an
opportunity to be heard by such gangs andtheir members. It criminalises the act of
being a member or associate of a designatedgang. The punishment, however, is light i.e,
imprisonment up to one year.
Interpol has sought to define organised
crime as :“Any enterprise or group of persons
engaged in continuing illegal activity
which has as its primary purpose thegeneration of profits irrespective of
national boundaries”.
No definition of organised crime can beperfect and universally acceptable. The
evolution and the forms of organised crimediffer from one country to another, which
may be the result of different social,economic, historical and legal factors.
Hence, any attempt to define organised
crime has to be in the light of each country’s
experience in dealing with the problem. Let
us not restrict organised crime to Mafia
type bodies or secret societies with rigid
rules and initiation rites. This is moreromantic that what is found in practice.

IV. CHARACTERISTICS OFORGANISED CRIME
According to the Presidents Commissionon Organised Crime 1986 14 , organised
crime is the collective result of thecommitment, knowledge and actions of
three components :i) The Criminal groups;ii) The Protectors; andiii) The Specialist support.
A. Characteristics of the Criminal
Group(1) Continuity: The criminal group operates
beyond the life time of individual
members and is structured to survivechanges in leadship.
(2) Structure: The criminal group is
structured as a collection ofh i e r a r c h i c a l l y a r r a n g e d i n t e rdependent offices devoted to theaccomplishiment of a particularfunction. It may be highly structured
or may be rather fluid. It is, however,distinguishable as the ranks are basedon power and authority.
(3) Membership: The membership in thecore criminal group is restricted andbased on common traits such as
ethnicity, criminal background orcommon interests. The potential
members are subjected to a lot of
scrutiny and required to prove theirworth and loyalty to the criminal group.
The rules of membership include
secrecy, a willingness to commit any act
for the group and intent to protect thegroup. In return for loyalty, the memberof a criminal group receives economic
benefits, certain prestige, andprotection from law enforcement.
(4) Criminality: The criminal group relies
on continuing criminal activity togenerate income. Thus, continuing
criminal conspiracy is inherent inorganised crime. Some activities suchas supplying illegal goods and services

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directly produce revenue, while others
including murder, intimidation andbribery contribute to the groups ability
to earn money and enhance its power.
The criminal group may be involved
both in legitimate as well as
illegitimate business activity at thesame time.
(5) Violence: Violence and the threat ofviolence are an integral part of acriminal group. The violence or threatof it is used against the members of thegroup to keep them in line as also
against the outsiders to protect theeconomic interests of the group.
Members are expected to commit,
condone or authorise violent acts.
(6) Power/Profit Goal: The members of thecriminal group aim at maximising thegroup’s profits. The political power isachieved through the corruption of
public officials, including legislatorsand political executive. The criminalgroup maintains power through its
association with the “protectors” whodefend the group and its profits.
B. Protectors
They are corrupt public officials,
attorneys and businessmen who
individually or collectively protect thecriminal group through abuses of status
and/or privilege and violation of the law.
As a result of the protector’s efforts, thecriminal group is insulated from both civil
and criminal government actions.
Corruption is the central tool of thecriminal protectors. A criminal group relies
on a network of corrupt officials to protect
the group from the criminal justice system.
C. Organised Crime Support(1) Specialist Support: Organised criminalgroups and their protectors rely onskilled individuals or support to assist
the criminal groups on an adhoc basis.
They are nonetheless considered partof organised crime. The specialists

90

include pilots, chemists, arsonists,hijackers, shooters etc.
(2) Social Support: Social support includes
public officials who solicit the supportof organised crime figures; businessleaders who do business with organised
crime figures at social gatherings andthus portray the criminal group in afavourabale or glamorous light.
My experience shows, that all theaforesaid characteristics are not apparent
in all the ciminals group in India. Futher,
the degree of these characteristics mayvary from group to group. The
quintessential element of organised crime
is continuing illegal activities forgenerating illegal profits. Conceptually, as
long as this condition is satisfied, a groupcan be termed as an organised criminalgroup. Indian experience, however, showsthat there is continuing illegal activity byorganised criminal gangs, sometimes evenin the absence of profit motive. Rigging ofelections, proventing voters from exercising
their electoral rights, preventing public
servants from the lawful discharge of theirduty, and recurrence of caste or communal
violence on a continuing basis are such
examples. In my view, it would beapporopriate to bring such crime also under
the ambit of organised crime.
V. LEGAL POSITION IN INDIA
Organised crime has always existed inIndia in some form or another. It has,
however, assumed its virulent form inmodern times due to several socio-economic
and political factors and advances inscience and technology . Even though rural
India is not immune from it, it is essentiallyan urban phenomenon. In India, there isno comprehensive law to control organised
crime in all its dimensions andmanifestations, There is, however,substantive law regarding criminal
conspiracy. There are also penal provisions

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERSin various statutes against specificviolations of those statutes.
A. Criminal Conspiracy
Sec. 120-A of the Indian Penal Codedefines criminal conspiracy as:“When two or more persons agree to do,or cause to be done(1) An illegal act, or(2) An Act which is not illegal by illegalmeans. Such an agreement isdesignated as criminal conspiracy:
provided that no agreement except anagreement to commit an offence shallamount to a criminal conspiracy unlesssome act besides the agreement is doneby one or more parties to suchagreement in pursunce thereof.
Explanation: It is immaterial whether theillegal act is the ultimate object of suchagreement, or is merely incidental tothat object”.
Section 120-B of the India Penal Codeprovides for punishiment for criminal
conspiracy. The punishment for theconspirator is the same as for the principal
offender. It may, however, be emphasisedthat the criminal conspiracy by itself is a
substantive offence. The conspiracy need
not fructify and the mere proof of thecxistance of the criminal conspiracy isadequate to have the criminal punished forsuch criminal conspiracy.
B. Dacoity and Related Offences
Dacoity is one of the oldest forms ofcrimes in India and is committed purely
for the purpose of looting or extortion.
Section 391 of the Penal Code defines
dacoity as:“When five or more persons conjointly
commit or attempt to commit a robbery,or where the whole number of persons
conjointly committing or attempting tocommit a robbery, and persons present
and aiding such commission or attempt
amount to five or more, every person so
committing, attempting or aiding is said

to commit ‘dacoity’.”In other words, if five or more persons
commit the offence of robbery, they commit‘dacoity’. Dacoity is punishable withimprisonment for life or rigorous
imprisonment up to 10 years and fivemonths (section 395). The Code also
criminalises preparation to commit dacoity(section 399) and assembly for the purposeof committing dacoity (section 402).
Importantly, section 400 of the Codecriminalies the act of belonging to a ‘gang’of
persons associated for the purpose of
habitually committing dacoities. The
punishment is quite severe and may evenextend to life imprisonment. Similarly,
section 401 criminalises the act of
belonging to a gang of thieves. It would,
thus, appear that adequate legislative tools
are available to the law enforcement
agencies to deal with gangs of dacoits andthieves, but the proof of existence of a gangin Court requires painstaking
investigation.
In view of increasing incidents ofkindnapping for ransom, the parliament
inserted Section 364-A in the India Penal
Code to provide for stingent punishment
for such offences, further strengthened in
1995. The amended Section 364-A reads
as follows:“Whoever kidnaps or abducts any person
or keeps a person in detention after suchkidnapping or abduction and threatens
to cause death or hurt to such person, orby his conduct gives rise to a reasonableapprehension that such person may be
put to death or hurt, or causes hurt ordeath to such person in order to compel
the Government or any foreign State orinternational inter-governmentalorganisation or to do or abstain fromdoing any act or to pay shall bepunishable with death, or imprisonment
for life, and shall also be liable to fine”.
C. Law on Gangsters
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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
suppress ‘gang activity’ having countrywide applicability. The State of Uttar
Pradesha, most populous and politicallymost powerful (population : 139.1 million
in 1991), enacted Uttar Pradesh Gangsters
and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act,
1986, which is applicable in that State only.
The gang has been defined as a group of
persons, who, singly or collectively, indulge
in anti-national activities by violence orthreat of violence for gaining unduepolitical, economic or physical advantages
and includes, offences against the body,boot legging, forcible possession of
immovable property, creating communal
disturbances, obstructing public servantsin the discharge of their duties, kidnapping
for ransom, diverting an aircraft or public
transport vehicle from its schedule path,etc 16 .
A gangster is punishable with minimum
imprisonment of two years extendable up
to 10 years (sec. 3). The rules of evidence
have been modified and certain statutory
presumptions can be raised against thegangsters by the trial court. Provision has
also been made for the protection of
witnesses. The trial may be held in-cameraon the request of public prosecutor. The
name and address of a witness can beomitted in the court records, if the Court
so desires. The property of the gangster canbe attached by the District Magistrate if
satisfied that it was acquired throughcriminal activity.
This Act has a wide canvass andpurports to cover large areas of organised
criminal activity. It is, however, different
from laws enacted in foreign countries, inthat, apart from criminalising money
making activities of the criminal gangs, italso criminalises infringement of election
laws, causing obstruction or disturbance inthe pursuit of lawful trade, business or
profession and incitement to violence anddisturbance of communal harmony etc. It
appears to be more comprehensive than
RICO.

92

There is no firm data available to assess
its effectiveness. It appears that due toinadequate investigations and inordinately
delayed trials by the courts, this legislation
has not been able to make any dent on thecriminal landscape of the State.
D. Other Laws
There are several other central statutes
which deal with specific facets of organised
crime. Some of them are: the Customs Act,
1962; the Narcotics Drugs andPsychotropic Substances Act, 1884; theImmoral Traffic (Prevention ) Act, 1956; theForeign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973
and the Public Gambling Act, 1867 etc.
Besides, the State Government have also
legislated on subjects like excise,prohibition and gambling etc.
E. Preventive Action
The National Security Act 1980, provides
for preventive detention by the Central
Government or the State Government orby the officers designated by these
Government. The detention order is issued
for one year with a view to preventing aperson from acting in any manner
prejudicial to the defence of India or to thefriendly relations with foreign powers. The
detention has to be approved by an
Advisory Board headed by a serving High
Court judge. The expression ‘security ofIndia’ is open to liberal interpretation andthis Act has been used, though sparingly,
against anti-national elements and hardcore gangsters. Detention is an executive
action and the case does not go to the court
for trial.
The illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs
and psychotropic substances poses a
serious threat to the health and welfare of
the people and the activities of persons
engaged in such illicit traffic have adestablising effect on the national economy.
The Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic
Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act
1988, provides for detention of such

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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persons. The Central Government or theState Government or designated officers ofthese Government, can pass an order for
detaining a person with a view topreventing him from engaging in illicit
traffic in narcotic drugs. The detention canbe made for one year but in certain
circumstances it is extendable to two years.
Thus, India has laws scattered in various
statutes to deal with various facets oforganised crime. The existing laws,
however, drastically fall short of therequirements to curb the menace. The
Government of India is conscious of thisand has drafted the Organised Crime
Control Act.
The draft Act defines ‘Organised
Criminal Gang’ in a very comprehensive
manner, incorporating most of the essential
characteristics of organised crime. A gangis defined as:“A band of two or more persons who
commit or attempt to commit or cause to
be committed, either individually orcollectively, in furtherance of a common
object or objects and on a continuingbasis, for material gains or otherwise, by
taking recourse to use or show of violenceor threat of violence, either direct or
implied, or by fraudulent or dishonestmeans corrupting the public servants,
any of the acts listed in Schedule I to thisAct.”
Schedule I includes most major criminal
offences, including murder, bodily harm,
smuggling, traffic in drugs, kidnapping for
ransom, espionage, causing bomb blasts,
aircraft hijacking, hostage taking, mass
killing, contract killing, gang rapes,
extortion etc. The draft Act specificallyprovides for admissibility of scientificexpert evidence; computer print-outs oftelephone calls, confession of the accused
person made to a police officer;
identification by videograph; evidence
obtained through Interpol and protectionof witnesses. It also provides for the setting
up of a national body to co-ordinate effort

against organised crime and the setting upof Organised Crime Cells at the State andDistrict levels. The Act also criminalises
laundering the proceeds of crime. The trial
under the proposed Act is to be conductedby a Designated Court. The Act provides
for stingent punishment to the accused. It
is not known when the National
Parliament will enact the law, but theabove effort shows the government’s deep
concern and anxiety about the growing
menace of organised crime and the need tocurb it.
The most significant aspect of the draft
Act appears to be that continuing criminal
activity, based on violence, even when not
impelled by ‘material gain’ , is proposed to
be brought within the ambit of organised
crime. This is an obvious departure fromprevalent definitions of organised crime inother countries.
VI. PROFILES OF SOMEORGANISED CRIMINAL GANGS
Criminal gangs have been operating inIndia since ancient times. The gangs of‘thugs’ usually preyed on travellers or
wayfarers while traversing lonely regionsthat passed through thick jungles. The‘thugs’ travelled in gangs, large or small,usually un-armed and appearing to bepilgrims, ascetics or other harmless
wayfarers. By means of ingenius tricks andfalse pretences, they won the confidence of
their intended victims who were looted andmurderd 17. Sir William Sleeman was
mainly responsible for destroying the‘thugg’ organisation. Lord William
Bentinck passed a series of special
legislation to crush the gangs. Sir
William Sleeman in his book “Rambles andRecollections” claims that between 18311837, as many as 3,206 thugs were
proceeded against; 418 out of that number
being hanged and 483 taken as approvers18.
Approvers and their descendents weredetained for many years in a special

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institution at Jabalpur. The thug crime isalmost extinct now.
Dacoity was a serious menace in someparts of the country, particularly in the
Chambal ravines (trijunction of the present
States of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh
and Rajasthan) in the 1940’s and 1950s.
Some dacoit leaders like Man Singhbecame legends in their life time due totheir Robin-hood image. Several suchgangs continued to operate in the States ofMadhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh whichhave more or less been neutralised now
both as a result of police action and social
reform movements.
Depredations of criminal gangs in
Bombay compelled the first Governor of theisland to constitute a Special Forceconsisting of about 600 men in 1669 tocontrol the menace of the criminal gangs
who robbed the citizens and visiting sailors
alike 19 .
No systematic study of organised crimehas been conducted in India either from asociological or criminological angle. Thereis no firm data to indicate the number oforganised criminal gangs operating in the
country, their membership, their modus
operandii and the areas of their operation.
It whould not be wide off the mark to saythat thousands of organised gangs operate
in the country side. Their structure andleadership patterns may not strictly fall
into the classical Italian Mafia module, andthey may sometimes be operating in loose
structures, but the depredations of suchcriminal gangs are too well known to be
recounted. However, the most essential
characteristic of organised crime i.e making
money or “maximisation of profits” andacquiring political power through suchmoney, exists in most of the gangs. The
purpose of organised crime in India, as
elsewhere in the world, is monetary gain
and this is what makes it a formidable force
in today’s socio-political set up.
In view of the complexity of the problem,the continental size of the country and lack94

of authentic data, it is not possible to coverall, or for that matter even major, organised
criminal gangs in this paper. I have,
however, attempted to give profiles in brief,of some of the major gangs in metropolitan
areas which cosiderably affect the nation’slife.
A. Bombay Gangs
Bombay, being the financial capital ofIndia, is the playground of several criminal
gangs and their continuing warfare fordominance. The first systematic study oforganised crime was conducted by VK
Saraf, retired Commissioner of Police,
Bombay City, in 1995, in which he has
traced the origin of organised criminal
gangs in the city, their criminal activities
and the inter-gang warfares. He has also
enumerated the chief characteristics of theBombay gangs 20 .
After independence, due to prohibition
policy adopted by the Government of
Maharashtra, boot-legging or trade in illicit
liquor, became a lucrative business for thecriminal gangs. They made lot of moneyby supplying illicit liquor to the local
citizens. Their activities also extended to
the neighbouring State of Gujarat which
was declared dry at the time ofindependence and continues to be so eversince that time. Varada Rajan Mudaliar,
who started as a porter at VT Railway
Station, took to thievery at the Bombay
Docks and graduated to boot-legging in the
1960s. He acquired considerable wealththrough this activity and compromised thelaw enforcement system considerably. In
the mid 1980s, he became so influentialthat he used to hold ‘durbars’ in his areasof influence, to settle disputes.
Similarly, Haji Mastan and Yusuf Patel
started off as a small time criminals andlater took to smuggling gold and silver:
They made a lot of money and invested itin legitimate business, mainly construction
and real estate. Haji Mastan had anattempt made on Yusuf Patel’s is life in the

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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1970s due to business rivalry but the latter
survived. It was the beginning of gangwarfare in Bombay which continues
unabated to date and has claimed
hundreds of lives.
The four major Bombay gangs are as
follows:
1. Dawood Gang
Dawood is the most powerful, Bombay
gangsters having a country wide networks
with linkages abroad. He is one of the mostpowerful gangsters involved in transnational crimes mainly narcotic drugs,
smuggling, extortion and contract killing.
He has lived in Dubai since 1985. He hada phenomenal rise in short time. Being theson of a Bombay Crime Branch Head
Constable, he started off as a petty criminaland had the sympathies of Bombay Policedue to his father’s connections. He used tohelp smugglers recover money from those
who did not keep up their word. In the
1970s other gangs had become relatively
weak and he took advantage of the vacuum
and took to smuggling gold and silver. He
built up his criminal empire with the helpof his brothers, and close associates. He is
responsible for the elimination of hundredsof criminals belonging to rival gangs. He is
now in narcotic drugs trafficking. The
liberal bail policy pronounced by theSupreme Court helped him consolidate hisgang. In 1980s he became the most feared
gangster of Bombay. However, fearing risk
to his life at the hands of rival gangs, hefled to Dubai, but his criminal network
remains virtually intact. He operates hisgang with impunity as there is no
extradition treaty between India andDubai, and his extradition has been refusedby the Duabi authorities. He tried to winsocial respectability by playing host to
influential politicians and film stars in
Dubai.
His brother Anees Ibrahim looks after
smuggling, drugs and contract killings.
Noora looks after film financing andextortion from film personalities. Iqbal, alow profile person, looks after his legitimate
business activities including share markets
in Hong Kong and jewellery and gold
businesses. His gang cosists of about 4,000
to 5,000 men. 50% of the members are from
Bombay and the neighbouring districts.
25% come from Uttar Pradesh, including
Abu Salem, his right hand man.
Due to changes in fiscal policies,
smuggling of gold and silver has becomeless lucrative now. The main activities ofthis gang now are extortion, contract
killing, film financing, drug trafficking,smuggling computer parts and illicit tradein arms and ammunitions. They have been
supplying arms both to criminals andterrorists.
Dawood Ibrahim has invested heavily
legitimate businesses. His brother Anees
owns a Trading Company in Dubai.
Dawood has invested about 20 crores in
Diwan Shopping Centre in Bombay and isalso said to have financial stakes in the
Diamond Rock Hotel in Bombay. Nooraruns Suhail Travel in Bombay, which has
since come under severe enforcement
pressure. Dawood reportedly has hugefinancial stakes in the East West Airlines.
His legitimate business empire isestimated to have a turn over of about Rs.
2,000 crores per year.
Dawood’s gang was secular in character
before 1993 and used to attract volunteers
from both the Hindu and Muslim
c o m m u n i t i e s . H o w e v e r, a f t e r h i s
involvement in serial blasts in Bombay in
1993, most of the Hindu gangsters haveparted company with him. Sunil Samant,a dreaded gangster who continued to beloyal to him, was shot dead in Dubai in
1995 by the Chota Rajan gang. Apart fromhis brothers, who are his chief counsellors,
he now runs his empire through Abu
Salem and Chota Shakeel. The heirarchicalstructure of his gang is shown in Appendix
I.

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2. Arun Gawli Gang
After the death of Ramya Naik, themantel of leadership of this gang fell on
the shoulders of Arun Gawli. There havebeen several inter-gang killings with the
Dawood gang and they have beentargetting the political and economic
interests of each other. This gang consistsof about 200 to 300 persons. Interestingly,
Arun Gawli was sent to jail in 1990 andeven though the Court granted him bail,he chose to remain in jail primarily toescape the wrath of the Dawood gang. He
was running his criminal empire fromwithin the jail premises by passing
instructions through his visitors. His gangis involved in the collection of protection
money from rich businessmen and contract
killings. He came out of jail and started apolitical party, Akil Bhartiya Sena. He has
again been sent back to jail for a contract
killing case. Arun Gawli is politically very
active and has considerable influence in theslum areas. He is posing a politicalchallenge to the ruling Shiv Sena in
Maharashtra.
3. Amar Naik Gang
This gang originated sometime in 1980
and was collecting protection money fromthe vegetable vendors in Dadar area ofBombay. When the leader of this gang (RamBhat) was sentenced to imprisonment in arobbery case, Amar Naik took over thereigns of the gang. The main thrust of his
criminal activities was to collect ‘haftas’
from the vegetable vendors, hawkers, bootleggers and smugglers. This earned him
good money. Due to a clash of interests, hisgang had several violent skirmishes with
the Arum Gawil gang, not only outside jailbut even within the jail premises where
gangsters of both the gangs were lodged,
resulting in several killings. This gang has
a strength of about 200 criminals. Amar
Naik was killed last year and the mantleof leadership has now fallen on theshoulders of his younger brother, an

96

engineer by profession.
4. Chota Rajan Gang
Chota Rajan started his criminal careerin the Dawood gang. After the 1993 bomb
blasts in Bombay, Dawood’s gang was
divided on communal lines. Chota Rajan
fell out with Dawood and fled from India.
He raised a new gang in 1994-95. According
to one estimate, the membership of thisgang is about 800. His areas of operation
are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar
Pradesh and Delhi. He essentially is adrug-trafficker and contract killer. He
joined hands with Arum Gawli and was
responsible for the killing of Sunil Samant,a trusted lieutenant of Dawood Ibrahim,
in Dubai in 1995. It was a retaliatory
killing. He has targetted many Dawood
loyalists and his gang has also suffered inretaliatory actions. Chota Rajan ispresently operating from a foreign base.
5. Characteristics of Bombay Gangs
Based on the study of the Bombay underworld, VK Saraf has concluded that:(i)

66% gangsters are in the age groupof 19 to 28 years; 26% in that of 29
to 38 years and 6.5% are above 40
years.

(ii) 29% studied up to primary school,
42.5% up to secondary school and
5% had a college education.
(iii) M o s t h a v e p o o r e c o n o m i c
backgrounds and were propelled
into the world of crime due toeconomic difficulties.
(iv) Majority of the gangsters come fromoutside Bombay city and about 30%
from outside the state ofMaharashtra.
(v) The gangs are not based on region
or religion but after the 1993 bomb

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
blasts, the Hindu gangsters havediassociated themselves from the
Dawood gang.
(vi) The Bombay gangster is a coolheaded schemer and ruthless andun-hesitatingly employs terroristic
methods when he percieves his
interest jeopardised. He is prone totaking to violence on the slightest
provocation.
(vii) There is no initiation ceremony or
ritual for the members. However, a‘hopeful’ is made to be involved in acriminal situation to test his metal.
(viii) The leaders have a caring attitude
towards the members. The families
are well looked after by theleadership when the members are
killed or are in jail.
(ix) A gang leader is not a total autocrat.
He consults experienced people in
the gang. After the death of Sunil
Samant, Dawood Ibrahim relies on
his brothers and his decisions are
executed through Abu Salem andChota Shakeel.
(x) There is evidence of a loose
confederation of gangsters. A
smaller gang may merge into abigger gang but does not lose its
identity completely. The smallergang carries out the decisions of themain gang but is left free to involvein any activities of its choice, so longas it does not clash with theinterests of the main gang.
(xi) The gangsters have unflinching
loyalty to the boss. Lack of loyalty
means death.

collectors and liaison workers. The
liaison workers deal with thelawyers and law enforcemntt
officials for helping the incarcerated
gangsters. Each gang has certain
auxillary members. They havecriminal records and generally
provide shelter to the gangsters andact as a depository for weapons.
Their premises are used for holding
meetings and making telephone
calls by the gangsters.
B. Delhi Gangs
Delhi is the national capital of thecountry. It is a bustling metropolis,
inhabited by about 10 million people, withhigh industrial and business activity.
Despite heavy commitments, the police
have hit organised criminal gangs hard,due to which they have not been able todevelop such deep roots as in Bombay. Evenso, there is large criminogenic population
inhabiting the neighbouring Stateseffecting Delhi.
As it is the home of rich industrialists,businessmen and professionals,
kidnapping for ransom is a lucrative
business here. The going rate of ransom
ranges from Rs. 1.00 crore to Rs. 5.00
crores. Fortunately, most of the cases havebeen solved by the Delhi Police. Some
victims paid huge ransoms to secure theirrelease. Om Prakash Srivastava Babloo
and other U.P gangs have been responsible
for several kidnappings. Table 14 shows
kidnappings for ransom in Delhi and thelaw enforcement action.
From the Table it is apparent that somefake cases were also registered. The
proportion of cases worked out by police
ranges between 80 and 90%. Most of thevictims are rescued. Four gangs, namely,
Tyagi gang, Dinesh Gang, Rajesh Dhahiyagang and O.P. Srivastava Babloo gang aremost active in the city.

(xii) The gangsters are divided in three
categories, namely, shooters, money

97

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
1. Veerappan Gang of Karnataka23
Veerappan is the most notorious
criminal in the country today. The criminal‘empire’ of Veerappan spreads over 6,000
sq. kms of thick tropical rain forests in the
Nilgiri hills, stradling the trijunction of
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. He
started his criminal career as elephantpoucher in 1965 and emerged as a real
menace in 1986, when his gang started
committing extortions, murders andkidnappings for ransom. According to one
estimate, he has killed about 2000
elephants for their tusk and committed
theft of 40,000 Kgs of ivory worth about
Rs.12.00 crores. His gang has also indulged
in large scale illegal felling of sandal woodtrees which is used for cosmetics purposes
in India and abroad. The gang has acquired
expertise in laying land mines due to whicha large number of police personnel were
killed. At its peak, the gang had 150
members.
In view of the serious threat posed by
Veerappan gang to wild life and forests, aSpecial Task Force was set up by the Statesof Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in 1993. Dueto the relentless action of the Task Force,
the gang has now been reduced to about

25 members, with only four original
members of the gang surviving. 133
recorded cases of murder and attempted
murder exist in the police records against
this gang. Besides this, hundreds of grave
crimes against innocent citizens remain
un-reported to the police. Veerappan’s gangis responsible for the killing of 119 persons
and 60 police/forest officials. The police
have recovered 125 firearms amd 5 tons of
explosives from the gang. Veerappan is anintrepid criminal who often expresses his
wish to surrender to the authorities, but
always backs out. Last month, heannounced his surrender but it was turned
down by the Government due to unrealistic
conditions imposed by him. Interestingly,
he demanded CBI inquiry into the deathof his brother Arjunan in police custody. He
is one of the longest surviving notorious
criminals and has succeeded in escaping
the law so far.
2. Om Prakash Srivastava@Babloo,Gangof Uttar Pradesh
Om Prakash Srivastava was born to an
educated family in Uttar Pradesh. He took
to street crime during his student days in
1983. He is a law graduate and is fond of

TABLE VIIKIDNAPPINGS FOR RANSOM IN DELHI - 1993-1997

1.CASES REGISTERED
2.CASES CANCELLED
3.CASES ADMITTED
4.CASES WORKED OUT
5.CASES NOT WORKED OUT
6.VICTIMS KIDNAPPED/ABDUCTED
7.VICTIMS RECOVERED
8.VICTIMS NOT RECOVERED
9.PERSONS ARRESTED

98

1993

1994

1995

1996

28
2
26
26
-

40
9
31
27
4

43
6
37
29
8

23
1
22
20
2

1997
(upto
15.12.1997)
17
1
16
13
3

30
29
1
76

41
37
4
86

44
42
2
81

23
21
2
59

17
16
1
45

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
good living. To date, 41 cases of murder,
attempted murder and kidnappings forransom stand registered against him andhis associates. Several cases remain
unreported due to fear. His area of
operation is Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and
Maharashtra. He is responsible fororganizing kidnappings in Delhi and
Bombay in which ransom amounts were
paid in foreign countries through ‘hawala’.
At its peak, his gang consisted of about 50
criminals, mostly from Uttar Pradesh andDelhi. He is presently in jail and half of
his gang has been booked by the police. Thegang, though still active, appears to havelost much of its power.
He was responsible for the killing of asenior Central Government Customs
officer, L.D. Arora in 1993. Om Prakash
Srivastava had organized this killing froma foreign country through his shooters. He
was arrested in Singapore in April,1995
on the basis of a Red Corner Notice issued
by Interpol. He was extradited to India in
August 1995 for four cases, including the
L.D.Arora murder case. It was reported
that he succeeded in organising somekidnappings from within the within the jailpremises through his associates. The
ransom amounts were paid abroad to his
associates through hawala.
There are 744 powerful mafia gangs
operating in Uttar Pradesh, according to
the State Government sources. They holdnearly every sector of the economy in a vice
like grip, running a parallel economy
which runs into thousands of crores ofrupees. The reach and power of these dons
is evident from the fact that so far only 81
gangsters, only middle level members, havebeen arrested under the NSA and theGangsters Act. These gangs have the wide
support of politicians and policeman alike.
3. Latif Gang of Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad is the capital of Gujarat
state and is situated in the western part ofIndia. The Ahmedabad underworld issynonymous with Latif who started his
criminal career with a small time bootlegger in the mid 1970s and soon graduatedto hving his own illicit liquor and gamblingdens in the city. The Latif gang, which isbelieved to consist of 200 persons, owes its
genesis and growth to the prohibition policy
adopted by the Government of Gjarat. As
the adjoining State of Rajasthan is wet, it
is a lucrative and low risk to transport
truck loads of liquor into the Gujarat state.
Latif set up an elaborate network of illicit
shops in Ahmedabad city and made afabulous amount of money. With affluencecame political clout and his gang thereafterused the tactics of intimidation, extortions,kidnappings and even murder against rival
boot leggers and, thus, established a totalmonopoly over the liquor business. The
communal riots, a recurrent phenomenon
in the Ahmedabad city, gave him a chance
to promote a Robin-hood image in thecommunity by helping the riot victims. The
result was that even when he was jailed,
he won municipal elections from fivedifferent cities in 1987.
Latif and his gang become more
audacious and were responsible for daylight murders in the city. The high-profile
murder of an ex-member of Parliament wasorganised through his gang from Dubai,
where he joined with Dawood Ibrahim.
He is responsible for landing explosiveson the Western coast, some of which wereused in the Bombay blasts. The gang is now
deeply involved in contract killings, drugtrafficking and gun running. A part of thegang is also involved in settling businessand land disputes. The gang uses ‘hawala’channels for collecting ransom abroad. It
has linkages in several States in the
country.
In 1995 he was arested. 243 criminalcases including 64 cases of murder, 14 ofkindnapping and 21 offences against theArms Act have been registered against hisgang. The details of the offences registeredagainst the Latif gang and organisational

99

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
chart thereof is enclosed as Annexure II.
4. Rashid Gang of Calcutta
Calcuta, a port town and one of the mostpopulous cities in the country, is situatedin the Eastern part of the country and ispart of West Bengal. Several organised
criminal gangs operate in this city and its
surrounding areas. Examination of history
sheets of 1,000 criminals involved in crimesof violence, insurgency and terrorist
activities, between 1975 and 1985 revealed
that the age group is between 21 and 25
years at the peak of crime. The criminals
started their career rather early at the ageof 16-18. More than 90% of them were
unemployed and earned their living by
smuggling and extortion. Most were fromlower income group families and lived inslums. They were addicted to narcotics andalcohol. Most of them were without thebenefit of education, though not illiterate.
The study also revealed that the gang
leaders (known as Dada or Nastan),
generally, come from middle class strata ofsociety. The gang leader is either semiliterate or an educated person with highorganisational ability. The average agegroup of the gang leader is 40 to 50 years.
In Calcutta the most well known gangis that of Rashid Khan who started his
career as a bookie in the ‘satta’ business,and developed a vast network of gambling
business in the city. Due to his money
power, he also became close to the rulingpolitical party. Even though his activities
were well within the knowledge of police,
no serious effort was made to smash his
network. However, his luck ran out whenin March, 1993, a huge bomb explosion took
place in a building under his control
resulting in the death of 69 person andinjuries to 46 others. The adjoining
buildings also collapsed. Rashid Khan andhis associates were arrested. Investigation
disclosed that he had engaged his gangmembers in manufacturing bombs and wasstock-piling them for use in communal riots

100

and against rival gangs. Due to the gravityof crime, his political connections or money
power did not help and he is now in jail.
VII. TYPES OF ORGANISED CRIME
A. Drug Abuse and Drug Trafficking
It is perhaps the most serious organised
crime affecting the country and is truly
transnational in character. India isgeographically situated between the
countries of Golden Triangle and Golden
Crescent and is a transit point for narcotic
drugs produced in these regions to theWest. India also produces a considerable
amount of licit opium, part of which also
finds place in the illicit market in different
forms. Illicit drug trade in India centres
around five major substances, namely,
heroin, hashish, opium, cannibas andmethaqualone. Seizures of cocaine,
amphetamine, and LSD are not unknown
but are insignificant and rare.
Our borders have traditionally been
most vulnerable to drug trafficking. In
1996, out of the total quantity of heroin
seized in the country, 64% was sourced fromthe ‘Golden Crescent’. The Indo-Mynamar
border is also quite sensitive but thepercentage of seizures is much smaller.
Indo-Sri Lanka border has also started
contributing considerably to the drug trade.
The seizure of narcotic drugs from 1991 to
1995 and persons involved is shown in
Table VII.
In 1996, 13,554 Persons were arrested
under the Narcotics Drugs andPsychotropic Substances Act. Out of them
130 were foreign nationals. Besides, 80
persons were detained under PIT NDPS
Act, in 1991; 80 each in 1992 and 1993; 123
in 1994 and 89 in 1995.
India has a draconian anti drug law, theNarcotics Drugs and Psychotropic
Substance Act 1985, which provides
minimum punishment of 10 years foroffences under this Act. The conviction rate
in drug offences is rather low. It was 48.8%

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
in 1995. The acquittals mainly result due
to nonobservance of statutory andprocedural safeguards viz, the enforcement
officer failing to volunteer himself for
personal search before conducting thepersonal or house search of the accused or
failure in offering to have the accusedsearched by a gazetted officer or a
Magistrate. It is being contemplated toamend the Act to plug the proceduralloopholes and to calibrate punishments bygrouping the offences.
Investigative skills need to be honed andtrials expedited. Inter-agency exchange of
information amongst the countries by thequickest possible means, coupled withexpeditious extradition proceedings, would
prove helpful in curbing the drug
meance.India signed bilateral agreementswith USA, UK, Myanmar, Afghanistan,
UAE, Mauritius, Zambia, and the RussianFederation for ‘drug control’.
B. Smuggling
Smuggling, which consists ofclandenstine operations leading to unrecorded trade, is another major economic
offence. The volume of smuggling depends
on the nature of fiscal policies pursued by
the Government. The nature of smuggled
items and the quantum thereof is also
determined by the prevailing fiscal policies.

India has a vast coast line of about 7,500
kms and open borders with Nepal andBhutan and is prone to large scale
smuggling of contraband and otherconsumable items. Though it is not possible
to quantify the value of contraband goods
smuggled into this country, it is possible tohave some idea of the extent of smugglingfrom the value of contraband seized, eventhough they may constitute a very small
proportion of the actual smuggling.
Table IX shows the value of goods seized.
The high point of smuggling was in 1990
when contrabands worth Rs. 760 crores
were seized. Introduction of various
liberalisation measures, such as the goldand silver import policies in 1992-93, have
had their impact on customs seizures. The
total value of seizures came down by 30%(Rs. 536 crores in 1992) and subsequently
to Rs.389 in 1993.
The value of seizures of importantcommodities from 1991 to 1996 is shownin Table IX. The value of seizures of goldand silver accounted for about 44% of thetotal seizures anually prior to theliberalised import policies. It came down
to 21% after the invocation of the newpolicies. This value has been further
falling. On the other hand, the seizures ofcommodities like electronic goods,
narcotics, synthetic fabrics, wrist watches,

TABLE VIII27
SEIZURE OF NARCOTIC DRUGS & NO.OF PERSONS INVOLVED1991-1995
Drug Type
1.Opium
2.Ganja
3.Hashish
4.Heroin
5.Mandrax
6.Persons Arrested(No.)
7.Persons Prosecuted(No.)
8.Persons Convicted(No.)

1991
2145
52633
4413
622
4415
5300
5546
855

1992
1918
64341
6621
1153
7475
12850
7172
761

1993
3011
98867
8238
1088
15004
13723
9964
1488

1994
2256
187896
6992
1011
45319
15452
9154
1245

(in Kgs.)
1995
1183
57584
3073
1251
16838
14673
12918
2456

101

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Indian currency, foreign currency etc rose
during 1994-95. The value of seizure ofelectronic items rose from Rs.35 crores in1993 to Rs. 51 crores in 1995. The value of
Indian currency and foreign currency
seized rose from Rs. 5 crores and 20 crores
respectively in 1993 to Rs. 10 crores and43 crores respectively in 1995.
In 1987, gold occupied the top position
amongst smuggled items followed bynarcotics, electronic watches and silver. In
1995, however, narcotics occupied number
one position followed by gold, electronics,
foreign currency and synthetic fabrics.
Table XI shows the number of persons
arrested, prosecuted and convicted under
the Customs Act. In addition, 758 persons
TABLE IX28
VALUE OF SMUGGLED GOODSSEIZED 1988-1995
YEAR
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995

VALUE OF GOODS SEIZED(in crores)
443.14554.95760.08740.00535.71388.96535.22631.25were detained under COFEPOSA in 1991;
423 in 1992; 372 in 1993; 363 in 1994 and
350 in 1995.
C. Money Laundering & Hawala
Money laundering means conversion ofillegal and ill-gotten money into seemingly
legal money so that it can be integrated into
the legitimate economy. Proceeds of drug
related crimes are an important source ofmoney laundering world over. Besides, tax
evasion and violation of exchange
regulations play an important role inmerging this ill-gotten money with tax
evaded income so as to obscure its origin.
This aim is generally achieved via theintricate steps of placement, layering andintegration so that the money so integrated
in the legitimate economy can be freely
used by the offenders without any fear of
detection. Money laundering poses a
serious threat world over, not only to the
only to the criminal justice systems of thecountries but also to their sovereignty. The
United National Convention against Illicit
Traffic in Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances Act, 1988, (known as theVienna Convention) to which India is ap a r t y, c a l l s f o r c r i m i n a l i s a t i o n o flaundering of the proceeds of drug crimes
and other connected activities, and theconfiscation of proceeds derived from suchoffences. There is no knowing how much

TABLE X29VALUE OF SEIZURES OF IMPORTANT COMMODITIES 1991-1996

Gold
SilverNarcotics
Electronic Items
Foreign Currency
Indian Currency
Synthetic Fabrics
Watches102

1990-91
198.8
146.6
25.1
55.5
7.7
6.5
4.8
3.2

1991-92
188.5
147.7
21.8
23.1
10.8
5.6
2.0
6.2

1994-95
55.4
3.6
54.3
51.2
27.4
6.6
2.4
3.3

(in crores)
1995-96
50.8
0.54
77.94
38.0
40.2
5.6
12.9
3.9

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERSTABLE XI 31
NUMBER OF ARRESTED, PROSECUTED AND CONVICTED 1991-1994
YEAR
1991
1992
1993
1994

ARRESTED
2358
1745
1234
1210

money is laundered in India but the
problem is quite serious. The tainted
money is being accumulated and integrated
into the economy by organised racketeers,smugglers, economic offenders and antisocial elements and is adversely affecting
the internal security of the country. In
order to curb the meance of money
laundering, the Central Government is in
the process of enacting the Proceeds ofCrime and Money Laundering (Prevention)
Act, 1997. In the proposed Act, money
laundering has been defined as:(i) engaging directly or in-directly in atransaction which involves property
that is the proceed of crime; or(ii) receiving, possessing, concealing,transferring, converting, disposing ofwithin the territories of India,
removing from or bringing into theterritory of India the property i.e
proceeds of crime.
‘Crime’, as defined in the Act, covers,
several Penal Code offences viz., waging
war against the Government of India,
murder, attempted murder, voluntarily
causing hurt, kidnapping for ransom,
extortion, robbery, dacoity, criminal breachof trust, cheating, forgery, counterfeiting
currency etc; certain provisions of thePrevention of Corruption Act, 1988; NDPS
Act, 1985; Foreign Exchange Regulation
Act, 1973 and the Customs Act,1962. Thus,‘crime’ has been defined comprehensively
in the Act. The money generated through‘crime’ is liable to be confiscated by theState.
Illegal currency transfers via non-

PROSECUTED
1669
1051
679
301

CONVICTED
574
381
350
352

banking channels are called Hawala. It isan underground banking system. Secretflows of money can take place in freecurrency areas as well as in areas where
currency conversion restrictions arepractised due to the shortage of foreignexchange. It operates in the following
manner. Someone in the USA, for example,
deposits $1000 with an under-groundbanker for payment to be made in India.
The US under-ground banker contacts
their counter part in India immediately on
the telephone or by wire service and sends
a coded message for payment to the Indianrecipient. The hawala operator in India
would contact the recipient and fix ameeting place. The recipient, in the
meanwhile, would have received
instructions on the telephone about thecode word s/he has to exchange with the
hawala operator. Thus, the hawala
operator in India and the recipient of themoney would exchange code words and thehawala operators would hand over themoney to the recipient. Of course, thehawala operator in USA would charge a fee
for the service rendered. There is no
physical transfer of money in hawala
operations as in the regular banking
channels. This channel is generally usedby drug traffickers, smugglers andkidnappers.
Basically, the system operates on an
ethnic network. The network may include
more than 3 or 4 countries. The principal
operators engage agents and sub agents invarious countries for collection anddisbursement of money. Hawala is wide-

103

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
spread in India. Families who havemembers earning abroad are clients of thesystem. The dangerous aspect of thehawala system is the nexus between
hawala and illicit arms smugling, drugtrafficking and terrorist crimes.
Investigations in hawala related crimes
are conducted under the Foreign Exchange
Regulation Act. Even through the word
‘hawala’ has not been defined in FERA, theessence of the Act is that any person who
retains foreign exchange abroad or sends
foreign exchange abroad, without theReserve Bank’s permission is violating
FERA provisions.
D. Terrorism & Narco-Terrorism
Terrorism is a serious problem which
India is facing. Conceptually, terrorism
does not fall in the category of organised
crime, as the dominant motive behindterrorism is political and/or ideological andnot the acquisition of money-power. The
Indian experience, however, shows that thecriminals are perpetrating all kinds ofcrimes, such as killings, rapes,
kidnappings, gun-running and drugtrafficking, under the umbrella of terrorist
organisations. The existing criminal
networks are being utilised by the terrorist
leaders. India faced serious problems in the
Punjab in the 1980s, which has since been
controlled with the installation of a populargovernment. The North East still continues
to be in turmoil due to the unlawful
activities of ULFA and NSCN. The terroristgroups there are partly financing theiroperations by kidnappings for ransom oftea garden executives and extortion frombusinessmen. PWG and LTTE, in small
pockets of southern India, continue toindulge in continual acts of violence.
Table XI gives profile of violence inPunjab. Besides, 9 judicial officers, 62
media personnel and 34 teachers were
killed during this period. There was also aspill over of Sikh militancy in theneighbouring States.

104

In view of threat to the national security,
the Central Government, enacted an antiterrorist law, Terrorist and Disruptive
Activities (Prevention) Act, 1985. About
60,000 terrorists were charged under thisAct. However, the trials were slow and theconviction rate quite low. This Act wasallowed to lapse in 1995. India at present
does not have any anti-terrorist law.
India has become vulnerable to narco
terrorism, bounded as it is by the ‘Golden
Crescent’ on the West and the ‘Golden
Triangle’ on the East. Narco terrorism
assumes several forms, namely:(a) terrorists themselves indulge in drugtrafficking to support their
movements ;(b) sympathizers of terrorists living
abroad indulge in drug trafficking
and send part of their illegal profits
to fund the terrorist movements ;(c) terrorists join hands with drug lords
to gain access to the powers, in the
countries sympathetic to their cause,in order to utilise their connections
with political powers ;(d) terrorists give protection and support
to drug traffickers with fire arms, andthe drug traffickers, being acquainted
with the routes, assist the terrorists
in border crossings to bring arms anddrugs in the target country; and(e) Smugglers supply fire arms to theterrorists who are also drugtraffickers.
The areas affected by terrorism in India
are the border States which also happen
to be transit roues for narcotics to theirdestinations in the Western world. It is nota concidence that the growth of terrorist
movement in Punjab synchronised with the
emergence of the Golden Crescent as amajor drug producing area in the early
1980s. The emergence of drug mafias in theGolden Crescent countries and theirlinkages with smugglers in the borderStates of India have given impetus to gun-

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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running. There is positive evidence of
narco-terrorism in the border States ofIndia even though the magnitude there ofis not significant. Some mixed
consignments of narcotic drugs and arms
were seized from smugglers in the Punjab.
There is also evidence that the money
generated abroad by the smugglers wasused for purchase of weapons which were
smuggled into the country for terrorist
activities. To illustrate, Dawood Ibrahim,
utilised the existing smuggling network inlanding consignments of arms andexplosives on the western coast in early
1993, used for causing serial blasts in
Bombay.
E. Light Arms Proliferation &Trafficking
Light arms proliferation is a global
phenomena. It has extracted a heavy tollin terms of human lives and socio economic
development of entire regions, costs ofwhich can never be adequately computed.
In Afghanistan, the death toll has passed
1,00,000 and is still rising, while Cambodia,
Sri Lanka and some African States
continue to see conflict related deaths intheir thousands. India has also suffered

due to trafficking in illicit arms. The twin
phenomenon of rising crime as well asarmed conflicts and terrorism are directly
linked to the global proliferation andmovement of weapons. Appendix III shows
the inextricable links between gun
running, terrorism, narcotics trafficking
and crime.34
The Purulia Arms Drop Case is the mostglaring example of illicit arms trafficking.
On 17th December, 1996, an Antonov 26
aircraft dropped over 300 AK 47/56 rifles
and 20,545 rounds of ammunition, dragnov
snipper weapons, rocket launchers andnight vision devices in a Purulia village inWest Bengal State. The aircraft was boughtfrom Latvia for US$ 2 million andchartered by a Hong Kong registeredcompany, Carol Airlines. Payments weremade mostly through foreign bankaccounts. The aircraft was ferried to aforeign country where it was registered.
After a dry run over the air drop area, theaircraft moved to Bulgaria from where theconsignment of arms was picked up using
a end-users certificate issued by a foreigncountry.
The aircraft returned to a location in aforeign country and then flew over the air

TABLE XII32
PROFILE OF VIOLENCE IN PUNJAB- 1981-92
Year
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
TOTAL

No.of Persons Killed
13
13
75
359
63
520
910
1949
1168
2467
2586
1461
11,584

No.of Policemen Killed
2
2
20
20
8
42
95
110
152
493
493
252
1689

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
drop area, parashuting the arms and thenflew on to Phuket. On the return journey,
the aircraft was forced to land at Bombay,
where the crew were arrested. CBIinvestigated this case and 7 persons werecharged, including one British, 5 Latvians
and an Indian. Several others absconded.
The seizures reflect only the tip of theiceberg. Similar caches have been seizedin Punjab and the North East. Gun runningin foreign-made and Indian made weapons
is a lucrative business, in militancy affected
and high crime areas. The premium on
foreign made weapons is quite high, andrelevant laws need to be made more
stringent and speedy trials ensured.
F. Contract Killings
The offence of murder is punishable
under section 302 IPC by life imprisonment
or death sentence. Conviction rate inmurder cases is about 38%. The chance ofdetection in contract kilings is quite low.
The method adopted in contract killings is
by engaging a professional gang for amonetary consideration. Part of theprefixed amount will be paid in advancewhich is called ‘supari’. The rest of thepayment will be made after the commissionof the crime. The Bombay gangs specialisein contract killings. The amont they charge
is quite large and varies with the socioeconomic status of the targets. Dawood
Ibrahim gang has been responsible forcontract killings of several richbusinessmen, industrialists andpoliticians. Gulshan Kumar, the music
magnate of Bombay, was the latest victimof this scourge.
G. Kidnapping for Ransom
Kidnapping for ransom is a highlyorganised crime in urban conglomerates.
There are several local as well as interState gangs involved in it as the financial
rewards are immense vis-a-vis the labourand risk involved. Generally, no injury iscaused to the kidnapee if the Kidnappers’

106

conditions are met. Terrorist gangs havealso been occasionally involved in
kidnappings for quick money to financetheir operations. In one recent case, thekidnapee was killed even after his family
paid a huge ransom amount to a U.P. gang.
The leader of the gang was known to thevictim and he feared the victim would
disclose the gang’s identity if released.
Several arrests have been made in thiscase. Incidentally, the leader of the gang is
a Member of the Legislative Assembly of
the State of North India.
Delhi and Bombay are highly vulnerable
to this crime. 43 cases were registered in
Delhi in 1995, against 40 of 1994. The
incidence was less in 1996 and 1997, as
most of the cases were detected by thepolice and prominent gangs neutralised.
The going rate in Delhi and Bombay ranges
from Rs. 1.00 to 5.00 crores, depending
upon the paying capacity of the victims.
The gang headed by Om Prakas Srivastava
is transnational in character and often
operates from foreign bases, with payments
made abroad through hawala channels.
In view of the aforesaid menace, a new
section (section 364- A) was incorporated
in the Penal Code to specificallycriminalised kidnapping for ransom andprescribes a minimum punishment of 10
years.
H. Illegal Immigration
A large number of Indians are working
abroad, particularly in the Gulf region.
Young people want to move to foreigncountries for lucrative jobs. Large scalemigration is fostered by the high rate ofunemployment in the country and higher
wage levels in foreign lands. As it is noteasy for the aspirants to obtain valid travel
documents and jobs abroad, they fall into
the trap of unscrupulous travel agents andemployment agencies. These agencies
promise to give them valid travel
documents and employment abroad on thepayment of huge amounts. Often the travel

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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documents are not valid, and sometimes
they are simply dumped into foreign lands
without giving them the promised
employment.
A gruesome tragedy occurred in which
170 Indians and some others drowned in
the high seas of the Malta-Sicily channel
on 24th and 25th December, 1996.
Investigation of this case was handled by
the CBI which disclosed that the travel
agents in India sent some groups of Indians
to Alexandria (Egypt) and Istanbul(Turkey) by air in September 1996.
Thereafter, they were taken in small ships
to the high seas from Alexandria andIstanbul and were transferred to a big ship.
There were about 460 people from India,
and other countries on board. The shipheaded towards Italy. In the Malta Sicily
channel, they were required to shift to two
smaller ships. While docking, the two ships
collided and water started pouring into thesmall ship which created panic. There wasrush to get back to the big ship and in theprocess 200 people, including 170 Indiansdrowned. Country-wide investigation was
conducted by the CBI and 25 travel agentswere charged with violation of the
Emigration Act, 1983.
Emigration of Indians to foreigncountries is regulated by the Emigration
Act 1983, which empowers the Central
Government to regulate functioning of thetravel agents and employment agencies.
The employment agencies are also required
to give written undertakings regarding
minimum wages and surety of employment
to the emigrants. The loop holes in thesystem are, however, exploited by theunscrupulous elements by false
representations and fraudulent deals. It isa transnational crime and involves
unfathomable exploitation and humanmisery. International co-operation may pay
a vital role in curbing illegal migrations.
I. Prostitution
Trading in sex and girl-running is a very

profitable business in which the underworld plays an important part. Flesh trade
has been flourishing in India in various
places and in different forms. The
underworld is closely connected withbrothels and call girl rackets, making
plenty of money through this activity. They
supply young girls to brothels in different
parts of the country, shuttling them to andfrom the city to minimise the risk of their
being rescued.
According to a study conducted by the
Indian Health Organisation, there are over
1,000,000 prostitutes in Bombay and an
equal number in Calcutta. Delhi and Pune
have an estimated 40,000 each. Even therelatively small town of Nagpur has about
15,000 prostitutes. According to a survey
conducted by Patita Udhar Samiti, it isestimated that the total number of
prostitutes in the country is about
25,000,000. About 300,000 enter the
profession each year 36.
There is also evidence to show that it isa transnational crime. About 5,000 girls
from Nepal enter the flesh market eachyear in India.
Prostitution is not an offence in India.
However, running brothels, inducing girls
for the sake of prostitution, detaining girls
in brothels or running brothels in thevicinity of public places is a criminal
offence. There is evidence of underworld
networks running the brothels and theexisting law has not been found strong
enough to tackle the menace.
VIII. CASE STUDIES
A. Shankar Guha Neogi Murder
Case
Shankar Guha Neogi, a top labour leaderof Central India, was shot dead in
September, 1991, while sleeping in his
house. On the request of the Governmentof Madhya Pradesh, the CBI moved into
action. Investigation disclosed that he had
given a strike call to about 80,000 workers

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of his union in Bhillai-Raipur Belt,
demanding remunerative wages andpermanancy of jobs for them. As the strike
continued for almost nine months, thisnaturally disturbed the functioning ofseveral industrial units, particularly, thatof steel manufacturing units of the Shahfamily. Investigation further disclosed thata member of the Shah famly, alongwith
three others, including two local dons, hadgone abroad to purchase fire arms formurdering Neogi. The clue came in theform of an anynomous inland letter giving
the above information and mentioning thenames of persons who had gone abroad.
Suspicion was strengthened due to thedisappearance of a member of the Shahfamily after the incident. Working on thisclue, CBI, with the help of the local police,
arrested the perpetrators of this crime. The
Shah family had assigned the task ofeliminating Neogi to a local don who hired
a professional killer belonging to aneighbouring State. It was a case ofcontract killing and some money was paid
before the killing by the Shah family andthe balance amount was to be paid after
the commission of crime. The killer
absconded after the incident and it took
almost two years to track him down. There
were three tiers in the conspiracy. In thefirst tier were the motivators i.e the Shahfamily who wanted Neogi killed. In thesecond tier was the local don who organised
the killing. The third tier consisted of theactual shooter and his associates.
After painstaking investigation, thecharge sheet was filed against nine accused
persons. The case was decided last year andthe trial Court convicted seven accused.
While six persons were given life
imprisonment, the killer was ordered to behanged. The case is now pending High
Court confirmation of the death sentence.
This is one of the few cases of organised
crime in which three tiers of criminals,
including two members of the Shah fimily,
have been convicted.

108

B. L.D. Arora Murder Case
L.D. Arora, a senior officer of the
Customs Department, was shot dead in
1993, at point blank range, while gettingout of his car in front of his residence in
the Allahabad town of Uttar Pradesh. He
had just returned from his office. The
unknown assailant had been waiting for
him under the stair case of the multistoreyed building in which Arora lived. The
Uttar Pradesh Police could not get a
breakthrough. The case ultimately came to
CBI. Investigation started from Bombay
where the deceased was posted for a longtime and had come down heavily on anumber of smuggling gangs, including thatof notorious smugglers Md. Dosa, Tiger
Memon and Dawood Ibrahim. His general
reputation and family life were also foundto be good, therefore it seemed that thekilling was committed due to professional
reasons. Arora had been threatened by thesmugglers in the past. Even after histransfer from Bombay to Allahabad, he wasrunning his sources and passing on
information to his counter-parts in
Bombay, resulting in large scale seizuresof contraband. A suspect telephone numberof a neighbouring country and scrutiny of
the telephone print out revealed thatseveral calls had been made to several
numbers in Bombay and Delhi. Subscribersof the called numers were questioned and
one in Delhi disclosed that he was being
called by notorious criminal Om Prakash
Srivastava from abroad. When questioned
about his relationship with Babloo, hedisclosed that Babloo was his neighbour,living in a rented house, about a year backand had absconded after a murder case (notArora murder case). The Delhi Police
records were checked and it was found that
Babloo was suspected in that murder case.
It was also found that Babloo was acontract killer and smuggler. This madehim a strong suspect. Invesigation also
disclosed that Babloo had repeatedly called
a hotel number in Allahabad, several times

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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on the days proceeding Arora’s murder andalso on the day of the murder. The hotel
register disclosed that some of his
associates had stayed in that hotel andreceived calls from Babloo. Babloo’s
associates had given correct names in the
hotel records but wrong addresses.
However, on further verification the names
and addresses of the suspects wereconfirned. The shooter was caught in Delhi
and his disclosure revealed that Babloo had
organised this killing on the instructionsof smuggler Md. Dosa from Dubai. He also
disclosed how the conspiracy was planned,
how the transport and arms were provided
by Babloo and his associates, and how
Arora was eliminated. The car involved in
the crime was seized. He got Rs. 1.00 lac
for the killing and Babloo got 15.00 lacs
from Md. Dosa. Arrest warrants were takenfrom the Court and Interpol alerted.
In 1995, information was received that
Babloo was travellng to Singapore from
Dubai on a Nepalese passport. Interpol
Singapore, was alerted and they detained
Babloo at the airport. On being informedof this development, Indian officials flew
to Singapore and submitted the arrest
warrant and other relevant documents in
the Court. The disconcerting aspect of thiscase was that Babloo was travelling under
an assumed name on a genuine Nepalesepassport. During questioning by theSingapore Police, he pretended that he was
not the person wanted by CBI. It wasnecessary not only to establish a prima
facie case in the Extradition Court at
Singapore but also to firmly establish his
identity. Indian officials persuaded hiselder brother to swear an affidavit to prove
his identity and fingerprints fromSingapore and India were matched. The
Extradition Magistrate held that there wasa prima facie case against Babloo in all the
court cases. He was extradited to India in
August 1995 and is facing trial now. This
was the first extradition case in 45 years.

C. Terrorist Funding Case
A militant was arrested by Delhi Police
sometime back along with some foreign
currency and objectinable documents,
including letters written by a top militantleader from abroad to his associates inIndia. His interrogation revealed foreign
links and remitance of a large amount ofmoney into India from a foreign source
through the ‘hawala’ channel. Due to its
importance, CBI was asked to take over thecase. One more accused was arrested whose
questioning disclosed that he had gone
abroad and entered into a criminal
conspiracy with some terrorist
sympathisers to develop a terrorist
network in India. The money was to comefrom a foreign source via the ‘hawala’channel. The money did come and thepayment was made in Delhi by a low level‘hawala’ operator. The money so received
was used for purchasing bank drafts in thename of fictitious persons. This was,perhaps, done to keep the identity of therecipients secret so that this money could
be used for terrorist funding without
detection.
During investigation a number of‘hawala’ operators were arrested who
disclosed the names of their principals.
Large scale searches were conducted in thebusiness premises of the main ‘hawala’operators which led to the recovery of Rs.
1.5 crores in cash and a personal diaryshowing payment of about Rs. 58.00 croresto various politicians and bureaucrats in
India. This case is now popularly known
as Jain Hawala Case. The charge-sheets
were filed against several recepients ofhawala money even though the evidence
was not corroborated. While the main case(i.e terrorist funding case) is progressing
well in the Court, the Jain Hawala Case,
which was monitored by the Supreme
Court under its writ jurisdiction, ispresently embroiled in litigation in theDelhi High Court.

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D. Advocate Shanmughsundram
Case
Mr. Shanmughsundram, a practisinglawyer, was brutally attacked in his
residence in May 1995, in a southern State.
The attack came in full view of his personal
staff. The victim was attacked as he wasabout to file a petition in the High Court
against the corrupt activities of a powerfulpolitician. The local police made somearrests but that did not evoke theconfidence of the legal community. The casewas handed over to the CBI by the High
Court. Investigation disclosed that thevictim, though politically affiliated, wastrying to seek judicial intervention. This
angered the politician who had the attackorganised through his underlings. The roleof the local police was suspect in that theyorchestrated the surrender of certain
criminals who were actually not involvedin the attack, but agreed to own
responsibility with a view to shielding apolitically powerful criminal gang. CBIinvestigation established the identity of thereal culprits. They were arrested and sent
to trial. Welding Kumar, the don who had
organised the attack, was himself notpresent but was charged with criminal
conspiracy. All the assailants, including
Welding Kumar, have been convicted forlife. However, the investigation could not
go beyond Welding Kumar as adequate
evidence could not be built up against the
motivators, the third tier. This is a common
problem faced in investigations oforganised crime.
IX. PROBLEMS IN CONTROLEFFORTS
A. Inadequate Legal Structure
There are several difficulties incombatting organised crime. First of all,India does not have a special law to control/
suppress organised crime. Being acontinuing conspiracy, the incidents oforganised crime are dealt with under the110

general conspiracy law and relevant special
Acts. The existing law is inadequate as ittargets individuals and not the criminalgroups or criminal enterprises.
Conspiracies are hatched in darkness andproving them in a court of law is aherculean task. Being a member of thegang of dacoits or thieves is punishable
under the Penal Code, but being a memberof any other criminal gang is not. The prime
purpose of organised crime is money
through muscle power, comprising theofficials operating the criminal justicesystem and the officials and politicians in
power. It is, therefore, imperative that thecriminal group and being its member or
associate, is criminalised, as has been donein many countries.
Similarly, there is need to deprive thecriminal groups of their ill-gotten wealth.
India does not have a consolidated law on
the subject.
The procedural laws in India are grossly
inadequate to deal with organised crime.
Under section 167 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure, the police are mandated to filethe charge sheet within 90 days from thedate of arrest, failing which the accused isliable to be freed on bail. Organised crime
is complicated in nature and has inter-stateand even international ramifications whichmakes it difficult to conduct a thoroughinvestigation within the statutorily
pescribed time frame. This often results inthe charge-sheets being filed on the basisof half-baked investigations. Such cases
often result in acquittals. Besides, the bailprovisions are quite liberal (sections 437
to 439 CrPC). In the early 1970s, theSupreme Court laid down that ‘bail and not
the jail’ is the rule. This emboldened
criminal syndicates and they took
advantage of this judicial dispensation,
frustrating efforts of the law-enforcerers incurbing crime. Further, section 438 of the
CrPC provides for anticipatory bail evenin heinous offences. This has been misusedby politically influential and rich people.

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Further, a confession made before apolice officer is not admissible under
section 25 of the Evidence Act, but aconfession made before a Customs Officer
or a Income Tax Officer is admissible. As it
is difficult to get the eye-witness evidence
in cases of criminal conspiracy, it makes
the task of the police really very difficult.
Furthermore, the investigating agencies
look for oral, documentary andcircumstantial evidence during
investigation. With rapid advances inscience and technology, forensic science hascome to play an important role in criminal
investigations. However, an accused orsuspect is not legally bound to give his
handwriting, finger prints, blood samples,
photographs and intimate and nonintimate body samples viz hair, saliva,
semen, blood etc to the Investigating
Officer, despite the order of the Court.
Thus, valuable pieces of evidence are lost
due to this legal lacunae.
B. Difficulties in Obtaining Proof
As organised criminal groups are
structured in a hierarchical manner, thehigher echelons of leadership are insulated
from law enforcement. It may be possible
to have the actual perpetrators of crimeconvicted, but it is difficult to go beyond
them in the hierarchy because of rules ofevidence, particularly, non-admissibility ofconfessions made by criminals before thepolice. The witnesses are not willing todepose for fear of their lives and there isno law to provide protection to thewitnesses against organised gangs. The
informers are not willing to come forward
as some kind of stigma is attached to beingan ‘informer’. In crimes of violence, thereis hardly any documentary evidence. In
some crimes like gambling andprostitution, the people in general are
willing participants. Incidents of killing of
witnesses or their being bribed or
threatened do surface from time to time.
Several judges and magistrates were killedin Punjab. These difficulties hamper thecontrol efforts.
C. Slow Pace of Trials & Low
Conviction Rate
‘Justice delayed is justice denied’ is a wellknown maxim. The pace of trials in India
is very slow. Out of 7.12 million cases
pending in the country, 0.77 million havebeen pending trial for more than 8 years(18.6% of the total). The average time oftrial in grave offences varies from State toState but it is quite substantial and may
run into years. This, coupled with otherfactors, has resulted in low conviction rates.
Only about 38% murder and rape cases
result in conviction in India. The
percentage of conviction in dacoity cases isstill lower. Hence, people are losing faith
in the efficacy of the criminal justice systemand have become cynical, apathetic andnon-cooperative in control efforts.
D. Lack of Resources & Training
In our Constitutional frame-work, thepolice are the State’s subject. Investigationof cases, their prosecution and the setting
up of the criminal courts is the
responsibility of the State Government
concerned. Most of the States face aresources crunch and are not in the position
to spare adequate resources for thecriminal justice system agencies. The
number of police personnel posted in police
stations is inadequate. Besides, hardly any
training facilities exist for the investigationof organised crime. Further, there are no
special cells to handle organised crime
investigations. The prosecutors neither
have any special aptitude nor any
specialized training for conducting
organised crime cases. Moreover, they arevulnerable to frequent transfers resulting
in discontinuity in prosecution efforts.
Moreover, the number of courts isinadequate as organised crime case aretried by ordinary courts, there is inordinate
delay in their disposal due to heavy

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backlogs.
E. Lack of Co-ordination
India does not have a national levelagency to co-ordinate the efforts of theState/city police organisations as well as
central enforcement agencies, forcombating organised crime. Further, there
is no agency to collect, collate, analyse,
document and function as a central
exchange of information relating tointernational and inter-state gangs
operating in India and abroad. Similarly,
there is no system of sustained pursuit ofselected gangs at the national and Statelevel. Apart from lack of institutionalframe-work, there are problems of coordination between the Central
Government and the State Governments
and between one State Government andanother State Government due todifferences in political perceptions. This
problem becomes quite acute whendifferent political parties are in power at
the centre and in the States. Thus, there
appears be no sustained effort to combat
organised crime. The information thatcomes into the hands of Central and State
investigating agencies is not exhanged and,if exhanged, not in real time. Thus,valuable clues are lost.
F. Dual Criminality
The crime syndicates do not respectnational boundaries. Certain crimes,
particularly drug trafficking, are plannedin one part of the world and executed inanother. Criminals also move fast from onepart of the globe to another. Different
nations have different legal structures. A
certain act may be ‘crime’ in one country
but not in another. To illustrate, money
laundering is crime in USA and several
European countries but not in India.
Similarly, some countries have laws
against terrorism but others do not.
Extradition of criminals from one country
to another is possible only when the112

principle of dual criminality is satisfied.
India has faced problems in the extraditionof certain fugitive criminals on this count.
G. Criminal, Political &Bureaucratic Nexus
There has been a rapid spread andgrowth of criminal gangs, armed Senas,
drug mafias, smuggling gangs, drug
peddlers and economic lobbiests in the
country which have, over the years,
developed an extensive network of contacts
with the bureaucrats, government
functionaries, politicians, media persons
and democratically elected individuals at
the local level. Some of these syndicatesalso have international linkages, including
with the foreign intelligence agencies. In
certain States like Bihar, Hryana andUttar Pradesh, these gangs enjoy thepatronage of local level politicians cutting
across party lines. Some political leaders
become the leaders of these gangs/armed
senas and over the years get themselves
elected to local bodies, State Assemblies
and even the National Parliament throughdubious means including rigging andkilling of their political rivals. Some of themcollect large funds from the criminal
syndicates for electioneering. Resultantly,
such elements have acquired considerable
political clout seriously jeopardising thesmooth functioning of the administrationand the safety of life and property of thecommon man, causing a sense of despair
and alienation among the people. Due tothe political influence of these syndicates,
the investigating and prosecuting agencies
are finding it extremely difficult to deal
effectively with them.
In view of the gravity of the problem.
The Government of India constituted a
Committee under the Chairmanship of theUnion Home Secretary, N.N. Vohara in
1993. The Vohra Committee observed:“(i)On the basis of extensive experience
gained by our various concerned
intelligence, investigative and108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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enforcement agencies, it is apparent
that crime syndicates and mafiaorganisations have establishedthemselves in various parts of thecountry.
(ii) The various crime syndicate/mafiaorganisations have developed
significant muscle and money powerand established linkages with
Governmental functionaries, politicalleaders and others to be able tooperate with impunity (as recently
exemplified by the activities ofMemon brothers and Dawood
Ibrahim).”
The law enforcement agencies are
finding it difficult to smash criminal
syndicates in the existing legal framework
due to the money power and politicallinkages of the organised criminal gangs.
The problem becomes compounded when
the leaders of the gangs themselves become
Parliamentarians and, sometimes, even
Ministers. A Minister in the Central
Government was prosecuted and convicted(later acquitted by the Apex Court) for
harbouring members of a criminal gang.
Another person who headed a dacoity gang
15 years ago and is still facing trial inseveral dacoity cases, rose to be a memberof the National Parliament. Anotherindividual who is facing trial in 12 serious
crimes, including a murder caseinvestigated by CBI, rose to be a Minister.
When the law breakers become law makers
or political superiors of the law enforcerers,
it is unrealistic to expect the latter to comedown heavily on criminal syndicates.
X. COMBATTING ORGANISEDCRIME
It is the universal experience thatorganised crime is spawned by social
economic and political factors and advancesin science and technology have lent it atransnational character. Organised crime,
like ordinary crime, cannot be rooted out

completely from any society. It cancertainly be kept within reasonable bounds
by a deft mix of legal and administrative
measures, coupled with social and politicalcommitment. International co-operation
can sound its death bell. I now propose tosuggest some measures for combattingorganised crime, keeping in view theIndian ground realities.
A. Strengthening of Criminal Laws
1. Substantive Law
India does not have an special Act tocontrol/supress organised crime. The draftof the Suppression of Organised Crime
Act is on the anvil but it is not known when
it will be passed into law. Organised crimeand money laundering have close nexus
warranting immediate legislativeintervention. The proceeds of Crime andMoney Laundering (Prevention) Act is ata final stage and is likely to be passed into
law soon. Besides, the ancillary laws suchas the Arms Act, 1959; the Explosives Act,
1884; the Explosives Substances Act, 1906;
the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956
need to be strengthened. Punishment
provided for public gambling in the existinglaw is grossly inadequate resulting inrecidivism by the same criminal goups.
2. Procedural Law
Certain amendments need to be madein the Code of Criminal Procedure. The
maximum time for police custody remandin section 167(2) of Code of Criminal
Procedure is 15 days from the date of arrestof an accused. It is our experience that thistime is inadequate for investigatingorganised crime cases having inter-stateand international ramifications. The police
custody remand should be enhanced from15 to 30 days in cases of grave crime.
Further, the police are mandated to file thecharge sheet in 90 days from the date ofarrest of the accused, failing which s/he isliable to be released on bail. This period
needs to be enhanced to 180 days in grave

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crimes for in-depth investigation.
‘Bail and not the jail’ is the rule pursuant
to a Supreme Court order of 1970s.
Legislature should intervene to make thebail provisions more stringent. The
provision for anticipatory bail (sec.438
CrPC) in grave crimes (i.e punishable with
7 years or more) should be deleted. Further,no exparte bail orders should be passed bya court in grave crimes without hearing the
public prosecutor.
3. Evidenciary Law(i) Confession made to a police officer : The
Indian police are legally handicappedin collecting fool-proof evidence against
ordinary criminals and, more so,
against organised criminal gangs due
to certain archaic provisions ofevidenciary law. According to section 25of the Evidence Act, a confession madebefore a police officer is not admissible
in the court. Due to this valuableevidence gathered during questioningof the accused persons is lost. Suchconfessions are admissible in mostcountries of the world. Of course, thisis not to say that the Court should baseconviction only on the un-corroborated
confession of an accused. What is beingargued is that the Court should take
into consideration the confession madeby the accused before a police officer
along with other corroborative evidence
in formulating its opinion.
(ii) Forensic evidence: Forensic evidence
plays an important role in criminal
investigations. The police are duty
bound to collect forensic evidence which
may include the following types:(i) Hand writing ;(ii) Finger/foot prints ;(iii)Blood samples for DNA profiling;(iv) Photographs ; and(v) Intimate and non-intimate bodysamples viz. hair, saliva, semen,
blood etc.
There is no law which legally binds an114

accused to give specimen hand-writing,blood samples, foot prints or intimate
or non-intimate body samples, evenunder the order of the court. The result
is that valuable forensic evidence isbeyond the ambit of the investigating
agency. It is suggested that a provision
should be incorporated in the Criminal
Procedure Code legally binding theaccused to give finger prints, samplesof hand writing, blood samples andintimate and non intimate bodysamples, if required by theinvestigating agency. This will go a longway in building up forensic evidence
against criminal gangs, particularly inviolence-related crime.
(iii) Monitoring of telephones etc : The
telephone facility is freely used by thegangs in organising criminal activities.
Section 5 of the Indian Telegraph Act,
1885, empowers the Central
Government or the State Government
to monitor telephones and intercept
telegraphic messages for a period of 60days. However, the evidence thus
gathered is not admissible in the trial.
In the U.S.A, telephones can bemonitored by law enforcement agencies
under the orders of Federal Courts andthe evidence so gathered can be usedin the trial. The Indian Telegraphic Act
should be suitably amended to provide
for admissibility of evidence gatheredby interception of telephonicconversation or telegraphs. Similarly,
the evidence of computer print-out of
telephone calls or fax messages sent or
received on a particular telephone
terminal should be made admissible asevidence.
(iv) Undercover agents : Law enforcement
agencies run under-cover agents inmost countries to gather information
about criminal gangs, study theirmodus operandi and evaluate their
future plans and strategies. This
information is used both for preventive

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
and investigative purposes. In the USA,the evidence gathered by under coveragents is admissible as evidence whether it is in the form of their oral
testimony or recorded in audio or video
form. Indian law does not permit this.
The information so gathered can beused only as information but not as
evidence. This handicaps the law
enforcement agencies in building up
cast-iron cases against organised
gangs. It is suggested that the law
should be amended to provide foradmissibility of such evidence.
4. Witness Protection Programme
In cases of organised crime andterrorism, the witnesses are reluctant todepose in the open court for fear of reprisals
at the hands of criminal syndicates/
terrorists. The cases of threat or criminal
intimidation of potential witnesses are too
many to be recounted. Some witnesses havealso been killed by the criminal gangs/
terrorists. As the courts go by evidence on
record for establishing the guilt of theaccused, it is essential to protect thewitnesses from the wrath of criminal
gangs. Hence, legal and physical protection
should be provided to crucial witnesses insensitive cases so that they can depose
fearlessly in the court. After the enactmentof Witness Security Reform Act 1984, theUS authorities could secure the convictionof several notorious mafia leaders. The US
Witness Protection Programme, essentiallyinvolves changing the identity of thewitness, relocation, physical protection if
needed, and financial support till such time
as s/he becomes self-supporting, subject tothe condition that s/he deposes truthly in
the Court. It is extremely necessary toprovide protection to witnesses in Indiaalso, which could cover cases of national/
State importance involving criminal
syndicates/terrorists.

5. Mode of Trial
The trial is generally held in the open
court (section 297 CrPC). The court can,however, order in-camera trial if either of
the two parties asks for it or the Court sodesires (section 237(2) CrPC). Despite theexpress provision of law, the Supreme
Court has discontinued this usage. It would
be appropriate to legally mandate incamera trial in organised/terrorist crimes.
6. Confiscating Proceeds of Crime
The main object of organised crime isacquisition of money and through money,
power. It is through money power that thegangs corrupt the criminal justice agencies
and the political leadership. A stage comeswhen the criminal gangs put a question
mark on the existence of the State. It has
already started happening in small pockets
of India. It is, therefore, essential to deprive
the criminal gangs of their ill-gotten wealthvia stringent legislative measures. The
laws relating to confiscation of proceeds ofcrime are strewn in several statutes. Someof the important Acts relating to this are
as follows :(a) Sections 102 and 452 of CrPC ;(b) Sections 111 to 121 of the Customs
Act, 1962;(c) Sections 68 of the Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances Act, 1985;(d) The Criminal Law (Amendment)
Ordinance, 1944 (Ordinance XXXVIIIof 1994);(e) Foreign Exchange Regulation Act,
1973 (Section 63) ;(f) Smugglers and Foreign Exchange
Manipulations (Forfeiture of
Property) Act, 1976 ; andNotwithstanding the existence of theaforesaid legal provisions, it is common
ground that organised criminal gangs haveacquired huge assets. Annual turnover of
Dawood Ibrahim gang is estimated to beabout 2000 crores a year. Several Bombay
smugglers have invested hundreds of115

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
crores in real estate and other front
businesses. This clearly shows aninadequacy of law. Hence, consolidationand strengthening of laws regarding
seizure/confiscation of proceeds crime isessential. I must, however, add that theprovisions in the Narcotics andPsychotropic Substances Act 1985, on thesubject are quite stringent, but this Act isapplicable only to drug related money andnot to the money amassed through othercrimes.
7. Immunity from Criminal Prosecution
As per section 306 of the CrPC, on therequest of a police officer or a publicprosecutor, a court may tender pardon toan accused at the investigation or trial
stage subject to the condition of making fulland true disclosure of facts andcircumstances concerning an offence. This
provision is applicable in offences
punishable with imprisonment of sevenyears or more. The witnesses are not keen
to turn approvers (State witnesses) as they
have to remain in jail till the conclusion of
the trial. As the trials take years, there islittle incentive for them accept immunityfrom the State. As the evidence inconspiracy cases is rather weak, approver
testimony helps a lot in securingconvictions. It is suggested that the law
should be amended to the effect that the‘approver’ will be released on bail soon after
the conclusion of his testimony in the
Court. This may encourage some accused
to turn approvers.

reasonable burden on the prosecution. The
British Government has updated their lawsby empowering the courts to draw adverse
inferences against the accused in certain
circumstances in Criminal Justice andPublic Order Act, 1994. Keeping in viewthe low conviction rates in grave crimes inIndia, and the reluctance of witnesses todepose against organised criminal
syndicates/terrorists, it would be ofimmense help to the prosecution to raisecertain presumptions against the accused,
including that the following38:(i) If the arms or explosives are recoveredfrom the possession of the accused andthere is reason to believe that similararms or explosives were used in thecommission of an offence, the Court
shall presume that the accusedcommitted the offence.
(ii) If the fingerprints of the accused were
found at the site of the offence onanything, including arms and vehicles,
used in connection with the commissionof an offence, the Court shall presume
that the accused had committed theoffence.
(iii)If the co-accused has made a confession,
the Court shall presume that theaccused had committed the offence.
(iv) If the co-accused has made a confession,
the court shall presume that theaccused committed the offence.
(iv) If the accused had made a confessionof the offence to any person other thana police officer, the court shall presume
that the accused committed the offence.

8. Presumptions against the Accused
An accused is presumed to be innocent
until proved guilty. The entire burden isthus cast on the prosecution to prove theguilt of the accused. Silence of the accusedin a given crime situation or his presenceat the spot of crime at or about the time of
the commisision of crime is not presumed
to be a circumstances against which hemust explain. This casts unfair and un-

9. Need for Speedy Trial
It is said that justice should not only bedone but should be seen to be done.
Punishment should visit the crime withina reasonable time, otherwise the confidenceof the public in the efficacy of criminal
justice institutions will be shattered. India
has been enacting and enforcing modern
laws for over a century now and has evolved
a fair and equitable jurisprudence.

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108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
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Nevertheless, about 0.77 million criminalcases have been pending trial for over 8
years. This does not include cases pending
in High Courts all over the country. The
slow pace of trial adversely affects theconviction rate and witnesses suffer frommemory loss or are not available. Even
prosecutors and judges lose interest in old
pending cases. Speedy trial can be achievedby streamlining the procedural laws;
improving the quality of judicial manpower ; increasing the number of courts andgiving modern gadgetry to the courts. Cooperative disposition of the prosecutors anddefence counsels is also essential. Besides,
judges trying organised crime cases and theprosecutors handling them need to be given
specialised training, and continuance intheir respective offices ensured for areasonable length of time.

collating, analysing, documenting andacting as central exchange of information
relating to international gangs operatingin India, the Indian gangs operating abroad
and major gangs operating in the States.
It would also be the duty of the national
body to keep selected major gangs undersurveillance and collect intelligence
regarding them. It would be expected totake up investigation of specific andimportant organised crime cases having
inter-State and internationalramifications, unmindful of the views of theSate Government concerned. The body
would also be responsible for sustained
pursuit of selected gangs having national
and international dimensions until suchtime as the gangs disintegrate and allimportant members are proceeded against
under the law.

B. Improving Co-ordination andSetting Up Specialised Units
1. Setting Up National Level
Coordinating Body
India has a federal structure in which
the States have the exclusive jurisdiction
to investigate and prosecute criminal cases.
The police forces in the States gather
intelligence about organised criminal
activities within their States and generally
do not share it with other States or thecentral agencies. This insular attitude isequally true of central investigative
agencies. It would, therefore, be advisable
to set up a national level co-ordinating bodyoutside the gamut of the present
enforcement agencies. The main functionof this body would be co-ordination between
the police forces of different States and theCentral investigative agencies. It would
also conduct selective operations jointlywith State Police Forces and Central
enforcement agencies for nabbing themembers of criminal gangs, including thoseliving abroad and for seizure of theirfinancial assets and arms. Further, thisbody would be responsible for collecting,

2. Setting Up of Organised Crime Wings
in City Police Organisations
Except for metropolitan cities,
awareness about organised crime in thepolice force is very low. There is no systemof collecting intelligence and pursuinginvestigations in a sustained andsystematic manner. It is suggested thateach State/Metropolitan force should havean Organised Crime Wing, the same at theState level as that of the apex body at thenational level. The Chiefs of the Wing
would keep in constant touch with thenational body and their counterparts inother States/Cities.
3. Setting Up Organised Crime Cells at The
District Level
The district is the basic administrative
unit in India. The work of police stations
is supervised at the district level. However,there is very little awareness aboutorganised crime, its dimensions, and theharmful effect it eventually has on thenational economy and security, at the
district level. As districts are the mostfundamental operational units in the police

117

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
hierarchical structure, it would be useful
to set up organised crime cells directly
under the control of District
Superintendent of Police. Their main job
would be investigation of importantorganised crime cases, collection of
intelligence against the criminal gangs andproper docum entation about theiractivities. They would also keep
surveillance upon important gangsters.
4. Strengthening of Police Stations
Police station are the pivotal points inthe enforcement machinery. No specialised
body like the National Co-ordinatory Body
or organised crime wings at the State levelcan function unless the police stations work
effectively. It is, therefore, imperative tostrengthen the police stations in areas
affected by organised crime. This would bepossible only if they are equipped with welltrained personnel, good systems ofcommunication and means for mobility as
also modern gadgetary necessary forinvestigation.
5. Common Database for Enforcement
Agencies
No mechanism or institutionalarrangement exists for collection of data
regarding organised crime gangs either at
the Central level or the State level. This
hampers investigative efforts andplanning. It is suggested that a common
data base be built up and stored in acomputer accessible to all enforcement
agencies, through networking of thecomputers. National Crime Records
Bureau could take up this job as it has thetechnical wherewithal to do so.
6. Education and Training
One of the weakest links in the struggle
against organised crime is education andtraining at the local level. Public
administrators, who are aware thatorganised crime exists in their community,
are not spending sufficient time in118

educating and training citizens, law
enforcement officers and other members in
the criminal justice system. Consequently,
local persons with interest in curbing
organised crime are left to their own
resources in securing information about
those engaged in organised crime. There
are three modes for transmitting
information to those concerned withorganised crime control. They are (i)education in academic institutions (ii)specialised training for law enforcement
officers and (iii) greater public co-operation.
To implement one mode of learning without
the other will not produce the desired levelof information about the criminal
confederations.
It would be desirable to impart intenseand highly select training to the police,
probation officers, judges and public
procecutors about the impact of organised
crime on the society, the intelligencesystem, the statutes relating to organised
crime, technology for investigation and thevarious types of organised crime andstrategies for combating it.
7. Defending Honest Officers
There is strong evidence of a criminalpolitical nexus. The officers who have taken
initiative to fight organised crime aresometimes transferred leading to theirdemoralisation. Crime syndicates bythemselves or in concert with politicians
sometimes launch a campaign of characterassassination against honest officers,
discrediting them. It would, therefore, bedesirable that officers of integrity andprofessional competence be posted inorganised crime prone areas and given a
reasonable length of tenure, say 3 years.
This would immunise them from themachinations of unscrupulous politiciansand organised crime leaders.
C. Enhancing International Cooperation
We are living in an era of “globalisation

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERSof crime”. Speedy means of communication
enable the transnational criminals to fleefrom one country to another within hours
after the commission of crime, and toorganise crimes spanning continents via
the telephone. Illicit trafficking in narcotics
drugs, illicit immigration, proliferation ofillicit arms and smuggling of contrabands
are the main transnational crimes affecting
India. According to Section 3 and 4 of thePenal Code, any Indian national
committing a crime abroad is liable to betried in India. Similarly, any foreignercommitting a crime in India is also liable
to be tried in India. It is not possible tobring the fugitive criminals to justice
without cooperation of the countries where
they are living. In fact, international
cooperation is the key to suppress transnational crimes. The international cartels
comprising of criminals of various ethnicity
regions and religions require response by
the international community.
International cooperation may entail
various legal and governmental
interventions.
1. Speedy Extradition of Fugitive
Criminals
Speedy extradition can be a very
effective method of bringing the fugitive
criminals to justice. Extradition
proceedings presuppose the existence of an
extradition treaty between the Requesting
State and the Requested State. Extradition
requests must satisfy the principles of dual
criminality and speciality. Besides, theidentity of the fugitive criminal must be
firmly established by the Requesting State.
India has signed extradition treaties
with several countries. Such countries fallin three categories. The first category
consists of 33 Commonwealth countries
with which India has extradition
arrangements, even though no formal
extradition treaties have been signed. In
the second category falls countries such as
Bhutan, Belgium, Nepal, Netherlands,

Canada, Switzerland, United Kingdom and
USA with which extradition treaties havebeen signed. The third category consists ofcountries with which the treaties have beenrenegotiated. USA is one such country. Old
treaty of 1931 with USA was renegotiatedlast year but is yet to be ratified. This
Treaty provides for a ‘political offence’clause, excluding some crimes such as
murder of the Head of the State, aircraft
hijacking offences, acts of aviation sabotage
and crimes against internationallyprotected persons including diplomats,hostage taking and drug related offences
etc. The Treaty also provides for a waiverclause which means that if the extraditee
agrees to be extradited, the Requested
State shall not go through the motionsprescribed in law. India is negotiating
extradition treaties with several countries,
including the Russian Federation,
Germany and UAE.
The basic problem with the extradition
treaties is the ‘political offence’ clause. The
world ‘political’ is open to variedinterpretations both by the extradition
courts as well as by the executive authorityof the Requested State. Terrorist violence
is often motivated by some kind of politicalconsiderations. If this logic is accepted,
then it would not be possible to seek
extradition of any fugitive terrorist fromabroad. It may not be possible to totally
exclude ‘political offence’ clauses from theexisting treaties or the treaties which are
under negotiation, but the scope of thisclause should be narrowed down as muchas possible. Article 1 of the SAARC
Convention excludes certain terrorist
offences from the ‘political offence’ clauseviz, murder, manslaughter, kidnapping,hostage taking and offences relating to firearms, weapons, explosives and dangerous
substances. This principle could be adopted
in bilateral and multilateral arrangements
at the international level. This issue should
be taken up in the international arena andeffort made to narrow down the scope of

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
the ‘political exception’ clause, if noteliminate it all together.
India has succeeded in securing
extradition of several notorious criminals
including Om Prakash Srivastava fromSingapore in 1995. We also succeeded in
the securing extradition of two top
terrorists from the USA last year. However,the case of another two is pending in the
US courts since the last 10 years. Recently,
two Karsen executives, namely, Tuncay
Alankus and Cihan Karanci, involved in
Rs.133 croses Urea import scam, wereextradited to India from Sweden. India has
also extraditied certain criminals to the
UK, USA and other countries.
As extraditioin is an important
instrument to bring fugitive criminals tojustice, the laws and procedures prevailingin different countries need to be
standardised on the basis of the model
extradition treaty drafted by UNO.
2. Deportation
It is our experience that extradition is atime consuming and lengthy process,where, apart from satisfying the legal
requirements of the Requested State, thejudicial requirements of a foreign court
have also to be satisfied. On the other hand,deportation of an undesirable alien is swift
and speedy. India had sought extraditionof a notorious drug smuggler Iqbal Mirchi
from UK in 1996 but the request was
turned down as the Extradition Magistrateheld that the evidence on record was not
sufficient to establish a prima facie case.
This often happens in transnational crimes
wherein the principal offenders organise
crimes through telephone systems inforeign lands. After the failure of theextradition proceedings, the Governmentof India cancelled his passport and, thus,
he became an illegal alien in UK. Somecountries have deported Indians back to thecountry on finding them without valid
travel documents and we have also
reciprocated in equal measure.

120

As deportation is one of the easiest
methods of getting rid of undesirable
elements, standardised and universally
acceptable norms should be evolved in theinternational community in this regard.
3. Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance
Assistance from foreign countries isoften required for effective investigationand prosecution of transnational crimes.
Help is required in the matter of collecting
information; collecting evidence during
investigation; identification and location of
persons and service of documents on them;access to records of financial institutions;production of foreign witnesses; conducting
searches and seizures; forfeiture ofproceeds of crime (including money
deposited in banks); transfer of prisoners
to give evidence or assist in criminal
investigations. Help is also sought from aforeign country in the execution of Letter
Rogatories. India has enabling provisions
in the Criminal Procedure Code (SECTION
105) in the above matter (166-A and 166-Bof the Code) .
India’s experience shows that the
response from foreign countries, with few
exceptions, has generally been positive.
India has made Mutal Legal Assistancearrangements with several countries in the
recent past. Some of the recently concluded
Agreements on Mutal Legal Assistance are- India and UK (1992); India and Russia(1993); India and Bulgaria (1994); India
and Canada (1994); India and Egypt(1995); India and China (1996) and India
and Oman (1996). We are also in theprocess of signing Mutal Legal AssistanceAgreements with Kazakistan, Poland,
Slovak Republic, Italy France, Hong Kong,
Greece, and Georgia.
The agreement between India and UK
provides for assistance in investigation andprosecution of crime and tracing, restraint
and confiscation of the proceeds andinstruments of crime (including crimes
involving currency transfers) and terrorists

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
funds.
The agreement between India andCanada is quite comprehensive and covers
all types of crimes, including crimes
relating to taxation, duties, customs andinternational transfer of capital or
payment. The assistance includes :(i) measures to locate, restrain, forfeit
or confiscate the proceeds of crime ;(ii) taking of evidence and obtaining ofstatements of persons :(iii) provision of information documents
and other records including criminaland judicial records ;(iv) location of persons and objects
including their identification ;(v) search and seizure ;(vi) delivery of property, including
lending of exhibits ;(vii) making detained persons and others
available to give evidence or assist
investigations ; and(viii)Service of documents, including
documents seeking attendance of
persons.
Our arrangements with UK and Canada
are working well. Canada has deported aterrorist to India recently. We also assisted
the Canadians in the Kanishka Bomb Blast
Case. Such bilateral agreements go a longway in effective investigation andprosecution.
4. SAARC Convention for Suppression ofTerrorism:Multilateral Arrangements
Apart from bilateral arrangements,
India has also made multi-lateralarrangements for suppression of terrorism
with its neighbors. India is a signatory to
the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Convention for
S u p p r e s s i o n o f Te r r o r i s m . S A A R C
countries consist of Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri
Lanka. Pursuant to the SAARC
Convention, India enacted the SAARC
Convention (Suppression of Terrorism) Act,

1993. It is important to mention that in
Article 1 of the SAARC Convention,
terrorist activities have ben excluded fromthe ‘political offence’ clause for the purposesof extradition. Extraditable crimes include
unlawful seizure of aircraft; unlawful acts
against the safety of civil aviation; crimes
against internationally protected persons,
including diplomatic agents; and common
law offences like murder, kidnapping,hostage taking and offences relating to firearms, weapons, explosives and dangerous
substances when used as a means toperpetrate indiscriminate violence
involving death or serious bodily injury to
persons or serious damage to property.
It would thus appear that SAARC
Convention is an improvement on bilateral
Extradition Treaties and Agreements on
Mutal Legal Assistance in that the scopeof ‘political offence’ has been drasticallyreduced.
5. Role of Interpol
Interpol has serviced law enforcers allover the world in their fight against crimein last 75 years of its existence. ‘The Red
Corner Notice’ for the arrest of fugitive
criminals are generally executed byInterpol. Sometimes difficulty arises when
the requested Interpol does not haveenabling provisions in the domestic laws
for effecting arrests. Section 41 of the
Indian Criminal Procedure Code empowers
a police officer to arrest on the basis of a
Red Corner Notice. Similar provisions need
to be incorporated in the criminal laws ofcountries where such provisions do notexist. Secondly, help in investigations issometimes declined by some Interpols on
the perceived ground of the offence being‘political’ in character. This problem isgoing to persist in the forseeable future but
its impact can be drastically reduced if theprinciples ennunciated in the SAARC
Convention are adopted at the regional andeven international level regarding grave
offences i.e terorism, organised crime etc.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
D. Political Commitment
Incidence of organised crime is
proportional to the will of the people totolerate it. If there is strong politicalcommitment, it can be suppressed bylegislative action, strengthening of
criminal justice system and building up ofstrong public opinion against it. Organised
crime thrives when political commitment
is lacking. The Vohra Committee Report
has exposed the linkages between
unscrupulous politicians and the criminal
syndicates. A segment of politicians, cutting
across party lines, are dependent onorganised crime figures for financing theirelections as well as giving them muscle
power for rigging elections or overawing
their political opponents. One of the waysof breaking the nexus between thecriminals and politicians would be to enact
stringent laws regarding election funding,with a view to preventing the tainted
money from whatever source, includingfrom the crime syndicates, seeping into thepolitical system. Once this happens, people
are likely to be elected to the State andNational Parliament that would have no
obligation towards the organised crime
figures and are likely to have higher
political commitment to stamp out
organised crime. Another method would beto amend the election laws to prevent,apart from convicts, those against whomcharges have been framed by the court in
at least in two grave crimes, from runningfor elective offices. This would impel thepolitical figures to keep themselves at asafe distance from the crime figures andthereby help in cleansing the politicalprocess. It needs to be reiterated thatenforcement action, however efficient, is
not by itself adequate to stamp out
organised crime.
E. Public AwarenessThe surest means of curbing organised
crime is to involve people in its prevention
and investigation and to build up public

122

opinion against it through the print andelectronic media, workshops, seminars,
and by socially boycotting organised crime
figures. It is not unusual to see leaders ofcriminal syndicates acquiring Robin Hoodimages and becoming legends in their life
time. Quite a few have become Membersof the State Assemblies and the National
Parliament. Some have become Ministers
in the State Governments and occupy otherelected offices. They can be prevented fromoccupying high political offices byheightened public awareness.
F. Role of Mass Media
Mass media-both print and electronic
media-can play an important role in
exposing organised crime and help build
public opinion against it. Indian mass
media has been doing this job quite welland everyday we read lurid accounts of theactivities of crime syndicates in thenewspapers and magazines. Notablenewspapers and magazines have also
taken to investigative journalism in thisfield. In this process, some media persons
have suffered at the hands of the criminals
but undaunted by it, they are going ahead
with the exposes. This is a very heartening
trend and must be encouraged.
XI. CONCLUSION
Organised crime is first of all a domestic
problem and, when unchecked, it assumes
a transnational character. Organised
crime succeeds so long as nations permit it
to succeed. The first and foremost step inour control efforts should be to keep‘incident’ or ordinary crime withinreasonable bounds by keeping criminal
elements under reentless law-enforcement
pressure. If we succeed in this effort, we
would have obviated or at least diminishedthe possibility of unattached criminal networks and the phenomenon of organised
crime. Organised crime, depending upon
its intensity, spread and dimensions, must

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
be combated by a deft mix of strengtheningof criminal laws and criminal justicesystem; institutionalising a national andState level co-ordinating mechanism andinvolving the mass media in control efforts.
Law enforcement, however efficient, cannot
succeed by itself without strong politicalcommitment. This pre-supposes exclusionof criminal elements and their political
sympathisers from elected public offices.
As organised crime is for the acquisition ofmoney power, it is imperative that the flowof money to organised criminal groups isdried up through stringent legislative andenforcement action.
A democracy has inherent infirmities
which manifest themselves in thefunctioning of criminal justice agencies.
Despite best efforts, domestic crime islikely to spill into the international arenaand often does. Hence, the need forinternational co-operation in suppressing
it in the form of expeditious extradition of
fugitive criminals, deportation ofundesirable aliens; mutual legal assistancein investigations and prosecutions andspeedy execution of Red Corner notices
i s s u e d b y I n t e r p o l . F u r t h e r, t h einternational community must put theirheads together to harmonise extraditionand deportation laws and to narrow thescope of ‘political offences’ in extradition
laws and the Interpol charter.
The fight against organised
transnational crime is a formidable task,
but heightened public consciousness,increasing governmental concern andmutually dependent interests of theinternational community do give us a rayof hope.

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4

50

(1) PERMANENT MEMBERS PAID ON MONTHLY BASIS-work or no work.
(2) TEMPORARY MEMBERS PAID ON JOB BASIS.
(3) WEAPONS ISSUED THROUGH INTERMEDIARIES FOR JOBS AND RETURNED WHEN JOB IS OVER.

TEMPORARYPERMANENT4PERMANENT

3SHOOTERS/EXTORTIONISTS/KIDNAPPERS

2

SHOOTERS/EXTORTIONISTS/KIDNAPPERS (4 to 5)

50

CAPTAIN/SUPERVISOR-1

3

CAPTAIN/SUPERVISOR-1

2

CHHOTE SHAKIL

NOOR

IQBAL

MUSTQUEENABU SALIMANISDAWOOD

APPENDIX IRESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54

Rasool Khan Patti
Sharif Khan
Abdul Razak

Abdul Wahab
Abdul Qadir
Altaf Hussain

Rasool Khan Patti
Sharif Khan
Abdul WahabContract
Killings

Smuggling

Abdul Watab
Yusuf Godhrawala
Om Prakash Puoiahi

IsmailRasool Khan I
Abdul Razak

Land Deals

Mohd. Hussain Barejia
H. N. Jhala
Hasan I ala

PublicRalations

Rasool Khan Patti
Sattar Battcry
Nasir Luhar
Adam Mandali

HawalaRasool Khan Patti
Abdul Wahab
Mohd Fighter
Hussain Bhuria
Ahmcd PainterYusuf Laplap

Communal
Riots

Sharif Khan
Mohd Fighter
I alia Dhobi

Sharif Khan
Abdul Wahab
Gulal

Extortion &Kidnapping

Parallel Justice
SystemRasool Khan Patti
Sharif Khan
Sattar Battery
Nasir Luhar
Sajid Ali @ DannyRauf

ISI And J&K
Linkages

Rasool Khan Patti
Gulal
Rafiq@ R.D.
Rauf
Sharif Khan
Wahid Khan

Abdul KhurdooshLiaquat Master
Sharif Khan
Junez Khan
Jahangir Khan

Arms &
Explosives

Vehicle Theft

Drugs

Bootlegging

Latif

DawoodORGANISATIONAL CHART

APPENDIX II

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
APPENDIX III
COUNTRY

Gun Running

Militancy/
Terrorism✕✓✓✓

Narcotics
Trafficking
✓
✓
✓
✓

Crime

Australia✓✓
Cambodia✓✓
Indonesia
✕
India
✓
✓
Japan
✓
Macau
✓
✕
✓
✓
Malaysia✓✓
Myanmar✓✓✓✓Phillipines✓✓✓
Sri Lanka✓✓✓✓
Taiwan✓✕✓✓Thailand✓✕✓Latin America✓✓✓✓
Central America✓✓✓✓
United States✓✓✓✓
Vietnam✓✕✓✓(Sources:Patterns of Global Terrorism, US State Department, International Narcotics
Control Strategy Report.)126

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERSREFERENCES
1. Crime in India : National Crime
Records Bureau, New Delhi (1996).
2. Crime in India : National Records
Bureau, New Delhi (1995).
3. Ibid (1995)
4. Ibid (1995)
5. Ibid (1995)
6. Ibid (1995)
7. Criminal Justice : Problems andPerspectives by S. Venugopal Rao (page131).
8. Task Force Report - The Presidents’Commission on Law Enforcement
Administration of Justice, 1967 (page1).
9. Formation of Criminal Gangs in Big
Cities by VK Saraf, former
Commissioner of Police, Bombay(unpublished study sponsored by theGovernment of India).
10. Kefauver Committee concluded that :“(a) T h e r e i s a n a t i o n w i d e c r i m e
syndicate known as the Mafia,
whose tentacles are found in manylarge cities. It has internationalramifications which appear mostclearly in connection with thenarcotics traffic.
(b) Its leaders are usually found incontrol of the most lucrative rackets
in their cities.
(c) T h e r e a r e i n d i c a t i o n s o f acentralised direction and control ofthese rackets but leadership appears
to be in a group rather than by asingle individual.
(d) The Mafia is the cement that helps
to bind the Costello-Adonis-Lansky
syndicate of New York and AccardoGuzik-Fischeddi syndicate ofChicago as well as smaller criminal
gangs and individual criminals
throughout the country. These
groups have kept in touch with
Luciano since his deportation fromthis country.

(d) The domination of the Mafia is based
fundamentally on ‘muscle’ and‘murder’ . The Mafia is a secretconspiracy against law and orderwhich will ruthlessly eliminate
anyone who stands in the way of its
success in any criminal enterprisein which it is interested. It will
destroy anyone who betrays its
secrets. It will use any means
available-political influence, bribery,
intimidation etc. to defeat any
attempt on the part of law
enforcement to touch its figures orto interfere with its operations”.
11. Op. cit note 8 (page 1)
12. The Politics and Economics of Crime
by Herbert E. Alexander and Gerald E.
Caiden (page 9). The Task Force listed
the following seven characteristics oforganized crime:(i) “Organised crime is a conspiratorial
crime.
(ii) Organised crime has profit as its
primary goal.
(iii) Organised crime is not limited toillegal enterprises or unlawful
services but includes sophisticatedactivities as well.
(iv) Organised crime is predatory, using
intimidation, violence corruption
and appeals to greed.
(v) Organised crime’s conspiratorialgroups are well disciplined andincorrigible.
(vi) Organised crime is not synonymouswith the Mafia but knows no ethnic
bounds.
(vii)Organised crime excludes politicalterrorists, being politicallyconservative, not radical.”13. Organised Crime : Concept and Control
by Denny F. Pace and Jimmie C. Styles(page 248).
14. Op cit note 12 (page1).
15. T h e P r e s i d e n t s C o m m i s s i o n o nOrganised Crime, 1986 (pages 26-32).
16. Section 2 of the Act defines a gang as :127

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54“Gang means a group of persons, who
acting either singly or collectively byviolence or threat or show of violence
or intimidation or coercion or otherunlawful means, with the object ofgaining undue political, physical,
economic or other advantage forhimself or any other person, indulge inanti-social activities, namely:(i) offences punishable under Chapter
XVI or Chapter XVII or Chapter
XXII of the IPC ; or(ii) distilling, manufacturing, storing,transporting, importing, exporting,selling or distributing any liquor
or intoxicating or dangerous drugs
or other intoxicants or narcotics or
cultivating any plant incontravention of any of theprovisions of the UP Excise Act,1910 or the Narcotics, Drugs andPsychotropic Substances Act, 1985
or any other law for the time being
in force; or(iii) occupying or taking possession of
immovable property otherwise
than in accordance with law, or
setting up false claims for title orpossession of immovable property
whether in himself or any otherperson; or(iv) preventing or attempting toprevent any public servant or any
witness from discharging his
lawful duties ; or(v) offences punishable under the
Suppression of Immoral Traffic in
Woman and Girls Act,1956 (ActNo.104 of 1956) ; or(vi) offences punishable under section
3 of the Public Gambling Act, 1867; or(vii) preventing or disturbing thesmooth running by any person of
his lawful business, profession,
trade or employment or any otherlawful activity connected
therewith ; or128(viii)activities enumerated in clause (b)of Section 2 of the Uttar Pradesh
Control of Goondas Act, 1979 ; or(ix) offences punishable under section
171-E of the Indian Penal Code orin preventing or obstructing any
public election being lawfully heldby physically preventing the votersfrom exercising electoral rights ; or(x) inciting others to resort to violence
to disturb communal harmony ; or(xi) creating panic, alarm or terror in
public ; or(xii) t e r r o r i s i n g o r a s s a u l t i n gemployees or owners or occupiersof public or private undertakings
or factories and causing mischiefin respect of their properties ; or(xiii)inducing or attempting to induce
any person to go to foreigncountries on false representationthat any employment, trade orprofession shall be provided to him
in such foreign country ; or(xiv)kidnapping of abducting any
person with intent to extort
ransom ; or(xv) diverting of otherwise preventing
any aircraft or public transport
vehicles from following its
scheduled course.”
A gangster “means a member or leader
or organiser of a gang and includes any
person who abets or assists in theactivities of a gang enumerated inclause (b), whether before or after thecommission of such activities, or
harbours any person who has indulged
in such activities.”
17. The Indian Mafia by S. K. Ghosh.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid.
20. Formation of Criminal Gangs in Major
cities by VK Saraf (an unpublishedstudy sponsored by the Government ofIndia).
21. Ibid.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
22. Based on the data collected from the
Office of the Commissioner of Police,
Delhi.
23. Based on the report of Joint Task Force,
Karnataka.
24. Based on a paper prepared by thisauthor (unpublished).
25. Based on a report prepared by the
Office the Commissioner of Police,
Ahmedabad.
26. Based on the investigation conductedby CBI.
27. Narcotics Control Bureau Report(1995).
28. Data compiled by the Departmental of
Revenue, Government of India, New
Delhi.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid.
31. Ibid.
32. Uncivil Wars by Med Marwah (page390).
33. Ibid.
34. Paper on ‘Proliferation and Smugglingof Light Weapons within the Region’ by
Tara Kartha Reseach Fellow, IDSA,New Delhi.
35. Op cit. note 32.
36. Op cit. note 17.
37. Based on a paper published by theauthor titled ‘Crime Scenario in India: Need to Strengthen Criminal Laws’in CBI Bulletin (1996).
38. Such presumptions could be raised
under Section 21 of the Terrorist andDisruptive Activities (Prevention) Act,
1987, which was allowed to lapse in
1995 and has not been substituted byanother anti-terrorism law.

129

PARTICIPANTS’ PAPERSRESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54

GENERAL PICTURE OF ORGANIZED CRIME IN JAPAN:
THE ACTIVITIES OF ORGANIZED CRIMINAL GROUPSBASED IN OR OUTSIDE JAPAN
Yutaka Nagashima*
I. INTRODUCTION
In Japan, the recent process ofinternationalization has brought about anincrease of Japanese going abroad, as wellas an expansion in the number of visiting
foreigners who are permitted to stay for alimited period of time, or are staying
illegally in Japan ( hereinafter the “visiting
foreigners”). It is quite natural that in linewith such a change of Japanese society,transnational or international crimes andcriminals have been attracting more andmore serious concern, not only from those
professionals in the criminal justice field,
but also by the mass media, politicians andcitizens in general.
In Japan, it seems that the traditionalorganized criminal groups, “Bouryokudan”,
are mostly involved in internationalized
crimes. So, this paper will first explain thehistorical background and changing
features of the activities of Bouryokudan,referring when appropriate to the special
laws and ordinances like the AntiBouryokudan Law, enacted to prevent andcounteract the organized criminal activities
and to protect the victims and the people
in general. The recent phenomena of theinternationalization of Bouryokudan, inparticular, dealing with crimes committed
in and outside of Japan among theBouryokudan and the organized criminalgroups of other nations and regions, will
also be considered.
The general trends in crimes committed
by visiting foreigners in Japan, with the* Senior Research Official, Reseach and Training
Institute of the Ministry of Justice, Japan.

130

intention of providing overall informationon the changing features of their criminal
conduct in Japan, will be discuction in thesecond half of this paper.
Information on individual cases in which
visiting foreigners staying in Japan
committed crimes as part of a criminalgroup, mostly in connection with theJapanese and their native-land criminal
syndicates will be provided. Crimes suchas the mass smuggling of illegal migrants,
robbery and burglary of jewelry etc., pickpocketing, ticket swinding, defrauding
pachinko ( a kind of slot-machine ) parlors,
theft and transnational trafficking of stolen
motor vehicles etc., will be considered inthis paper (excluding crimes involving
drugs).
II. TRENDS IN CRIMESBY GANG ORGANIZATIONS( BOURYOKUDAN ) IN JAPANA. Realities of Bouryokudan
Bouryokudan, or gang organization, may
be defined in general terms as “anorganization or group which collectively
and habitually engages, or is prepared toengage, in criminal activities accompanied
by violence.” A typical gang or gangster
includes the categories of professional
gamblers, street peddlers, delinquent
youth groups, stevedore gangs andunscrupulous constructors. Their scale andsphere of activity vary from one
organization to another, but there are somecommon characteristics peculiar to them.
For example, externally they intervene in
the civic life or business transactions ofcitizens, using the power of their

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
organization to obtain funds unlawfully or
improperly, and internally they try tostrengthen the control and solidarity of
their organization, based on the pseudokinship of all members.
Besides Bouryokudan, there exists
another type of organized criminal groupclose to them. They are Sokaiya, who after
obtaining rights as stockholders, demand
undue gains from enterprises by throwing
the general meeting of stockholders into
confusion etc. They also pose as publiccampaigners or political adventurers who
pretend or profess to be engaged in somesocial movements or political activities forthe purpose of disrupting commercial
enterprise. They meddle in civic life orbusiness activities and gain undue profits
to desist.
Such groups emerged through cracks inthe social structure and under the influenceof the socio-economic conditions of the time.
They repeatedly split and merged among
themselves and have survived persistently
over the ages as a true antisocial andmalignant element of society. Table 1
shows the trend in the number ofBouryokudan members cleared by thepolice for Penal Code offences, and referred
for Special Law violations (1956-1996).
B. Comprehensive View of the Past
Activities of Bouryokudan
During the period of post war chaos ( late
1940s), a number of new lawless groups,
small and large, mushroomed on top of thelong-established gangs of gamblers andstreet peddlers. They advanced into
various rackets such as street hawking,black markets, gambling, group robberies
and strong-arm protection. The newgroups repeatedly battled with the older
groups over the command of territories andover the various interests involved.
The number of gang members arraigned
on Penal Code offences cleared by the police
was more than 30,000 in 1946 and 1947.
This period was marked by frequent

clashes between gangs fighting over theirterritorial rights and interests such as therunning of black markets and otherrackets. The fights were frequently largescale and bloody, since the gangs werearmed with military weapons and fired oneach other indiscriminately, thus causingmuch public uneasiness. The gangsters
became the most important target of thepolice at that time. After 1948, the numberof gangster Penal Code offenders
decreased, due primarily to: gradual
recovery from postwar chaos; frequent
crackdowns on gangs; and strong police
efforts to force the gangs to disband,
including the mandatory dissolution of
specific gangs under Cabinet Order. Thesestrict measures against gangster criminal
activities seem to have worked effectively
to reduce the incidence of crime, for a while.
The early 1950s to the early 1960s iscalled the “Period of Gang Wars”. This was
the time when new entertainment quarters
arose in major cities, and newly
industrialized areas developed along with
the nation’s rapid social and economic
recovery, thanks to an economic boom
fueled by the Korean War procurement.
New Gurentai (street gangsters) came into
power, preying on such quarters, andtargeting the interests involved inpachinko (a kind of slot-machine) parlors,
public gambling set-ups (bicycle races, etc.),
sex-related business (massage parlors,etc.), prostitution, Philopon (a stimulantdrug) and other rackets. The new and oldgangs battled incessantly to stake out theirterritorial claims, and there were repeatedbreakups and mergers to establish thegangs’ ‘division of power’ over the nation
during this period.
From 1955 to 1965 Japan achieved
remarkable economic success. During thedecade, the boom stimulated international
trade and multiplied the amount of workat ports. The resulting spending spree
proved highly profitable for theentertainment business. This in turn131

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
produced huge income for the gangs who
controlled construction and harborworkers, and maintained strong-arm men
to ‘protect’ the entertainment quarters.
During this period, the so-called seven gang
syndicates (later named as such by the
National Police Agency (NPA)) achieved
great power. The seven syndicates are
Yamaguchi-gumi, Honda-kai (later
renamed Dainihon Heiwa-kai), Sumiyoshikai (currently Sumiyoshi Rengo-kai),
Kinsei-kai (currently Inagawa-kai), andMatsuba-kai.
The number of gang-associated Penal
Code offenders was approximately 2,500 in
1952, but increased to approximately
11,000 in 1953. It rose to more than 80,000
in 1956. The number then decreased, but
hovered at the 40,000 to 50,000 level until
1965. The total number of gangsters
involved in crimes of violence, bodily injury
and murder in 1968 constitutes 48.4
percent of the total number of gangassociated Penal Code offenders, reflecting
the intense inter-gang confrontation andconflicts during that year. A significant
number of cases of inter-gang conflict was
shown in the decade beginning in 1955.
With this situation as the background, thenumber of gang syndicates and theirmembers drastically increased during theperiod. There were approximately 4,200
organizations with approximately 93,000
members in 1958. However, in 1963, theorganizations increased to approximately
5,200, with a record-breaking membershipof approximately 184,000.
In 1958, in order to properly cope withthe situation, the government proposed in
the Diet, a bill to introduce in the Penal
Code a new article on the crime of
intimidation of a witness, and the proposal
became law. Also amended was the Codeof Criminal Procedure whereby gangassociated inmates were placed under astatus in which bail may only be granted
at the discretion of the court, if the court
deems it likely that they will retaliate

132

against witnesses who testify against
gangsters in detention. In addition, the
Law Concerning Compensation for
Damage Inflicted on the Witness, waspromulgated to provide protection towitnesses. With a view to forestalling intergang conflicts, the crime of unlawful
assembly with dangerous weapons was also
introduced in the Penal Code. In the same
year, the Firearms and Swords Control
Ordinance was revised whereby heavier
penalties were provided for the use andpossession of dangerous weapons,
including firearms and swords. In 1964,
the Law for Punishment of Acts of Violence
was amended to introduce an aggravatedcrime of bodily injury committed with
firearms and swords, as well as to provide
for heavier penalties for habitual offenders
involved in crimes of violence. Fromaround 1952, Local prefectural legislatures
promulgated the Public NuisancePrevention Ordinance to protect residents
from the distasteful, annoying conduct of
the gang members. This legislation paved
the way for devising nationwide systems
to restrain underworld criminal syndicates.
With the nationwide campaign for
sweeping crackdowns on gangorganizations as the background, intensive
and comprehensive attempts to control
gang members were conducted from 1964
to 1965. The main focus of the policy was
the strict control of the illegal activities ofleaders of gang organizations, crimes
related to revenue sources of the syndicates
and their weapons. These were called‘summit operations’, by which police aimed
at keeping the activities of gang syndicatesin check. The operations were continuously
performed, later joined by local
governments who banned events sponsoredby gangs at public facilities, throughout thenation.
Looking at the total number of gangsters
cleared by the police for Penal Codeoffences and Special Law violations,approximately 59,000 gangsters were108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
cleared in 1964 and 57,000 in 1965, which
accounted for one-third of the members of
the criminal syndicates. The figure
dropped to approximately 43,000 in 1966,
and further declined to the 38,000 level
between 1967 and 1969, which reflected theconcerted ‘summit operation’ and thesubsequent reduction in the overall
activities of criminal organizations.
Broken down in terms of offences, heinous
crimes and violent offences markedly
decreased in 1968 compared with those in
the decade from 1955. The effects of thesummit operation were also seen in thedecrease of gang syndicates and theirmembership. The number wasapproximately 5,200 with approximately
184,000 membership in 1963. However, it
decreased to 3,500 organizations in 1969,and membership decreased toapproximately 139,000.
In the early 1970s, gangs managed torevive themselves through reorganization.
Major gangs with extensive areas of thenation under their influence absorbed
small and medium-sized gangs. A new mapof territories governed by such syndicates
was made as a result. The number of gang
syndicates was approximately 3,000 andthe membership was approximately
123,000 in 1972. The number decreased
gradually to approximately 2,500
organizations and approximately 107,000
membership in 1979. However, during
1972 to 1979, the total number oforganizations under the NPA-designatedseven syndicates increased fromapproximately 870 to 1,000, and themembership from approximately 33,000 to
34,000.
The power of the gang syndicates, whose
influence covered a wide range of areas, did
not necessarily decline but was rather
reinforced during 1970s. The ‘summit
operation’ worked effectively on small andmedium-sized gang syndicates as a resultof a decline in the overall number oforganizations and their membership.

However, major gang syndicates placedsuch damaged small and medium-sizedorganizations under their umbrellas andthus their power was increased in general.
Because of the economic slump in the
period of low economic growth after the oilcrisis in 1974, it became difficult for gangs
to maintain their organizations while
depending only on their traditional money
sources. Some gangs disguised themselves
into rightist political organizations, whileothers advanced into the field of Sokaiyastock racketeers ( racketeers to blackmaila company at a general meeting ofstockholders ). They even intervened ineconomic transactions and sponsoredoverseas gambling tours. In this way they
promoted multiple business operations,modernization and every possible illegal
activity to survive, while trying to hidethemselves from police crackdowns.
Small and medium sized gangs had only
traditional illegal money sources, while
major syndicates had abundant, diversified
money sources, regardless of whether they
were illegal or legal, and established the
management system by collecting moneyfrom organizations under their umbrellas.
Because the smaller organizations werevulnerable to invasions of larger
organizations and police checks, it was anatural result that smaller organizations
were dissolved or merged under major
syndicates. Especially notable were theexpansion of the three NPA-designatedmajor syndicates, i.e the Yamaguchi-gumi,
Inagawa-kai and Sumiyoshi Rengo-kai,and the progress of ‘oligopoly of the gangworld’ by major syndicates. If the numberof gangs under the umbrella of the threesyndicates and their membership in 1968
is set as 100, the indicator increased to
153.9 for the number of organizations and140.4 for membership in 1979.
The total number of gangster-related
offenders cleared by police on Penal Codeand Special Law violation charges
gradually increased after 1970 and the133

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
number topped 50,000 from 1973 until
around 1975. Although the number ofgangsters was decreasing during theperiod, the number of those cleared bypolice remained at a high level. From thestatistics, we can conclude that thecriminal activities by gangsters did not
calm down, but were rather activated in
the new drastic moves, including
reorganization, of the gang world. Looking
in more detail, homicide, bodily injuries
and gambling, and Special Law violationsof the Firearms and Swords Control Law,
Stimulant Drug Control Law, Child
Welfare Law and Horse Racing Law
showed marked increases. This trend
suggests the progress of gangarmamentation and diversification of theirmoney sources. Among them, increases inviolations of the Stimulant Drug Control
Law suggest that the sale of stimulant
drugs is the most convenient and, also themost profitable, crime in terms of money
sources for major syndicates ( which werethen rapidly growing during the period,
taking advantage of the fact that theirinfluence covered wide areas).
The 1980s was called the ‘Period ofGeneration Exchange and Transition’. In
the world of gangsters, major generation
changes went on and the ganglandexperienced a major transition over a newhegemony. For instance, the thirdgeneration boss of Yamaguchi-gumi died in1981 and fights over the next boss started.
In 1984, those against appointment of the
fourth-generation boss spun out from thesyndicate and established anothersyndicate named Ichiwa-kai. In 1985, thefourth-generation boss of Yamaguchi-gumi
was shot and killed by members of Ichiwakai, triggering a series of fierce battles
between the two major syndicates. Ichiwakai dissolved in 1989 and the confrontation
was finally settled. The fifth-generation
boss was appointed to head Yamaguchig u m i . H o w e v e r, t h o s e a g a i n s t t h eappointment of the fifth boss left the134

syndicate and declared their independence
from Yamaguchi-gumi. The similar
problem of succeeding aged bosses was seen
in other syndicates which covered major
areas.
Also, since the 1980s, criminal
syndicates are expected to face difficulties
in trying to enlist new young members, asituation which they have probably neverexperienced before. In the gangland,gangsters are steadily aging since young
people try to stay away from gangs. In thepast it was said that the supply of ganglandmembers would never be cut. However,each organization is now suffering from theshortage of new young members.
On March 1, 1992, the so-called AntiBouryokudan Law ( the Law Concerning
Prevention of Unjust Acts by Bouryokudan
Members ) came into force as a law toregulate the various activities of gangsters’organizations administratively. The
purpose of the Law is to secure the safeand peaceful life of citizens and to protect
the freedom and rights of the people. It
authorizes the Government to exercise
administrative control over dubious
activities which, though suspected to becriminal, are difficult to control with only
the investigative techniques available in
the past. Under this Law, a gangsters’organization which comes under specificconditions prescribed by the Law is a
“Designated Bouryokudan”, and themembers of such Bouryokudan are subject
to control. As of the end of 1996, thenumber of designated Bouryokudan is 24.
The acts to be controlled are those which
unduly demand money or other things,
through demonstrating the strength oftheir organizations. Administrative orders
are issued against these acts. The numberof cases where such orders were issued wasabout 4,700, as of the end of 1996. This
Law also provides for: assistance tooperators of businesses to prevent
Bouryokudan from inflicting damage;restriction of the use of Bouryokudan’s

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
offices at the time of fighting among
Bouryokudans; prohibition of interferencein the sucession of a member from theorganization and so on; which is proving
effective for promoting the measuresagainst Bouryokudan. Since 1992, whenthe Anti-Bouryokudan Law was enacted,
the number of struggling incidents between
rival Bouryokudan organizations has
rapidly decreased.
Looking at the changes in the numberof gangs and their members since the1980s, the number of gangs wasapproximately 2,500 (organizations) withapproximately 104,000 members in 1980.
However, the number of organizations
decreased to approximately 2,200, withapproximately 94,000 members, in 1985.
These figures are about half or more of thecorresponding figures in the beginning of
1960s. The number of sub-organizations
under the three major syndicates decreased
from approximately 770 in 1980, toapproximately 720 in 1985. However, theirmembers slightly increased fromapproximately 22,800 in 1980, toapproximately 23,200 in 1985. As at theend of 1996, all the members ofBouryokudan were approximately 46,000,
and the members under the three major
syndicates were approximately 30,900. As
a whole, the number of gangsters has been
decreasing as a recent tendency.
The number of gang members cleared bypolice on Penal Code and Special Law
violations decreased drastically after 1985.
Especially, the number of Penal Codeoffenders has decreased remarkably. The
number of Special Law violators has also
decreased but the number of Stimulant
Drug Control Law violations is still high,even after 1985. These crimes frequently
take place because the trafficking ofstimulant drugs are major monetary
sources for gang organizations. Thesecriminal offences of gangsters in general
have, however, become less typical in gangorganizations. One possible reason for thisis that criminal activities of the gang
syndicates have gone further underground.
Also, diversification of their revenue
sources, such as running companies, havefurther progressed, along with theeconomic expansion during 1980s as a
background.
Although gangs meddling in civil
disputes - civil disputes being those arisingfrom the loaning of money, tenancy of realestate and amicable settlements incompensation for traffic accidents - are notnew, gangsters are now living closely withthe general public and have been utilizing
civil troubles positively as major money
source since the 1980s. This may be
regarded as one of the diversified revenue
sources of gangs. Also activities such as
Sokaiya professional shareholders’ meeting
racketeers, and involvement in real estate
racketeering, and stock speculation
operations, are also regarded as activities
creating a the diversified money source.
Considering this situation, it is safe toconclude that the diversification andmodernization of gangster syndicatesmanagement has been drasticallyprogressing.
The main sources of income for
Bouryokudan was gambling andtransactions in contraband, such as drugs.
In recent years however, Bouryokudan
have apparently been engaged in largescale fund-raising activities such as largescale fraud and intimidation, to gain hugeamount of funds, in addition to theactivities they have been engaged in up topresent. This trend is clearly demonstrated
by the growing number of cases involving
violent acts against enterprises; aimed atsqueezing undue gains from enterprises
which produce enormous profits. Also, as
mentioned below, it appears that theactivities of Bouryokudan have tended to
become international.
Also in recent years, there has beenremarkable changes taking place among
Bouryokudan. As mentioned above, one

135

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
such change is the large syndicates’
oligopolistic trend. Pursuant to the
expansion of the scope of activities of thecriminal syndicates, large syndicatesabsorb smaller ones in various parts of thecountry. At present, three large syndicatesin Japan enroll two-thirds of all themembers of the syndicates. Also, criminal
syndicates in Japan tended to show off in
the past, flaunting their existence andpower at opportunities such as the
succession of crime bosses or at the funerals
of seniors, but after the enforcement of theAnti-Bouryokudan Law, there is also thetendency to try to hide their organizationin order to avoid being “designated” under
the Law.
In regard to cases of violence directed
toward enterprises, Bouryokudan, Sokaiya
and political activity interference groups
can expect substancial gains because thevictims are large companies. In recent
years, there has been a tendency among
these groups to work in closer cooperation.
The tendency of Japanese criminal
syndicates to become oligopolistic orborderless in their activities can be said tobe a special feature of organized crime inJapan.
Another point of note is the progressive
armament of gang organizations with guns
and other weapons. Looking at thestatistics concerned, the fluctuation in thenumber of weapons seized from gang
syndicates and members show a marked
change in weapons the gangsters use, fromswords and daggers to guns, in step withthe changing times. In terms of guns, thenumber seized and its percentage against
the total weapons seized increased since1970. Especially, the numbers increased in
the early 1980s. In recent years, thenumber of guns occupied about one-thirdof the all weapons seized. The progressive
armament of each syndicate is top secret
and thus we project a large increase incrimes related to weapons. The armament
number must be further progressing, thus,

136

there is concern that the proliferation ofhigh-powered weapons will increase asgang syndicates have to supplement
declining strength due to difficulties inrecruiting successors and the aging of thecurrent members.
C. Internationalization of
Bouryokudan
Internationalization is one of theimportant trends of gang syndicates inrecent years. Data on internationalization
is not necessarily sufficient, but thefollowing points can be judged from therecent trend in crimes.
Crimes involving drugs and weapons,such as violations of the Stimulant Drug
Control Law and the Firearms and Swords
Control Law, are committed on theinternational stage in many cases. Drugs
and guns have been smuggled into Japanfor a long time and in recent years such
smuggling has come to be committed, on alarge scale, by organized groups. Largescale smuggling cases, unprecedented in
the past, are sometimes detected andcleared. As the smuggling and illicit saleof drugs, among others, bring huge profits,
the Bouryokudan actively take part in
unlawful drug transactions, and in recent
years, smuggle and illicitly sell drugs inJapan. Considering the frequency thatthese crimes have been taking place, I haveto assume that cooperation between
Japanese gangs and foreign criminal
syndicates has been considerably
progressing. Bouryokudan may be linking
with some overseas criminal groups which
deal in drugs, in order to smuggle drugs
into Japan. Gambling tours to othercountries, and tours to obtain drivers’
licenses, are assumedly done in cooperation
between Japanese and foreign local gangs.
In recent years, the violation ofregulations on businesses affecting public
morals and illegal employment of foreign
workers is becoming a social problem.
Since the violators are illegal aliens,

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
domestic and foreign criminalorganizations are usually involved in
obtaining their entry into the country, andproviding residence and employment. It
is worrisome that Japanese gangs will
strengthen ties with foreign syndicatesthrough these activities.
The overseas activities of Japanesegangs, in addition to the above-mentioned
activities, so far includes: operatingnightclubs, bars and souvenir shops;
introduction of gambling spots andprostitutes to Japanese tourists; and thesale of pornographic films. Because oflimitations in their language ability, areasof activity are limited to countries where
many Japanese travel. However, as theties with foreign syndicates increases andstrengthens at home and abroad, theinternationalization of gang syndicates is
expected to further progress the Japanesegangs.
III. TRENDS IN CRIMES BY
VISITING FOREIGNERS IN JAPANA. Entering Aliens and Residents
Who Illegally Overstay
The number of entering aliens started
to show a prominent increase around the
mid-1980s. It was approximately 1,787,000
in 1987, and exceeded 3,000,000 in 1991.
It was approximately 3,410,000 in 1996. As
for the breakdown by nationality( including regions; hereinafter the same )in 1996, those from Asian countries
accounted for about 60% of the total andKoreans ( 26% ) were the largest in number,
followed by Taiwanese ( 20% ), Americans( 16% ) and Chinese ( 4% ), in that order.
Regarding the status of residence,“temporary visitor” occupied the majority,
accounting for about 93% of the total.
The estimated number of illegal
residents who overstayed in Japan was
283,000 as of 1 November 1996. As for the
breakdown by nationality, Koreans ( 18% )were the largest in number, followed byPhilippinos ( 15% ), Thais ( 14% ), Chinese( 13% ) and Peruvians ( 5% ), in that order.
B. General Trends in Crimes
Committed by Foreigners
The number of Penal Code offences(excluding traffic professional negligence )committed by visiting foreigners, whichwere cleared by the police, has greatly
increased since 1980. It was 867 in 1980.
It continued to increase drastically,
exceeding 10,000 in 1993. The number in1996 reached approximately 19,500, which
was 23 times as high as that of 1980 ( refer
to Figure 2 in Appendix A ).
As for the Special Law violations byforeigners, the numbers of offences(excluding road traffic violations ) clearedby the police have shown a similar trend
as those of Penal Code offences committed
by visiting foreigners, which started toincrease in 1990. The number of Special
Law offenders, who were visiting foreigners
and who were referred to the publicprosecutors offices (excluding road traffic
violators), has increased fromapproximately 2,300 in 1980 toapproximately 5,900 in 1996.
As for the violations of the ImmigrationControl and Refugee-Recognition Act, thenumber of received violators (the number
of offenders referred by the police or otherinvestigating organizations and newly
received by the public prosecutors offices)
has been on the decrease since the early
1960s. It was on the 600 mark mostly
during the period of 1966 to 1985. Since
1989, however, it has shown a drastic
increase. It was more than 1,000 in 1990,
when the total number of foreigners
entering Japan exceeded 3,500,000. The
number totaled some 8,000 in 1996.
The number of received violators of the
Alien Registration Law had peaks
exceeding the 20,000 mark every other year
during 1952 to 1957 ( namely in 1953, 1955,
and 1957 ) and smaller peaks exceeding the
15,000 mark every three years since 1957,

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
the last of which was of some 18,300 in
1972. The number started to decrease in1973. It has decreased remarkably since
1989, and has remained on the 300 marksince 1991.
The number of heinous offences(homicide and robbery) committed byvisiting foreigners has still kept a high level
despite a declining trend after a peak in
1993. As for homicide, the number ofoffences and offenders cleared by the police
were 58 cases and 72 offenders in 1993, and36 cases and 41 offenders in 1995. As forrobbery, these numbers were 124 cases and142 offenders in 1993, and 104 cases and135 offenders in 1995. As to the victims ofsuch offences, in 1995 persons of the samenationality were victims in 40% of thehomicides committed by visiting foreigners,
but Japanese were the victims in more than
80% of the robberies committed by visiting
foreigners.
The number of visiting foreigners among
the Stimulant Drugs Control Law violators
cleared by the police increased greatly since
1989, when the number was approximately
70.
The number in 1996 wasapproximately 560.
IV. ACTIVITIES OF SOMEORGANIZED TRANSNATIONALCRIME GROUPS IN JAPAN
A. Activities Related to the Mass
Smuggling of Illegal Migrants
More than 1,000 illegal immigrants had
been arrested in Japan in 1997 ( by the endof September ). According to the National
Police Agency ( NPA ), 1,070 people, 90 %of whom were Chinese, were arrested in
51 separate incidents in the same period.
In 1996, there were a total of 670 illegal
immigrants apprehended, compared with
350 in 1995. In 1996, 670 arrests weremade in 28 separate cases, almost double
the 15 cases in 1995. Police sources
attributed the jump in these figures toincreased activity by the “Shetou,” or138“Snakeheads” organized crime group,
based largely in Hong Kong and Taiwan,
who organized the smuggling of illegal
immigrants from China.
The extent of organized smuggling
involving Chinese nationals was revealedin 1997 by the January arrest of 86 Chinese
in Okinawa Prefecture. Again in January,
31 Chinese were arrested at the Kobe Port.
In February, the Maritime Safety Agency
arrested a further 96 Chinese on board a
vessel off Kochi Prefecture (Shikoku
Province). Again in February, 67 foreigners
were discovered after some of them landed
on Hachijo Island, about 250 kilometers
south of Tokyo. In another case in
February, 29 Chinese, whose boat ran
aground on a local beach, were arrested in
Shizuoka Prefecture.
Most of the Chinese arrested in 1997
came from the Fujian Province. They wererecruited by the Snakehead group andshipped to Japan where there is asophisticated reception network for them.
The illegal immigrants are lured by theprospect of high wages. Although several
members of the Snakehead group havebeen arrested, police are still unsure as tothe extent of its activities. The crime
syndicates in Japan also cooperate in thesmuggling racket. The following cases
showed that the activities of the Japanesecrime syndicates, in collusion with a
syndicate Snakehead, were playing an
increasingly major role in smuggling illegal
Chinese immigrants into Japan.
In late March 1997, W.Y. ( 33, Chinese )was arrested on suspicion of illegallyobtaining a Japanese passport. He wasalso suspected of helping 99 Chinese
nationals attempt to enter Japan illegallyin December 1996. Police believe W.Y.
played a key role in bringing illegal
immigrants from China, under instruction
from the Snakehead smuggling ring, while
residing in Japan.
In the early hours of a December 1996
day, a Maritime Safety Agency patrol boat

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
seized a Japanese fishing boat after thewould-be illegal immigrants weretransferred to it from a Chinese fishingboat off the tip of a peninsula in Aichi
Prefecture. After arresting the Chinese
passengers and a member of a gangaffiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi crime
syndicate, police discovered the Chinesesyndicate’s involvement in the smuggling
attempt. A Japanese gangster told policethat he had been asked by W.Y. to arrangea ship for the Chinese.
W.Y., who once studied at a Japanese
language school in Kobe on a student visa,
frequently traveled to Kyushu and theSanin region, where many Chinese havebeen arrested since the summer of 1996 fortrying to enter Japan illegally. He also
traveled between Japan and China, via
Hong Kong in late 1996 allegedly using a
passport he had obtained illegally, to meetwith Snakehead members in China.
A failed Snakehead operation to smuggle
about 40 illegal immigrants into Japan in
1996 involved 2 Chinese criminal groups
and 2 Japanese crime syndicates. The
illegal immigrants, smuggled in by the
Sino-Japanese group, were arrested inTokyo in December 1996. The illegal
immigrants, mostly Chinese, werediscovered crammed into a condominium
in Tokyo. The smuggling ring was madeup of criminal groups from the Shanghai
and Fujian Provinces in China and from
crime syndicates in Tokyo and Kyushu.
However, the ring had no fixed membershipor formal structure and was joined by someof the illegal immigrants being smuggled.
Six Chinese Snakehead members who areresidents in Japan and 12 Japanese,
including gang members, have beenarrested in connection with the incident.
According to police investigations, theunsuccessful smuggling operation was
launched when L.G. ( 27, Chinese, from
Fujian Province ) received instructions
from Snakeheads in China. L.G. sought
the cooperation of Z.L. ( 40, Chinese ),leader of the Shanghai group, and the
Fujian and Shanghai groups agreed tojointly conduct the operation. Z.L. asked
T.H. ( 28, Japanese ), a member of a gangaffiliated with the Tokyo-based Sumiyoshikai crime syndicate, to transport the
Chinese to Tokyo. T.H. then asked E.T. ( 37,Japanese ), members of the Dojin-kai crime
syndicate in Kyushu, to arrange a fishingboat for the stowaways.
Two Japanese gang leaders, T.H. andE.T., admitted making four attempts, with
the Hong Kong crime syndicate
Snakehead, to smuggle Chinese into
Japan. Police quoted the men as sayingthat two of the attempts were successful,netting Snakeheads an estimated 300
million yen. The Tokyo and Kyushu based
gangs each received a cut of 70 million yen.
T.H. told police Snakeheads enlisted his
support in smuggling operations on fouroccasions in early November andDecember. The first and third attempts
were unsuccessful as the smuggling boats
failed to appear at a designated place.
However, two of the attempts weresuccessful with a total of about 100 Chinese
smuggled into Japan. T.H., accompaniedby 2 Snakehead members, chartered afishing boat and took the illegal
immigrants to a fishing port in Nagasaki
Prefecture ( Kyushu Province ). They weretransported by a large truck to a local
expressway and then transferred to two
small buses, arriving at the condominium
in Tokyo. When the Chinese secured work
they would call their families and ask themto pay Snakeheads 3 million yen. Police
believe T.H. received a total of 70 million
yen from Snakeheads, and that after
paying 10 million yen in truck and fishingboat rental fees, he divided the money
between the two gangs.
Previously, Snakeheads had divided the
profits equally between itself and local
gangs. Police said the fact that T.H. waspaid only about 20 percent of the profits
indicated that many Japanese gangs were139

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
vying for Snakehead’s business.
The cost of arranging a smuggling
operation of this type varies depending on
the case and the degree of risk involved.
In a case cleared in 1997, brokers( Snakehead members ) who help an illegal
immigrant enter Japan could expect toreceive around 80,000 yuan ( 1.18 million
yen ). The sum increases to approximately
250,000 yuan ( 3.7 million yen ) if they help
them to find a job and somewhere to live.
With regard to the techniques of themass smuggling, Kobe maritime police
have established how 31 Chinese, found in
a container aboard a freighter, were able
to smuggle themselves into Kobe Port inJanuary 1997. The Chinese stowaways
were arrested and charged with violating
the Immigration Control and Refugee
Recognition Law after they emerged fromthe container.
According to police, the smuggling
attempt was arranged by a Chinese broker
based in Fujian Province. The 31 Chinese,
all from Fujian and Guangdong provinces,in groups crossed the Chinese border into
Hong Kong in late 1996 in cars provided
by brokers. After staying at an apartment
for one month, they were collected one day
by a big refrigerator truck, which took themto the port. After spending five days in thetruck, they finally transferred to acontainer that was connected to therefrigerator truck. Food and plastic bottles
of water had been left in the 12-meter-longcontainer to sustain the group during theweek long voyage to Japan. They arrived
in Kobe on a January morning, and waited
at the port to be collected by a person sentby the broker. As the person responsible
for collecting them never arrived, thestowaways emerged from beneath thecanvas cover of the container and werespotted by police and arrested.
B. Activities of Robbery and
Burglary Groups
The National Police Agency (NPA)

140

announced that the number of wellplanned robberies committed by organizedcrime groups, some of them foreign,increased in 1996. Gang members werearrested in more than 24,000 theft-relatedcases in 1996, an increase of 1.3 times over
1995. More than 25 percent of gang-relatedrobberies were carried out by two or more
people, a rate that is significantly greaterthan the 15.2 percent for all arrests fortheft.
The growing role played by foreign
gangs, like those from Russia, should be
noted. Russian Mafias are believed to be
the intended recipients of many of theluxury cars stolen by thieves in this country
and then shipped overseas. Japanesegangsters were arrested in Hokkaido andTottori in car-theft rings that sold theirbooty to Russian gangsters. Fukuoka
Prefectural Police are also investigating
allegations that a gang member played aleading role in a ring that stole luxury cars
for sale in Russia.
Chinese gangs have also made theirpresence felt in recent years. As mentioned
above, one Chinese triad, the Snakeheads,
has been implicated in the smuggling ofillegal immigrants into Japan. Membersof the Snakeheads are also suspected ofhaving used some of those smuggled
migrants to rob clothing and jewelry
outlets.
Of the 38 cases in which arrests weremade in connection with organized heists
at clothing and jewelry outlets 1996, 31
involved Chinese nationals. The robberies
netted about 50 billion yen. Miyagi
Prefectural Police arrested 11 Chinese - allof whom were smuggled into the country
by the Snakeheads - in similar thefts
involving about 380 million yen.
About 20,000 jewelry items and brandname products, worth a total of about 1.2
billion yen, were stolen from 21 stores inTokyo and seven neighboring prefectures
over a one-year period since November
1996, by thieves who visited the stores

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
during the day and disabled crimeprevention sensors. Posing as customers,
the thieves masked the sensors when clerks
were not watching and broke into the storesafter they had closed. The sensors, whichwere switched off during the day, were
wired to security company offices. If thesensors are covered they cannot detectmovement and trigger alarms.
In November 1996, about 200 brandname products worth about 150 million
yen, including Rolex watches and Chanelbags, were stolen from a display case in an
imported-goods store in Tokyo. The robbers
broke into the store by breaking a window
on the second floor. In February 1997,
about 1,700 rings and other pieces ofjewelry worth about 200 million yen werestolen from a jewelry shop in Tokyo. In
May 1997, 1,500 watches and items ofjewelry worth about 65 million yen werestolen from a watch shop in Yamanashi.
According to police, many of the stores
were visited by a group of two or threecustomers, apparently Chinese nationals,
who reportedly had acted suspiciously at
the stores several days prior to therobberies. While one of them kept the clerk
busy by asking questions or asking to beshown various products, the othermembers apparently worked on thesensors, they said.
Police suspect a foreign theft ringcapable of selling large amounts of stolen
jewelry and brand-name products may bebehind the robberies. Police also believe
the thieves are knowledgeable about store
security systems.
In some respects, Chinese and Japanesegangs operate along similar lines.
Generally, they delegate particular tasks,
such as making fake license plates or
carrying out robberies, to individual
members. However, the Chinese gangs
differ in that their leaders instruct gangmembers via cellular phones and take amore behind-the-scenes approach torobbery.

C. Activities of the Pickpocket
Rings
An increasing number of gangs of
pickpockets, with Chinese leaders andJapanese subordinates, have been
allegedly stealing wallets from salaried
workers’ jackets at drinking spots andshops in Tokyo. In the majority of cases,
Chinese pickpockets, assisted by Japanesehelpers, lift wallets out of jackets hung on
the back of chairs or on hooks on the wallat drinking establishments and otherplaces. The pickpockets call this sort ofcrime ‘swing’.
Such thefts have been on the rise acrossthe country since 1994. In Tokyo, police
received about 200 reports of swing-typethefts in 1994, about 400 reports in 1995
and the same number in 1996. But thefigure in 1997 ( by the end of September )had already reached about 600. In
addition, police suspect at least 10 times
the reported number of crimes had actuallyoccurred in 1997, because most of thevictims probably assumed they had losttheir wallets. Most of the thefts took placein bars, barber shops and mah-jong clubs
in amusement districts frequented bysalaried workers, such as Shinjuku inTokyo.
A group of 5 pickpockets were arrested
in July 1997 for allegedly trying to lift awallet out of a company employee’s jacket
that was placed on the back of a chair at aJapanese restaurant in Shinjuku. Of thefive, 2 were Japanese. Both were recruitedby the group leader ( 37, Chinese ).
The two Japanese helpers told policethat the Chinese leader recruited them into
the group with promises of lucrative work.
The leader promised to pay them 20,000
yen a day if they successfully stole wallets
and 10,000 yen daily even if they failed to
do so. The leader ordered the pair to handle
the risky elements of the crimes, such as
actually picking pockets and using thecredit cards they stole. He provided themen with jackets and ties so they could

141

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
pass for salaried workers.
The five visited the Japanese restaurant
one night, pretending to be salaried
workers out for a drink. While the group’s
Chinese members tried to create adiversion by making noise and speaking
loudly to restaurant employees, theJapanese pair casually approached a man.
The pair allegedly stood on either side of
the man’s chair, on the back of which hisjacket was hanging. When one of themreached into the pocket of the jacket,
plainclothes policemen, who had beenstaking out the restaurant, arrested them.
Police said the five members each played
different roles in carrying out the crime.
Some kept a lookout, while others diverted
attention by creating a disturbance. The
Japanese helpers were assigned the risky
job of actually stealing the wallets.
Before their arrest, the Sino-Japanese
pickpocket gang had committed similar
thefts several times, police said. The
Japanese pair told police that their leader
made them use credit cards found in thewallets they stole to buy luxury goods
within an hour after stealing the wallets.
In most cases, staff and customers at theestablishments targeted by the group
thought the five were just being rowdy andrarely noticed the crimes, according topolice.
In June 1997, C.F. ( 37, believed to be a
Chinese national ) was arrested on
suspicion of theft after allegedly orderingring members to steal a wallet from a jacket
hung over the back of a chair at a bar in
Osaka. The police suspect that C.F. is theleader of a pickpocket ring, with about 60
members, responsible for a string of thefts
in Tokyo and Osaka. The group targets
unsuspecting male office workers who
leave their jackets unattended while
drinking in bars. C.F. usually did not
perform any of the thefts. He is suspectedof using stolen cash cards to withdraw
money from the owners’ accounts, and ofusing stolen credit cards to purchase142

jewelry, which is easily pawned in exchange
for cash. Police also speculate C.F. entered
Japan illegally with the help of a Chinese
Snakehead smuggling ring.
C.F. told police that he had formed the
pickpocket gang, along with Chinese
nationals who had entered the country
illegally. He said he became acquainted
with those individuals at coffee shops andpachinko parlors in Shinjuku, Tokyo. C.F.
also lured Japanese who were in need of
cash to the group with the promise of highfinancial rewards. He told police that hedid much of his recruiting of Japanese
members in the Kabukicho entertainment
district of Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. Ring
members were allegedly informed ofmeeting times and places via mobile
phones loaned to them by C.F..
The number of similar pickpocket groups
led by Chinese have been increasing. Someof the Chinese leaders enter Japan on a
tourist visa, recruit Japanese assistants,
direct them to steal as many wallets as
possible during their short stay in Japan,
then return to China. Police said the hitand-run nature of the crime makes it very
difficult for them to arrest the Chinesesuspects.
D. Activities of the Ticket
Fraudsters
A total of 15 people ( 6 Japanese, 8 Hong
Kong residents and 1 Australian ) werearrested in June 1997 on suspicion of aseries of thefts of beer tickets and highway
tickets nationwide. The 15 formed a groupthat stole and sold cash-convertible beertickets and highway tickets in six
prefectures, according to police. The gang
is believed to have committed more than
30 crimes, netting more than 200 million
yen.
The arrested Hong Kong residents
include 3 members of a Hong Kong criminalgroup. These three played a central rolein the thefts; allegedly stealing about
250,000 yen cash and 8,700 highway

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
tickets ( worth 13 million yen ) from a ticket
shop in Tokyo, late December 1996. Two
unemployed Japanese, T.S. ( 43 ) and K.U.
( 51 ) were arrested on suspicion of buying
the tickets in the knowledge that they had
been stolen. T.S. and K.U. exchanged thetickets for cash in ticket shops in Tokyo andOsaka.
The Metropolitan Police Department( MPD ) began investigations in October
1996, when about 23 million yen worth of
highway tickets were stolen from acompany office in Tokyo. Police later
arrested a woman ( 53, Chinese ) on
suspicion as she exchanged the stolentickets for cash in Tokyo. The woman gave
police information about the 3 Hong Kongsuspects. The woman’s home was used tostore stolen items. Police searched thehouse and confiscated beer and highway
tickets worth 100 million yen, 2 pistols and16 bullets from the premises.
The arrested Hong Kong residents
employed a hit-and-run technique;repeatedly entering, departing andreentering Japan to commit crimes. They
entered the country with short-term visas,committed crimes within short periods andleft the country to avoid police
investigation.
E. Activities of the Groups to
Defraud Pachinko Parlors
Some years ago, counterfeit prepaid
pachinko cards were rampant in Japan.
Recently, criminals are using high-techknowledge to defraud pachinko ( a kind ofslot-machine ) parlors out of large sums ofmoney. Radio transmitters, for instance,
are being used to interfere with the readonly memory system that functions as themachine’s nerve center.
In one case, a construction worker ( 22,Japanese ) was arrested in Osaka in
December 1996, while trying to steal
pachinko balls by using a wireless device.
A parlor employee became suspicious of theconstruction worker when he saw themachine in front of the man in operation,even though the man was not manipulatingt h e m a c h i n e ’s h a n d l e . T h e p a r l o r
employee’s suspicions were also aroused by
the fact that the man was wearing a coat,
despite the relatively high temperatureinside the parlor. The man was equippedwith a radio transmitter, a controller, anantenna, a switch and batteries. He had
hidden the switch inside one of his shoes,
the controller inside a money belt, and was
holding the mini-antenna in his left hand.
The whole system was designed to makethe machine spit out extra balls. The
construction worker told police that he hadpurchased the device for 200,000 yen froma Chinese man. Similar devices made theirdebuts in Tokyo and Osaka earlier in thesame year.
Other cases have involved people
sneaking into parlors late at night andinstalling bogus ROM systems. A partner
visits the parlor the following day, targets
the machine and cashes in the balls later.
In some cases, customers have even been
kidnapped from pachinko parlors while
playing on machines that had been secretly
readjusted to release a large number ofballs. In Yokohama, a man ( 22, Chinese )was abducted from a pachinko parlor inearly May 1997 by a Chinese group. He had
been operating a machine whose original
ROM had been switched for a doctored onethat radically increased the number of balls
released. The kidnappers then demanded
a 7 million yen ransom from the man’sfamily. In Sendai, a former restaurant
employee was also kidnapped in February
1997 by a group of men who appeared to
be Chinese. The gang demanded a 5
million yen ransom, but then freed the manafter he promised not to use the samemachine.
The machine had been loaded with adoctored ROM system to pay out extra
balls. The NPA reported that there were
only two such incidents in 1992, 64 in 1993,
103 in 1995, and 53 in 1996. The agency

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
said that while the number of cases had
decreased, the crimes had become morevicious. It added that the development of
new prepaid cards had made crime hardfor counterfeiters.
F. Activities of Groups Engaged in
the Theft and Illicit Trafficking ofMotor Vehicles
Cars and motorbikes stolen in Japan arebeing sent for resale on the black market
in China, Hong Kong, Russia, Southeast
Asia and the Middle East. Police in a
number of prefectures have confirmed that
non-Japanese and members of more than
one large criminal organization have been
involved in at least some of the thefts.
There have been many instances
nationwide of vehicles - from luxury
Mercedes Benz automobiles to Super Cub
motorbikes - being stolen and sent abroad.
Japan has become a supply source for aninternational black market in motor
vehicles.
In a case in March 1997, theMetropolitan Police Department (MPD)
arrested 2 Japanese and 2 Chinese
students on suspicion of stealing expensive
scooters. One of the suspects told police
they had stolen more than 300 scooters.
More than 100 million yen, identified as apayment for stolen vehicles, wastransferred from Hong Kong to a trading
company bank account. The stolen scooterswere transported to Hong Kong by a bogus
company, with the 2 Chinese registered asboard directors. As the scooters were soldat slightly more than 100,000 yen each, thenumber of stolen vehicles was estimatedat more than 1,000. In this case, only 250cc
scooter-type motorbikes made by Honda
Motor Co. were targeted. It was found thatthe vehicles had been sent via Hong Kongto China, where demand for motorbikes has
mushroomed.
In another case investigated by MPD, aman ( 30, Vietnamese ) man was arrested
on suspicion of stealing motorbikes over a144

long period. The bikes he stole were sentto Hong Kong and then on to othercountries according to type. For example,
Super Cub models, which are cheap anddurable, ended up in Vietnam, while
Harley-Davidson luxury models were sent
to Thailand, where the make is very
popular.
Chiba prefectural police investigating
the theft of Super Cub motorbikes foundthat a group of Vietnamese refugees had
set up a trading company and were able toexport about 1,000 stolen motorbikes toVietnam without arousing the suspicionsof customs officials. Investigations
revealed that the stolen bikes were sent tostorage sites in inland prefectures aroundTokyo where transportation and customsclearance procedures were entrusted to amajor transportation company. The bikes
were loaded into containers at Yokohama
Port and sent to Vietnam, via Hong Kong.
Kanagawa prefectural police arrested agroup of non-Japanese, including a
Pakistani and a Sri Lankan, for their
alleged involvement in the theft of fourwheel-drive cars, such as the Toyota Land
Cruiser, for the United Arab Emirates andMyanmar markets.
Fukuoka prefectural police were
investigating the theft of luxury cars andhave arrested a total of 23 people, including
gang members. About 500 Toyota Crown,
Nissan Cedric and Mitsubishi Pajero
models stolen in Tokyo and surrounding
areas were transported to some ports along
the Sea of Japan, from which they were to
be sent to Russia. Different gangorganizations performed various roles in
the operation, including the theft of thevehicles, transportation and negotiations
on sales. Police suspect the involvement of
Russian brokers. One of the suspects inthis case told police that security at
customs houses was laxer at ports along
the Sea of Japan.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
V. CONCLUSION
Organized crimes in Japan, as
mentioned above, are characterized by thelong existence of Bouryokudan and theirorganized criminal activities. Under
traditional family-like set-ups these groups
gain illegal profits through the mostsuitable ways and means to meet thechanging social environment of the time.
In recent years, the social environment inJapan may be characterized by the
progressing internationalization of its
society, as well as by the more severe
watching of both the police and the citizens
over the daily activities and movement ofBouryokudan ( since the enactment of theAnti-Bouryokudan Law ). Of particularmention are the citizens group movements
to erradicate Bouryokudan, in close
cooperation with the police, raising publicawareness under the “Three Never
Slogan”campaign; namely “Never Fear!”,“Never Give Money!”, “Never Try to
Utilize!”.
It seems that the future activities ofBouryokudan will become moreinternationalized as the Bouryokudan try
to conceal their presence in Japan bysupporting and secretly using visiting
foreigners to organize themselves ( withJapanese members ) into criminal gangs
in Japan, committing most profitable
crimes; including the transnationaltrafficking of goods and people. Thesetypes of crime, are potentially assisted by
the secret cooperation of criminalorganizations of the native lands of thevisiting foreigners. Also, the criminal
activities of Bouryokudan and other newly
developing criminal organizations may bestrengthened by the ( rapid developmentof the international communications )furthering the secret cooperation withother criminal syndicates.
To cope with the changing features ofcrime and criminal activities, theeradication or controlling of such criminalorganizations, old and newly developing,in every country seems to be the mosturgent task for all the states of the world.
To win the battle against such criminalorganizations, sufficient information of
their movements, particularly of atransnational nature and of secretinternational group meetings, must be in
the hands of the officers in charge of every
country concerned.
Needless to say, the law enforcement
agencies shall make continuous efforts,
availing current information, to acquire
key evidence and to make thoroughinvestigations of such cases under close cooperation with the law enforcement
agencies of the other countries concerned.
Similar international co-operation isneeded in the process of prosecution, trial
and treatment of these criminals. Various
treaties and agreements codifing such cooperation may well be developed, based on
the model treaties adopted by the United
Nations Congress.
Lastly, I must highlight that thereferences made in this paper to thecriminal activities of the specific nationals
does not intend to disgrace or negate theintegrity of all other visiting foreigners
staying in Japan, and or people of the samenationality.

145

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
TABLE 1
TRENDS IN THE NUMBER OF BORYOKUDAN MEMBERS CLEARED BY
THE POLICE FOR PENAL CODE OFFENCES, AND REFERRED FOR
SPECIAL LAW VIOLATIONS(1956-1996)(ten thousand persons)
9
8
7
6
5
Special Law Offenders Referred

432Penal Code Offenders Cleared by the Police
1
0
1956

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

TABLE 2
TRENDS IN THE NUMBER OF PENAL CODE OFFENCES
BY FOREIGNERS AND FOREIGN PENAL CODE
OFFENDERS CLEARED BY THE POLICE(1949-1996)(thousands offences)(thousands offenders)
40
35
30
25

Offences Cleared by the police(Total)

20
15

Offenders Cleared by the police(Total)

105Offences Cleared by the police(Visiting Foreiners)
Offenders Cleared by the police(Visiting Foreiners)

0
1954

1970

Sources:Criminal Statistics by National Police Agency

146

1990

95

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS

CURRENT PROBLEMS IN THE COMBAT OF
TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME (PAKISTANPERSPECTIVE)
Tahir Anwar Pasha*
I. INTRODUCTION“Organized Crime”, initiallysynonymous to a certain Italianphenomena like ‘Mafia’, ‘Camorra’ etc., has
now extended to cover the whole world andis the most dificult challenge to criminal
justice policies. Criminals no longer live
within the parameters of nationalboundaries. It facilitates criminals to
operate transnationally, both in terms offinance and their own security. They don’t
encounter the difficulties - which the law
enforcers face - when crossing national
borders for ulterior motives.
The recent decades have seen an
information explosion which has reduced
the world into a global village. Internet
operations and satellite communications
are biased in favour of criminals rather
than the proponents of the criminal justicesystem. Just a delay of hours - which is not
unusual in official channels - can create a
gap of thousands of miles and man hours
in the efforts to bring criminals to justice.
Law enforcers always fall behind inmatching the wealth of crime syndicates.
It is these riches which infact persuade thetalented unemployed to keep on joining
shady activities. They obviously get agreater benefit, with less effort than they
could through legitimate sources. Crimeorganizers do not have to pass through thecumbersome procedural requirements ofdemands, budgets, requisitions, sanctions,* Deputy Inspector General of Police, Central Police
Office in Lahore, Pakistan.

spending rules and subsequent audits.
Similarly, the proceeds of crime are noteasily accessible to law officers on various
counts. Criminals use intricate
methodologies to camouflage the proceedsof crime and there are problems ofjurisdiction across national borders. Under
these circumstances it becomes almost an
impossible task to prosecute and punish
the offenders who operate transnationally.
The immunity so provided to crime
operators is fast becoming the vehicle of amulti-fold increase in the transnationalorganized crime. This has been felt by mostof the developed (and developing) countries
and the issue of transnational organizedcrime began to echo in international
forums. Think tanks remained busy formany million of hours to overcome thedifficulties in combatting transnational
crime. Discussions, Seminars Workshops,
Symposiums, Conventions, Treaties etc.
were designed to construct dams on the
gushing flow of illicit channels. Some ofthese efforts, though slow, created an
inpact and the desired results, but most ofthem remaind ineffective due to technology
advances (of which the criminals are better
availers).
It is in this context that the present
paper has been written, to take stock of the
problems which the world is still facing in
the combat of transnational offenders. In
this paper, I shall deal with issues from my
own country’s point of view on the following
type of transnational crime:(a) Illicit drug trafficking.
(b) Illicit firearms trafficking.
147

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54(c) Smuggling of illegal migrants.
(d) Illicit trafficking in women andchildren.
(e) Illicit trafficking in stolen motor
vehicles.
(f) Money laundering.
(g) Transnational economic crimes (e.g.,large-scale fraud targeted atcorporations or organizations, credit
card fraud, counterfeit currency offinancial cheques, fraud by way of
manipulating computer systems orother high technology equipment).
As far as Pakistan is concerned, illicit
drug trafficking and resultant money
laundering are the most relevent issues.
The other types of crime mentioned above
are either not prevalent nationally - likelarge scale frauds targeted at corporations
or organizations, credit card fraud,counterfeit currency or financial cheques,
fraud by manipulating computer systems
etc. - or if they are prevailing, they are notof much concern.
There may be sporadic cases of illicit
firearms trafficking in Pakistan, but noorganized gangs dealing in such nefarious
activities have come to notice. However,there was the fallout of the Afghan war,
when Afghan refugees sneaked into
Pakistan’s tribal area along with theirarms, some of which were lethal and hightech, for barter trade. This issue has cometo a lower level after the war turned into
an internal civil war, and the Pakistan
border side of Afghanistan came under theoccupation of the Talibans.
There was a time when money values
had changed in Pakistan - like many otherdeveloping nations - and most of the skilled/
unskilled workers sought employment
abroad in move affluent countries. A
mushrooming growth of gangs dealing inillegal immigrants was noticed. These
gangs operated transnationally. With148

stringent laws and measures taken bothnationally and internationally, thisproblem has almost come to a halt inPakistan. There were periods in theprevious years when zero illegal
immigration was recorded.
Illicit trafficking in women and children
is also not much of a problem in Pakistan.
There was some illicit traffic from aneighbouring region and one far easterncountry of women for prostitution(disguised at house maids). Similarly there
was some trade of children from thesouthern part of Punjab (the biggest
province of Pakistan) to some middle
eastern countries for the purpose of camel
races. Although the immigration was legal
and was with the consent of the parents or
guardians, it was still considered illicit onhumanitarian grounds. Both these issues
have since died down due to effective
checks by the law enforcement agencies ofPakistan and elsewhere.
Transnational trade of stolen vehicles isa recent phenomena as far as Pakistan isconcerned. Our western borders are
inhabited by tribal groups on both sides.
The area is called, in the local language,“Illaqa Ghair”, meaning, the land of aliens.
The tribes traditionally don’t acknowledge
the international boundaries. Their freemovement provides opportunities toestablish safe havens - on the other side of
the border - for contraband items. These
havens have become smuggling rendezvous
points because of the restrictions or heavy
duties imposed on certain items, which
includes vehicles. The vehicles aretransported to settled areas of Pakistan
illegally and plied on roads with fictitious
number plates. Similary, vehicles stolen
from the settled areas of Pakistan - mostly
luxury cars & vans - are transported totribal areas from where they are sold at
dirt cheap prices or returned to the actual
owner after receiving “handling charges”,

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
which often amount to millions of rupees.
This problem is almost a localized issue
which can only technically be termed astransnational.

convert opium into heroin. This is
how heroin - discovered back in 1898
- was introduced to this part of theworld in 1980.

This leaves us with the actual problem
area for Pakistan i.e. drug trafficking andthe resultant money laundering, which
consumes most of the energy of law
enforcment in Pakistan.

As against 800,000 square kilometers ofterritory, opium production is confined toonly a few isolated pockets of Pakistan. The
area under cultivation has been reduced
from 32,200 hectares in 1978, to 5215 in
1995; and poppy production from anestimated 800 tons in 1978-79, to 109.5
tons in 1995. In 1996 opium production was
further reduced to only 2.8 metric tons.
Pakistan is thus no longer a central
producer country. It is thus clear that a very
negligible area of Pakistan territory wasconnected with narcotics in the past. Since
1996 Pakistan has ceased to be a producer
contry.

II. DRUG TRAFFICKING:CURRENT SITUATION
Drugs have remained a social menace,(in some form or other) since the time
immemorial. We can not overlook theopium addiction in China, which paved way
for the revolution. The Indian subcontinent
too, has remained in the spiral of addiction.
There is always a growing demand which,as per economic theory, creates theresultant supply. In this regard thesituation in Pakistan is no different.
A. Pakistan a Victim - not a Source
Country
At the time of independence in 1947,
Pakistan was a unable to supply its own
opium addicts, therefore opium wasimported from India until 1956. After 1956,
a few areas were allowed to produce‘licensed opium’ under strict controls. The
numer of opium addicts never reached asignificant mark. The production oflicensed opium continued until 1979, when
two very important developments took
place:(a) The Islamic revolution of Iran in
February 1979;(b) The promulgation of the Islamic
Hudood laws in Pakistan which
totally banned opium production.
Farmers were therefore left withhuge stockpiles - about 800 tons ofopium - and did not know what to dowith them At this point, someWesterners taught them how to

The war in Afghanistan led to porous
borders with the country, resulting in
spread of the narco-guncultre. With noheroin addicts in 1979, Pakistan is now
burdened with 1.52 million heroin addicts.
Pakistan needs anything between 600 or
800 tons of poppy or 60 to 80 tons of heroin
per year to feed its own drug addicts. We
are, now therefore, net importers notexporters of heroin.
B. Alarming Domestic Consumption
On the consumption side of heroin
Pakistan is badly effected. To know theactual ground situation, a “National
Survey on Drug Abuse” was conducted in
1993. The survey dawned facts which
created panic among sociologists. The
following are the salient features of thesurvey:(a) There are 3.1 million drug users (0.77
million in 1988).
(b) Most popular drug is heroin, which
is used by 1.52 million (51%).
(c) Second most popular drug is hashish,
used by 0.89 million (29.5%)

149

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54(d) Proportion of drug users:
Urban - 52%
Rural - 48%(e) 71.5% of drug users were under 35
years of age with the highest
proportion in the 26-30 year age
group.
(f) Almost 60% were literate and asimilar percentage were employed.
(g) Among occupational categories, thefrequency of drug use was highest(53.3%) for those in skilled andunskilled labour categories, followedby sales (14.1%), students (11.4%)
and agriculture (10.9%).
(h) The average monthly personal
income of drug users was Rs. 3054/(US $ 28).
(i) 97.2% drug users were male. 2.98%
were female.
(j) Over time, the drug abuse pattern
has changed in favour of heroin
instead of hashish and othertraditional drugs.
(k) Sources of introduction to drugs were
mostly attributed to friends in 68.6%,
and to casual acquaintances or drug
pushers in 15%, of the cases. Family
members made up another 9% of thecases.
No doubt the dark clouds of drug menace
are surrounding Pakistan, but there is athin silver lining also. About 60% of heroin
addicts expressed desire to quit by having
recourse to treatment centres. Also, theincrease in the number of drug addicts was
only 7% during the period 1988-93 while itwas 12% during 1983-88.
C. Economic Factors leading toTransnational Traffic
Traditionally poppy cultivation is taken
as a cash crop - like other cash crops
elsewhere - in the tribal areas and in
Afghanistan. This used to be the bread andbutter, of the smaller land holders who, in
the rugged terrains, had nothing else for150

subsistence. Cultivantion of poppy was also
encouraged by the then colonial
government for export to China. Still thearea constitutes a very small fraction of the“Golden Crescent” of South West Asia. For
centuries, the tribal area was thelegitimate supplier of opium until theIslamic Hadood Laws were introduced in
1979. Evolution of heroin after this (due toreasons already explained ) reduced thevolume of opium but increased its price tentimes. As heroin production took less hiding
space than crops, clandestine operations
became easy and resulted in handsome
returns. Profit margins had a cumulative
effect with the increase of distance fromthe source point. Price differentials sky
rocketed when the drug reached theinternational market.
Price difference in the international
market can be well illustrated by the factthat the heroin which costs Rs. 70,000/-to
1,00,000 (USD $ 1550 to 2200) per kg inPakistan, is sold for over USD $100,000 in
the streets of some developed westerncountries. The Criminal Intelligence
Directorate of Royal Canadian Mounted
Police have carried out an analysis of theinternational prices of illicit drugs in 1996
for comparative reference.
The huge difference in international andlocal market prices resulted in billions ofdollars in illicit export trade. This has not
only created a dearth of drugs inside ourcountry, but also has inflated the domestic
spending on drugs. A UNDCP (United
Nation Drug Control Programme) study in1994 estimated consumer expenditure on
heroin in Pakistan to be in the range of Rs.
35 billion (US $ 1.2 billion) per year. This
volume of drug trade has logically createdand underground parallel economy with its
own supply and demand mechanism, andits own style of corruption.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
Pakistan has also been affected by what
is known as the balloon effect. If drug
production is reduced in a given area, theimpact of continued demand inevitably
ensures that greater production occurs ina neighbouring area. Thus while Pakistan
has been able to reduce its output of opium
considerably, increased production in
Afghanistan (2300 tons in 1996 - UNDCP
estimate) due to the prevalent politicalsituation there has served to effectively
negate whatever progress we have beenable to achieve. The impact to the balloon
effect has clearly shown that efforts atsolving the narcotics problem must also be
initiated at regional levels; as increased
opium production and heroin laboratories
across the borders in Afghanistan havecontributed significantly to the supply ofopium and heroin in Pakistan.
Drug production in Afghanistan is not
only meeting the domestic demand of
Pakistan but it is also forming the basis of
an international supply route using
Pakistan territory as a conduit. The mostrecent trend of international drug traffic
is that Central Asian States are being used
for the transportation of drugs to Europe/
U.S.. This fact is acknowledged by the
INCB report for 1995 and 1996, and theConference of 37 countries in Europe inFebruary, 1995. Given the stringent
measures adopted by the Government ofPakistan, Pakistan may soon cease to be acountry utilized as a major conduit for theexport of drugs.
According to one estimate, about USD$1 trillion is involved in the global narcobusiness, out of which at least USD $ 200
billion is the share of the United States ofAmerica alone. This huge volume of money
dwarfs any thing earned by legitimate
means, leading the former U.N. Secretary
General to say before the General
Assembly, “Drugs are the most profitablecommodity in the world today” affecting thehealth of financial markets and even local
economics. According to various estimates,
not more than 5% to 15% of narcotic drugs
and psychotropic substances areinterdicted by the law enforcement
agencies of the world. It is thus obvious thatthe drug interdiction enforcement strategy
has failed to produce the desired results.
It is estimated that 90% of narcotics slip
through the net of enforcement agencies,and reach the drug market to meet theconsumers demand.
III. INTERNATIONAL AWARENESSAND COMBATTING STRATEGIESDue to the transnational nature of drugtrafficking, it would be improper to thinkthat it could be fought single handedly by
any nation, no matter how developed it is.
The international community as a whole
has to embark on a crusade against drugs.
The United Nations, being the sole
reqresentative institution in this respect
has come forward on this issue due to thecontinuing drug menace. Drug trafficking,coupled with the resultant money
laundering, forms the major portion oforganized crime transnationally. Efforts
made to curb organized crime are,therefore, mainly targeted at these two
specialized crimes. The seventh congresson the Prevention of Crime and theTreatmet of Offenders, held in Milan in
1985, adopted the “Milan Plan of Action”.
Key statements in that plan of action
included:“Crime is a major problem of national
and, in some cases, international
dimensions. Certain forms of crime canhamper the political, economic, social andcultural development of peoples andthreaten human rights, fundamental
freedoms, and peace, stability and security.
In certain cases it demands a concerted
response from the community of nations in
reducing the opportunities to commit crimeand address the relevant socio-economic

151

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
factors, such as poverty, inequality andunemployment. The universal forum of theUnited Nations has a significant role toplay and its contribution to multilateral
cooperation in this field should be mademore affective”.
and:“Interested Governments should
cooperate bilaterally and multilaterally, tothe fullest extent possible, with a view tostrengthening crime prevention measuresand the criminal justice process by
undertaking action-oriented programmes
and projects”.
In furtherance of the objectives of the
Milan Plan of Action, in 1990 the eighth
congress adopted four practically-oriented
bilateral model treaties designed to assist
states in building the necessary framework
for increased co-operation. Those treaties,
subsequently adopted by the United
Nations General Assembly, are: the Model
Treaty on the Transfer of Supervision of
Offenders Who Have Been Conditionally
Sentenced or Conditionally Released; theM o d e l Tr e a t y o n t h e Tr a n s f e r o f
Proceedings in Criminal Matters; theModel Treaty on Extradition; and theModel Treaty on Mutual Assistance in
Criminal Matters.
The origins of international co-operation
or mutual assistance in the suppression ofcrime date back to the beginnings of formal
diplomacy. In what has been described as
the oldest document in diplomatic history,
provision was made for the return ofcriminals in a peace treaty entered into in(Circa 1280 BC) by Rameses II of Egypt
and Prince Hattusili III of the Hittites. The
need for mutual assistance, particularly in
the granting of help in the provision ofevidence to facilitate investigation andprosecution, has been recognazed for sometime by the international community. For
example, the Single Convention on
Narcotic Drugs 1961 imposed a number of152

obligations on signatory states (Pakistan
included as a signatory to it) to ensure that
persons committing offenses could not
escape justice. It required that each party
make conduct proscribed by theConvention a criminal offense carrying anadequate penalty, and to try a person forsuch an offence committed outside
territorial jurisdiction where the offenderis found in that country’s territory andthere is no extradition.
1990 also saw the production of the final
report of the Financial Action Task Forceon Money Laundering set up by the Heads
of State or Governments of the seven majorindustrial nations (the G7), in which 8
other nations were invited to participate.
Another milestone was the adoption, by aplenipotentiaries conference on 20
December 1988, of the United Nations
Convention, coming into force on 11
November 1990. The convention has
broken new ground in number of respects.
First, it creates an obligation on the partof all signatories (including Pakistan) tocriminalise conduct constituting what may
be loosely referred to as “money
laundering” in relation to narcotics activity.
This facilitates international cooperation
which, due to the application of the dual
criminality principle, is presently
hampered by the fact that many countries
do not at present criminalise such conduct.
Secondly, Article 6 dealing withextradition, imposes obligations on
countries, interalia, to conclude bilateraland mltilateral agreements to carry out or
to enhance the effectiveness of extradition
and, in relation to the conduct proscribedby the Convention, to expedite extradition
procedures and to simplify the attendantevidentiary requirements.
Finally, Article 5 deals comprehensively
with identifying, tracing freezing andconfiscating proceeds, or instrumentalities,

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERSof conduct proscribed by the Convention
and obliges countries to adopt suchmeasures as are necessary to enable themto fulfill those obligations, both nationallyand on behalf of other signatory states. It
also adopts mutual assistance provisions
for requests for action in relation to theproceeds of crime, and obliges countries toseek to conclude bilateral and multilateraltreaties, agreements or arrangements toenhance the effectiveness of international
co-operation in relation to the tracing,
freezing and confiscating of proceeds ofcrime. The Convention also expressly
prohibits a refusal of assistance based onbank secrecy. The principal reason for its
emergence is the recognition that financial
profit is the essential motivation oforganized crime and that an effective
countermeasure is the interdicting of suchprofits, which would otherwise be reinvested in further criminal enterprises. So
seen, it is a significant deterrent and crime
control mechanism. Furthermore, somecountries utilize confiscate proceeds tostrengthen the law enforcement armory
and to finance, for example, rehabilitation
programmes for drug addicts. Pakistan has
already established for this purpose, a
National Fund for control of Drug Abusein accordance with the provision of the
newly promulgated Control of Narcotics
Substances Act, 1997.
IV. LEGISLATIVE MEASURES INPAKISTAN
In line with the recommendations of theConvention against Illicit Trafficking inNarcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances
1988, Pakistan enacted comprehensive
drug laws. A Control of Narcotic Substanes
Ordinance was promulgated in 1995. Aftersome positive amendment, the ordinancebecome an Act of Parliament in 1997.
(Control of Narcotic Substances Act(CNSA), 1997. Similarly through an AntiNarcotics Force Ordinance 1995

(subsequently enacted in 1997, thePakistan Narcotics Control Board and Anti
Narcotics Task Force were merged into one
Anti-Narcotics Force for move effective
operation.
A. Salient Features of New
Legislation
Before independence Pakistan inherited
the Opium Act 1878 and Dangerous DrugAct 1930 which covered most of the drug
related issues relevant to that time.
However with the passage of time, theselaws gradually became obsolete because of
the new dimensions that emerged in drugtrade. With the introduction of the Customs
Act of 1969 and Prevention of Smuggling
Act 1977, the unauthorized flow of drugs
was somewhat controlled. To enhancepunishment, Islamic laws were enacted by
the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd)
Order 1979. Enactment of the Control of
Narcotic Substances Act 1997 (CNSA),
being a comprehensive law, covered mostof the lacunas which had developed in theexisting laws due to technological andinformation based advances. Very briefly,
the following are the salient features of the
CNSA:(a) Progressive punishments from two
years to death have been prescribed.
For the first time, the intensity ofpunishment has been linked with thequantity and type of drug.
Progression is well illustrated withthe help of Table 1.
(b) Money laundering has been declared
as a distinct crime and stringent antimoney laundering provisions
incorporated.
(c) Comprehensive provisions for civil
and criminal forfeiture of assets
which are derived from the proceedsof drug trafficking.
(d) Creation of special courts for speedy
disposal of cases.

153

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54(e) C o m p u l s i o n t o i n c l u d e p u b l i cwitnesses in narcotics seizures
dispensed with.
(f) No bail for offenses punishable with
5 years or more. For other offenses
no bail if public prosecutor so
certifies.
(g) Controlled delivery operations
legalized.
(h) C o m p r e h e n s i v e p r o v i s i o n s t oenhance international cooperation.
(i) Provision for the registration of drug
addicts.
(j) F i r s t t i m e d e t o x i f i c a t i o n a n dtreatment made statutory obligationof Government.
(k) National fund for drug abuse control
set up.
In the past, drug laws were notapplicable to Federally Administered Tribal
A r e a s ( FAT A ) a n d P r o v i n c i a l l y
Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) but now
the Islamic Hudood Laws have been
extended to these areas. Frontier corps (awell organized force) have been empowered
to perform enforcement duties in FATA
where, previously, there was no such
authority.
B. Enforcement Agencies
All of the above measures have resulted
in activities entailing large seizures andinterdictions. It is not out of place tomentioned here that the Anti-Narcotic
Force (ANF) is not the only agency whichtakes action against drug pushers. Alongwith all the Provincial Governments, notless than five Federal ministries are, insomeway or other, engaged in antinarcotics activities. Details of agencies
working in this respect are outlined inTable 2. The Anti Narcotics Force (ANF),
however, is the primary enforcement
agency. It coordinates the activities of all
enforcement agencies in the field ofinterdiction. Important cases of otheragencies are normally transferred to ANF

154

for specialized investigation. Assistanceand advice to other enforcement agencies
is also provided by ANF. It liaises with the
INCB, UNDCP, DEA and DLOs for latest
developments and information exchange.
Apart from this, the ANF is renderingcommendable services in reducing thedemand for drugs. The new Master Plan
gives priority to demand reduction
activities, such as preventive education andmass awareness, besides making drug
enforcement more effective. Drug addicts
will be treated as psychotropic patients
rather than criminals. Registration of drug
addicts and their first-time treatment has
been made a statutory obligation of thegovernment.
C. Enforcement Statistics
The salient feature of the enforcement
campaign in 1995 has been two deep druginterdiction raids undertaken by the
Frontier Corps (FC) in Tribal Areas. The
Frontier Corps in a swift/massive raid in
the Khyber Area on January 27 and 28,
1995 seized 480 kgs of heroin, 170 tons ofhashish and arrested 19 drug offenders.
The above raid was followed by more
stringent action deep in the Choora Valley,
where FC/ANF seized 6,300 kgs of heroin,
105,000 kgs of opium and 3,705 liters of
Acetic Anhydride in March 1995. In
addition to the above, 15 heroin processing
units were also destroyed. Similarly raids
in December 1996 led to the destruction of
10 heroin laboratories and the seizure of
143 kgs heroin, 38 kgs hashish, 757 kgs
opium and 1,754 litres of Acetic Anhydride.
In March 1997, also the Tribal Lashkar
destroyed a non functional heroinlaboratory and siezed 70 kgs of heroin,arresting 5 Afghans. The significance of
this raid lies in the fact that the Tribals
themselves took the initiative fordestruction. Their self motivation is a
development of monumental proportions.
Apart from these mentionable seizures,

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
other agencies have also remained active
in drug hauls. The following figures
recording seizures by all Agencies (in Tons)
may be of interest:

Opium
HeroinHashish

1994
14.36
6.02
178.291995
107.2339.416
294.525

1996
7.377
5.763
189.136

Agency wise details are provided inTable 3 for the first 10 months of 1997.
A considerable reduction in seizures has
been noticed after 1995, which is anindication that Pakistan has ceased to bea producing country. Drugs illegallyimported from Afghanistan for domestic
consumption and export to foreigncountries are, however, intercepted
regularly. Due to the stringent measuresof enforcement agencies, Afghan drugtraffickers are now diverting their illicit
exports through Central Asian States
instead of using Pakistan as transit
conduit.
D. Two Recent Interesting Cases
The details of two interesting cases ofdrugs seizure are attached at Appendix A
and B.
E. Seizure of Assets of Drug Barons
After years of international struggle, it
has been concluded that only way to combat
drugs is to control drug money launderingand to seize drug assets. In Pakistan, theconcept of forfeiture of assets dates backto 1977 and our Prevention of Smuggling
Act 1977, deals with it at length. Assets
can be forfeited if acquired through theproceeds of the smuggling of narcotics.
These assests could be in the name of thesmuggler or any other person on theirbehalf. The law was also applicable toassets held outside Pakistan. The burdenof proof was not on the prosecution, theonus was on the defendant. The seizure ofassets has become easier after the CNSA
1997, through which money laundering has
also been made a criminal offence.
The Anti-Narcotics Force has frozen
assets worth Rs. 3612.92 million (US $ 82.1
million) of 60 notorious drug traffickers in
the country. Prominent names among thesedrug traffickers are Mirza Iqbal Baig, Haji
Ayub Afridi, Anwar Khattak, Ashraf Rana,
Dawood Jat, Fahim Babar, Sarder Gujar
and Munawar Manj. Out of these, assets
worth $181 million belonging to Haji Ayub
Afridi have been forfeited under court
decision. Dawood Jat, a notorious crosscountry drugs smuggler, also surrendered
recently due to relentless ANF pressure,and is now on bail.
F. Extradition of Drug Pushers
Pakistan extradited major drug barons
like Haji Mirza Iqbal Baig, Muhammad
Anwar Khattak, Tariq Butt, Khawaja
Abdul Majeed, Hafeez-ur-Rehman,
Zulqarnain Khan, Misai Khan, Khalid
Khan, Taviz Khan, Shahid Hafeez
Khawaja, Muhammad Saleem Malik andMain Muhammad Azam, while cases ofothers are being judicially scrutinized by
the Interior Ministry. Haji Ayub Afridi also
surrendered to the USA, in the UAE, due
to ANF pressure.This was made possible
only because Pakistan already had theeffective Extradition Act 1972, long before
the need was stressed in the UN convention
against Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs& Psychotropic Substances 1988. Pakistan
also has extradition treaties with 25
countries. Moreover extradition ispermissible even to non-treaty states on amutual basis. The present position of
extraditions for drug traffickers is:
Extradited
Pending in courts
To be arrested
Total

14
11
2
27

155

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
G. Mutual Assistance Laws andInitiatives
It is true that the drug menace can not
be tackled - because of its transformation
into a transnational phenomena - without
the mutual assistance of the affected
countries. Simple exchange of information
can lead to substantial success. Timely
intimation from Drug Enforment Agencies(DEAs) regarding the seizure of 6,660 kgs
of hashish at Antwerp, Belgium, led to thefurther seizure of 5,980 kgs of hashish from
Islamabad by the ANF. Details of the caseare Appendix A and B. The UN convention
against Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs
and Psychotropic Substances 1988,
stressed the need for mutual assistance on
a reciprocal basis. A model mutual
assistance treaty was also adopted in 1990
by the UN General Assembly.
In pursuance of the 1988 Convention,
Pakistan added a full chapter on mutual
assistance in the Control of Narcotic
Substances Act 1997 (refer to chapter VIIIof the Act). In the presence of thissubstantive law, there is little need fortreaties, however, friendly countries still
enter into protocols for special assistance.
H. Recent International Initiatives
Undertaken by Pakistan(a) UN International Drug Control
Programme sponsored the PakIran
Border Electronic Monitoring Project
aimed at checking the flow ofnarcotics across the Pak-Iran border.
Proposed to be extended to Afghanborder.
(b) Pak-India cooperation inn drug
related matters.
(c) Memorandum of understanding with
Kazakhastan.
(d) Agreements to make joint efforts forcontrol of drug trafficking have beensigned with United Arab Emirates,
China, Uzbekistan, Kyrghistan andRussia.

156(e) Agreements with Saudi Arabia maysoon be signed.
(f) Agreements envisaged with several
other countries.
(g) Two helicopters have been provided
for the ANF by the UK, to augment
drug interdiction in Baluchistan andthe coastal areas of Sindh.
I. Controlled Deliveries
Besides the US Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA), the following
Governments have posted their Drug
Liaison Officers in Pakistan: Australia,
Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Iran,
Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia
and Turkey. Their main function is toexchange information expeditiously inrespect to narcotics offenses committed by
Pakistani nationals in their countries,
where the narcotics originated from
Pakistan or were transmitted throughPakistan. The Anti-Narcotics Force ineither case provides a timely two way
exchange of drug related intelligence andassists them in those investigations. Also
controlled deliveries are being arranged
with the cooperation of these Drug Liaison
Officers, to eliminate international druggangs operating in Pakistan or in theircountries for the control of drug trafficking.
The controlled delivery means thetechnique of allowing illicit or suspectedconsignments of narcotic drugs or
psychotropic substances to pass out
through or into the territoy of one or morecountries-with the knowledge and under
the supervision of their competentauthorities-with a view to identifying
persons involved in the commission of
offenses established in accordance with
Article 3, Paragraph 1 of the United
Nations Convention against Illicit Trafficin Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances 1988. Therefore, in pursuanceof the above, during 1996, 23 requests ofcontrolled delivery operations werereceived from the following countries:

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
Australia (1), Canada (2), Germany (1),Kuwait (3), UK (13), & USA (3). A total 62
kilograms of heroin was exported throughthese operations. However, the results of
only 2 controlled deliveries have been
received. Those successfully culminatedwere in the United Kingdom, where 9
persons have reportedly been arrested.
Other operations are under progess.
V. MONEY LAUNDERING
There has always been a parallel
economy in Pakistan, whatever thefinancial system may be. We can call it a‘black economy’, ‘underground economy’ or‘shadow economy’ which challenges theregular financial channels. Changing
values have created a lust for easy money
which, of course, is often contrary to law.
Money earned out of the (legal) systems
cannnot be declared as taxable, therefore
it is either kept hidden or it is laundered
to appear legitimate. ‘Money laundering’covers all procedures to change the identityof ill-gotten money so that:(a) it appears to have originated from a
legtimate source;(b) to conceal the true ownership andorigin of the money; and(c) to put the proceeds beyond the reachof the authorities.
There is no one method of laundering
money. Methods can range from thepurchase and resale of a luxury item (e.g.
a car or jewellery) to passing money
through a complex international web oflegitimate businesses and ‘shell’companies. Initially however, as in the caseof drug trafficking, the proceeds usuallytake the form of cash which needs to enter
the financial system by some means. Street
level purchases of drugs are almost always
made with cash. Despite the variety ofmethods employed, the laundering process
is accomplished in three stages which may

comprise of numerous transactions by thelaunderers that could alert a financial
institution to criminal activity:(a) Placement: The physical disposal of
cash proceeds devived from illegal
activity.
(b) Layering: Separating illicit proceedsfrom their source by creating complex
layers of financial transactions
designed to disguise the audit trail
and provide anonymity.
(c) I n t e g r a t i o n : T h e p r o v i s i o n o fapparent legitimacy to criminallyderived wealth. If the layering
process has succeeded, integration
schemes place the laundering
proceeds back into the economy insuch a way that they re-enter thefinancial system appearing as normal
business funds.
These three basic steps may occur as
separate and distinct phases or they may
occur simultaneously or, more commonly,
they may overlap.
Certain points of vulnerability have been
identified in the laundering process, which
the money launderer finds difficult to
avoid, and where their activities are,therefore, more susceptible to being
recognised:(a) entry of cash into the financial
system;(b) cross-border flow of cash; and(c) transfers within and from thefinancial system.
Thus efforts to combat money
laundering largely focus on those points inthe process where the launderer’s activities
are more susceptible to recognition. These
have therefore, concentrated to a large
extent on the deposit taking procedures ofbanks and building societies in theplacement stage.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
A. Combatting the Menace
The U.S.A. was the first major country
which initiated legislation in 1970 andbegan to plug some of the loopholes in thebanking system. The Bank Secrecy Act of1970 required all banks to report cashtransactions of more than $ 10,000 per day
and demanded that all individuals taking
more than $ 5,000 in cash across borders,
submit currency reports. Still, few banks
took little more than passing notice of these
new regulations, and some bankers weredelighted to break large deposits into lotsof $9,900 to avoid the reporting
requirements. It took 16 years for the U.S
government to crack down on such
avoidance. In 1986, Congress made it aseparate federal crime to avoid thereporting requirements of the Bank
Secrecy Act of 1970. Moving cash in andout of U.S banking institutions became anincreasingly high-risk operation.
The International Convention (theUnited Nations Convention against Illicit
Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances in 1988) seriously addressed
the need to attack the international
problem of drug money laundering and theforfeiture of drug assets. The international
community resolved to deal with the
problem in an effective manner withcollective will and cooperation. A soundfoundation for a viable international
mechanism to grasp and control theincreasing menace of drug money was laid.
It mandated that all signatory States
criminalize any activities connected withmoney laundering. Since 1990, when thisConvention came into effect, a large
number of countries have ratified theConvention. Many States have legislated
new laws, or have amended the existingones, and have introduced regulations to
implement money laundering countermeasures. Some countries have gone a stepfurther and adopted the recommendations
made by the Financial Action Task Force158

of the ‘Group of Seven’ which go beyond thescope of the 1988 Convention. Quite a few
countries have enacted laws and haveentered into treaties stipulating specificprocedures to facilitate and promotemutual legal assistance, in accordance withthe provisions of 1988 Convention
Concerning Drug Trafficking, money
laundering and assets forfeitureinvestigations. As a result of joint drug
assets forfeiture efforts, countries like theU.S, Canada, U.K, Switzerland, Colombia,
Venezuela, Paraguay, Guatemala, Costa
Rica, Cayman Islands, Argentina, Egypt
and Bahamas have shared the value of
forfeited assets amounting to about USD$87 million up to December 1993.
The United Nations International Drug
Control Programme (UNDCP) in its 1997
over-view in the World Drug Report has
observed the following trends/issues inmoney laundering:(a) The need to legitimize ill-gotten gains
has grown in proportion to both the
expansion of the illicit drug industry
and to the propensity of criminals to
operate in the legitimate businessworld.
(b) Two trends have characterized money
laundering in recent years. The firstof these is the increasing
professionalization of the industry.
The internationalization of money
laundering is the second major trend,and has been brought about by two
factors: the integration of financial
markets into a complex, global,
entity; and the efforts by traffickers
to avoid detection by concentrating
operations in countries where
enforcement is weak and legislation
is absent or embryonic.
(c) The above recent developments innational and international areas
have created a favourable climate fordrug traffickers, smugglers, tax

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
evaders and other corrupt elements
to launder their ill-gotten proceeds
increasingly through domestic formal
and informal financial institutions.
The magnitude of the problem
indicates that the challenge isformidable, and the responsibilities
immense, and if needs an all out
effort from all affected fields tocombat this menace. An integrated
enforcement programme whichembraces in its fold not only thearrest of traffickers and theinterdiction of drugs, but also theconfiscation of assets as well as anarrest of the growth of money
laundering, thereby establishingintegrity in financial institutions andthe credibility of the economic
system.
B. Pakistan Experience
In the past, some developments havecreated conditions which were conducive
for money laundering in Pakistan. There
was an exodus of a large number ofPakistani workers abroad in the early
1970s who, for sending their foreign
remittances to their families, often relied
on non-formal banking facilities orunderground bank-like channels. Later,
the same channels were used bybusinessmen and industrialists to taketheir capital/payment abroad due to strict
foreign currency regulations; thus
spawning a reliable, discreet and illegal
alternate banking system which remained
the preferred mode of banking for criminal
elements in Pakistan.
As discussed earlier, large scale domestic
heroin addiction created a booming market
within Pakistan. A UNDCP study
estimated the market volume at Rs. 35
billions (USD $ 1.2 billion). Obviously, thisblack economy created a number of drugbarons, who had to resort to money
laundering for ‘whitening’ their wealth.

This process was further intensified whenthese drug barons joined hands withinternational syndicates and money
laundering gained a transnational status.
A UNDCP’s report titled “The Illicit Opiate
Industry of Pakistan” estimated the turnover of the Pakistan’s heroin industry to
be 5% of the 1992-3GDP and 20-25% of thetotal estimated ‘shadow’ or ‘parallel’economy. The validity of the UNDCP’sreport estimates were later seriously
questioned/contested by Pakistan
authorities and economists. However one
thing is very clear, that Pakistan’s domestic
heroin trade generates considerably large
profits which are presumed to be launderedby criminals through formal and nonformal banking systems. The study
estimates that drug export revenues wereabout USD$ 950 million in 1985, andincreased to USD$ 1.6 billion in 1990. Drugearnings estimated in 1992 at USD$ 1.8
billion include a significant amount ofwithdrawals from overseas bank deposits
built up in previous years. Drug earnings
averaged USD$ 1.0 billion in the period
1985-91.
Is late 1980s, Pakistan (like many otherresource-deficient, developing countries)
had to liberalize the economy throughderegulation, to create a conducive
environment of savings and investments.
In this regard, the government of Pakistan
promulgated the Economic Reforms
Ordinance 1992 to attract foreign exchange
held by its citizens abroad. Although thislaw was designed to attract illegally
stashed foreign exchange back to Pakistan,
this law provided protection to the sourceof foreign exchange accounts from being
questioned by the tax authorities inPakistan. However, law enforcement
agencies could still investigate the sourceof such accounts in the case of reasonablesuspicion of involvement of the accountholder in drug trafficking.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
C. Principal Sources of Illegal
Proceeds
In Pakistan, the main sources of illegal
proceeds are as follows:(a) D r u g Tr a f f i c k i n g : A s e a r l i e r
mentioned, Pakistan has a very
serious drug abuse problem which
has spawned a large domestic drug
market, accruing significantly large
profits to the drug peddlers and drugbarons. Mainly, it is the proceeds fromthe domestic heroin trade whichforms the major part of money
laundering in Pakistan. In addition
to this, a considerable part of the drug
proceeds must be coming from abroadto Pakistan, although most of it finds
its way to various tax havens aroundthe world.
(b) S m u g g l i n g o f C o n t r a b a n d : I n
Pakistan, despite its best efforts toroot out the evil of smuggling,
considerable smuggling ofcontraband still takes place. This
usually includes luxury goods,
electonic appliances, gun runningand gold smuggling. The proceedsfrom smuggling are one of the major
sources of black money in Pakistan.
(c) Organized Crime: Organized Crime
like gambling, counterfeiting,cheating, car theft, bank robber andabduction for ransom are also sourcesof Pakistan’s black economy.
(d) Criminal Malfeasance in Public andPrivate Sector: Proceeds from corrupt
practices, fraud or criminal
misappropriation in the government/
public, commercial, banking andcorporate sectors also contribute toblack economy of Pakistan.
(e) Evasion of Taxes and Duties: Theproceeds acquired by dishonest
citizens/entrepreneurs by avoiding
taxes and duties from various sectorsof economy also contribute toward theblack economy.

160

D. Principal Money Laundering
Methods
The principal money laundering
methods detected or suspected in Pakistan
are as follows:(a) Hawala/Hundi.
(b) Bearer Investment Schemes.
(c) Investment and Speculation in Real
Estate.
(d) Expenditure on Luxury Goods.
(e) Over/Under Invoicing of Imports andExports.
(f) Bogus Imports/Exports.
(g) Loan Bank Methods.
(h) Prize Bond Racketeering.
(i) Smuggling of Currency.
(j) M o n e y S h o w n a s P r o c e e d s o fAgriculture or Poultry.
Among these methods, ‘Hawala’ remains
te preferred mode of money laundering inPakistan. Users of Hawala services include
non-resident Pakistanis working abroad,sending hard earned money to their familes
back home; parties indulging in criminal
activities ranging from smuggling ofcontraband to all types of money
laundering; and organizations having anexus to terrorist activities. Obviously theobjectives of these users are different, while
legitimate in one case, criminal and evenanti-state in others. Some of the reasonsare:(a) In case of Pakistani expatriates
sending money to Pakistan, thereasons include a time tested
confidential system which is efficientand convenient for the parties at bothends. It hardly involves any formal
documentation unlike the banking
system, which becomes cumbersome
for the semi or un-educated person.
The “Hawala” dealer, like a goodbusinessman, also offers a better rateof rupee conversion, being thedifference of the official and theprevailing market rate, which may

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
range from 5-10% on account ofhigher demand of hard currencies.
Yet another reason is the lack ofbanking facilities in the remote areasfrom where most of the Pakistani
expatriates hail. Deregulation offoreign exchange controls since 1992
(after the introduction of Protectionof Economic Reforms Act in Pakistan)
have not affected the preference forthe “Hawala” system on account of
the aforementioned reasons against
the formal banking system.
(b) Criminal organizations prefer thissystem for laundering their money, as
well as making payments to theconcerned parties in Pakistan orabroad. Their preference is basicallyon account of the anonymity affordedby it due to little formal
documentation involved, leaving nopaper trail. Obviously the use offormal international banking
systems for conducting illegaltransactions/trading is fraught withgreat risks of being traced andconnected to unlawful activities, evenat a later stage. The “Hawala” system
therefore suits the criminal/drug
mafia not only for laundering theirdirty money, but also for settling
financial claims in connection with
their illegal trading and smuggling,
without running the risk of being
detected. However, it is pertinent tomention that taking advantage ofbank secrecy provisions, and theabsence of suspicion/cash
transactions reporting requirementsin the past, resulted in drugtraffickers also using formal banking
channels for the transfer of funds.
The “Hawala” operators, now, after
the deregulation of foreign currency
accounts by Pakistanis and the freemovement of foreign exchange to/out
of Pakistan without questioning, aretaking full advantage of the change

in law and policy to promote theirbusiness. Without fear of being
questioned, they are using foreign
currency bank accounts opened inlocal banks to receive funds frominterested parties, for payments todesignated parsons in Pakistan.
Instances have come to notice wheresome authorized money changers,
maintaining foreign currency
accounts in their own names or someother person, have helped drugtraffickers receive payments of drugmoney from abroad.
(c) An other category of “Hawala” systemusers are the smugglers of consumer
goods and arms dealers. On accountof higher tariff rates on importable
goods and restrictions imposed on theimport of arms, the black market of
smuggled goods keeps the demand forforeign exchange for payments
abroad constantly at a higher pitch,thus making hard currencies more
expensive in the currency market, as
compared to the official sources.
E. Relationship Between Hawala
System & Drug Trafficking/Gold
Smuggling.
The Hawala bankers, in addition to large
scale money transactions, are also
indulging in gold smuggling. Reportedly,
gold worth billions of dollars was being
smuggled from UAE, Hong Kong andSingapore into Pakistan and India. Muchof the smuggled gold through this system
can be linked to narcotics trafficking.
Subsequently, liberalization in the gold
importation policy announced by theGovernment of Pakistan in the early 1990s
was aimed at reducing the significant
capital affiliated with the Undi or Hawalasystems and to secure foreign exchange.
Presently, Dubai is the main centre forMiddle Eastern and South Asian gold
smuggling networks. Most of the gold
imported in Dubai, comes from Swiss

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Banks and metal dealers in London. The
Hawala/Hundi systems facilitate the gold
trade and smuggling activities in the
Middle Eastern and South East AsianRegions. According to one estimate, 99
percent of gold purchased in Dubai is
obtained through Hundi/Hawalatransactions. It was also reported in an
INTERPOL conference held in 1991, that
if gold and silver smuggling in stopped, 80
to 90 percent Hundi/Hawala transactions
would automatically cease. Moreover,Hundi/Hawala systems provide the hardcurrency to broker’s need to finance goldpurchases and smuggling operations.
F. Bearer Investment Schemes
The bearer investment schemes,
introduced by the government in the lasttwo decades, conveniently provided theopportunity for exploitation for money
laundering purposes. These schemes are:(a) Bearer National Bond Fund (nolonger operative).
(b) F o r e i g n E x c h a n g e B e a r e r
Certificates (FEBC).
(c) NIT Bearer Units.
(d) WAPDA Bearer Bonds.
(e) Bearer Certificates of Investment/
Growth Certificates.
(f) Bearer Certificates of Deposits.
(g) Foreign Currency Bearer Certificates(FCBC).
(h) Prize Bonds Schemes of various
denominations for Rs. 50, 100, 500,
1000 and recently introduced Prize
Bonds of Rs. 10,000 and 25,000.
The government was moping up somerevenue from these beasrer investment
schemes by imposing tax ranging from 1%
to 7.5%, which may be described as the costof laundering black money. Bearer bonds/
certificates found in the possession of drugtrafficker or their associates are still liable
to forfeiture under the law.

162

G. Government of Pakistan’s
Measures to Control Money
Laundering.
The Government of Pakistan, due to theworsening drug situation, has taken
several legal, administrative and policy
measures not only to counter money
laundering but also to forfeit assets
acquired through drug trafficking and thesmuggling of contraband goods. In
pursuance of the 1988 UN Convention, towhich Pakistan was a signatory, theControl of Narcotics Substance Act (CNSA)
1997 (previously an ordinance of 1995) was
promulgated, effectively putting animpediment on freely practiced money
laundering, particularly for drug proceeds.
It is the first time that money launderinghas been declared a crime and the reportingof suspicious transactions by the banks andfinancial institutions has been madeobligatory in this substantive law (refer sec.
67-69 of the Act). Section 67 (2) provides
imprisonment for up to three (3) years if
there is a failure to supply information. The
State Bank of Pakistan (the Central Bank)
has also issued the ‘Required Prudential
Instructions (1989) and Regulations (1992)
to the banking sector. In contrast to USA
laws there is no lower limit for reporting
suspicious transactions, which eliminates
the loophole of breaking the transactions
in smaller parts. The State Bank has also
agreed, in principal, to bring all types offinancial institutions/corporate sectors,
including money changers/stock markets,within the purview of money laundering
laws and regulations. The State Bank has
already issued guidelines to non-banking
financial institutions for preventing theirinvolvement in the money laundering
activities of other unlawful trades.
Regarding money changers, it is relevant
to mention that as part of exchange control
reforms, Pakistani nationals and residents,
Pakistani companies/firms have been
granted licences to act as authorised money

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
changers (AMC). These licences are issued
strictly in accordance with the procedureand conditions laid down by the State
Bank. These conditions aim at making
AMC’s business transparent and forhelping in identifying transactions.
Under section 12 and 13 of the CNSA,
acquisition and possession of assets derived
from narcotic offenses has been madepunishable with up to 14 years of
imprisonment, plus fine and forfeiture of
drug money.
Although Pakistan is already extending
legal assistance to requesting countries forcarrying out investigations in the field of
drug trafficking/money laundering, theGovernment of Pakistan, included in the
CNS Act 1997 a separate chapter on
mutual legal assistance. At the moment
Pakistan has not yet entered into mutual
legal assistance treaties with othercountries.
In 1994, the Government of Pakistan
discontinued Dollar Bearer Certificates in
Europe and America for the primaryreasons that these certificates could havebeen conveniently used for money
laundering.
VI. CONCLUSION
From the above discussions it is clearthat transnational organized crime can not
be fought without developing transnational
combatting strategies. That is why thisissue has been taken up at the UN orinternational level. Numerous
deliberations have resulted in the present
state of awareness about this everincreasing menace. Still, the community of
the world is lacking in its efforts to matchthe advancements being made by crosscountry outlaws. We have already seen that
the UN is just an advisory institution andcan not interfere with the sovereignty ofStates. Some recommendations made may
be considered as such interference by someStates, because of their own internal
political and financial circumstances.
However such states must consider that in
the long run they might be the losers.
Pakistan, as we have seen in previous
section, has honoured its commitment to
all the international conventions to which
it is a signatory. Enactments/actions may
have been a bit late, but these are still astep ahead of the international response.
The following are worth mentioning inregard to Pakistan:(a) We have reduced poppy cultivation toalmost “zero”.
(b) Due to the non-production of opium,
Pakistan has become an importing(illicit) country to fulfil the demandof its 1.52 million addicts.
(c) Effective crack downs by law
enforcement agencies have compelled
the change of route from Pakistan to
the Central Asian States.
(d) Punishments for drugs have been
made harsher.
(e) Pakistan is liberal in extraditions. We
have Extradition Treaties with 25
countries, and extradition is still
possible with non-treaty States.
(f) Special emphasis has been placed on
mutual assistance and particularprovisions have been made in thesubstantive/procedural laws.
(g) Laws for the forfeiture of ill-gotten
assets are more effective then therequired international standards.
(h) M o n e y l a u n d e r i n g h a s b e e nconsidered as a distinctive crime andlegal provision and prudential
regulations have been promulgated.
(i) A fund has been established torehabilitate drug addicts.
(j) Anti-narcotics agencies have beenstrengthened, despite financial
restraints.
(k) Constitution of Special Courts for
Drug Offences would go a long way

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
for speedy justice.
(l) Promulgation of Control of Narcotics
Substances Act 1997 would be alandmark in the control of drugs.
Despite all of the above steps, we still
feel handicapped in or efforts to combat
transnational organised crime. Decreased
poppy production in Pakistan has beencountered by a reciprocal increase in
Afghanistan, which means that there ishardly any difference in supply (except thesource). So we have to concentrate now on
demand reduction. The National Fund for
Drug Abuse Control has been set up, but
due to financial restraints, the required
results are difficult to achieve.
International aid agencies should now takestock of the situation and sufficient funds
should be provided to augment the Fund.
A consortium may be established for
coordinating aid programmes.
A sound foundation has been laid by the
Vienna Convention of 1998 to build a viableinternational mechanism to control thelarge scale international money launderingof illicit drug traffickers, throughpreventive measures and enforcement by
the forfeiture of drug assets. There isevidence that drug trafficking
organizations frequently make use of
territories of countries:(a) t h a t a r e n o t p a r t i e s t o t h einternational drug control treaties;(b) t h a t h a v e f o r m a l l y r a t i f i e dconventions without implementing
their provisions;(c) that suffer from civil war, terrorist
activities, political instability, ethnic
conflict, economic depression or social
tension;(d) that are not in a position to ensure
government control over some partsof their territories; and(e) that are not able to maintainadequate law enforcement, customs

164

and pharmaceutical control services.
Drug traffikers also seek out countries
and territories with weak central banks,
restrictive bank secrecy practices andlimited control on foreign exchange.
Although there are many extradition
treaties and mutual assistance agreements
between different countries, there are still
pockets where no extradition treaties exist,
and the drug pushers make full use of this.
Similarly, despite the adoption of model
mutual assistance treaty by the UN, there
has not been a sufficient response from thesignatory countries.
The desired objective of completely
stopping money laundering can not be
achieved unless a further measure of
requiring banking and financial
institutions to examine the origin of adeposit, and commercial activity
generating it, before it is accepted, isuniversally adopted. Illicit funds must be
stopped before entering the internationalbanking system.
VII. RECOMMENDATIONSIn the light of the discussion on problem
areas, the following recommendations are
made to effectively deal with international
money laundering and the enforcement offorfeiture of drug assets:(a) There is need to educate and sensitize
national governments to the evil
effects of drug money and theuniversal need to combat it by the
adoption of stringent countermeasures through domestic policy onmoney laundering, as well as offering
meaningful cooperation andassistance to a regulatory body (to beestablished, if not existing) and law
enforcement agencies.
(b) The issue of the lack of universal

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
adoption and enforcement of viableanti-money laundering provisions,contained in the UN Convention of1988 and supplemented by therecommendations of Financial Action
Task Force (FATF), must be seriously
addressed by all affected nations of
the world. A mechanism ofpressurizing the non-signatory, as
well as signatory but non conforming,countries through economic andfinancial sanctions should be
developed and adhered to as a matterof policy under the umbrella of theUnited Nations. One such action
could be black listing the defaulting
nations/banks and withholding
international loans/aid to them; in
addition to stopping the handling of
any transactions originating or
passing through black listed nations
whose banks are prepared to handle
illegally accumulated funds. These
pressures could be applied by the loan
giving countries, with the blessing of
the United Nations.
(c) In order to ensure uniform andregular enforcement of various antimoney laundering provisions in thebanking, financial and commercial
sectors, there is need to create a true
multi-national banking, financial andcommercial regulatory body. Thisbody should be empowered to inspectand ensure compliance of the various
counter-money laundering
provisions. Within each country also
an effective central body comprisingof banking experts, charteredaccountants and law enforcement
personnel should be charged with the
responsibility of inspecting andensuring the implementation of thevarious anti-money laundering
provisions adopted under the local
state laws.
(d) Equally important is the pressure
from the client countries andimportant depositors in internationalbanks, who must insist that they will
not do business with instututions
that fail to adhere to the new toughinternational reforms on examining
money sources.
(e) Law enforcement agencies operatingin countries who are just beginning
to initiate assets forfeitureinvestigation, under newly enacted
legislation, lack the necessary
expertise. Extensive training
programmes covering intelligencegathering, financial investigation
techniques involving local and foreign
jurisdictions, and prosectution
aspects must be initiated incooperation with the UNDCP andother such internationalorganizations. The launching of joint
financial drug assets investigations
by various national law enforcement
agencies, for better cooperation andco-ordination to trace drug assets forforfeiture, could prove to be very
rewarding, especially for the lessexperienced enforcement agencies.
(f) Regular exchange of intelligencereports/data on transnational drug
cartels, their modus operandi andtheir money laundering networks
should be ensured.
(g) An international fund of forfeited
drug assets may be set up, which may
receive fixed percentage of all
forfeited assets from all concernedcountries. This fund should be
utilized to:• develop well researched
intelligence database oninternational drug trafficking andmoney laundering organizations,
their assets, bank accounts andother relevant information on
their criminal activities;• to set up an efficient
communications network between

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
drug enforcement agencies in all
countries, to enable them to makeuse of this database in their day
to day operational work;• to design and conduct various
courses at the regional level for
improving the professional skillsof the intelligence, investigativeand prosecution personnel of thelaw enforcement agencies.
APPENDIX ACASE NO. 1 - RECOVERY OF
6660 KG HASHISH AT ANTWERP,BELGIUM (AUGUST, 1996)
5980 KG HASHISH AT ISLAMABAD(AUGUST, 1997)
In August 1996, customs officials of
Belgium confiscated a container sent from
Karachi containing household effects fromwhich 6660 Kg hashish was recovered. The
hashish was hidden in the personal luggageof an Egyptian diplomat, Muhammad
Salah Sadiq, who was transferred from
Islamabad. The luggage was being shifted
to Switzerland, where the daughter of the
diplomat was residing. The information
was received by the Government ofPakistan through the Drug Enforcement
Agency of USA. The Anti-Narcotics Forcestarted the enquiry discreetly. It came tonotice that the consignment was sent by
one Kamran Gul, Managing Director of
Total Cargo Company, Islamabad. On
receiving the information of the hashish
capture in Belgium, Kamran Gulregistered a report in a Islamabad police
station stating that the documents relating
to the container were stolen and some otherperson, misusing those documents, shippedthe container. Infact the report was
registered by Kamran Gul to save himself.
Kamran Gul had actually sent the hashish,after proper plannning, taking advantage
of diplomatic immunity. His gang was
operating transnationally and the following
persons were the members of his gang:

166

i)

Mehmat: He is a resident of Turkey andalso holds citizenship of Holland. He
was the financier of the gang. He cameto Islamabad and stayed at the Holiday
Inn Hotel where he settled thesmuggling details.
ii) Kamran Gul: He was the Managing
Director of Total Cargo Company who,along with his two workers Gul Afsar
Khan and Mohsin Khalid, arranged thepacking and subsequent despatch
through the company.
iii) Muhammad Javed Baig: He belongs to
Peshawar and procured the hashishfrom Afghanistan. He also arranged its
safe transit from Afghanistan toIslamabad.
iv) Arshad: He is a Pakistani and wasliving in Holland. He was the organizerof this narco-gang.
The Anti-Narcotics Force of Islamabad
kept close watch on the activity of Kamran
Gul secretly. It came to notice that Kamran
Gul was again trying to despatch a large
quantity of hashish in the personal effects
of some diplomat. After 7 to 8 months ofsurveillance, 5980 kg hashish wasrecovered from his wharehouse inIslamabad which was kept in 46 blue
coloured plastic drums. The Anti-Narcotics
Force registered the case and Kamran Gul,
Gul Afsar and Mohsin Khalid werearrested. The case has been sent to courtfor prosecution, where it is still pending.
Muhammad Javed Baig absconded, while
requests have been made to Turkish andDutch Governments for the arrest of
Mehmat and Arshad. After the arrest of
Kamran Gul it was disclosed that thehashish was brought from Afghanistan in
the “Ilaqa Ghair” (Tribal Area), from where
it was transported to Islamabad through aspecially made oil-tanker. The hashish was
kept in a warehouse for three months. The
warehouse was obtained at a monthly rentof USD$ 1000. The consignment was again

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
shifted to another (lower rent) premises
from where it was recovered.
APPENDIX BCASE NO.2 - RECOVERY OF 26 KG
HEROIN FROM ISLAMABAD
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AND
HOLIDAY CROWN PLAZA HOTEL,KARACHIThe proverb “where there is will, there
is a way” was proved right by the AntiNarcotics Force when, in November 1996,
26 Kgs of heroin was seized from IslamabadInternational Airport and the Holiday
Crown Plaza Hotel, Karachi. As a result of
the seizure, three African nationals,
belonging to the Sudan and Zaire, werearrested. The ring leader was a Sudanesenational, based in Nairobi, by the name of
Tariq Hji Idris. The others, a woman, Hullu
Kyamuno and a man, Ali Kaita, were justcarriers who were promised USD $ 2000
for the successful trip, excluding hotel stay
and air tickets. Mr Ali Kaita was travelingon a forged Zairian diplomatic passport andan interesting aspect was that the passport
was in the name of a lady, Isankunya Fitila,
which was written in French and the
Immigration Officials at the Airport were
not able to discern that it was a female
name. Once Mr Ali Kaita arrived at
Islamabad International Airport to fly to
Karachi, he was accompanied by Tariq Haji
Idris. When Tariq Hji Idris sensed danger,
he left Ali Kaita and boarded the flight for
Karachi. Later 13 Kgs of Heroin wasrecovered from the suitcase of Ali Kaita.
Ms Hullu who had come to airport earlier,successfully boarded the aircraft along withthe drugs. Ali Kaita was interrogated on
the spot and he disclosed that Tariq Haji
Idris had given him two suitcases and he
did not know what was in it. One thisinformation, the ANF and ASF (Karachi)
were alerted. The moment Tariq Haji
landed at Karachi Airport he was taken

into custody by ASF and handed over to
ANF Karach. Search of his person led to
the recovery of USD$ 22,000. By then, ANF
Karachi and ANF Islamabad had noknowledge of Ms Hullu being third memberof the gang. Mr Tariq Haji was later
brought to ANF Islamabad forinterrogation. It was during the course ofinterrogation that Ali Kaita and Tariq Haji
disclosed information about Ms Hullu
being their third partner. It was too late toarrest Ms Hullu as quite some time hadlapsed in the interrogation process, and it
was expected that Ms Hullu, along with thedrugs, must have left the country. Anyway,
an effort was made by ANF to trace her
and an officer was sent to karachi to findMs Hullu. While going through the FIA
immigration record, it was learnt that Ms
Hullu had left the country a few days prior.
The investigating officers traced the last
address of Ms Hullu in Pakistan, which
was the Holiday Crown Plaza Hotel,
Karachi. On reaching the Hotel it was
found that the woman left behind two large
suitcases and had told the Hotel
Administration that she would be
returning to collect them later. The twosuitcases were taken into custody andbroke open by ANF officers in the presenceof the Hotel staff, and another 13 Kgs of
Heroin was found. The hotel staff were
instructed to inform ANF wheneversomeone came and asked for the suitcases.
Suddenly, after a few weeks, the Hotel staff
found Ms Hullu asking for suitcases. She
had come back from Nairobi, along withher boyfriend, to get them. She wasarrested and sent to jail. The boyfriend
however, was not found to be involved in
the drugs business and was therefore
released.

167

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
TABLE 1PROGRESSIVE PUNISHMENTS ACCORDING TO THE CONTROL OF
NARCOTICS SUBSTANCES ACT 1997.
Quantityof Drugs
Recovered(not to scale)
1000g
(1kg)
200g

100g

10g

0
Drug
Type

HeroinCocaineOpium derivative
Coca derivative
0-2 Years with fine
3-7 Years with fine
Death or life term with fineof Rs.1 million or more

168

Opium
Coca leaf
Other psychotropic
substances

Any other narcotic
drug or controlled
substance nototherwise specified

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERSTABLE 2
GOVERMENT OF PAKISTAN

Ministryof Narcotics
Control

Ministryof
Defence

A.N.F

A.S.F

MinistryofInterior

Ministryof
SAFRON

MinistryofFinanceF.C

C.B.R
Customs

F.I.A

F.C
Balochistan

F.C
N.W.F.P

Rangers

Coast
GuardsPROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS

Excise &Taxation

A.S.F
A.N.F
C.B.R
F.C
F.I.A
N.W.F.PSAFRON

PolicePolitical Levies
Khasadar Force

Airport Security Force
Anti Narcotics ForceCentral Board of Revenue
Frontier Constabulary/Frontier Corps
Federal Investigation Agency
North West Frontier ProvanceStates & Frontier Regions

169

170

30
0
12
8
2
254
3
0
1
1590
0
36
1

1937

Total

No.of
Cases

A.N.F
A.S.F.
BALOCHISTAN F. CORPS
COASTAL GUARDSCUSTOMSEXCISE
ISB.POLICE
N.W.F.P F. CORPSPOLITICAL AUTHORITIESPOLICEPUNJAB RANGERS
RAILWAYS POLICESINDH RANGERSAGENCIES

1998 6448.048

27 1033.795
00.000
1 3114.300
11 167.552
4 261.100
251 187.349
2
1.045
0
0.000
0
16.0001656 1619.841
0
0.000
41
10.816
5
6.250
11972

119
10
14
8
318
1045
13
1
1
10331
1
108
1

Qty.
No.of No.of
Seized Defend. Cases

OPIUM

868.422150.773782.23075.707495.324140.151
3.333
36.60060.000801.0190.030
20.830
0.500
123
6
17
16
18
822
32
0
0
20746
0
178
3
22122 92322.537

179 21802.463
6
1.785
3 2239.075
14 4217.800
29 39485.790
832 4807.962
37
34.963
0
0.000
0
0.000
20870 19633.965
0
0.000
100
71.43427.300
127

1
0
0
0
0
11
0
0
0
99
0
16
0

Qty.
No.of No.of
Seized Defend. Cases

CHARAS

11942 413.859 121961

163
10
2
10
102
1047
14
1
5
10475
1
108
2

Qty.
No.of No.of
Seized Defend. Cases

HEROIN136 3794.065

1
5.000
0
0.000
0
0.000
0
0.000
0
0.000
12 1208.805
0
0.000
0
0.000
0
0.000
107 2254.260
00.00
16 326.000
0
0.000

347

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
347
0
0
0

Qty.
No.of No.of
Seized Defend. Cases

BHANG

ANTI NARCOTICS FORCE STATEMENT SHOWING NARCOTICS SEIZURESWITHIN PAKISTAN FROM PERIOD 01/01/97 TO 31/10/97

TABLE 3

QTY. in Kgs./Nos.

3 51 14660.00

0
0.000
0
0.000
0
0.000
0
0.000
0
0.000
0
0.000
0
0.000
0
0.000
0
0.000
351 14660.00
0
0.000
0
0.000
0
0.000

Qty.
No.of
Seized Defend.

OTHERSRESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS

CURRENT SITUATION OF
TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZEDCRIME IN THE PHILIPPINES
Alberto Rama Olario*
I. INTRODUCTION
The maintenance of domestic tranquility
and order is one of the principal
responsibilities of government. To survive,
the Philippines must effectively counteract
the corrosive elements that tend to gnaw
at its foundation, as well as the insidiousforces that seek to undermine it fromoutside. Towards the first objective, thePhilippine National Police, to which I
belong, is one of the principal arms of thePhilippine government in its campaign
against lawlessness and criminality
throughout the archipelago.
For the last four (4) years under theleadership and administration of President
Fidel V Ramos, the Philippines had beensteadily rising in terms of economic
progress and stability, making it earn the
distinction of being one of the fast-rising
economic dragons in the Asia-Pacific(through the President’s National Strategic
Action Plan dubbed as “Philippines2000”).It has likewise achieved lasting
peace among all Filipinos, as evidened in
the most recent signing of the peaceagreement with our Muslim brothers in
Mindanao and the subsequent creation of
the Southern Philippines Council for Peaceand Development (SPCPD),which ended
the decades-old rift.

far achieved, the maintenance of peace andorder must be graranteed. Towards thisend, the Philippine National Police (PNP)
created a parallel National Strategic Action
Plan dubbed “POLICE 2000” which
envisions the PNP as a professional,
dynamic and highly motivated police
organization. It is regarded as one of themost credible institutions in the country
today and ranked among the best in Asia.
In effectively meeting our mission andvision to serve our country, we in thePhilippine National Police believe that inorder to efficiently subdue all destructivee l e m e n t s i n o u r s o c i e t y, u t m o s tinternational cooperation with ourneighbors must be made. These elements
include international syndicates who
operate in our country as well as yours.
There should definitely be a continuing andharmonious coordination among all of us
in this endeavor.
II. DRUG TRAFFICKING

To sustain the success that we have soDrug trafficking and abuse are serious
issues confronting both developing anddeveloped nations. Production, trade andconsumption of illicit drugs is a threat to
the well being of the global community,
undermining legitimate institutions,eroding social values and creating broader
economic development problems. The
Philippines is no exception in this regard.

* Deputy Regional Director Administration,
Philippine National Police-Region XIII,
Department of the Interior and Local Government,
Philippines.

For many years the fight against illegal
drugs and their abuse has been the subjectof numerous discussions at the national aswell international level. Powerful drug

171

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
syndicates with their vast resources,
modern technology and information have
reduced the world into a small community
where they bring illegal drugs from one
place to another in furtherance of theirnefarious activities without regard tonational boundaries or domestic laws.
Countries affected by the problem haveadopted their respective measures, like theenactment of laws and other policies, toinclude appropriate implementation bydifferent governmental agencies andinstrumentalities. Regional andinternational coordination and cooperation
has been likewise resorted to in responseto this global problem.
According to a recent survey, drug
addiction is the second most importantcrime problem in the Philippines today. In
1992, there were only about 20,000 drug
users, which increased to an estimated 1.7
million in 1997. Out of the 17 million,
roughly 1.2 million drug users are from theyouth population. Using 5 grams per month
per drug user as an estimate, andtranslating this to money circulated due todrug use and trafficking, we have amonthly consumption of 8.5 million grams
amounting to 17 billion Philippine pesos
monthly or 204 billion Philippine pesos
annually.
There are three (3) roles the Philippines
play in the illegal drug scene. First, as a
producer, exporter and consumer ofcannabis products (marijuana). Second, as
an importer and consumer ofmethamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu)
and other regulated drugs. Third, as atransit point for heroin and cocaine. The
country’s penetrable seaports, airports andlong irregular coastline provides ideal
entry and exit points for drug smuggling
and an alternate transshipment area ofinternational drug syndicates.

172

A. Drug Situation
1. Marijuana Production
The Philippines is known as a major
producer of high-grade marijuana. It
continues to be one of the main drugs ofabuse in the country due to its availability
and low cost. Marijuana is grown in ninety
five (95) drug source barangays located innine (9) regions of the country. These areas
are the subject of our continuos eradication.
2. Methamphenamine Hydrochloride(Shabu) Smuggling.
This drug popularly known in thePhilippines as ‘shabu’ is illegally imported
by some Filipino-Chinese syndicates from
Hong Kong and Taiwan. Large supplies ofmethamphenamine hydrochloride (shabu)
continues to come from illicit
manufacturing and processing centers
within the region, particularly frommainland China (PROC). The PROC
continues to be a significant source of illicit
drugs intended for the Philippines. Hong
Kong and Taiwan remain as the staging
point of Chinese Triad syndicates financing
drug trafficking operations for smuggling
multi-kilos of shabu for the Philippines.
There are also reports that these traffickers
facilitate shabu to Pacific States and theUSA. In 1995, the PNP Narcotics Group
seized more than 200 kilograms of shabu
on different occasions. For 1996, the groupseized 300 kilograms of shabu worth 600
million pesos as a result of major operations
launched against Chinese syndicates basedin the Philippines. This does not include
the hundreds of kilos seized by PARAC andother PNP territorial units.
3. Trans-shipment Point of Heroin andCocaine
The Philippines, due to its strategic
location in Asia, is a logical choice for atrans-shipment point for heroin andcocaine. Heroin is usually shipped into thecountry from the Golden Triangle, through108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
the various airports and seaports. African
and Thai couriers with American
connections are also utilizing the postal
services in transporting drugs. In 1994, aManila-based Nigerian syndicate wasneutralized for transporting 15 kilogramsof heroin worth almost 400 million pesos,
resulting in the busting of an AmericanNigerian Connection. Another major
seizure was made in the early part of 1997,
with the arrest of a Taiwanese national fortransporting high-grade heroin worth 27
million pesos. He was arrested in acontrolled delivery operation participatedin by the PNP Narcotics Group, Bureau of
Customs, USDEA and Royal Thai Police.
Cocaine trans-shipment is being carriedout either by ship or airplane. It is believedthat the destinations of these expensive,
illicit drugs are the rich nations of Asia,
more particularly Hong Kong, Japan andTiwan. In 1995, 14 kilograms of cocaine
was seized in Central Visayas, presumablyleft in haste by unidentified Chinese
traffickers. Seizure of 14 kilograms of
cocaine was made in 1996 in the Quezon
Province.

Japan.
C. Concealment Techniques
Internationally detected modes ofconcealment are generally employed bydrug traffickers, such as:i) Ingestion, leg casts and bodywrap.
ii) Use of false bottoms of luggage,concealment in imported packages
and false cavities of furniture.
iii) Concealment in containers and air
freights.
D. Government Countermeasures
1. Legislation
In 1994, the government enacted theRepublic Act 7659 which imposes the death
penalty on certain heinous crimes and drugtransactions involving a certain degree oramount of dangerous drugs.
In 1996, the government created theSpecial Dangerous Drug Court which shalltry heinous drug cases against notorious,
big-time pushers. This will speed-up thedisposition of drug cases filed in different
courts.

B. International Drug Syndicates
1. Chinese Triads
These ethnic Chinese syndicates aremainly responsible for the smuggling of
methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu)
into the country.
2. Nigerian Connection
These drug rings are engaged in thesmuggling of heroin from the Golden
Triangle to the USA and Europe, using thePhilippines as a trans-shipment point.
3. A u s t r a l i a n a n d Ya k u z a D r u g
syndicates
These groups are responsible for thesmuggling of Cannabis from thePhilippines to Australia, New Zealand andWith the ratification of the 1998 UN
Vienna Convention, the Philippine
National Police, particularly the Narcotics
Group, is pushing for immediate legislationof tough drug laws, i.e. legislation on asset
forfeiture, financial management and wiretapping. These laws will strengthen
prosecution and eventually, increase theconviction rate in dangerous drug cases.
2. Law Enforcement Methods
At present, the law enforcement pillarof the Criminal Justice System still adopts
the “Multi-Agency Approach” in its fightagainst the unabated drug abuse problem
in our country. The PNP, through the
Narcotics Group, contributes a major effort
in the fight against the proliferation of173

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
illegal drugs, working hand in hand withother law enforcement agencies like the
NBI, EIIB, Bureau of Customs, the AFP,
other Task Forces like the PARAC and
PA C C . T h e i r r e s p e c t i v e a n t i - d r u g
operations are designed primarily toprevent and control trafficking of illegal
drugs, with an operational strategy ofsupply and demand reduction andinternational/regional cooperation andcoordination.
III. FIREARMS SMUGGLING
This particular activity is carried out by
transnational crime syndicates smuggling
US-made firearms into the country.
Philippine locally-made handguns on theother hand are smuggled to Asian countries
particularly Japan, Taiwan, and other
ASEAN countries through the employmentof middlemen tasked to ship out firearms(transported by vessels), themisdeclaration of cargo (usually consigned
to fictitious personalities) and theemployment of jettison techniques.
The modus operandi of the Smugglers
is the following:i)Firearms arrive in the Philippines
as undeclared or misdeclared
items and included with othergoods, consigned to fictitious
names and addresses;ii) Firearms can also be dismantled
into pieces and included amongmetal items or machinery parts
legally imported or exported;iii) Firearms are sometimes thrownfrom vessels at prearranged areas
some distance from the shore
where they are later picked up by
small boats and brought toundisclosed places.
Government Countermeasures :

174

i)

Liberalized Policies on Firearms
Importation: The (PNP) now
permits licensed firearms dealers
to purchase all types of firearms
from abroad. As a result,smuggling of foreign-madefirearms has considerably
decreased since they are now
available in country in commercial
quantities.
ii) L e g a l i z a t i o n o f D o m e s t i c
Manufacturing of Firearms: The
government has legalized local
manufacture in the Province ofCebu in Central Philippines. This
has resulted in the regulation andbetter monitoring of locally-madefirearms.
iii) S t r i c t e r M o n i t o r i n g o f
International Gateways: Entry
points of smuggled firearms are
now under strict monitoring by
the different Philippine law
enforcement agencies. As a result,from 1995 to 1996, a good number
have been arrested in the country
for gun-running and firearms
smuggling. Confiscated from themwere around 256 firearms ofdifferent calibers, ranging fromcaliber 38 to M-16 rifles, 1,600
rounds of assorted ammunition
and 25 seacrafts. In the Southern
Philippines, for the past year, a
total of ten (10) major arms
shipments form Sabah, Malaysia
were reportedly made, three of
which were for the Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF) andseven for the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MLF).
iv) I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o o p e r a t i o n /Networking: The PNP has
developed increased international
police and USA authorities to
identify and monitor the activities
of gun traffickers, to pre-empt or
neutralize their gun-running

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
activities and to exchange
information related to syndicatedgroups. This has resulted in apositive tone.
v) Heightened Cooperation among
Philippine Law Enforcement
Agencies and Military Units: The
Armed Forces of the Philippines(AFP), the PNP and other law
enforcement agencies haveintensified intelligence
coordination to determine bigtime as well as small-time
smugglers and illegal gun
manufacturers.
vi) Firearms Amnesty: Simultaneouswith the implementation of
OPLAN PAGLALANSAG (orOPLAN “DISMANTLE”), thegovernment offers amnesty to all
holders of loose or unlicensed
firearms.
IV. SMUGGLING OF ILLEGALMIGRANTS
In the Philippines, the Bureau of
Immigration and Deportation has primary
responsibility for the administration andenforcement of immigration, citizenshipand alien admission and registration laws.
Recent incidents involing illegal migrants
included seventeen (17) Iranian nationals
who were excluded from entering thecountry and immediately deported after
they were found to be carrying fakepassports. Incidents of Filipino illegal
entrants to other countries like the US,
Canada and other Asian countries also
abound and are causing grave concern tothe immigration authorities of the affected
countries.
In the Philippines, the Bureau of
immigration authorities have sought thePhilippine Congress to enact a billincreasing the penalty on persons convictedof smuggling illegal and undesirable aliens

into the country. The immigration Bureau
has gathered intelligence information
which revealed that members of foreignbased human smuggling syndicates havebeen using the Philippines as a prime
destination for illegal aliens who want totake advantage of the growing economic
opportunities in the country. The Bureauof Immigration admitted that thetechnology used by these syndicates rivals
the governments in the processing of
spurious passports, visas and immigration
stamps. It was also revealed that humansmuggling syndicates were not only
engaged in bringing undocumented aliens
into Philippines, but also foreign terrorists,fugitives from justice and drug lords.
V. ILLICIT TRAFFICKING OFWOMEN AND CHILDREN
This crime activity has a direct bearing
on foreign countries. The modus operandi
employed by the syndicates are either torecruit Philippine prostitutes for
employment in Japan, Brunei and other
ASEAN countries or recruit foreign
prostitutes from Colombia, Taiwan andRussia to enter the sex trade in thePhilippines. Arrests of these foreigners
were made on separate occasions
throughout 1995,1996 and 1997.
Likewise, as recorded by our Social
Welfare Department, there were fifteen(15) reported cases of pedophilia and childprostitution, with sixteen (16) foreigners
arrested in 1995 alone. It is sad to note that
this is the adverse result, as reported by
the Defense for Children International, of
young Filipino girls being recruited byinternational prostitution syndicates andadvertised as virgins in Spartacus
Magazine, a widely circulated
pornographic magazine, which thesyndicate uses as an information network
for European pedophiles looking for cheap
sex in Asia. It is for this reason that175

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
concerned government agencies havejoined hands to arrest the worsening
situation. The Bureau of Immigration, forexample, has revived its crusade against
probable foreign prostitutes.
VI. ILLICIT TRAFFICKING OF
MOTOR VEHICLES
Most of the apprehension in the countryof illegally transported motor vehicles
involves luxury vehicles from the US,
Japan and Hong Kong. These vehicles,
which are actually luxury vehicles, areentered through the ports but are declared
as utility vehicles to avoid payment of advalorem tax. Some other luxury vehicles
entered through the ports are simply
undeclared or misclassified. Other vehicles
are disassembled and declared as parts,
availing lower tariff duties, and then areassembled after release from the customs
area. They are commonly known in thePhilippines as “chop-chop”.
Practically, the bulk of smuggled motor
vehicles apprehended are motorbikes
landed outside of customs entry points.
They are unloaded shipside, often ininternational waters, into local small boats
and landed at the shorelines. Most of theselandings occur in Northwest Luzon,
Eastern Visayas and Northern Midanao.
VII. MONEY LAUNDERING
Money laundering is another type ofcommercial crime. It is defined as a processof making or turning bad money/funds
raised and earned through crime (forexample drug money), into good. The
Phillipines has no money laundering lawsthat will guide law enforcers in preventing
this crime.
VIII. TRANSNATIONAL ECONOMIC
CRIMESTechnological advancement has greatly176

affected the relationship among police
forces in the region. The introduction andcreation of internet and electronic mail (email) in the computer realm has broughtmembers of foreign nations closer to eachother. Communication is now at the touchof a finger. However, this has also led tosophistication and a rise in commercial
crimes. Syndicates, who have knowledge
and skill about computers, known to be“computer hackers”, can access banktransactions, imitate certain products andperfectly forge signatures through the useof computers.
Recently, the Philippines scored asignificant breakthrough in credit cardfraud through the arrest of five (5)suspected members involved in the
manufacture and worldwide sale anddistribution of falsified payment cards, last
29 November 1997. The arrest resulted
from simultaneous raids conducted by the
PNP Intelligence Group in cooperation
with the US Secret Service and Interpol.
Arrested during the operations were thefollowing suspects who claimed/identified
themselves to be:(a) R a y m o n d J A C K S O N a . k a .
ALLEN MILLER(b) Peter HORNE(c) Otto URBAN(d) Helen HORNE(e) Jaime BUETA
Another suspect, a certain Horst SELIG,
who was identified as being themastermind of the syndicate, was able toelude arrest. Reportedly, SELIG is wantedby the police authorities in Germany.
INTERPOL and the US Secret Service
disclosed that this syndicate has
successfully operated and eluded arrest in
the US, United Kingdom and other partsof Europe, Hong Kong and Thailand. It isbelieved that they transferred their base

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
of operation to the Philippines because of
the absence of a specific law dealing withfraudulent payment cards. Apparently,
they also underestimated the ability of ourlaw enforcement agencies.
The initial investigation conducteddisclosed that the local payment card
industry listed to this syndicate
approximately USD$15 million as a resultof the flooding of counterfeit/cloned
payment cards manufactured by abovecited suspects. Payment cards issued by atleast fifty-two (52) local and internationalbanks and credit companies have beencloned/falsified. These include American
Express, Citibank, Bank Americard/
Deutsche Bank, Equitable Bank,
MasterCard, VISA and others. Other firms
could have been similarly compromised.
The extent of the damage on the credit card
industry and concerned banking
institutions in particular, and the impact
on the national economy and on global
industry in general, can not be determineduntil a thorough review and analysis of thesoftware and documents seized from thesyndicate have been made.
The syndicate employs the following four(4) basic modus operandi:
1. Skimming Method
A member of the syndicate will go to abusiness establishment and introduce
himself as a representative of a payment
card issuing bank. They will then ask to
examine the skimming device. Once
permitted, they attache the skimming
device to their computer, which then grabs
and stores the data from the skimming
device. The surreptitiously obtained datais then used to manufacture the cloned
payment cards.
2. Courier-Intercept Method
Issuing banks, instead of directly
releasing payment cards to clients, employ

courier companies to deliver the cards. In
this method, the syndicates bribe couriers
to lend them the card in transient, the dataof which is extracted. Once done, thecloned/compromise card is returned to thecourier for delivery, a courier is bribed anaverage of P2,500-P5,000 per card.
3. Cardholder and SyndicatesIn this method, the cardholder themself
is approached by the syndicate for thecloning of their card in exchange for acertain amount. The syndicate can portrayto the cardholder the advantages of having
their card cloned.
4. Merchant-Syndicate
This method is done by bribing personnel
with access to the account numbers ofclients of a business establishment into
revealing information about the accountnumber of payment cards of said clients.
The syndicate then creates multiple clones
out of each account number elicited fromthe business establishment. As a support
to the payment card cloning schemes, fake
identification cards such as passports,
driver’s licenses and similar identification
documents are manufactured. These areusually presented as issued byinternational banking institutions.
Given its enormous impact in thebooming payment card industry in the
country and business sector as a whole, the
PNP appealed to Philippine legislators to
expedite the passage of law that will
specifically address Payment Card Fraud.
IX. ASSESSMENT
Through the foregoing discussion, we
have come up with the following
assessment:i)

Crime groups in the Philippines
are still loosely organized andstructured. These groups are still177

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
in their infancy stages comparedto their foreign counterparts who
have systematically establishedbroad social spectrums ofinfluence essential to theiroperation.
ii) The illegal activities of crimegroups in the country are largely
domestic in implication and effect.
Except for firearms smuggling,
prostitution and illegal drugtrafficking, all other crime
activities in the Philippines has nodirect bearing or relationship toother nations.
iii) As the Philippines progresses
economically with its Medium
Te r mDevelopment
Plan(MTDP),it is expected thattransnational crimes sponsored byinternational crime groups will
proliferate in the country. This willfurther be hastened by thedisplacement of Hong Kong based
syndicates after its return toChina in 1997.
iv) The Philippines needs to enact
Anti-Racketeering and AntiMoney Laundering statutes tocope with organized crime. These
statutes will no doubt arm our law
enforcement agencies witheffective measures to denyorganized crime their substantial
economic base of support.
v) Wi t h t h e e x i s t e n c e o f t h e
extradition treaty between thePhilippines and the United States,
neutralization of crime groups
seeking sanctuary in bothcountries will be accelerated. The
Philippines needs also to expand
and negotiate with other countries
on the forging of extradition
treaties and re-negotiation ofexisting treaties that arehampered by technicalities inenforcement.

178

X. RECOMMENDATIONS
The following measures involving
international cooperation are suggested toeffectively curb transnational crimegroups:i)Strengthening of diplomatic
relations, networking andvigorous exchange of informationand technology through
INTERPOL, ASEANAPOL andother concerned international
bodies. The establishment of
direct linkages with other
INTERPOL member countries
should be pursued to expeditiously
facilitate intelligence exchange
and enable immediate action on
all cases, particularly theactivities of transnational crime
syndicates. This could further beenhanced through the mutual
sharing of technology, either byexchanging training or by othermeans.

ii) Forging extradition treaties
among concerned nations.
Extradition treaties with the othercountries are of utmost necessity
in suppressing international
syndicates and containing theupsurge of transnational crimes.
This is particularly true when
offenders escape from theircountry and seek sanctuary inanother, thereby evading the fullforce of the law. We need to renegotiate existing extradition
treaties that are hampered bytechnicalities in enforcement.
iv) Conduct of joint and coordinatedpatrols on common borders as acooperative effort in thwartingorganized crime.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERSTABLE 1RESULT OF ANTI-NARCOTICS OPERATIONS CONDUCTED
1995 and 1996 statistical data of arrest and confiscation for dangerous drugs
ARREST

1996(January to December)
1,311
27 (1 killed)

1995

No. of Persons Arrested
No. of Foreigners Arrested
CONFISCATIONS/SEIZURES
HeroinCocaineMethamphetamine(Shabu)
Marijuana Leaves
Marijuana Plants
Marijuana Seedlings
TOTAL MARKET VALUE

1,425
15 (2 killed)
014,424gms
207,593gms
1,754,956gms
6,808,473pcs
22,847,193pcs
P1.76 BILLION

1,534gms
1,392gms
280,699.24gms
964,062.10gms
9,164,052pcs
2,997,065pcs
P2.044 BILLIONTABLE 2
GOVERNMENT COUNTERMEASURES
Kinds of Drugs
Morphine, Heroin, Cocaine
Shabu (Methamphetamine)
Marijuana(Cannabis)
Marijuana resin or MJ hashish

Quantity
40 grams or more
200 grams or more
750 grams or more
50 grams or more
TABLE 3

RESULTS OF PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE OPERATIONS(1993 to 30 SEPT 1997)
1992
No of Narcotics Operations
4965
Buy-Bust
1977
Service of Warrants
2811
Marijuana Eradication
177
No. of Arrested Persons
6030
No. of Cases Filed In Court
876
No. of Syndicates Busted
59
Total Amount of Drugs Seized P1.198

1993
5068
1844
2980
244
6537
345
20
P.828

1994
4763
1516
3093
454
5358
3558
69
P1.185

1995
6126
2355
3602
169
7273
4374
58
P2.089

1996
21677
6246
15231
200
12040
7505
65
P4.428

1997
TOTAL
18,632 61,231
6439 20,377
11,184
38901
352
1,296
11,325 48,590
7,287 23,954
24
295
P1.283 P11.011

179

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
TABLE 4DISPOSITION OF DRUG CASES FROM 1993-SEPT 1997
(PNP NARCOTICS GROUP STATISTICS)

No. of Narcotics Operations
No. of Arrested Persons
No. of Cases Filed in Court
No. of Convicted Persons
No. of Cases Dismissed
No. of Pending Cases

180

1993
945
1,211
345
156
137
52

1994
875
1,006
948
131
48
769

1995
1,425
10,563
854
50
6
795

1996
1,000
1,311
941
30
2
909

1997
668
1103
736
16
1
719

Total
4913
6194
3824
383
197
3244

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERSAN OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF TRANSNATIONALORGANIZED CRIME
Muammer Yasar Özgül*
I. INTRODUCTION
Some factors such as technologicalprogress, easiness of crossing frontiers andtransition of the economic policies incountries have encouraged criminalorganization and added an international
dimension to such crime. For instance,
while an illicit drug organization uses
counterfeit passport and identity cards tohide its members’ identity results in fraud ;to legalize the proceeds derived from suchcrime (by founding screen companies), withproceedings going to banks and foreignexchanges results in the crime of money
laundering. Spending money to purchaseweapon leads to gun smuggling and that
also engenders terrorism. This causes morefamiliarity and cooperation among crimegroups.
A. Definition of Organized Crime
Organized crime is, within an
organization which could be in any form,
to use violence or at least put pressure toprovide benefits. Therefore, the term of“organized crime” consists of someelements below:i) Existence of an association ( 2 ormore persons)ii) The aim of providing benefit(money or power)iii) Violence or pressure.
i) Existence of an association: The main
component that distinguishes organizedcrime from other crimes is that two or more
people are participating in the crime andputting the desire directed towards the* Deputy General Director of Personnel, Ministry ofInterior, Turkey.

same goal.
ii) The aim of providing benefit:
Organized crime groups expect materialand social benefit as a result of their illegal
activities.
iii) Violence or pressure: An organizedcrime group beats, wounds and kills as aviolence element and uses threat andblackmail as a pressure element, aimed atproviding benefit for itself or a third person.
B. Differences between “Mafia” and“Organized Crime”
Is the organization which is called“Mafia” in the press and public outside oforganized crime? To most people the termorganized crime and Mafia are the same.
This unfortunate mistake arose because somany criminals who made great
reputations in the 1920’s came from Italy
and, in particular, Sicily. The Mafia has for
centuries been a notorious Sicilian
organization. But it is difficult to hold the
Mafia outside of the terms organized crime.
Because the Mafia also contains each of
the three components mentioned above, it
has some characteristics comparable toother crime organizations. For example theMafia:• Infiltrates economic and social
structures.
• Gets the management of public
services and contracts, economic
activities, privileges, andauthorizations; or takes control atleast.
• Gets into, directly or indirectly,
the management of commercial
and industrial organizations, orcompanies.

181

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54• Prevents the carrying out of theadministration freely.
• Unbalances social and economic life
as related to the aforementioned.
In addition the Mafia has;
• A hierarchical structure that
performs in solid manner.
• Organization membership tied todefined rules.
• A monopoly on their activities.
• The punishment of the treacheryto the organization as death.
As shown, the Mafia influences
economical and administrative decision
processes. As a result, the Mafia is anorganized crime group which threatenspublic security and affects the general
economy and public administration.
II. CURRENT SITUATION OF
TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZEDCRIME
A. General Situation Of Illicit Drug
Trafficking
The illicit drugs phonemenon has threeelements which are different in essence,but somehow intertwined. Therefore, theillicit drugs problem may well be regarded
as a tri-fold menace which could beconsidered under the topics of illicit
production, trafficking and consumption.
It is not possible however to deny theexistence of some organic linkage whichenables us to move from one topic onto
another between these essentially separate
elements. Essentially, if there was no illicit
production, there would be no illicit
trafficking, and if there was no trafficking
then there would naturally be no demandfor illicit drugs. Therefore, non-existenceof the demand would not give rise to the
supply.
Both supply and demand aremaintaining their very presence to somegreat extent. The distance between the182

supplier countries and the demanding ones
causes illicit traffic in drugs. This featureof drug criminality necessitates that drug
enforcement focus basically on the supply
and demand aspect of the phonemenon.
Supply control should include reducing
opium poppy and cannabis quantities used
to manufacture illicit narcotics; preventionof traffic in synthetic drugs and carryingout the related combat. Demand control on
the other hand should include eliminationof the possible means leading to drug
abuse, carrying out the related combat andthe treatment rehabilitation of abusers aswell as addicts. Meanwhile, control of bothsupply and demand should be carried out
at operational, political, diplomatic andsocio-economic levels.
Any fight against drugs based solely on
an individual nation’s effort will not lead
to absolute success because illicit drug
criminality is linked to organized crime andterrorism. Effective international
cooperation is necessary in this regard. The
ever increasing work of nations on thisissue and the direct actions they are taking
to combat drugs are well commended.
Turkey too is committed to the combat ofdrugs, both with national efforts andinitiatives taken internationality.
B. Production Areas of the World
Drugs and the various materials that areused in drug production are produced inlarge amounts in each continent.
Cannabis is cultivated in a significant
amount of the major countries in Africa.
According to Interpol reports, South Africa
is becoming a main source of the illegal
cultivation of more than 175.000 tons ofcannabis. The enterprises founding theclandestine laboratories for the production
methaqualone or other psycotrophic
materials have been detected in someeastern and southern African Countries(South Africa, Mozambique).

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
In 1996, as in the past, hashish wasraised for domestic consumption in Middle
America and the Caribbean. Jamaica
continued to be an important source ofhashish for consumption in Europe andNorthern America. Hashish is also
cultivated and produced in Mexico (Brasil
and Colombia) for the USA. The illegal
production of metamphethamin and LSD
increased in the USA. In Colombia, poppy
and opium poppy is also raised. Peru and
Bolivia has remained the biggest producerof coca. The coca that is the raw materialof cocaine is smuggled from Peru and
Bolivia into Colombia, where it istransformed into cocaine and enters theworld market 3. The production of synthetic
drugs and acetic anhydride that is used in
the production of heroin is realized in theUSA.
Cannabis grows naturally in a numberof the countries in south-east Asia, such as
Thailand. The illicit production of poppy
and heroin and the cultivation of opium
poppy have continued to increase in
Burma. Acetic anhydride is produced in
China, India and South Korea 4 . An
important amount of ephedrine has been
produced in the Russian Federation. In
addition, cannabis has been grown in the
Russian Federation, especially poppy in
Khazakistan. Pakistan also has animportant place in the production of resinhashish5. Opium poppy has been cultivatedin legal ways in India, Japan, China andTurkey. Heroin that is significant part of
drug trafficking, is produced from poppy
which has been grown in the Golden
Triangle (Burma, Laos, Thailand) and theGolden Crescent (Pakistan, Iran,Afghanistan) . Poppy has been grown inlegal ways in France, Spain, Hungry.
Holland has become a producer of cannabis(3) INCB Report for Precursors 1995
(4) INCB Report for 1995
(5) INCB Report for 1995

in closed areas. Amphetamine has also
been produced in Holland. A major numberof LSD seized in Europe was welded in theUSA. In Australia and Oceania, illegal
cannabis and legal poppy has been grown
and methamphetamyn has been produced.
As shown above, drug materials arise
naturally or are grown on purpose for thereason of high profit, to finance terrorism
or cold wars between countries. Drugtrafficking has followed many various
routes in countries throughout the World
from east to west and south to north.
C. Illicit Drugs Problem In Turkey
and Related Policies and Fight
Against Drugs
We have tried to cover drug problems
and the global fight so far. In this context,
Turkey is a transit point because of features
such as an adjacent geographical location
which is in intersection with the continentsof Asia and Europe. Having those
producing regions in the east while theconsuming regions are in the west-coupledwith the passing of the Balkan Routethrough her-Turkey has, as the mostimportant problem, the illicit trade of
narcotics.
Fluctuations in this region have caused,
as mentioned above, the emergence of newroutes. Enhanced criminal capabilities for
those drug syndicates which were new tothe republics which gained independence
upon dissolution of the former Soviet,
coupled with crises caused by sucheconomical transition, have led to theemergence of new criminal groups witheither involvement in or cooperation withdrug trafficking groups.
Turkey is facing traffic from east to west
with the trafficking of synthetic tablets,
such as Captagon and Ecstasy (and facing
west-to-east traffic) of cocaine and it’s
precursors, mainly acetic anhydride, which

183

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
is used in heroin production. In thiscontext, Turkey is also an intersection for
narcotics and their precursors in addition
to her transit position for other drugs.
The majority of the narcotics moved into
Turkey from the east and/or southeast,
belong to the PKK terrorist organization.
The same organization traffics some otherparts of the narcotics across the border for
drug trafficking organizations for a certain
commission. Drug trafficking
organizations, mainly the PKK, act as anintermediary for transporting their illicit‘cargoes’ supplied from producing countries
to consuming areas and markets.
In some other cases, as will be mentioned
under the heading “Clandestine
Laboratories,” it has been detected that the
PKK terrorist organization and other drug
networks are attempting to supply
morphine base at a lower cost, converting
amounts of the substance into heroin inclandestine heroin laboratories, and finallymoving end-products at a higher price toconsumption locales in Europe. Turkey’s
location as an intersection plays a majorrole in such undesired formation.
Metaphorically speaking, it is impossible
for Turkey to avoid the drug menace, giventhat she is already surrounded by such
pervasive drug movement. Dangerous
indications suggesting the emergence of
addiction have recently begun to surface.
However, more important for Turkey are
the facts that drugs constitute the major
financial support for the PKK terrorist
organization, and that drug funding is
known to benefit from this organization.
Subordinated to the Ministry of Interior,
the General Directorate of Security,
General Command of Gendarmerie andCoast Guard Command, General
Directorate of Pharmaceuticals of the
Ministry of Health, AMATEM (Treatment

184

Center For Alcohol and Substance Addicts),
Turkish Grains Board of the Ministry ofAgriculture and Village Affairs, theGeneral Directorate of Customs and theGeneral Directorate of Customs Guard of
the Undersecretaries of Customs are on
duty to combat illicit drug trafficking inTurkey.
The General Directorate of Security is
the main operational body for drug
enforcement in Turkey. The General
Command of Gendarmerie carries out druginterception efforts through its narcotic
teams employed in rural and borderregions. The Coast Guard Command
carries out, with assistance from theTurkish Navy when necessary, the drug
fight at sea.
The General Directorate ofPharmaceuticals of the Ministry of Healthdefines the procedure for drugs andpsychotropic substances used for medical
purposes, arranges licenses for legallyimported chemicals and psychotropic
substances control, and provides for theprocedures for treatment of addicts.
The only treatment center for drug
addicts, AMATEM (Treatment Center For
Alcohol and Substance Addicts) has been
established within the premises of the
BAKIRKÖY MENTAL STATE HOSPITAL
in Istanbul. This mental hospital, under
the Ministry of Health, is the largest of its
kind in Turkey. Plans exist to set up similarcenters in five (5) other regions.
The Turkish Grains Board of the
Ministry of Agriculture and Village Affairs
is charged with overseeing licit cultivation;issuing licenses; making policies for thepurchase of cultivated products, operating
the Afyon Alkaloid Plant, and carrying out
export transactions.
Subordinated to the Undersecretaries of

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
Customs, two Directorates are charged
with the interception, investigation, andprosecution of any acts of smuggling,including drugs, within Turkish Customs
areas.
D. Licit and Illicit Drug Productioni) Licit Poppy and Cannabis Growing
Turkey is a traditional licit grower ofopium poppies and controlled and unlanced
poppy growing is taking place in 13
provinces. The harvested crops are being
processed at the Afyon Alkaloid Plant for
medical use. Checks on licit poppy
cultivation from poppy cultivation till theend of harvest are being rigidly carried out.
This practice which was begun in 1994, andto date, no seizures of opium derived from
Turkish poppies have been sighted either
at home or abroad.
ii) Precursors Used to Manufacture Heroin
Forerunning among the precursors in
illicit drug production, acetic acid is notproduced in Turkey but mention can bemade of its licit import as it has various
domestic industrial uses. Both licit importand distribution of the substance has been
under rigid control through the relevant
Legislation. No diversion from the legallyimported products has been sighted until
now.
Turkey is seeing reverse precursor traffic
from west-to-east, contrary to what is seen
in regard to heroin or morphine base. Thismeans that, Turkey is also an intersectionin terms of the trafficking of such
substances in addition to being a transit
for illicit drug trafficking.
The successful seizure of fifty-three (53)tons of acetic anhydride thanks toconscientious efforts in 1995, has been
considerably influential on the 1996
seizures record. Acetic anhydride seizure(25.2 tons) for 1996 has dropped according
to the previous year by 49.1% .

iii) Clandestine Heroin Laboratories
As emphasized earlier, it is no longer asecret that some trafficking organizations
have turned, in an attempt to magnify theirprofits, to derive heroin in Turkey throughutilizing primitive methods from either
acetic anhydride and morphine base
supplied from producing countries, thus
giving up the practice of carrying the readyto-use heroin from the production sites to
consuming communities. That trend isenhanced by the strategic location ofTurkey in terms of illicit drug trafficking.
Four clandestine heroin laboratories weredetected in Turkey in 1996.
E. Drug Trafficking Passing throughTurkeyIn this part, the trafficking dimensionof the drug problem will be considered firstin the context of drug routes passing
through Turkey, then an evaluation of drug
seizures and the offenders.
i) Routes
The presence of the Northern Black Sea
Route, the Balkan Route, and the Eastern
Mediterranean Route in the east-to-west,
against precursor routes from west-to-east,
have already been mentioned. Being atransit point in that regard, Turkey is anintersection where there is some reverse
traffic in terms of drug trafficking routes.
Situated in the midst of such traffic, Turkey
has many drug routes passing through her.
Trailing along a west-to-east line, theprecursors traffic is carried out with such
substances originating in their production
zones (the European countries) being
moved to drug producing regions,particularly the Golden Crescent region.
ii) Seizures
In general, there is an increase as to theamounts of heroin, morphine base andsynthetics, as against some decrease inhashish and cocaine quantities, in drug
seizures in 1996. Factors like consuming

185

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
preferences, drug prices, etc. play a majorrole in such changes.
iii) HeroinEver increasing demand is the primaryelement to explain the increase both inheroin cases and related seizures.
Destination of the heroin trail passing
through Turkey, Europe, has long had
consuming masses. Growing numbers ofmembers are being added to those masses
each and everyday. During 1996, casenumbers increased by 31% while seizedamounts increased by 28%, which is also
an indication of the priority accorded to the
combat of drugs.
iv) Hashish
Hashish amounts for 1996, whencompared to the year 1995, show aconsiderable decline. Underlying reasonsfor that might be less lucrative profits fromhashish and promotion of the morelucrative drug types preferred bytraffickers.
The leading drug production sites are in
Lebanon, although there has been a majordecline due to the establishment andorganization of a security system which isunder way in Lebanon, and the substitutive
agro-policies carried out by the U.S. and
I.N.C.B.. Hashish seizures also declined
last year, as in 1995, due to the African
production which took route in European
markets; the heroin preferred by traffickers
and the ecstasy apreferred by consumers.
The growing number of case discoveries aremostly due to the street teams set up.
v) Cocaine
Turkey is not in the mainstream ofcocaine routes, which is keeping seizures
low. Both the cocaine amounts and theseizures were in considerable incline
during 1995, against a major decline in
1996.

186

Major decline in the cases and amountsof cocaine is mostly due to the increased
general use of disco drugs, namely thestimulating ecstasy tablets, use of which
saw in recent years a higher frequency inTurkey. It is considered that cocaine users
in search of a new drug have now turned
to ecstasy and that trafficking
organizations are attempting to create afresh avenue to push this drug widely
abused, in almost the entire of Europe, tothe Turkish market. Great amounts of
ecstasy seizures in 1996 have supported
such an assertion.
TABLE 1
Ecstasy Seizures
Year
1995
1996

Case
3
4

Quantity ( unit )93473

Note: The statistics of all tables are taken from police
registrations in the Ministry of Interior.The
amounts include the registration of police, General
Command of Gendarmerie and Coast Guard
Command.

vi) Morphine Base
Morphine base seizures were generally
made at the clandestine heroin laboratories
discovered. Seizure ratios, compared to lastyear’s statistics, indicate a major decline
from past years cases in number but also
some partial incline in confiscatedamounts, which suggests there is morphinebase trafficking taking place in big lots.
vii) Synthetic Drugs
The basic synthetic drug of traffic is
captagon. Captagon is not consumed in
Turkey but mostly in the Middle-East
countries. Illicit captagon production isconcentrated in certain European
countries. Manufactured tablets illicitly
enter Turkey in the west and aretransported to the Middle-East by certain
organizations in the south and southeast

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
of Turkey. To that effect, land transport isutilized, making use of the existing
commercial contacts with Middle-Easterncountries.
Another route in the illicit traffic is the
one leading from European countries, via
maritime lines, to the countries indownward location to Turkey. The relative
decrease in seizures merits attention,
despite a clear decrease during 1995 in
Turkey.
F. Drug Trafficking Organizations
While illicit drug trafficking used to be
run before the 1990’s by people or groups,
more recent times saw traffickers
incredibly intensify their activity byforming large family organizations and/or
establishing twopartite or threepartite
family organizations to get higher profits
and run their activities on a larger scale.
ASENA was initiated to make a general
analysis and to further enlarge, based on
information developed, the scope of existingmeasures by establishing matters such as
general structures, modus operandi,targets, roles in the traffic of the mentioned
organizations and what contacts are madewith who.

With ASENA taking effect, information
was established that:• Drug trafficking organizations
were running their illicit businessintertwinedly.
• Activities conducted were limited
to a main focus, based on sharedfields of duty among them.
• Traffickers preferred to establish
kinships, or reinforce existing
internal relations, throughmarriages to unite their powerand enhance trust in each other.
• Traffickers had become sectors of
the production, transport, storage
and distribution of illicit narcotics,
and of the transfer of illicit profits
derived from such criminal
activities.
It is clear from the above the interorganizational division of duties. Below area few examples of the above mentioned
points:• The HAN organization wasmeeting the morphine base needsof such organizations. Hurshit
HAN, leader of the organization
was arrested in Istanbul on 9th,
September 1996 in connection
with some 750 kgs of morphine

TABLE 2
Drug Seizure Figures for Turkey in 1996 by Drug TypeTYPE
Hashish
HeroinMorphine baseOpium
CocaineAcetic anhydride
Synthetic drugs*
TOTAL

CASES
1618
519
5
26
40
7
74
2289

ACCUSED
3287
1650
24
58
122
29
160
5330

QUANTITY(kg)
12294
4422
1157
233
13
42450
259097319666* Per unit

187

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
base seizure.
• Suppliers of morphine base, theAY and KONUKLU organizations
were converting, in their own
clandestine laboratories, volumesof morphine base into heroin.
Located in Saray town, Tekirdag,
the laboratories owned by theseorganizations were seized on 8th,
March 1995.
• Heroin quantities produced werebeing transported by the
KUYUCU and KASAR
organizations, into Europe.
Mehmet KASAR, leader of theorganization, was arrested during
an operation in Istanbul on 7th,
April 1996 where some 158 kgs ofheroin was confiscated.
• Illicit drug quantities moved into
Europe are being stashed in
Romania by the SITOCHI
Organization, and pushed invarious European local markets
by the SITOCHI, POLAT andother organizations.
• With ASENA, twenty-five (25)illicit organizations have been
schematized to present time. Of
these, four (4) were smashed andfinally disrupted throughdetermined action taken.
G. Drug Trafficking and Related
Criminality
While numerous drug trafficking
organizations and cartels initially used tobe small and established with individual
leadings, drug trafficking organizations
have increasingly sought partners in crimefor individually conducted activities. These
were easily found due to impressing people
with the belief of becoming rich; and it iswithin such turn that they become

188

organizations with rules, penalties,
techniques and intimacies.
Many other forms of criminality follow
the organization of drug related crimes.
While illicit drug crimes are considered atearly level stages such as illicit narcotics
planting, dealings and abuse, many othercrimes like the smuggling of precursors(including the smuggling of controlled
precursors placed under international
treaties), laundering drug money, violence,
murder, fraud, theft, human trafficking,arms smuggling, and terrorism are gaining
increased momentum largely due to illicit
gains being shifted into other criminal
channels.
III. CURRENT SITUATION OF
TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZEDCRIME EXCEPT ILLICIT DRUG
TRAFFICKING
The general situation of illicit drugtrafficking has been clarified. The following
will try to briefly explain othertransnational organized crime, withstatistics.
A. Illicit Firearms Trafficking
In 1995 and 1996, illicit firearms
trafficking occurred in Turkey. The
statistics of individual and organized illicit
firearms trafficking are given below.
TABLE 3
Recent Firearms Trafficking
Year
1995
1996
1997*

Incident Arrested Offenders Fugitives
145
603
46
171
918
73
145
683
56

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
Confiscated Firearms and Other
Materials
Year
1995
1996
1997

Firearms
1.006
1.054
1.316

Bombs
132
1
-

Bullets
37.47991.27561.571The PKK play an important role in illicit
fire arms trafficking in addition to drugtrafficking.
B. Smuggling of Illegal Migrants
Because of the political instability inNorthern Iraq, Turkey is having someproblems in this regard. This problem has
emerged recently and no certain statistics
are available. Some organized groups aretransferring the people of north Iraq via
Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria to European
Countries. These organized groups areproviding false passports to Iraqi people
and are manipulating them to apply aspolitical refugees in European Countries.
Besides this, some people who are
unemployed are cheated by organizedcrime groups with the promise of work. The
table below indicates the situation of illegal
migrants cases by year.
TABLE 4
Illegal Migrant Cases
Year
1994
1995
1996
1997

Incident
35
49
47
35

Accused
122
173
188
171

C. Illicit Trafficking in Women andChildren
In Turkey there may be illicit trafficking
in women, but there is no such problem forchildren. This might stem from the cultural

structure of Turkish society. After thecollapse of the Soviet Union, considerable
amounts of women, who are engaged in
prostitution, entered Turkey from Russia
and some Balkan countries. This incident
is not generally a result of the activities oforganized groups, but the individual
preferences of the women from the above
mentioned countries in which poverty has
become one of the major problems.
D. Stealing Motor Vehicles and their
Illicit Ttrafficking
The number of foreign stolen motor
vehicles sold in Turkey is so limited that it
is not worth mentioning. However, Turkish
workers employed in various European
countries are bringing their own cars of ahigh quality, which are comparatively
cheap in Europe but expensive in Turkey,
and selling them through various methods
without paying customs tax.
TABLE 5Stolen Motor Vehicles
Year
1994
1995
1996

Confiscated Cars Cars Searched
275
413
197
200
171
165

E. Money Laundering
Predominantly, money laundering
activities are performed at casinos. The
owners of casinos are receiving a certain
percentage of the illicit money from ownersof this money for money laundering.
Besides casinos, money laundering
activities have been found in paravane
companies, travel agencies, hotels andbanks. These types of activities are
performed both by organized groups andindividuals. In order to camouflage theseillicit activities, some fictious companies
have been established and employed.

*The numbers of 1997 in the whole tables are takenfrom police registrations and do not include othersecurity forces registrations.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
F. Transnational Economic Crimes(Others)
In regard to transnational economic
crimes, counterfeiting can be mentioned in
Turkey. Counterfeiting is committed byorganized groups or persons who haveinternational relations. These groups or
persons have the technical capability ofimitating foreign or national currency byusing press equipment or photocopy
machines.
TABLE 6
False Banknotes Obtained
Year
1994
1995
1996

$
104825108734701122020-

DM
717000607400417850-

TL
245225003596000021904000-

IV. LEGAL FRAMEWORK AGAINSTTRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZEDCRIME BY THE CRIMINALJUSTICE SYSTEM IN TURKEY
There is no specific act to penalize crimes
committed by transnational organizedcrime groups. However, there are many
provisions in the Turkish Penal Code tocountermeasure such crimes. Also if thecrime is committed by a group of people,
the penalty is increased proportionally. Yet
the Turkish Penal Code defined organizedcrime as below:“ They who become organized tocommit crime ”. Article 313- “They whoform an organization to commit crimein any form, are punished with prison
sentence from 1 to 2 years.”
According to Turkish Penal Code Article36:“ a-If some special tools are prepared forthe purpose of community crime, thesetools and equipment are confiscatedby the state.
b-If some materials which are

190

prohibited of using, selling or owningby law, are produced, these materials
are also confiscated.
c-If firearms are carried without thepermission of the authorities, thesefirearms are confiscated. ”
Beside this, The Prevention andControlling of Smuggling Act also has
articles to confiscate goods, tools andproceeds derived from crime. These articles
are applicable to specific transnationalorganized crimes. Additionally The Drug
Control Act contains provisions for theconfiscation and destroying of drugs.
Finally, firearms either obtained by
security forces or confiscated by the courts
are submitted to the defense secretary (theAct About Firearms and Other Crime
Tools).
Moreover, the Prevention of Money
Laundering Act has adjusted for theconfiscation of ‘black’ money. According to
the Act, offenders who money launder canbe punished with imprisonment. The,
‘black’ money is confiscated and theoffender has to pay twice that quantity ofmoney back as a penalty. If the offender
does not have enough money, their property
is correspondingly distrained.
There are not any specific laws tocriminalize organized crime groups inTurkey at present. However both the
Ministry of Justice and the Ministry ofInterior have prepared a Bill to regulateorganized crimes which is expected to passin Turkish Parliament in 1998.
Controlled delivery is regulated by an
Act to prevent money laundering. There aresome regulations about immunity in the
Police Duty and Authority Act. Security
forces can search private places with awarrant issued by a judge. Yet with thejudgment of a court, the police can wiretap
according to The Criminal Judicial

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
Procedure Act. The members of parliament
have immunity in the sense that they can
not be taken to court without thepermission of the parliament.
There are provisions for the protectionof witnesses for terror related crimes inTurkish legislation. We have a special Act
with regard to criminal punishment insentencing policy. The Turkish Penal Codeand The Criminal Judicial Procedure Act
regulates criminal law. As known, there areinternational treaties to facilitate
international cooperation such as
extradition and mutual legal assistance incriminal matters. All of these treaties havebeen accepted by parliament.
V. CURRENT SITUATION OF
DETECTION AND INVESTIGATIONIN TURKEY
In the Constitution of the General
Directorate of Security, the Department of
Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime isestablished. In the structure of thatdepartment, seven (7) branch offices areformed as follows:i) The section of economic crimes.
ii) The section of narcotic crimes.
iii) The section of illicit firearms.
iv) The section of organized crimes.
v) The search section.
vi) Technical services section.
vii)The bureau of official documents,
statistics and computer systems.
Besides, the specific section, each
respective section engages organized crime
which is related to their own matters. The
Department of Anti-Smuggling andOrganized Crime is sufficiently organizedand equipped to deal with crime all overthe country.
In every province (there are eighty (80)provinces in Turkey) that anti-smuggling
and organized crime units are constituted,

they are subordinated to The General
Directorate of Security via the Directoratesof Security. In addition, Anti-smuggling
Bureaus have been established and madeoperational in some fourteen (14) cities
with strategic importance in terms of drugtrafficking (such as Yüksekova, Hopa,Çesme and Iskenderun).
The Department is responsible for thecollection, analyzing and dissemination of
all information related to drug smuggling
and organized crime, as well as theprovision of instruction and guidance tolocal units. It also carries out the allocationof personnel, financial and logisticalresources to local units. They also use atele-drug system which provides
computerized information exchange
between other countries and Turkey.
The equipment which is called“Smuggling Network Project” has been
recently procured for a more efficientcombat of smuggling and organized crime
nation wide; providing audio-visualcommunication between the center and its
units. In this way it is possible to transfer
suspect’s pictures and crime evidence toform archives. This project will be
operational in 1998.
During wiretapping (possible with acourt order) tape recorders of out dated
technology are used. Therefore it becomes
impossible to transfer records into a digital
environment and so cross-examine. But a
digital record system was purchased for theCenter and fifteen (15) provinces in 1997,
thus the above-mentioned problem willcease. Turkey does not have any important
problems regarding equipment and devices
due to progress made.
In Turkey, as city-based investigators oforganized crimes have sufficient ability andexpertise, regional seminars have beenarranged on the current legal and191

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
administrative situation of smuggling andorganized crime, new methods, technicaland personnel possibilities, problems
encountered for the managers of smuggling
and organized crime units. The first ofthese seminars has been held in Diyarbak,
the second in G.Antep, the third in
Erzurum, the fourth in Samsun and thefifth in Ankara. Furthermore thespecialized training program (forinvestigators in regional bases) has been
carried out with the aim of more effective
combat of such crimes that have increased
lately.
In detection and investigation, gathering
information is very important. In Turkey,
the measures written below are taken togather information;• Wiretapping of conversations ofsuspects (people known to berelated to such crimes), paravane
companies and paravane financial
constitutions.
• The accounts of suspects andcompanies, banks mentioned
above are taken under control.
• The connection between ordinary
crime groups and political crimegroups such as the P.K.K. iswatched closely.
• Suspected hotels and travel
agencies are kept undersurveillance.
There are a lot of difficulties in
identifying transnational organized crimegroups and gathering information about
them. Some of those are;• Such crime groups obtain and use
some politicians, public
administrators, journalists.
• Such groups look out for any
weakness of police chiefs, judges,
public prosecutors, politicians andpublic administrators and thenblackmail them.

192(Note : The two issues mentioned above
are speculative, as no such cases have been
detected yet in Turkey.)• Sufficient information is not given
by opponent countries andinternational investigation
organizations, such as
INTERPOL. The intelligence
services of some foreign countries
are behind such crime groups.
Yet the detection of such crimes has beenquite successful so far. Besides, the persons
who play major roles or who are in thehighest position in such organized crimegroups have been successfully arrested.
(For instance the chief of crime group of
SÖYLEMEZLER, Sena SÖYLEMEZ ; thechief of Hursit Han’s group, Hursit Han;
the chief of Havar Family, Halil Havar haveall been arrested and jailed).
Some difficulties, encountered withregard to international cooperation, suchas extradition and mutual legal assistancein criminal matters, are listed below:• Opponent countries do not assist
in the matters above mentioned.
• Controlled delivery can not be
performed as required.
• There is no international
databank concerning such crimes.
VI. CURRENT PROBLEMS IN THE
COMBAT OF TRANSNATIONALORGANIZED CRIME AND SOMEPROPOSALSi) Some governments, intelligence
services, companies and banks are at thebottom of such crime groups world wide
and therefore an International Criminal
Court must be founded.
ii) There are some deficiencies andconflicts in the law related to such crimes
in some countries. For this reason, the laws

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERSof countries must be united and an
International Penal Code should be
prepared to deal with such crimes.
iii) Cooperation among transnationalorganized crime groups is more intensive
then international cooperation.
International cooperation should befacilitated including extradition andmutual legal assistance in criminal
matters.
iv) Gathering information is the mostimportant factor in the combat of suchcrimes. So cooperation among intelligence
services and national polices must be
provided.
v) Special programs should prepared toprotect witnesses in the course ofinvestigations and trial proceedings.
vi) Confiscated illicit proceeds derived
from specific transnational organizedcrimes must be expended for the combat ofsuch crimes.
vii) Controlled delivery is very
important to detect such crime groups.
National police forces should be operativein foreign countries or international police
authorized to operate in each country.
viii) International databank connectedwith all countries should be established.
VII. CONCLUSION
Organized transnational crime is one of
the worst problems for all countries.
Organized crime first disturbs public
security and the balance of economy. It
menaces public health because of drug
addiction, reduces reliance on government
and in this manner causes anarchy, andresults in the judicial system becoming outof order.

It may be impossible to eliminate
organized crime, but it can be reduced to aminimum level. It is impossible to prevent
such crime with measures based solely on
nation wide efforts. In this regard, it isnecessary to combat crime on aninternational level. Therefore international
cooperation is inevitable. Importance mustbe attached to international cooperationand organized crime must be taken
seriously by governments. They must do
everything they can to combat crime on anational and an international scope.
APPENDIX A
THE MODUS OPERANDI BEHIND
THE SEIZURE OF SOME 22.440
KILOGRAMS OF ACETICANHYDRIDEOn 13th Feburary, 1996 a joint operation
at the Alsancak Marine Bordergate wasundertaken by the Izmir Narcotic Police
and the Custom Directorate’s officers andsome 22,440 kg’s of acetic anhydride,
concealed in 379 barrels on TIR truck
driven by a Belgian national, Willy DE
DECKER, were confiscated aboard theferry ‘SAMSUN’ on a cruise from Italy. Theo f f e n d e r s , Ay h a n Y U M R U TA S , A l i
KAZAKOGLU, Ridvan SERINKAN, Tolga
TASDEMIR and Kemal ÖZ were arrested
in connection with the case. The truck
driver said, during the interrogation, that
he had taken the ‘cargo’ from Belgium’s
Michelin city at the ‘S.T.O.P.’ hangar in theindustry zone of Dender MONDA city, bymeans of the owner of ‘GP CARGO’, a
Belgian, Paul GIDIER.
On 14 th March, 1996 some 20kg’s ofheroin was seized in Izmir. The offender,
Abu Bekir SIDDIK OKTAY, said during theinterrogation that 11 tons of the 22,440 kg’sof the acetic anhydride were going to
Yüksekova; and 5 tons of the substancewould be moved by the traffickers to the
PKK camps in the village Cermi, Urumiye

193

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
of Iran. He also said that the PKK had theTebriz of Iran as its illicit drug center.
APPENDIX B
THE MODUS OPERANDI OF THE‘HURSIT HAN’ CASE
Acting on a tip, Istanbul Narcotic Police
stopped and searched a TIR truck withentry from Iran to Turkey through the
Gurbulak border crossing. The search led
to discovery of some 750 kg’s of morphinebase - each in 1 kg packets - and concealed
in a secreted parasitic attachment to thedorse of the vehicle. The offenders, Hursit
HAN, his brother Sükrü HAN, SevketÇAGIRTEKEN, Hasan YILMAZ, Muhittin
ARSLAN, Mustafa HANIFIOGLU,
Mehmet Sait TURGUT, Halil GÜNES,Nusrettin HAN, Osman ABDULLAH,
Mehmet ALAKEL, Mehmet KARABAG,
Sükrü ÇAGIRTEKIN, Idris ÇAGIRTEKIN
and the Iranian nationals, Süleyman
Ferhadi GHOLANJI, Fardin AMJAD,
Ramin GANIZADE, Mohammed Ali
MAGHSOUDI, Hokmali Ghanizadeh
DIZAH and Ahmet REGIKALES wereapprenended in connection with the case.
During the interrogation Hursit HAN said
he had some acetic anhydride stashed on a
farm in nearby Sapanca, Sakarya. The
farm was stormed on that information andsearched, which resulted in discoveries ofsome 6831 of acetic anhydride along withlab equipment used in heroin production
and a tabulating machine to press the
manufactured heroin.

194

108TH INTERNATIONALSEMINARREPORTSOF THE SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINARTOPIC 1CURRENT SITUATION OF ILLICIT DRUG TRAFFICKING
Chairperson
Co. Chairperson
Rapporteurs
Co. Rapporteurs
Key Note Speakers

Advisers

Mr. Tahir Anwar PASHA(Pakistan)
Ms Sakiko WATANABE(Japan)Mr. LAI Yong Heng
(Malaysia)
Mr. Maring KATAKA(Papua New Guinea)
Mr. Abdul Wahhab SARKAR (Bangladesh)
Mr. Armogam GOUNDER(Fiji)Mr. Yim-Fui CHEUNG(Hong Kong)
Mr. Purushottam SHARMA (India)
Mr. Bu-Nam YANG
(Republic of KOREA)
Mr. Udaya Nepali SHRESTHA (Nepal)
Mr. Toshio KUSUNOKI(Japan)Mr. Abdallah Ali Mohammed
AL-SHIHRY(Saudi Arabia)
Mr. Muammer Yasar OZGUL (Turkey)
Mr. Boza GUERRERO(Nicaragua)
Professor Tomoko AKANE(UNAFEI)
Professor Hiroyuki YOSHIDA (UNAFEI)
Professor Kayo KONAGAI(UNAFEI)PREFACE
UNAFEI arranged 108th Seminar tovisualize the difficulties in combatingtransnational organized crime, as it has
become a major concern due to the latest
technological advances. Outlaws havebetter access to modern technology then thelaw enforcers. Organized crime groups areconscious of and ready to seize theopportunities presented to them byglobolization and the growing trends
towards trade liberalization to extend theiractivities and operation, inspite of theincreased awareness of the problem on thepart of governments. The subject oftransnational crime was discussed at
length in the seminar but given its
vastness, it was decided to divide it into
sub topics for elaborate and comprehensive
discussions. The participants took active
part in the discussion of all the four sub
topics mentioned below, but the key notespeakers contributed a lot in completingthe final report on each topic:• Current situation of illicit drugs
trafficking,• Current situation of other organizedtransnational crime,• Legal framework against organizedtransnational crime by the criminal
justice system, and• Current situation of detection andinvestigation.
The views of visiting experts have also
been incorporated in the reports. Of course,
these reports were not possible without theable advice of the two faculty members
attached with each topic.
I. INTRODUCTION
No steps can be taken to fight against
any menace unless we first gather
information and intelligence regarding its
current situation and past trends. Drugtrafficking figures very prominently intransnational organized crime. The annual

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
profits of organized crime are estimated,according to some sources, at one trillion
dollars world wide; almost as much as the
US annual federal budget (Ref.8; Vlassis,
1998). As per report of UNDCP 1994, outof it not less then 500 billion dollars is theshare of profits coming out of the drugtrade, which is about half of US$ 1,000
billion spent world wide on defense in 1991.
As per estimates of Financial Action Task
Force on Money Laundering of the G-7, thedrug market in Europe and US aloneamounted to more than US$ 122 billion in1990. In 1995 US citizens spentapproximately $ 57 billion on drugs
including $38 billion to purchase cocaine
and $10 billion on heroin from overseas
sources. In comparison with this highincome society where average per capita
annual income is $20,000, take the example
of Pakistan where average annual income
is about $500. As per UNDCP report 1994,
estimated consumer expenditure in
Pakistan on heroin alone was US$ 1.2
billion per year.
All the above figures point towards theheinousness of the situation, which is
becoming worse with every day passing.
Improved technological and administrative
infrastructure facilitates both legal andillicit trade. Increased trade andliberalization of the market space, spells
more opportunity for illegal transactions.
Evidence for this generalization may befound in the example of the European
Union. From the mid 1980s onwards, which
is noted for the single European market,
seizure of narcotics increased noticeably.
Seizure of heroin grew by 7 times in 1985
to 1994 while for cocaine it jumped by afactor of 42. These increased seizure figures
can not be attributed to stronger law
enforcement as the annual number ofdeaths from drugs also increased by 5 times
from 1982 to 1991. This suggests thatabsolute amount of drugs in Europe also
increased (Ref. 7B; Savona, 1998).
Increased seizure figures (as we shall see

196

in the following sections of this report) insource and transit countries are also not
an indicator of efficient law enforcement,
rather it could be an increased activity ofdrug trafficking as we are still unaware of
the “Dark Figure” of their successful
operations.
To embark on the subject, we must firstbe aware of the types of drugs which are
haunting the sociologists in particular andlaw enforcers in general.
II. TYPES OF DRUGS
A drug is any substance that can causea change in body or way of thinking andfeeling. Classification of drugs can be doneby adopting different criteria as to whether
they are natural, semi-synthetic or basing
on their physiological and pharmacologicalaction on the body. Drugs occurring in
nature are called natural drugs. Plants
make many drugs and store them in theirroots, bark, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds,
resinous and milky exudations. These are
crude and raw natural drugs. We canprocess these crude drugs to isolate theactive compounds in it and chemicallyconvert them into other compounds tomake them more efficacious or reduce their
ill-effects on the body. Such man-madedrugs derived from natural drugs are calledsemi-synthetics.
Drugs which are wholly man-madestarting from elements like carbon,hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur,etc, or from simple primary chemicals, are
known as synthetic drugs. Synthetic drugs,
similar in properties to the natural ones,
are produced in factories so as to makethem available in greater quantities for
medical use and at cheaper prices. These
synthetic drugs make up the shortage, as
the plants producing them are grown onlyin certain parts of the world under certain
special climatic conditions and that too inlimited areas. Natural and synthetic drugs
exist side by side. Apart from classification,

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
which varies according to the origin ofdrugs, there can be many otherclassifications. As regards the effect of thedrugs on the human body and mind, thefollowing broad classification may be ofinterest:

glycerin and water and boiled down. The
substance is processed further by cooking
to evaporate the water, with the remaining
glycerin keeping the final outcome opiumpliable. The opium is further processed to
become illegal morphine or heroin.

A. Narcotic Drugs
In general, narcotics can be defined as
those which, in therapeutic doses, diminish
awareness of sensory impulses, especiallypain, by the brain. In large doses it causes
stupor (condition of insensibility), coma or
convulsions. This would include:(1) Cannabis preparation includinghashish,(2) Opium and opium alkaloids likemorphine,(3) Coca alkaloids like cocaine, and(4) Synthetic narcotic drugs like pethidine.

D. Morphine
Morphine is the principal alkaloid ofopium. Since morphine is a condensed
extract, it is three times stronger thanopium. There is wide variety of legitimate
uses for morphine as a medicinal or painrelieving agent. In its natural state,morphine is not readily soluble in water.
Therefore it is treated with sulfuric acid.
The texture is light, very similar to that ofchalk dust.

B. Psychotropic Drugs
The Greek word ‘psyco’ means ‘soul’ and‘trope’ means ‘turning’, therefore, any drug
having peculiarity to effect the mind is a
psychotropic drug. These include:(i) Hallucinogens: These are both naturaland synthetics drugs like LSD (Lysergicacid Diathylamide) andTetrahydrocannibinals.
(ii) H y p n o t i c s : S e c o b a r b i t o n e ,Phenobartone.
(iii)Stimulants: These drugs induce an
excitement in the body likeamphetamines, cocaine.
(iv) Tranquilizers: Under this class would
fall drugs which are painkillers,
analgesics, sedatives, like barbiturates,
opiates.
C. Opium
Opium is obtained from the poppy plantby making incisions into the unripened
seedpod of the poppy. A milky substanceoozes out and turns reddish brown upon
contact with the air. The substance iscollected and further refined. If it isintended for illegal use, it is mixed with

E. Heroin
Heroin is another of the opiates. Publicconcern as to the opiates is focused
primarily on heroin being regarded as thechief drug of addiction globally. Heroin issynthesized from morphine and, grain forgrain is ten times more potent in its
pharmacological effects. Heroin acts as adepressant to the spinal cord. The toleranceof this drug builds up faster than any otheropiate. Consequently, the danger of drug
dependency is considerably greater. It hascome to known as the most dangerous andenslaving drug.
F. Cocaine
Cocaine is a white crystalline alkaloidthat is a potent, dangerous, and habitforming drug. It was first used scientificallyas local anesthetic in 1884. Its medical use
as an anesthetic is based on its ability tointerrupt conditions in nerves, especiallyin the mucous membranes of the eye, noseand throat. Cocaine is obtained from theleaves of coca, a bush commonly found wildin Peru and Bolivia and cultivated in manyother countries. After the coca crop is
harvested, it is processed and, generally,
shipped to Columbia for refinement into

197

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
cocaine. Its use is not new; for centuries
Indians of Peru and Bolivia have chewed
coca leaves, often mixed with ashes of plant
and with limestone, for pleasure and toenable them to withstand strenuous work,
walking, hunger and thirst. The chemicalin the leaves produces local anesthetic of
the stomach. The fine, white cocaine
powder, also called snow or coke, can besniffed and readily absorbed from nasal
mucous membranes. Cocaine can also beinjected in solution or smoked in achemically treated from.
G. Cannabis
Cannabis is a plant belonging to thehemp family. The genus originated fromCentral Asia and is now cultivated widelyin the Northern Temperate Zone. It isprized as the more abundant source of
mildly hallucinogenic drug present in theresin (cannabin) of the flowering tops,
leaves, seeds and stems. Cannabis is also
known by many other names: hashish
charas, bhang, ganja and marijuana. The
dried crushed product varies in potency,
depending on how and where it is grown,
prepared, used or stored. It usually issmoked in cigarettes or pipes; it also canbe sniffed, chewed, or added to foods orbeverages. Compared to opiates, cannabis
has a shorter history of abuse. Cannabis
was seen as a symbol of the liberal western
society in South East Asian countries.
H. Synthetic Drugs
Synthetic drugs existed in history since
the development of modern medical
science. Advances in chemical technology
have opened vistas to new chemical
substances which bring effects similar to
most of the naturally grown drugs. Cost
differentials have paved the way for thedevelopment of synthetic drugs. One
kilogram of heroin costs more than$100,000 in the U.S. while 1/10th of its cost
may manufacture the substance of equal
psychotropic results. Narcotic traffickers

198

have already seen the future in this as it
substantially curtails the risks in longtransportation. They would not have todepend on, weather effected, two crops ina year. Drug crops are vulnerable todestruction in the hands of law enforcers.
Land space and little horizontal mobility
are required in the manufacture ofsynthetic drugs as compared to natural
drugs.
The world of abusers is embarking on a
gradual shift to synthetic drugs. The use
and trafficking of amphetamines (full namemythylemphetamine or short ‘ICE’) and its
derivatives are now increasing all over inEurope, US and Asia. Clandestine
manufacture of amphetamines is easy andrisk free although one of its precursor
chemicals remains the plant based
ephedrine. It has thus been inevitable that
where easier and less visible method ofdrug production are invented, the illegal
syndicates will turn to them for profit.
III. SOURCE COUNTRIES FOR
DRUGSDrugs of some kind or other are produced
in some quantity in almost every part of
the world. But there are countries, whichhave become the source of supply to othercountries. These countries have surplus
production of drugs, which started there
traditionally or by design of illegal
producers. As per UNDCP database, up to
3.25 percent of arable land of somecountries is under illicit cultivation. Bargraph in figure 1 indicates countries withsuch a high ratio. Most of the source
countries are those which either had weakpolitical systems or unstable governmentsin the past. While talking about traditional
producers, China was on top, followed byIndia in the production of opium. After the
revolution, production in China has been
curtailed to a large extent and India is now
the largest producer of opium in the world.
As per INCB, 1995 figures legal production

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
in India was 807,000 kilograms while in
China it was 20,190 kg. It is presumed thatsome part of the quantity of legal
production is produced clandestinely, whichfinds its way to become derivatives.
World maps on the following pages show
areas which produce different types ofdrugs (and routes also, which we will
discuss later). We can see a concentrationof producing areas for different drugs, typesof which have been shown with distinct
symbols. The prominent areas are as
follows:(1) South American concentration:
Columbia continues to lead the worldin cocaine production. Cannabis isalso produced there, shared in
production by Mexico. The cocaine
producing countries in South America
are Bolivia and Peru which arebasically coca leaves producing
countries; processing is done in
Columbia.
(2) Golden Triangle: This is the oldest
and most talked about source ofheroin and marijuana in the world.
This is a hilly tract lying in between
Mayanmar, Laos and Thailand. It isestimated that 60 percent of theworlds supply of heroin and opium
comes from this area. Mayanmar
alone is sharing 50 percent of theworld’s illicit production of opium andheroin. Laos happens to be a big
producer of marijuana along with
opium.
(3) Golden Crescent: This area is in the
shape of crescent stretching from the
Pakistan-Afghanistan boarder tonorthern part of Iran. This is also ahilly area mainly inhabited by thetribals of the countries mentioned
above. Due to stringent control byPakistan, the production has now
shifted from Pakistan to inside
Afghan boarders. Afganistan alone isproducing some 2,300 tons of opium

annually.
(4) Synthetic Drugs Producing Regions:Due to reasons already mentioned
the world is gradually shifting tosynthetic drugs and in theirproduction, China and Russia-two
chemical producing giants-areleading. In Europe also, scatteredpockets of the chemical industry canbe found in Holland, Poland and someother eastern European countries.

199

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
FIGURE 1
ILLICIT CULTIVATION IN THE EARLY 1990s

200

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
FIGURE 2
SOURCE COUNTRIES AND ROUTES(COCAINE)

Source: The NNICC Report 1994, published in 1995.

201

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
FIGURE 3
SOURCE COUNTRIES AND ROUTES(HEROIN)

Source: The NNICC Report 1994, published in 1995.

202

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
FIGURE 4
SOURCE COUNTRIES AND ROUTES(MARIJUANA AND HASHISH)

Source: The NNICC Report 1994, published in 1995.

203

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
IV. CONSUMING COUNTRIESIt is a proverb that demand creates its
own supply. The world forums are thinking
along the lines that instead of putting futile
efforts in curtailing the supply, focus should
also be on reducing the demand. Abuse ofdrugs remained present since time
immemorial, but in the recent decades it
multiplied beyond geometrical dimensions.
According to the recent survey data, about
13 million Americans-6.1 percent of thetotal population-used drugs on a casual,monthly, basis in 1996. The survey data
indicates that in 1995 there wereapproximately 3.3 million chronic users of
cocaine and some 500,000 heroin addicts.
It is estimated that nearly 5 million
Americans have tried methamphetamines,
an illicit drug associated with particularly
violent aberrant behavior, in their lifetime.
There is no doubt that the United States
has a serious problem with the degree ofillegal drug use. Unfortunately, othercountries are also experiencing an increasein illegal drug use. In Pakistan the heroin
addict population is estimated to havegrown from virtually none in 1980 to 1.52
million in 1995 (as per Individual
Presentation of Pakistan). Likewise, theuse of cocaine and other illicit drugs has
substantially increased in Russia and othercountries of the former Soviet Bloc since
the breakup of the Soviet Union.
In European countries, too drugs arehitting hard and more than 20 percent of
population in some way or other is effectedby drugs. Newly disintegrated States offormer Soviet Union are fast developing adrug culture. They are not only consuming
drugs but also rapidly becoming transit
countries who reap huge profits for their
black economies. Belgium has alreadybecome a big consumer of synthetic drugs
and serves as a transit point also. In France
the situation can be imagined from the factthat in 1991, 45,000 arrests were made of
drug users which may be only 5 percent of204

the actual drug users.
Countries which remained known for
their production are switching over todomestic consumption. As per someestimates, five to ten percent of the
population of the countries comprising
Golden Crescent, Golden Triangle andGolden Wedge, have become addicts of one
type of drug or another. Countries in theimmediate vicinity of these areas are also
showing sign of high drug abuse ratios. As
quoted by the Philippines participant there
are 1.7 million drug abusers, 70 percent of
which are located in Manila. There, thetrend is mostly developing for Shabu (local
name for mehtamphetamine) among young
school and college students. Similar is thecase with the transit countries which were
known previously for their trade only.
These countries have become user-dealers.
Pakistan’s example can be quoted in thisrespect. Pakistan claims to have eradicatedpoppy production altogether with stringent
State measures, however, it still remains
a transit country for Afghan Production.
Due to this very reason Pakistan has aheroin addict population of more than 1.5
million.
The UNDCP (United Nations
International Drug Control Program) has
recently conducted a comparison of someselected countries for estimated heroinabuse and consumption expenditure on
illicit drugs. The report has been publishedin 1997 and is an eye opener forsociologists.
In recent years, the most pronounced
increase in drug abuse has been reported
for synthetic drugs. This rise includes thea b u s e o f AT S ( a m p h e t a m i n e - t y p estimulants). Some 30 million people (0.5percent of global population), more thanheroin and probably more than cocaine,
consume ATS worldwide (Ref. 5; World
Drug Report).
As per UNDCP estimates more than 440
million people world over use some kind of
drugs. Their classification may be seen in

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
Table 1. Their percentage of the total world
population has also been calculated.

TABLE 1ESTIMATED NUMBER OF WORLD DRUG ABUSERS (ANNUAL
PREVALENCE) IN 1990s

Countries

Estimated Heroin
Abusers (thousands)

Australia
Italy
Pakistan
SwedenThailand
UK
USA

285
370
1,520
5
214
100
500

Consumption Expenditureon Illicit Drugs (US$ Millions)All drugs
HeroinHeroin and other opiate-type substances*
Cocaine*Cannabis*Hallucinogens**
ATS**
Sedative-type substances**

4,389
13,400
1,500
400
1,900
n/a
48,700

1,172
9,000
1,200
100
820
1,330
7,100

Estimated total(million people)

in % of total population

8.0
13.3
141.2
25.5
a30.2
227.4

0.14%
0.23%
2.45%
0.44%
0.52%
3.92%

Sources: UNDCP Annual Reports Questionnaires; UNDCP Mission Reports; UNDCP Country Profiles:
UNDCP Country Programme Frameworks; United States Department of State, International Narcotics
Control Strategy Reports: UNDCP estimates.

205

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
V. TRANSIT COUNTRIES AND
DRUG ROUTES
Initially producing countries used tosend drugs directly to consuming countries.
But with awareness regarding the source
countries in the effected countries, strictmeasures were adopted to block the supply.
Effective enforcement techniques
concentrated on the incoming traffic ofpassengers and cargo from producing
countries. This gave birth to thephenomena of transit countries. Traffickers
chose non-producing commercial countries
with heavy out going passenger and cargotraffic as an intermediate point to avoid
destination inspections. Today a vast webof trafficking has been created which, due
to its complicated nature, undermines theefforts of law enforcement agencies.
Since the starting point of any drug isthe source country, therefore we can plot
the transit countries and resultant routes
on the production map of the world. In themaps at Figures 2 to 5, we can see thegeneral routes of drug flow with respective
transit countries and ports.
Colombia being the leading producer of
cocaine, carries extensive drug cartels
using Mexico and Central America asstaging or trans-shipment area for U.S.bound cocaine through Southwestern andSoutheastern bordering States. As regards
European countries, Spain and Italy arestill the major entry points for cocaine,
along with Portugal. From these countries
it spreads to all of Europe through France.
Italian Mafia plays a leading role incontrolling the deliveries. Cocaine is also
air lifted from South American countries
in small but steady quantities by Nigerians
via international airline points. Austria has
further become a transit point of cocaine
for Russia.
The Asia-Pacific region is the location of
the major opium cultivation sources i.e. theGolden Triangle that includes the areas of
the northern part of Thailand, thenortheastern part of Laos and Myanmar.
206

Drugs from the Golden Triangle can be
trafficked to the world market throughIndia, China, Myanmar, and Thailand.
India is used as a transit point for opium
and heroin produced in Southeast Asia.
Narcotics from the Golden Triangle enter
India through its northeastern borderline
before being further transported to Europe
and North America. As for China, besides
facing an upsurge in opium and heroinabuse, the country has now developed as atransit route for heroin from the Golden
Triangle to Hong Kong. Traffickers havesignificantly increased the movement ofheroin through the southern borderprovinces of Yunnan, Guangxi andGuangdong to Hong Kong, taking
advantage of burgeoning commerce in theregion.
At the international level, the French
connection, the heroin smuggling routefrom Turkey to New York by way ofMarseilles, has been replaced by the
Chinese connection. Heroin from Southeast
Asia begins in the poppy fields of theGolden Triangle and continues throughHong Kong to the United States with theultimate destination as New York City. The
DEA’s reports indicated a substantial
increase in the proportion of Southeast
Asian heroin entering the U.S., and theSoutheast Asian heroin trade isincreasingly dominated by the Chinese. 56
percent of all heroin seized by U.S.
authorities was seized in New York. Of thatheroin, 70 percent was found to be ofSoutheast Asian origin (Ref. 14; Mr.
Yodmani, 1993).
In its publication of February 4, 1998,“Sankei Shinbun” a Japanese newspaper,
alerted the Japanese nation to a new
stimulant
drug“ Ya - B a ”(Methamphetamine base) in tablet form.
It is already in use in Golden Triangle andwith the courtesy of “Yakuza” it is now
being introduced in Japan. The paper has
also given an elaborate map of drug
movement in the Pacific Rim which is
reproduced in Figure 6.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
FIGURE 5
HASHISH TRAFFICKING ROUTES FROM MOROCCO

Source: The NNICC Report 1994, published in 1995.

207

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
FIGURE 6
SMUGGLING ROUTE FROM GOLDEN TRIANGLE

For the Golden Crescent, Pakistan
remains the major transit country as the
producing country Afghanistan is a land
locked country. Afghanistan is also using
Iran and C.I.S. for this purpose. Iran has,
therefore, become both producing andtransit country. Due to easy passage ascompared to Pakistan, Central AsianStates are now being preferred for transit
to Europe and the U.S. This is evident fromthe INCB report for 1995; and the findingsof conference of 37 countries in Europe inFebruary1995.
Trans-shipments of heroin, coming fromCentral Asian regions and Middle East
countries are also conducted by Nigerians
via air through the main international
airline points. Also Turkish crime groups
are involved in heroin trafficking from theproduction points to Germany and theUnited Kingdom, passing through theBalkan routes and Greece.

208

Due to the consolidated interaction
among Russian, Chinese and Vietnamesegangs, Austria has become a transit
country for heroin coming from the Central
Asian regions and for cocaine arriving via
Central Europe and Russia. In the Southof Europe, Albania has replaced the
traditional transit route used throughYugoslavia for drug trafficking. France isa transit route for hashish originating inSouthwest Asia and North Africa.
In the Netherlands local networks are
becoming the main producers of synthetic
drugs in Europe. From here these areexported through new routes leading outof the European Union, utilized also for the
trade in marijuana and hashish which isstill flourishing. Several internal routes aredesigned to transit synthetic drugs
produced in the Netherlands andamphetamines produced in Poland to
Sweden, Finland, and other European
countries by Dutch, Belgian and Polishnetworks. Also, Belgium is a consumer

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
market for synthetic drugs and thetrafficking is carried out throughcooperation between rooted networks of
Belgian and Dutch citizens.
VI. MODUS OPERANDI OF DRUG
TRAFFICKING
The methods used to transport illicit
drugs are often very ingenious. Traffickers
use a variety of means to transport drugs
including automobiles equipped withconcealed compartments, planes, buses,
trains, legitimate delivery services, boats,fishing trawlers, ocean-going vessels, etc.
Drugs are smuggled by couriers using
various concealment methods such asconcealment in traveling suitcases, hiding
among personal belongings, body packing,swallowing methods, etc. In addition to
moving large shipments of the drugs, small
quantities are often moved through themail.
The most popular method used isconcealment in traveling suitcases orovernight bags. Swallowing is also popular
especially among African couriers. Some ofthem are able to swallow several hundred
grams of drugs in balloons or condoms. The
record seizure obtained in the swallowing
method was 158 condoms with anestimated gross weight of 1,060 grams ofheroin. Other methods used, include
concealment in a carton of soap by pressing
heroin into the form of soap bars;
concealment in the case of an electricalcord, in the core of lace’s roll; concealment
in post-cards, envelopes, books, postal
parcels, etc.
With the invention of latest techniquesin the field of detection, like electronic
screening, dog sniffing, etc., the traffickers
are resorting to new methods every day.
Bulk exporting materials are stuffed withsmall quantities of drugs. Double walled
hollow export containers which look likenormal containers are also used which canpass the screening test easily. Countries

having vast international coastlines areoften seen having influx through small
vessels and boats. Air dropping is anothermethod used in the U.S. and Australia forcocaine and heroin respectively. A very
novel method is in vogue in Saudi Arabia,
where camels are being used. Trained
camels are taken out of Saudi Arabia to
Iraq and Jordan and after loading themwith drugs they are set stray without any
driver. Since the camels know theirdestination, they reach safely home withthe merchandise. In this way there is norisk of human arrest.
VII. DRUG TRAFFICKING MAFIA
Huge margins of profit in drug trade,
paved the way for the emergence of big
drug syndicates and cartels. Formulationof syndicates and cartels was also
necessary to organize the criminal activity
because of a continuous exposure to law
enforcement agencies. It was first felt bySicilian Mafia that crime could be better
managed viz a viz the criminal justicesystem, if they were themselves properlyorganized. Mushroom growth of organizedcrime groups to reap the profits of drugtrade necessitated the need of mutualinteraction hence transnational groups,
syndicates and cartels.
Existence of La Cosa Nostra (LCN) in
the United States is no hidden truth. Large
networks of LCN families, which are
named for famous leaders i.e. Genovese,
Gambino, Colombo, etc; is involved in all
the narcotics imported and consumed in
U.S. The LCN, particularly families
operating in the Miami area, havenumerous criminal contact with theColombian cocaine cartels. The LCN also
works closely with the Sicilian Mafia in the
distribution of drugs.
Although more than 500 Colombian drugtrafficking organizations have connections
with Colombian cartels, the two largest are
the Medellin and Cali cartels, named after209

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
the cities near which their operations are
centered. The cocaine cartels alignthemselves with various paramilitary andguerrilla organizations to protect theirdrug distribution networks. The
participant from Colombia mentioned that
action against these cartels has been taken
and most of them are behind bars now. An
action in the past was taken also when withthe help of the Colombian Government, in
1992, FBI under cover operation “GreenIce” which resulted into 152 arrests. Those
were the members of Colombian Cartels
and were arrested from Italy (29), UK (3),Spain (4) and USA (112). In this operation
seven of the top ranking financial
managers of the Cali Cartel were also
hauled up with US$ 44 million worth ofassets (Ref.5; World Drug Report).
The cartels smuggle cocaine into theUnited States through a variety ofgeographic areas. In the mid-1980s, as law
enforcement pressure on drug trafficking
in Florida grew, the cartels began to shift
their emphasis to Mexico. From Mexico
drugs are easily being shipped into
California. Currently, large shipments ofcocaine enters the United States throughLos Angeles, San Diego and Miami.
Besides the LCN there are othercriminal organizations that originated in
Italy and have operations in the UnitedStates. These organizations are: theSicilian Mafia, the ‘Ndrangheta, and theCamorra. Although these are still primarily
located in Italy, all three organizations are
involved in international drug trafficking
and have various operations in the UnitedStates and Europe.
Galicians in Spain and the Mafia in Italy
have specialized as cocaine importers andmain suppliers for Europe. Local criminalgroups in the Netherlands and Belgium
have specialized in production and exportof synthetic drugs in and outside theEuropean Union. Nigerians and Eastern
European criminal networks (headed by
the Russian Mafia) have developed their210

activity of delivery service for a wide rangeof products and customers. The former
have started importing cocaine for the
Colombian cartels, extending further toheroin from Southeast Asia. The latter, due
to the geographic position and theextension of the territory available, havediversified the products from drugs (bothheroin and cocaine) to arms, alien andprostitutes smuggling, and in return
exporting cars and synthetic drugs from
Europe.
“Russian Organized Crime” refers not
only to organized crime groups operatingin Russia, but rather more broadly
encompasses two general components.
First, Russian organized crime refers toorganized crime groups operating in or
headquartered in countries in Eastern
Europe and Asia that were formerly partof the Soviet Union and the Soviet Bloc,
which for example would include Russia,
Poland, Hungary, Georgia, Armenia,
Kazakhistan, Ukraine and others.
Secondly, Russian organized crime refers
to organized crime groups operating in over
50 countries outside Russia. They arefirmly entrenched in the Former Soviet
Union and Soviet Bloc countries, and are
expanding to the United States, theCaribbean, South America, Israel and the
Middle East. In the 1990’s narcotics
consumption has increased in Russian andother former Soviet Bloc countries. Thereis evidence that Russian organized crimegroups are responsible for much of the drugtrafficking and have formed alliances with
South American drug trafficking
organizations and Italian organized crimegroups to handle distribution of narcotics
in the former Soviet Bloc countries.
Triads are relatively large criminalorganized groups operating in Hong Kong(in collaboration with snakeheads) the
People’s Republic of China and Taiwan.
Like other organized crime groups theiractivities include, but not limited to drugtrafficking. They have links with

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
European, American and other Asiangroups. Most of the Pacific Rim drug trade
is conducted by them or their links. An
estimated 70 percent of the Golden
Triangle trafficking is in their hands.
Japanese Boryokudan are notorious fortheir influence and well-integratedorganization, but their activities are mostly
restricted to domestic distribution
n e t w o r k s . H o w e v e r, n o w t h e y a r eembarking upon this lucrative businessand have started developing links withother international crime syndicates.
All other countries have local organizedgroups which operate in very secretive
ways to hide their hierarchy andmembership to avoid the risk of exposure
to law. They, however, maintain links with
big syndicates internationally for the
disposal of merchandize. Iqbal Mirchi and
Dawood groups in India; Ayub Afridi and
Iqbal Beg groups in Pakistan are such
examples (as quoted by respective
participants). These small groups normally
maintain their base outside the homecountry preferably where there is no
extradition treaty.

Opium (tons)
Heroin (tons)
Hashish (tons)

1994
14.3606.020
178.290

VIII. CONFISCATION AND
PROSECUTION SITUATION
During the course of group discussions
and individual presentations, participants
gave statistics on their countries in respect
to drugs. Since each country has a different
system of maintaining the statistics, it was
not possible to compare those figures in one
analysis table. Moreover, in every region,different types of drugs, with different andlocal names, are confiscated. There aredifferent criminal justice systems which
depict prosecution figures in their own
styles. It was, therefore, thought proper todiscuss the statistics separately for eachcountry.
In Pakistan, seizure figures remained
staggering over the years. A determined
Government and efficient Anti-Narcotic
Force rooted out opium production in its
producing areas in 1995, therefore, thefigures for that year are large because of
the extensive operations. After that the
seizures figures are mainly of interceptionof drugs coming from Afghanistan fordomestic use, as well as for further transit.
The following table shows the confiscationof drugs for last three years and for 1997
(Jan. to Oct.) in Pakistan.

1995
107.2339.416
294.525

1996
7.377
5.763
189.136

1997(Jan-Oct)
6.448
3.443
92.322For the same period the arrests of defenders are as follows:

Opium
HeroinHashish1994
3,157
23,69627,281

1995
3,366
24,92031,3991996
2,736
21,51029,2101997(Jan-Oct)
1,998
11,942
22,133211

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Indian Statistics are available for 1992 to 1996 regarding the seizure of narcotics
through the courtesy of that participant:Opium (kg)
Heroin (kg)
Hashish (kg)Arrests

1992
1,918
1,153
6,621
12,850

1993
3,011
1,088
8,238
13,723

1994
2,256
1,011
6,992
15,452

1995
1,339
1,678
3,073
14,673

1996
2,875
1,257
n/a
13,554

The following are the figures for Saudi Arabia from 1992 to 1996 which were presented
by the participant from that country:

Opium (kg)
Heroin (kg)
Hashish (kg)Arrests

1992
28
89
3,723
5,515

1993
12
157
1,949
5,628

1994
17
206
2,472
6,589

1995
30
112
1,972
8,278

1996
155
324
1,809
10,328The participant from Nicaragua mentioned that drugs were not much of a problem in
his country, but still there were 989 cases in 1996 (716 in 1995) and 2,757 kgs of cocaine
was seized in 1997. Seizure of cocaine in 1996 and 1995 was 398 kgs and 1,512 kgs
respectively. Recently there were some cases of heroin too, resulting into the seizure of
2 kgs.
Figures for Nepal regarding drugs seizure and persons arrested as quoted by theparticipant are as follows:
1993
Cannabis (kg) 2,448.2
Hashish (kg)517.9
Heroin (kg)18.1
Opium (kg)0.4
Arrests
687

1994
2,482.5
1,273.6
17.1
4.4
785

1995
5,521.2
2,133.4
7.3
0.2
810

1996
2,271.3
1,917.3
10.0
0.4
788

1997
1,898.3
790.5
10.4
0.7
452

Amount of seized drugs in Japan as supplied by the Japanese participants is depictedin the following table, while the numbers of suspects in Japan are at Table 2:
1992
Stimulant
166 kg
Heroin12
Cocaine
33
Cannabis resin
11
Cannabis (leaf)
232
LSD
0.6 (*1000t)

212

1993
97
15
26
30
607
0.6

1994
314
10
36
95
94
1

1995
88
8
36
131
208
2,261

1996
652
4
37
145
173
4

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
Statistics provided by other participants
are placed in the Appendix A. Somecountries such as Fiji, Madagascar,
Mongolia and Tonga have only a few drugs
related cases.
The United Nations have compiled acomparative list of countries regarding
seizure figures along with the top ranking
30 countries in respect of different drugs.
The lists are placed in the Appendix A. The
UNDCP in its latest report published in
1997 (Ref.5; World Drug Report) have madea comparison of selected countries
regarding persons arrested on drug
charges. To make the figures comparable,
the number of arrests have been converted
into a per 100,000 population basis.

Persons Arrested on Drug Charges on per 100,000 people basis (1994)
Australia
313.0
Colombia
3.1
Italy
450.0
Pakistan
49.2
Sweden103.0
Thailand
205.0
UK
150.0
USA
539.0

213

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
TABLE 2
NUMBER OF DRUG SUSPECTS IN JAPAN
1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

15,062

15,252

14,655

17,101

19,420smuggling

65

43

33

17

22

production

0

1

0

6

1

possession

4,749

4,814

4,504

5,824

6,797

transferring

2,495

2,499

2,256

2,242

2,398

use

7,752

7,884

7,850

9,001

10,191

1

11

12

10

11

total

331

363

343

334

275

smuggling

77

75

55

52

42

production

1

0

0

13

0

possession

145

181

193

179

147

transferring

68

75

67

61

64

use

33

20

20

26

17

others

8

2

8

1

5

1,635

2,051

2,103

1,555

1,306

cultivation

19

25

21

16

40

possession

1,094

1,452

1,571

1,154

1,010

transferring

421

478

380

277

174

6

2

0

4

total

90

131

222

172

141

cultivation

69

62

128

111

102

smuggling

15

20

45

14

14

possession

6

49

38

34

24

transferring

0

0

7

6

0

others

0

0

4

7

1

STIMULANT
total

othersNARCOTICS

CANNABIS
total

others
OPIUM

214

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
FIGURE 7
DRUG SEIZURES BY REGION, 1985-1995.

Source: World Drug Report, a UNDCP publication, 1997.

215

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
IX. AMOUNT OF GAINS FROMDRUGSFor the major producers like Bolivia,
Peru, Afghanistan and Myanmar, illicit
drug exports make up a large percentageof export revenues. For example, since1986, Bolivian coca-cocaine exports are
believed to have represented between 28
and 53 percent of the value of total exportsthat include the value of coca-cocaine
exports, or between 39 and 112 percent of
those that exclude them. In Afghanistan
and Myanmar, it is highly likely that thepercentages are higher since neither
country has important legitimate exports.
Pakistan has a larger economy, still illicit
drug exports in 1992 are thought to haveamounted to US$1.5 billion; a sum equal
to one-fifth of the US$7.2 billion of exports.
Countries such as Mexico and Thailand
have fairly diversified economies withmany sources of foreign exchange; thus,
while the illicit drug industry certainly
affects their economies, the impact is likely
to be less prominent than for the countries
mentioned previously.
Sale of drugs, and laundering profits
from these sales, undoubtedly contributes
to the size of an underground economy. In
many countries illegal drug expenditures
are thought to account for the largest shareof the illegal markets. Total illicit drug
expenditures at the retail level in the
U.S.A. alone were estimated at US$50
billion per annum in the mid-1990s. If theworld drug trade were taken into
consideration, the estimated amount oflaundered money would range from
US$300 billion to US$500 billion (Ref.6;
Marine, 1998). The extent of money in drug
business can be well visualized from thefact that one time US cover operation
against Cali Cartel resulted in the seizureof US$ 44 million worth of assets (Ref.12;
Mr. Proctor, 1993).
Hong Kong has seized HK$53 million
worth of assets during the period 1989-97.

216

In Pakistan also the Anti-Narcotics Forcehas up to now frozen assets worth Rs 3,612
million (US$82 million) from 60 notorious
drug traffickers in the country. In 1995
India also confiscated local and foreign
currency worth Rs 200 million (US$5
million) which was considered illgotten,
irrespective of its source. Income tax
authorities in India also seized assets
worth Rs 4,580 million (US$115 million)
due to unexplained source of income. In
Japan, property worth 99.2 million yen has
so far been confiscated (from July 1992 toSeptember 30 1997) as the proceeds of drugtrafficking and the like, while another 23.3
million yen has been frozen for confiscation.
X. CONCLUSION
From the foregoing analysis of the drug
situation, we can feel the magnitude of the
problem. No wonder that the issue finds
its place at the top, whenever crime isdiscussed. International forums are verymuch concerned and millions of dollars arebeing spent in gathering the statistics
regarding the drug situation prevailing in
the world. It is only after knowing thegravity of the problem that steps can betaken with the proportionate intensity.
Effective measures and recommendations
for eradication of the drug menace could
have been suggested here, but in theopinion of the members, it was not in thepurview of Topic 1. This collection of
information may, therefore, be taken as afood for thought to formulate future drug
fighting strategies.
REFERENCES
1. A l l t h e p a p e r s o f I n d i v i d u a lpresentations by the participants ofU N A F E I ’s 1 0 8 t h I n t e r n a t i o n a l
Seminar.
2. All the presentations of speakers
during the General Discussion Sessionsof the Seminar.
3. Report of International Narcotics

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
Control Board for 1996; a U.N.
publication, 1997.
4. The National Narcotics Intelligence
Consumers Committee Report for 1994,
on the Supply of Illicit Drugs to theUnited States; a DEA publication,
1995.
5. World Drug Report, United Nations
International Drug Control Program,a United Nations publication, 1997.
6. “The Threats Posed by Transnational
Crimes and Organized Crime Groups
and United States Responses” by Mr.
Frank Marine from the United States,
a visiting expert for the 108th
International Seminar, 1998.
7. “Recent Trends of Organized Crime inEurope: Actors, Activities and Policies
against Them” and “The
Organizational Framework ofEuropean Crime in the Globalization
Process” by Dr. Ernesto Ugo Savona
from Italy, a visiting expert for the108th International Seminar, 1998.
8. “Current Problems in the Combat ofOrganized Transnational Crime” by
Mr. Dimitri Vlassis from the United
Nations, a visiting expert for the 108th
International Seminar, 1998.
9. “The Evolution of Drug Trafficking in
the Pacific Rim” by Mr. Lau Yuk-kuen
from Hong Kong, a visiting expert forthe 108th International Seminar, 1998.
10. “Drug Trafficking, Illegal Trafficking of
women and Children, Fire Arms
Smuggling and Currency
Counterfeiting (Philippines)” by Mr.
Severino H. Gana Jr., International
Director of the Asia Crime Prevention
Foundation, 1998.
11. “Organized Crime in India, Problems
and Perspectives” by Mr. Madan Lal
Sharma from India, a visiting expert
for the 108th International Seminar.
12. “Organized Crime in the United States
and the Legal Tools Used to Fight it”
by Mr. George W. Proctor from theUnited States, a visiting expert for

92nd International Training Course,
Resource Material Series number 43,
a UNAFEI publication, 1993.
13. “Narcotics and Laundering in France”
by Mr. Pierre Dillange from France, avisiting expert for 92nd International
Training Course, Resource Material
Series number 43, a UNAFEI
publication, 1993.
14. “Quest for Effective Methods ofOrganized Crime Control” by Mr.
Chavalit Yodmani from Thailand, avisiting expert for 92nd International
Training Course, Resource Material
Series number 43, a UNAFEI
publication, 1993.

217

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
APPENDIX A[BANGLADESH]
STATISTICS ON CASES, ACCUSED AND SEIZURE FROM 1990 TO 1997 AS
DETECTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF NARCOTICS CONTROL
Drugs
HeroinCocaineCharashOpium
Marijuana
Marijuana plants
Marijuana Cigarette
Illicit Distillation
Country Liquor
Foreign Liquor
Foreign Liquor
Foreign Liquor
Foreign Liq.(Beer)
Indian C.S
Indian F.L.
Rect.Sprit
Den.Sprit
Hilly Liquor
Phensidyl
Phensidyl
Mretosanjibini
Tari(Todi)
Pachwai
Pethidine
Tidi Zeshic
Bhang
Bhang plant
Beladona
Zauwa
BakharBaklarSp.Medicine
MaddakAlcholist
NishadalAlcohol
Others
Total
218

Unit
Kg
Kg
Kg
Kg
Kg
No.
No.
Litres
Litres
LitresQuartsBottlesCan
Bottles
Litres
Litres
Litres
LitresBottles
LitresBottles
Litres
LitresAmpules
AmpulesKg.
No.
Litres
LitresKg.
Can.
BottlesKg.
No.
Kg.
Litres
Kg.

Cases
1467
12
76
40
6448
190
02
6590
195
252
519
119
39
42
26
777
129
12
2159
52
23
541
102
54
133
21
03
01
100
19
02
08
09
75
01
09
01
20248

Accused
1875
19
78
34
5947
191
02
5910
191
294
492
100
36
14
09
757
126
08
1400
24
14
490
101
57
135
10
02
01
90
17
03
10
13
75
01
09
00
18535

Seizures
81.94
7.46
43.88
21.84
12099.69
349170.00
53715.00
106685.90
2683.031742.18
4601.47
2749.00
24710.00
869.50465.5533548.81
1502.46
127.00223013.50
8215.25
1360.37
24338.14
1595.00
22865.00
23500.00
1031.77
96.00
23.00
229406.60
122.60108755.00
2574.00
9.26
30.00
360.00179.11
20.75

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR[FIJI]CASES UNDER

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

Drug Ordinance Act

236

326

396

352

352

1997
(Jan-Jun)218[INDIA]Year
Qty(kg)OPIUM
CASES
Qty(kg)HEROINCASES
Qty(kg)
HASHISH
CASES

1990
2114
506
2193
764
6388
753

1991
2145
566
622
1158
4413
335

1992
1918
1286
1153
2779
6621
2516

1993
3011
1679
1088
3303
8238
2827

1994
2256
1171
1011
3331
6992
2672

1995
1339
871
1678
3236
3629
2691

1996
2875
977
1257
3043
6520
2593

[MADAGASCAR]
No. of Cases
About Drugs

1995
66

1996
91

1997
33

[MALAYSIA]ARREST
CASES UNDER
Sec.39B
Sec.39A(2)Sec.39A(1)Other Sec.

1996
1,284 (800)992 (753)
1,220 (987)
8,705 (7,352)

1997
1,753 (1,045)
1,081 (831)
1,606 (1,305)
7,806 (6,570)

1996
100 kg
164 kg0.002
42.97 kg
210.22 kg
1,423.58 kg
692,886 tablets
20,276 tablets
1.21 kg
2.80

1997
138.72 kg
159 kg76.85 kg
191.99 kg
3,737.03 kg
1,291,338 tablets
38,289 tablets
2.00 kg-

SEIZUREDRUG TYPE
Raw Opium
Opium
MorpineHeroin Base
Heroin No.3
Cannabis
Psycitropic Pill
Ecstacy Pill
Shabu
Cocaine

219

220

810

788

452

4571

1995

1996

1997

Total;

3773

385

888

842

209

9

39

42

559

53

63

116

29

4

-

10

333

309

150

17300 276

1898

2271

5521

705

50

158

505

Nepalese
Foreigner
Cannabis
Fiscal Year No. of Person Arrested Male Female Male Female Kg Gm. Mg.
1991
520
451
20
45
4
545 494 742
1992
529
395
34
95
5
2133 324 760
1993
887
570
22
92
3
2448 194
1994
785
844
43
95
3
2482 470 500

5478300 260

790

191

2133 428

874

800

372

131

Hashish
Kg. Gm. Mg.
709 767 417
958 105 590
517 897 550
1273 617 138

92

10

489

7

Kg.
8
21
18
17

754

358

989

320

340

700

985

245

HeroinGm. Mg.
424 937
395 488
147 810119 177(1991 TO 1997 UP TO SEPTEMBER)

6

-

-

-

Kg.
0
0
4

783

749

440

205

-

-

-

-

Opium
Gm. Mg.
171
737
4
477
-

Others103 gm Bhang 8850 ml Phensedyl
2 kg of Bhang
Phensedyl 2898 Bottles
Bhang 1 kg., Nitrazepam; 542 Pieces,
Matulani Powder 14 kg, 32 gm;
Dalzepam 954 Tablets;
Valium Rose 12 Tab; Phensedyl 245
Bottle; Nitrosen 178 Tab; Nitravale 8
Tab; Codine Sulphele 159 Tab;
Tidgesic Inl. 1789 Voll.
Phansedyl 3088 bottle; Tidlgesic Inj.
4087 voll; Nitrazepam 588 pieces;
Oxazepam 90 pieces; Nitrosen 3071
Tab; Bhang 11 kg. 500 gm; Morphin
175 bottle; \vallum 10 tab; andTidlgesic 238 pieces.
Tidlgesic Inj. 7508 voll; Tidl. Tab. 40
Phensedyle 801 bottle; Nitrazepam
1214 tab; Vitration 120 tab; Roblgesic
25, Nitrosen 2148 Tab; Calmpoze Ini.
100 voll; Vellum 142 Tab; Nitrovale
120 tab; Lorazepam 158 Tab.
Mlthllerogy mlthaln 100 voll;Dizepam 53 Tab. + Inj 1 Aspallne 4 cc;
Cannabis seeds 250; Cannabis dust 8kg; Phorkas 1, Cough Syrup 1;
Nitrosil Tab. 804; Bruphine Inl. 14;
Exolnon 79 cc Acellc Acid 280 Litres;
Dormention Tab. 180;Codlne Sulpher
Tab. 20; Hlplyach 14.
Phynsedyle-837 bottle; Tidlgesic Inl.
4054 Voll; Codine Sulphate 4971,
Nitrazepam Tab. 2188; Brufen-2,
Nitrosen Tab. 2300, Nldll-1, Remisl
Syringe-47; Dalzepam Inj. 4 pieces.
Nitravel 60.

NUMBER OF PERSONS ARRESTED AND QUANTITIES OF DRUGS SEIZED[NEPAL]RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR[NICARAGUA]ILLEGAL DRUG TRAFFICKING CASES
YEARS
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997

CASES
245
485
500
965
986
716
989
730

CLEARED CASES
480
495
963
986
716
988
728

SEIZURE OF DRUGSYEARSCOCAINE

CRACK

1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997

535.936 kg
762.642456.447
96.2091,337.754
1,512
398.4442,757.926

– g
–
–
–
455
1,069
3,531
6,406

MARIJUANA
PLANT SEED
–
20c.
–
1,052
–
–
1,124
31,068
–
519
9,808
–
882
92,534–765
53,776–
1,884
53,52815.5
553
20,70017
Lb

HEROIN
– kg
–
–
–
–
1
2

[PAPUA NEW GUINEA]
YEAR
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996

No of Incidents
45
67
53
116
255
242
320
333
1113
949
849
1444

221

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54[PHILIPPINES]
ARREST
No of Persons Arrested
No of Foreigners Arrested

1995
1,425
15 (2 killed)

1996
1,311
27 (1 killed)

CONFISCATIONS/SEIZURES
HeroinCocaineMethamphetamine (Shabu)
Marijuana Leaves
Marijuana Plants
Marijuana Seedings
TOTAL MARKET VALUE

1995
014,424 gms
207,593 gms
1,754,956 gms
6,808,473 pcs
22,847,193 pcs
P1.76 BILLION

1996
2,534 gms
1,392 gms
280,699.24 gms
964,062.10 gms
9,164,052 pcs
2,997,065 pcs
P2.044BILLION[KOREA]
Breakdown by the Type of Violations and Drug-Related Laws(1994-1996)
Drugs
Type of violation
Manufacturing
Smuggling
Trafficking
Cultivation
Consumption
Possession
Not specified
Total

Narcotics
Cannabis
Psychotropic drugs
1994 1995 1996 1994 1995 1996 1994 1995 1996
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
9
10
17
9
9
3
1
6
52
73
77
18
12
19
33
22
11
424
733
755
1,121 1,029 1,098
123
105
76
20
18
9
885
951
804 1,021 1,682 2,400
24
17
17
349
264
169
99
102
239
114
50
83
106
173
206
142
168
201
1,314 1,135 1,235 1,499 1,516 1,272 1,742 2,767 3,682

Seizure of Drugs from Abroad (1993-1996)
1993
1994
1995
1996
number seized number seized number seized number seizedDrugsof cases quantity of cases quantity of cases quantity of cases quantity
metham-phetamine
11
1.6 kg13
3.9 kg24
7.6 kg30
13.9 kg
cocaine4
23.0 kg
2
37 g
1
0
5
766.8 gheroin2
22.4 kg3
1.0 kg3
3.5 kg4
1.8 kgraw opium6
3.2 kg5
2.9 kg3
2.1 kg20.47 kg
marijuana
1
5.4 g
3
143 g
1
0.5 g
6
3,155.8 g
Year

222

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
Breakdown of Seizures of Drugs from Abroad by Source (1996)
Source/Transit
country
China
Japan
TaiwanHong Kong
Pakistan
United States
Philippines
ThailandKazakstan
Nigeria
New ZealandColombia
Argentina
BrazilDrugs
methamphetamine
ephedrine HCI
raw opiummethamphetamine
methamphetamine
methamphetamine
heroinraw opiumcocainemarijuana
methamphetamine
heroinheroinmarijuanamarijuana
cocainecocainecocainenumberof cases
19
2
1
5
2
1
1
3
1
3
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

smuggled
quantity
18.0 kg
70 kg
397 g
5 kg
80 g
486 g
765 g
70 g
50 g
46.8 g118.5 g160 g
1 kg
3.1 kg
75 g
980 g
25 g
400 g

seizedquantity
12.7 kg
47 kg
397 g
0.79 kg31.05 g300 g696.3 g70 g
46.3 g19.8 g93.4 g95 g
1 kg
3.1 kg
36 g
300 g
17 g
400 g

[THAILAND]COMPARATIVE DRUGS SEIZURE STATISTICSROYAL THAI POLICE 1995-1997
TYPE OF DRUGSHEROIN
MORPHINEOPIUMCANNABISKRATOMAMPHETAMINEPRECURSORSVOLATILE SUBSECSTASY
COCAINE
OTHERSTOTALNUMBER OF CASES
1995
1996
1997
35,741 18,123
14,854
14
0
3
2,778
2,200
3,405
49,590 31,167
29,384
873
1,006
1,932
20,064 29,909
65,9448
10
369
37,142 24,317
28,002
10
47
94
2
1
3
74
82
232
146,296 106,862
144,222DRUGS SEIZED (KGS)
1995
1996
1997
362,32
226,29259,23
0.02
0.00
1.84
1,366.51 640.65
1,422.16
42,276.5 42,597.42 58,696.30
774.57249.882,957.13776.01
939.422,432.85
4,900.36 449.44
184.36
1,148.90 719.40
1,053.47
1.93
0.06
0.40
0.10
0.30
1.81
394.7068.26
75.25
52,001.92 45,891.12 67,084.78

223

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54[TONGA]
Offences in 1997
Growing ofIndian Hemp
Possession ofIndian Hemp

Offence
Under In- Pending
Report Rejected Convict Acquitted Undetected vestigation Trial
7

–

1

–

–

3

3

17

1

4

–

–

6

6

[TURKEY]
TYPE
Hashish
HeroinMorphine baseOpium
CocaineAcetic anhydride
Synthetic drugs
TOTAL

CASE
1,618
519
5
26
40
7
74
2,289

in 1996
QUANTITY
12,294 kg
4,422
1,157
233
13
42,450259,097 unit
319,666

ACCUSED
3,287
1,650
24
58
122
29
160
5,330

[VIETNAM]
1993-1997
Discoverd
trial

confiscated224

15,176 cases
8,015

24,453
10,414

heroinopium
hashishmethamphetamine

persons
death penalty
life imprisonment
10-20 years
7-10 years
less than 7 years

46
53
450
389
8,629
170 kg7,108 kg
10,718 kg
234 kg

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
Amount of Seized Cocaine (top 30 ranking country/area) by UN
kg
U.S.A.
Colombia
MexicoPeru
Bolivia
PanamaSpain
Venezuela
BrazilNetherlands
Dominica
EcuadorCanadaArgentina
Chile
Italy
Portugal
Germany
Nicaragua
Virgin Islands
U.K.
FranceBelgium
Jamaica
Honduras
PolandRussiaCuba
Costa Rica
Switzerland
Total

1993
110,963
32,20045,835
8,872
9,055
2,870
5,351
2,866
6,608
3,720
905
1,195
4,469
2,042
997
1,101
219
1,052
458
NO REPORT
709
1,721
2,892
83
48
107
1,038
3,364
460
334
268,643

1994
100,845
72,244
22,113
10,634
10,021
5,177
4,016
6,035
12,028
8,200
2,898
1,790
8,357
2,236
1,226
6,657
1,719
767
1,338
NO REPORT
2,262
4,743
479
125
930
526
1
238
1,411
295
294,001

1995
100,001
31,03522,70822,661
8,497
7,169
6,897
6,650
5,815
4,896
4,391
4,284
3,598
3,146
2,900
2,557
2,116
1,846
1,507
1,194
970
874
576
570
409
383
372
372
361
262
251,119

225

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Amount of Seized Cannabis (top 30 ranking country) by UN
kg
Paraguay
South Africa
India
MexicoU.S.A.
Netherlands
Azerbaijan
Ghana
Colombia
CanadaLaos
SenegalMalawi
Sri Lanka
JamaicaThailandBelgium
MoroccoNorwayNigeria
ArmeniaU.K.
EcuadorVenezuela
BrazilGermany
PolandKazakhstan
Peru
Nepal
Total

226

1993
11,541
1,707,807
94,584
494,665
392,850
110,049
NO REPORT
1,018
548,780
93,365405,115
1,939
4,785
487,896
51,45485,986
3,010
265,375
NO REPORT
7,462
NO REPORT
11,976
110
526
NO REPORT
8,524
2,966
288
424
2,448
5,282,124

1994
12,756
7,451,558
1,261,230
528,425
373,982
290,477
77,21428
207,712
95,631
9,517
1,392
4,864
51,53833,56585,446
34,76040,516
6,711
19,733
132
11,582
161
9,989
18,837
21,660
164
3,504
404
2,482
10,620,042

1995
2,203,691
1,426,831
816,490780170479,722275,035
255,203
209,507206,260
149,265
91,62179,77571,27559,44954,69845,205
38,10435,80819,456
15,25815,033
14,15913,946
13,685
11,731
10,436
10,087
8,329
6,443
5,521
7,507,621

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
Amount of Seized Cannabis resin (top 30 ranking country) by UN
kg
Pakistan
Spain
MoroccoNetherlands
U.K.
CanadaFranceBelgium
TurkeyIran
IrelandItaly
U. S.A.
MexicoColombia
PolandPortugal
Kenya
Germany
LebanonIndia
LesothoJordanDenmark
Nepal
Algeria
Kazakhstan
Barbados
Malaysia
KuwaitTotal

1993
189,000
160,169
106,289
28,173
41,53157,30844,84032,20734,3674,512
4,200
10,661
11,4005,427
6,595
52,655NO REPORT
4,245
18,287
7,979
NO REPORT
4,332
1,278
518
1,028
NO REPORTNO REPORTNO REPORT
158
848,420

1994
189,252
219,176
97,04843,22951,51336,36955,89025,166
31,218
7,618
1,461
18,12872,15173
1740,393
4,033
39,872
1,726
9,433
501
1,169
NO REPORTNO REPORT
125
979,025

1995
357,691
197,024
110,245
79,98545,67840,35939,20332,582
17,36015,854
15,52914,922
13,623
13,477
12,51010,001
6,334
5,707
3,809
3,760
3,629
2,979
2,911
2,414
2,133
1,921
1,522
922
965
632
1,059,859

227

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Amount of Seized Heroin (top 30 ranking country) by UN
kg
Pakistan
Turkey
China
Iran
India
U. K.
U.S.A.
Italy
Germany
Hungary
Spain
ThailandFranceHong Kong
Netherland
Saudi Arabia
Switzerland
MexicoBulgaria
GreeceZambiaColombia
Belgium
SlovakMalaysia
Macedonia
CanadaIsraelVenezuela
Cambodia
Total

228

1993
4,000
2,342
4,459
1,984
1,074
655
1,423
630
1,095
413
604
2,538
386
128
916
206
179
62
557
153
18
44
76
4
216
78
154
87
13
NO REPORT
26,692

1994
6,444
2,172
4,086
865
1,011
745
2,089
1,151
1,590
812
824
1,295
499
446
246
112
225
297
474
285
NO REPORT
95
137
4
212
NO REPORT
62
118
15
6
29,1291995
10,760
3,456
2,380
2,075
1,678
1,336
1,146
940
933
568
546
518
499
411
351
324
213
203
198
173
153
145
129
121
119
111
106
94
81
80
31,107

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
Amount of Seized Opium (top 30 ranking country) by UNkg
IranPakistanThailand
India
China
MyanmarUzbekistan
KyrgyzLaos
Azerbaidjan
Kazakhstan
MexicoSaudi Arabia
Malaysia
Colombia
TurkeyBelarusSingapore
U. A.E.
U.S.A.
Japan
KuwaitRussiaPeru
UkraineCambodia
Egypt
Germany
Macedonia
Tunisia
Total

1993
63,941
4,500
2,530
2,908
3,354
2,416
241
NO REPORT
369
NO REPORTNO REPORT
129
17
11
281
50
10
7
43
1,551
13
17
14
NO REPORT
120
NO REPORT
95
232
2NO REPORT
85,270

1994
117,095
14,663
606
2,256
1,776
1,689
226
NO REPORT
293
12
435
149
74
69
128
91
882
2
161
Å|
34
25
784
581
NO REPORT
1
49
36
NO REPORT
0.03
144,517

1995
126,554
109,420
18,124
1,339
1,110
1,061
835
727
696
255
245
223
156
155
144
122
89
80
62
42
33
30
27
24
23
19
17
15
14
13
261,723

229

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54

TOPIC 2CURRENT SITUATION OF ORGANIZED CRIMES(EXCEPT DRUG TRAFFICKING)
Chairperson
Co- Chairperson
Rapporteurs
Assistant Members

Advisers

Mr. Abdul Wahhab Sarkar
Mr. Yutaka Nagashima
Mr. Alberto Rama Olario
Mr. Surasakdi Chungsanga
Mr. Pham Ba Khiem
Ms. Kuniko Hokin
Mr. Ken Umemura
Mr. Masahiro Tauchi
Mr. Ryosuke Kurosawa

I. PREFACE
Topic two is the discussion of “theCurrent Situation of Organised
Transnational Crime (except illicit drugtrafficking)” happening in the respective
participating countries. Transnational
crimes to be discussed and analysed
include 1) illicit firearms trafficking, 2)
smuggling of illegal migrants, 3) illicit
trafficking of women and children, 4) illicit
trafficking of stolen motor vehicles, 5)money laundering, 6) transnational
economic crimes. We also aim to look into
the current trends and manifestations ofsuch crimes, the types and names of groups
involved, and the size and extent of theirorganisations.
II. CURRENT SITUATION
A. Illicit Firearms Trafficking
Among the participating countries,
Japan and the Philippines manifested themost apparent problem. Japan is a
destination of illicit firearms, mostly
handguns, from several countries. In thelast five (5) years, from 1992 to 1996 a totalof 7,261 firearms were seized by theJapanese Police, 2,392 of which came fromthe U.S.A. (accounting for 32.9%), 1,352

230(Bangladesh)(Japan)(Philippines)(Thailand)(Vietnam)(Japan)(Japan)(Deputy Director, UNAFEI)(Professor, UNAFEI)from China (18.6%), 657 from thePhilippines (9.5%), while the rest camefrom several other countries.
A total of 1,702 authentic handguns wereseized in 1995, and over 90% of this number
were of foreign manufacture. This shows
the importance of stopping the smugglingat the country borders. Smuggling routes
have increased to include Russia, China,
South Africa and Peru in addition to theUnited States and the Philippines.
Smuggling is also being done by fishingboats entering small unopen ports. The
smuggling methods have become clever,and include use of foreign mail.
In 1997, from January to November 708
handguns were also confiscated by theJapanese police from Boryokudan
members (an organised crime group in
Japan) accounting for most of the firearms
illegally shipped to Japan. This seizure
however was a decrease of 28.3% fromprevious years confiscation from
Boryokudan groups, indicating that thegroups have managed to skillfully handle
their illicit firearms trafficking.
Firearms trafficking in the Philippines
on the other hand, is a two-way activity.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR

FIGURE 1
COUNTRIES OF PRODUCTION OF SEIZEDHANDGUNS IN JAPAN

Spain
213
(2.9%)

Others1,462(20.1%)
USA
2,392(32.9%)

Germany214(3.0%)

1992〜1996
7,261(100%)

Belgium259(3.9%)
Italy
342(4.7%)
Brazil370(5.1%)

Philippins
657(9.1%)

China
1,352(18.6%)TABLE 1SEIZED HANDGUNS FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS FROM PRODUCINGCOUNTRIES IN JAPAN
Year
USA
China
Philippines
BrazilItaly
Belgium
Germany
Spain
Others
Total

1992
407
233
86
73
66
41
38
33
313
1,290

1993
469
297
103
56
91
33
37
23
247
1,356

1994
489
311
140
71
82
54
46
67
253
1,513

1995
591
304
169
91
81
75
48
50
293
1,702

1996
436
207
159
79
22
56
45
40
356
1,400

Total
2,392
1,352
657
370
342
259
214
213
1,462
7,261

Ratio(%)
32.9
18.6
9.1
5.1
4.7
3.6
3.0
2.9
20.1
100.0

231

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54

FIGURE 2
HANDGUNS SEIZED BY THE JAPANESE POLICE
From Boryokudan

From Others

1993

1995

2,100
1,800

Total Number

1,500
1,200
900
600
300
0

1992

1994

1996

TABLE 2TABLE 3

COUNTRIES OF SHIPMENT OFSMUGGLED HANDGUNS IN JAPANSEIZED HANDGUNS FROMDIFFERENT GROUPS IN JAPANYear
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 Total
Total
27
60 64
9 14 174
USA
15
43
2
2
8
70
Thailand61
61
Philippines
19
6
16
Argentina
77South Africa
1
2
4
7
Russia2
1
3
Others
1
5
1
3
10

Year
1992 1993
1994 1995 1996
Total Number
1,450 1,672 1,747 1,880 1,549
From Boryokudan 1,072 1,196 1,242 1,396 1,035
Ratio(%)(73.9%) (71.5%) (71.1%) (74.3%) (66.8%)
From Others
378
476
505
484
514
Ratio(%)(26.1%) (28.5%) (28.9%) (25.7%) (33.2%)

Note: 174 handguns seized on the charge ofsmuggling during last five year.

Crime groups and even ordinary
individuals smuggle illegal firearms mostly
from the U.S.A. to the Philippines throughairports and seaports of the country. Thisis done by simply misdeclaring or nondeclaring, and mixing or hiding firearms
in cargo consigned to fictitious names andaddresses. They also dismantle the gunparts and hide them among metal items or
machinery legally shipped into the country.
Clandestine shipments of high powered232

firearms, intended for rebel groups fighting
the Philippines Government, is also done
through the long coastline of the country
from the north to the south. The otheractivity is the shipment of locally madefirearms in the Philippines intended forsome Asian countries particularly Japan,
Taiwan and Hong Kong. The illicit
trafficking is done aboard ocean-goingvessels plying the Philippines and thesecountries.
Illicit firearms trafficking in the otherparticipating countries of the Asia-Pacificregion is also apparent in Korea, whereorganised groups bring in firearms

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
intended for local crime syndicates. The
modus operandi of smugglers includes
disassembling of the parts of the firearms
and contraband and hiding them in othermaterials such as VCR’s, vacuum cleaners
and irons. Aluminium containers are used
to evade X-ray detection at the airports.
In India, the problem is manifested by
the on-going strife in the Kashmir Region,
where illicit firearms are coming in via theland borders between India and Pakistan,and from sea and air routes inside India.
The most recent and brazen illicit firearms
trafficking in India was the Purulia arms
drops case, where a Russian made Antonov
26 aircraft air-dropped 300 AK 47/56 rifles
and 20,545 rounds of ammunition, dragnov
sniper weapons, rocket launchers and nightvision devices in the Purulia Village in West
Bengal State. The aircraft was bought in
Latvia for US$2 million and chartered bya Hong Kong registered company named
CAROL Travel Company. The firearms
were picked-up in Bulgaria by a syndicatecomposed of one (1) British, five (5)Latvians and an India national. Similarcases also happened in the Punjab andNorth East States of India.
In Pakistan, the country is a destination
for illicit firearms coming from war-torn
Afghanistan. Bangladesh and Malaysia
likewise has problems of illicit firearms
smuggling facilitated by crime groups
engaged in drug-trafficking and gunrunning for local crime syndicates.
Thailand particularly is being used as atranshipment point for firearms intended
for Tribal Warlords in the Golden Triangle
area bordering Myanmar and Laos, forwarring factions in Cambodia.
The other countries of Nepal, Fiji, Tonga,
Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, Mongolia
and Vietnam have little or no reported
incidents of illicit firearms trafficking
involving transnational crimes.

However in Turkey and Saudi Arabia,
incidents of illegal firearms trafficking isvery much apparent due to its proximity
to strife torn areas of the Middle East.
Turkey particularly has problems of thisnature because of the on-going problems
with the PPK, an organised crime groupin Turkey, engaged in drug-trafficking.
They are also very active in illicit firearms
trafficking to protect their illegal drug
business. While in Saudi Arabia, firearms
arms entered the Kingdom through its
boundaries carried by illegal immigrants.
Most of the weapons are pistols, machine
guns, shot guns and TNT. Some of thesefirearms fell into the hands of terrorist andcriminal elements who uses them for bankrobberies.
In the Latin America Countries ofC o l o m b i a , Ve n e z u e l a , M e x i c o a n d
Nicaragua, firearm trafficking is also very
apparent mainly due to the high profile
drug production and drug trafficking inthese countries, particularly Colombia and
Mexico. Nicaragua was once a strife-torncountry due to its internal civil war andillicit firearms poured into the country. In
addition, Mexico and Colombia are facing
an internal insurgency problem. Mexico in
the Chiapas Region and Colombia by leftist
and rightist rebel groups. Only Venezuela
has manifested slight problems in firearms
trafficking due to its relatively stableeconomy and peace and order conditions.
B. Smuggling of Illegal Migrants
Among the participating countries of the
108 th seminar, serious cases of illicit
trafficking of migrants were reported bypresentors from the Asia-Pacific region likethe Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand,
Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan
towards developed countries or regions like
Japan, the U.S.A. and the Middle East. The
Latin America countries of Mexico,
Colombia, Nicaragua and Venezuela also
reported illegal migrant trafficking

233

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
towards developed countries and regions
like the U.S.A. and Europe.
Economic adventurism is the common
motive for these illegal migrants to ventureout of their native countries. They are theso-called “economic aliens” who seek better
lives away from their impoverishedhomelands. The other type of illegal
migrants are the so-called “political aliens.”
They flee from their native countries due
to persecution because of their different
political, religious, cultural views or
because of war. These unfortunate people
are easy prey of transnational crime groups
who provide the incentive to travel abroad
by facilitating their papers andtransportation. It has been reported thatthe price for moving an alien from Southern
China, particularly the Fujian Province toJapan is US$20,000 and to the U.S.A.,
US$33,000. To find these fees, illegal
migrants borrow money from relatives orfriends but more usually from thesmuggling syndicates at extraordinary
rates set by them. As a result, both theimmigrants and their family members may
become indentured workers or forced toturn to crime to repay debts.
In Japan, Boryokudan crime groups
facilitate the entry of illegal migrants incollaboration with Chinese crime groups
such as “Snakeheads.” The number ofarrested illegal immigrants and thenumber of incidents (cases) from 1995 to1997 in Japan is as follows. In 1997, 90%of the arrested were Chinese and most ofthem came from the Fujian Province ofMainland Chaina.
TABLE 4
NUMBER OF ARRESTED ILLEGALIMMIGRANTS
Arrested Illegal Immigrants
Cleared Cases

234

1995 1996 1997(Jan.-Sep.)
350 670
1,070
15 28
51

Cases of illegal migrants from thePhilippines, Malaysia, Thailand andVietnam were reported to have been lured
to Japan, Hong Kong, Europe and the
Middle East hoping to find high paying jobs
and better lives. In the transport of theseillegal migrants, transnational crimegroups collaborate with their counterpartsin the countries of destination and along
the routes to facilitate the transport ofthese illegal migrants. Some haplessvictims have been said to suffer enormous
difficulties and some have died in mishaps
while being transported by the syndicates.
One such incident happened in the Malta
Sicily Channel (Italy) when 200 people,
including 170 illegal migrants from India,
drowned while crossing the channel insmall boats. Many were also reported tohave died while being transported acrossmountains and the Swiss Alps just to reach
their destination in the Western European
countries.
In the Republic of Korea, illegal
immigration comes mainly from China. In
1994 through 1997, 2,667 Chinese entered
the Republic of Korea illegally through sea
routes. It is estimated that there are 40
groups engaged in facilitation of illegal
immigrants who pay 40,000 to 50,000
Chinese yuan per head to the syndicates.
Another modus operandi employed in the
Republic of Korea by the syndicates is toarrange marriage of Chinese illegal
entrants to Korean nationals to obtainresidential registration cards.
In the Latin America countries, Mexico
comes out as the most prominent, as
exemplified by the never ending influx ofillegal Mexican migrants to the U.S..
Colombia, Nicaragua and Venezuela also
this problem where citizens leave theircountry to look for more economic
opportunities in the U.S. and Europe.
The countries of Mongolia, Fiji, Papua

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINARNew Guinea and Madagascar havereported fewer cases of problems of illegal
migration, at least in the context oforganised migration facilitated byInternational Syndicates.

brides” schemes prevalent in European
countries and Australia, featuring 30-day
trial marriages. When the trial marriage
fails, these girls resort to prostitution to
make ends meet and survive.

In Saudi Arabia and Turkey however,these two countries are destination pointsof illegal migrants from neighbouring wartorn countries. In the case of Saudi Arabia,
illegal migrants from Iraq and some poorer
countries from Asia and Africa find havens
in the desert Kingdom. It is estimated that
there are about 100,000 illegal immigrants
staying in the country from Yemen,
Ethiopia, Erithria and Somalia. Turkey
likewise has a great number of illegal
migrants or refugees from Northern Iraq
and some neighbouring countries.

In the other participating countries like
Mongolia, Fiji, Madagascar, Saudi Arabia
and Turkey, the participating presenters
reported no significant incidences.

C. Illicit Trafficking of Women andChildrenIn the Asia-Pacific region, illicit
trafficking of women and children aremostly apparent in developing countries
like Bangladesh, Nepal, Philippines,
Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Women
victims in these countries fall prey to crimegroups offering them high paying jobs inother countries like India, Japan, Hong
Kong or some Middle East Countries andeven Europe. However, some of the women
who come under the control of the
syndicates are sold to other crime groups
and forced into prostitution. Some victims
are somewhat fortunate enough to be soldonly as maidservants in such countries as
the Middle East and Europe. In
Bangladesh, fifty-five women wereconfirmed to have been victimised during
the period from January to September
1997.
In the Philippines, syndicates recruit
would be victims as cultural dancers ordomestic helpers but end up as prostitutes
once they reach their country ofdestination. Others fall prey to “mail order

However, in the Latin America countries
of Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua and
Venezuela, incidents of illicit trafficking of
women were very apparent, mostly forprostitution activities. Colombian womenare favorite objects of organised crimegroups and many arrests were registeredin such countries as Japan, Hong Kong and
the Philippines.
Trafficking of children cases were also
reported in Bangladesh where seventy (70)children were victimised during the periodof January to September 1997. In
Bangladesh and Pakistan, children who
were illegally shipped to some Middle
Eastern countries, were reported to be
utilised as camel boys.
In the Philippines and Thailand, young
boys are the object of European andAustralian Paedophiles who visit who visit
these countries looking for childprostitutes. International syndicates
advertise these countries in the“Spartacus” magazine as locations forcheap, perverted sex.
D. Illicit Trafficking of Stolen Motor
VehiclesThis crime activity is prevalent is suchcountries as Japan and U.S.A. where
vehicles are stolen and shipped to countries
like China, Philippines, Russia, Thailand
and Vietnam. Hong Kong has incidents ofvehicles being stolen and shipped to China
aboard fast crafts called “Dai Fei”. Russian235

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Mafia Groups facilitate this illegal tradein Japan and Europe for shipment to
Russia and former Soviet Union countries,
while the Chinese Triads facilitate thisbusiness in Hong Kong and Japan forshipment to China. Japanese crime groups
collaborate with Russian Mafia in these
activities. In the Philippines, stolen
vehicles from Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan
and the U.S. found their way into thecountry through ocean-going vessels andwere smuggled to Philippines seaports ordropped at the high seas to be picked-up
later by smaller boats.
In Pakistan, cases of stolen vehicles
occur in the cities and urban areas, to bebrought to tribal areas by local tribal crimegroups demanding redemption of thevehicles in exchange for cash. Unredeemedvehicles are transported across the
Pakistan borders to be sold to otherneighbouring countries.
Stolen motorcycles from Japan aremostly shipped to China, Hong Kong, theMiddle East, the Philippines, Russia,
Thailand, and Vietnam.
E. Money Laundering
Among the participating countries,
money laundering is most apparent in thedeveloped countries where transnational
crime groups are actively operating. Hong
Kong rates high in this category due to thehigh profile activity of the Hong Kong
Groups. Mexico, Colombia, Pakistan,
Turkey, Thailand, the Philippines andIndia come close due also to organised
crime group activities engaged in highly
lucrative illicit businesses such as drugtrafficking, illegal gambling, trafficking of
firearms, stolen vehicles and othereconomic crimes like credit card fraud,bank frauds and money counterfeiting.
Other participating countries, where
economic stability and progress is still236

wanting, like Vietnam, Nepal, Bangladesh,
Mongolia, Fiji, Tonga, Papua New Guinea
and Madagascar, have little or no
significant reports of money launderingcases. Nicaragua and Venezuela havereported some incidents mainly comingfrom organised crime groups engaged in
drug trafficking in these countries.
Of the countries mentioned, only Japan,
Colombia, Hong Kong, Madagascar, Mexicoand Pakistan have anti-money launderinglaws, while the others are still drafting ordeliberating on their respective laws
governing money laundering.
In Pakistan, money laundering comes in
the form of placement, where physicaldisposal of each illegal proceed is made.
Layering is another form where separationof illicit proceeds from their source iscreated by complex layers of financialtransaction designed to disguise the audit
trail and provide anonymity. Integration on
the other hand is the provision of apparent
legitimacy to criminally derived wealth.
There is also the so-called “Hawala” scheme
in India and Pakistan where money isgiven to a person in one country, andintended for a beneficially in anothercountry. His associates in the other country
disburses the money to the recipient, ofcourse with a fee or percentage.
In many countries, laundered money
finds its way to business investments like
hotels, night-clubs, travel agencies,
construction businesses and other big
business activities.
F. Transnational Economic Crimes
Again, these types of crimes areprevalent in the more developed countries
like Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mexico, theRepublic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, andTurkey. It is also prevalent in developing
countries like the Philippines, Thailand,
Malaysia and Colombia, where

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
transnational crimes groups operate.
Among this type of crimes, credit cardfraud is mentioned as the most popularcrime among participating countries. In thePhilippines, an international syndicate wasrecently busted engaging in credit cardfraud. Their modus operandi involved such
schemes as skimming methods, courierintercept methods, cardholder andsyndicates and the merchant-syndicate
method. In Japan, foreign organised crimegroups are engaging in credit card fraudand counterfeiting pre-paid cards forpachinko, telephones and cheques.
Incidents of credit card fraud have become
prevalent and surfacing even in suchcountries as Tonga and Vietnam.
In Japan, transnational economic crime
is not only perpetrated by the Boryokodan
but also by another Japanese organised
crime group known as “Sokaiya”. The latter
operates in the stock market businesswhere, after obtaining rights as
stockholders, they demand undue gains
from enterprises by throwing the general
meeting of stockholders into confusion.
However, the activities of Sokaiya ispresently domestic nature, but it is possible
in the future it will become transnational.
In Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines
and Turkey, currency counterfeiting is alsoprevalent with many arrests registered. It
is however, observed that present trends
indicate a downward activity of currency
counterfeiting, while activities in othereconomic crimes such as credit card fraud,bank frauds and other sophisticatedcomputer-technology frauds are on the
upswing.
G. Other Crimes
Peculiar crimes being perpertrated bytransnational crime groups as reported by
the participating countries include thefollowing:(1) Maritime fraud or phantom ship fraud.
The Philippines and Thailand haveexperienced these types of fraud whereships loaded with goods mysteriously
disappear in transit, and consignees
turn out to be ficitious.
(2) Illegal Transport of internal organs.
International syndicates kidnappedchildren and used their internal organs
for sale in big hospitals in Europe andthe U.S.A.
(3) Smuggling of rare and endangered
animals. India, Vietnam, Madagascar
and Thailand have cases reported onthese activities. Tigers in India andThailand are being killed for theirbones and hides, and smuggled toChina and Hong Kong. Elephant tusks
in India are likewise the object ofinternational smugglers. In Vietnam,
smuggling of animals includes raresnakes, pangolins, monitions, wild
ducks and turtles.
(4) Smuggling of cultural assets, religious
artefacts, antiques, precious metals.
international syndicates induce thetheft of valuable cultural assets of suchc o u n t r i e s a s I n d i a , Vi e t n a m ,Philippines and Thailand. In thePhilippines, religious artefacts fromchurches, mummies from tribal grave
yards, antiques from museums andprivate homes are being stolen and soldto foreign buyers for resale to big
museums in the U.S. and Europe.
Thailand also has cases of Buddha
images being stolen and sold to foreign
smugglers.
III. ORGANISATION OF MAJOR
TRANSNATIONAL CRIME GROUPS
A. Japan
Boryokudan is estimated to have 80,100
members including associates, with 44,700

237

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
official members. There are three (3) majorgroups, Yamaguchi-Gumi, Inagawa-kai
and Sumiyoshi-kai. Each group has adistict territory or “Nawabari” andpractices the “Jonokin” or tribute system.
Members are governed by the quasi-blood
relationship or “Oyabun” and “Kobun” andentry into the organisation is made after
an initiation ceremony or “Sakazukigoto”.
The group is characterised by highcriminality and violence, often engaging in“Turf-War” to settle disputes.
Its traditional sources of income are
the following:(1) location fee (protection money)(2) drug trafficking(3) gambling(4) bookmaking
A new source of income is derived fromintervention in civil affairs, corporate
racketeering and “Sokaiya”. They recently
have ventured into legitimate business byinvesting their illict proceeds into
legitimate businesses.
B. Hong Kong
The Chinese Triad, 14K, Bamboo Gang,
SUN YEE ON, WO GROUPS engages indrug trafficking, firearms smuggling,
smuggling of illegal migrants, stolen
vehicles, and economic crimes. They
operate in mainland China, Hong Kong
Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, Thailand andMalaysia.
C. India(1) DAWOOD Gang: operates in theBombay area. Has a membership of
4,000 to 5,000. Engages in extortion,
contract killing, film financing, drugtrafficking, smuggling in computer
parts and firearms.
(2) Arun Gawli Gang: Has 200 to 300 gangmembers engaged in protection money
and contract killings. Leader is an active
politician in Maharashta province.
(3) Aman Nail Gang: Operates in the Dadar
area of Bombay. Has a strength of 200

238

criminal gang members.
(4) Chota Rajan Gang: Operates in the
Maharashta, Karnataka, Uttar pradesh
and Delhi area. Has a membership ofabout 800.
D. Philippines
Indentified transnational crime grouppersonalities:(1) Alfred Tionko : Fil-Chinese, drug
traficking(2) Lawrence Wang : Fil-Chinese, drug
traficking(3) Relly Barbon Gang : Kidnap for
ransom, robbery(4) Solido Group : Bank robbery, drug
traficking(5) Paracale gangs : Bank robbery, drug
traficking(6) Andres Manambit Group : Kidnap for
ransom, drug traficking(7) Chen Ting Lun : Chinese Triad, drug
traficking(8) Chen Chi Chuing : Chinese Triad, drug
traficking(9) Wei Kuen Keung : Chinese Triad, drug
traficking(10) Wong Kuen Alan Tong : Chinese Triad,
drug traficking(11) Choo Yeh Leong : Chinese Triad, drug
traficking(12) Yan Po Weng : Chinese Triad, drug
traficking
E. Colombia(1) Madellin Cartel: Drugs, firearms
trafficking(2) Cali Cartel: Drugs, firearms trafficking
F. Mexico(1) Arrellano Brothers: Drug trafficking(2) Rapael Caro Quintero: Drug trafficking(3) Juares Cartel: Drug trafficking(4) Amado Carillo “lord of the sky” : Drugtrafficking
G. Former Soviet Union(Russia)(1) Russian Mafia: Drugs, illegal migrants,

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
prostitution, firearms trafficking, stolen
vehicles trafficking, economic crimes(2) MVD; 8,000 criminal groups in Russia
with approximately 100,000 members,
operate in over 50 countries.
H. Thailand(1) Kun-Sa or Jang See Fu Syndicate:Engaged in drug trafficking and war
arms smuggling.
I. Turkey(1) Hursit HAN crime group.
IV. ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION
Organised crime is first of all a domestic
problem and when unchecked, it assumes
a transnational character. Encouraged byapparent success in domestic crime, they
graduate into large scale and transnational
scenarios by collaborating with counterpart
crime groups in other countries. Profit
motive is the biggest inducement fortransnational crime groups. Activities
entered into like drug trafficking, illegal
migrant smuggling, women trafficking(prostitution), firearms smuggling andeconomic crimes, brings in enormous, easy
monetary incomes. Their accumulation of
wealth translates into more power andclout as the transnational crime syndicates
can now engage in corruption of public
officials, invest in profitable businesses
whether legal or illegal. The dimensionsof the accumulation of wealth, power,
influence and capabilities of organised
transnational groups have in recent years
transcended beyond imaginable means.
Ironically, victim countries have abetted
the growth and expansion of thesetransnational organised crimes groups
through their continued poor economic
conditions and status. Vivid examples ofthese are the illegal trafficking of migrants,
and the trafficking of women and children
who, in their desire to escape the poverty
in their native homelands, have become

willing or unwilling victims of these crimegroups. On the other hand, richer or moredeveloped countries, are targeted for the
ready market and opportunities that exist
for illegal drugs, illegal fire arms, stealingof motor vehicles, the entry of illegal
migrants, prostitution, gambling andfavourable atmosphere for the commissionof transnational economic crimes.
Most ironic of all is the sad reality that
despite the advance of the current trend oftransnational organised crime, government
policies of most of the countries of Europe
may have encouraged and created afavourable climate of growth for thesegroups. As Dr. Savona, emminentcriminologist and professor from Trento
University in Italy has observed,“theCurrent trend of globalisation of themarket (i.e., European common market)
seems to have induced the criminalorganisation to develop also globally intheir operations and have in fact
concentrated in two different directions,specialisation and diversification.” 1 In theEuropean context, Dr. Savona mentionedthat the Russian Mafia have successfully
adopted these globalisation strategies,
ironically aided and enhanced by the openmarket policies of the European common
market nations.
In the Asia Pacific context, Mr. Lau,
Director of Crime and Security of the Hong
Kong Police, has likewise observed therapid globalisation of crimes perpetrated
by transnational organised crime groups
operating in the Asia and Pacific region,l i k e t h e C h i n e s e Tr i a d , J a p a n e s e
Boryokudan and other groups. He
contends that to effectively fight thetransnational crime group in the next
millennium, new strategies, new concepts,
adoption of multi-agency approaches andmore international efforts in co-operationand co-ordination must be made to insure
1

108th Crime Prevention Seminar presentation,
UNAFEI, Tokyo Japan

239

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
victory against crime. Incidents ofinternational crime group members
escaping arrest and prosecution with haveto be resolved by effective and stronger coordination and co-operation among
nations.
Since the dimensions of the problem
have become globalised, governments of thedifferent nations of the world should now
realise that the threat of thesetransnational organised crimes is very
apparent and increasingly becoming
bolder, and that countermeasures to thethreat must be immediately put in place.
As Mr. Dimitri Vlassis, Crime Prevention
and Crime Justice Officer at UN Office at
Vienna, mentioned in his lecture at
UNAFEI, the international community
cannot afford to allow the situation todeteriorate further. It must take measures
now and proceed to practical action basedon agreement and founded on its collective
political will.
As a conclusion, the following issues
should be given special emphasis:(1) Governments of affected countries must
effectively identify the problems posedby transnational organised crimegroups, by looking into theirorganisation, scope and extent of theiroperations.
(2) Government policies, laws and practices
must be looked into to develop up to dateand effective countermeasures against
the operation of transnational organised
crimes.
(3) Inherent weaknesses in the economic
and political conditions of affected
countries should be addressed, so as not
to become a continuing prey to thesecrimes groups.
(4) Stronger and efficient international,
regional and bilateral co-ordination andco-operation among nations must be
enhanced to thwart and negate theactivities of transnational organised
crimes.
(5) Political will among the community of240

nations to implement thecountermeasures against transnationalorganised crimes must be affirmed andpursued.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
APPENDIX A
Li Yung Chung Case
A deputy chief justice of a regional court,
faces investigation for suspected
involvement in the release on bail of drug
suspect Li Yun Chung, accused ofarranging the biggest shipment of heroin
ever seized in the United States.
In November 1994 the US government
requested extradition of 20 criminal
suspects living along the border of Burma,
China and Thailand who were underindictment in a federal court in New Yorkfor heroin trafficking, In combating
Southeast Asian organized crime groups
and heroin trafficking syndicates, the Tiger
Trap Operation was set up with cooperationfrom the Office of Narcotics Control Board,
Burma and US government to extradite
those criminal suspects to the UnitedStates.

smuggling 486 kilograms of heroin-thelargest heroin seizure in US history - into
Oakland, California was first arrested in
Thailand. He was freed on bail sevenmonths late and fled to Burma. In May,
three months after Li fled, Burmese
authorites handed him back Thailand. On
June 5, he was sent to the US to stand trial.
Li, part of Khun Sa’s heroin trafficking
networks, spent large amount of money tobribe high ranking officials. He jumped bailin Thailand and made a beeline forneighboring Burma. However, with good
co-operation among Thai, Burma and theUS, finally Li was arrested and sent into
custody. Extradition is an important tool
to allow prosecutors in any country to try
all the people involved in trafficking
syndicates, not just the smaller people who
may just carry the drugs or sell the drugs
on the street.

In February 1997 Li Yun Chung, who iswanted by the United States on charges of241

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
APPENDIX TWO

cooperation to use fake cards in japan

242

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINARTOPIC3LEGAL FRAMEWORK AGAINST TRANSNATIONALORGANIZED CRIME BY CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS IN
DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
Chairperson
Co-Chairperson
Rapporteur
Co-Rapporteur
Advisers

Mr. Udaya Nepali Shrestha
Mr. Semisi Fonua Fifita
Mr.Cheung, Yim-fui
Mr. Yasutaka Harada
Professor Yuzuru Takahashi
Professor Kayo Konagai

I. INTRODUCTION
Under the theme of the 108th
International Seminar “Current Problems
in the Combat of Organized Transnational
Crime”, our group was assigned to explore
the legal framework against organizedtransnational crime in different countries’
criminal justice systems. The scope of our
exploration was identified and finalizedwith the following issues being focused on:(1) s p e c i f i c c r i m i n a l p r o v i s i o n s(substantive and procedural) for
efficient countermeasures against
crimes committed by organizedtransnational crime groups;(2) provisions for the confiscation of illicit
proceeds derived from the specificorganized transnational crimes;(3) provisions specifically directed atorganized crime groups;(4) provisions for pro-active and/or nontraditional strategies, such as,
undercover operations, wiretapping,immunity, controlled delivery etc., ininvestigating organized transnational
crimes;(5) provisions for witness protection
programmes;(6) special provisions with regard tosentencing policy; and(7) e x p l o r a t i o n o f p r o v i s i o n s f o r(Nepal)(Tonga)(Hong Kong)(Japan)(UNAFEI)(UNAFEI)

international co-operation in criminal
matters, such as extradition andmutual legal assistance.
In our examination, a total of 22
countries’ criminal justice systems werestudied, namely: Bangladesh, Colombia,
Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Madagascar,
Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Nepal,
Nicaragua, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea,
Philippines, Korea, Saudi Arabia,
Thailand, Tonga, Turkey, Venezuela, and,
Viet Nam. Our study was conducted byways of referring to the individual
presentation reports of participants
attending this Seminar, holding ofinterviews with participants, of general
discussion in forum, and, examining ofconcerned law books.
II. CURRENT PROVISIONS IN
COMBATING ORGANIZEDTRANSNATIONAL CRIMES IN THE
RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES
A. Efficient Countermeasures
Defining the term “efficientcountermeasures” in legal justice systems
is difficult , the group is nevertheless of theopinion that it should be a formalized
system or arrangement facilitated either
by provisions or executive action

243

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54(procedural) which is to speedily and timely
deal with the suspect in the course ofinvestigation and/or offender upon his/herarrest.Performance indicators are
therefore placed upon: simplified
procedures in investigating and detecting
offences; timely process of request forassistance; and speedy trial.
Upon examining the legal justicesystems of these 22 countries, it was
revealed that only the Philippines has the
set-up of ‘Special Dangerous Drug Court’to speed up the criminal proceedings for
drugs trafficking cases. In this court, trials
can be concluded within two months,
following the arrest of the offender. In Hong
Kong, authorization in conducting raid at
premises for firearms is delegated to police
officers of the rank of superintendent(under the Firearms and Ammunition
Ordinance) to speed processes. In addition,
under the Police Force Ordinance of Laws
of Hong Kong, banking institutes uponreceipt of the request from the police haveto supply information whether the subject
has any accounts drawn on the bank andall account records, if any, within 28 days.
It is noted that some countries, such as
India and Malaysia, will make use of theinternal security provisions to speed up
proceedings against criminal, however thegroup is of opinion that these kinds ofcountermeasures should not be
encouraged.
B. Confiscation of Illicit Proceeds
Provisions for confiscation of illicit
proceeds, although confined to illicit
trafficking in drugs, are in force in morethan half of the 22 countries assessed;
namely Bangladesh, Colombia, Hong Kong,
India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia,
Madagascar, Mexico, Nepal, Nicaragua,
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Amongst them, Bangladesh, Colombia,
Hong Kong, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia and Turkey further have244

provisions for confiscation of illicit proceeds
derived other than from drug trafficking.
Of note, some countries have already had
provisions in the final draft to regulate theconfiscation of illicit proceeds derived fromdrug trafficking and/or organized crimes,
although they are yet to be enacted, suchas the Anti-Organized Crime Law of Japan,
the Proceeds of Crime and Money
Laundering (Prevention) Act of India, andthe Money Laundering Control Act ofThailand.
C. Criminalization of Organized
Crime Groups
Provisions for criminalizing members oforganized crime groups can be divided into
two categories: the first being provisions
criminalizing the MEMBERSHIP of anorganized crime group which making it anoffence of being a member; the second
category is described as provisions
criminalizing SPECIFIC OFFENCES
COMMITTED BY MEMBERS of anorganized crime groups. By this criteria,
the “Society Ordinance” of Hong Kong andthe “Act for the Punishment of Violent
Crimes” of Korea are under the firstcategory; while the “Anti-Boryodukan Law”
of Japan, and, the “Uttar Pradesh
Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities(Prevention) Act” which is only applicablein the State of Uttar Pradesh of India
should be within the second’s.
D. Provisions for Pro-Active
Strategies in Investigating
Organized Crimes
For easy reference, pro-active strategies
in investigating organized crimes are
confined to those assessed to be the mostreliable and effective evidence-gathering
techniques, such as undercover operations,
wiretapping, immunity, and controlled
delivery.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
1. Undercover Operations
Under the laws of Colombia, Malaysia,
Mexico, Pakistan (for drugs offences only),
Madagascar, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, andViet Nam, in the course of investigation anddetection of criminal activities, themounting of undercover operations by the
deployment of operatives is legallypermitted and governed. Evidence so
adduced is admissible in court. While in
Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Japan,
Philippines and Turkey, undercover
operations are common practice and legal
in the sense that there is no laws to rule itillegal. Undercover operations are basicallyillegal in the countries of India, Korea,
Nepal, Nicaragua, Thailand, Tonga, andFiji.
2. Wiretapping
The definition of wiretapping in ourstudy is defined to the interception and/or
the tapping of conversations over the
telephone without the knowledge of boththe calling and receiving parties.
Provisions permitting the wiretapping in
the course of investigation exist in
Colombia, India (mainly for information/
intelligence gathering and evidence so
obtained is not admissible in court),
Madagascar, Malaysia (applicable only todrug trafficking and kidnapping offences),
Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Turkey(subject to the prior approval of the court),
Venezuela, and Viet Nam.
3. Immunity
In view of the difficulties encounteredin prosecuting the master-minds ofcriminal syndicates (principal offenders),
especially for victimless crimes, due to thesecret operation of most of the organizedcrime groups, the granting of immunity tomembers of the criminal syndicate oroperatives in undercover operations, so as
to obtain their testimonial evidence incourt, is assessed as one of the mosteffective and reliable tactics. Immunity, interm of its types, can be divided into two
categories in accordance with the approachof U. S. A.. The first type which is granted
through legislation is called “formal”
immunity, while the second type is granted
by way of negotiation carried out between
the defense counsel and prosecutor withthe acknowledgment of the presiding judge.
In respect of “formal” immunity, it can befurther divided as “use” and “transaction”
immunity.
(i) Use Immunity: briefly protects awitness from prosecution in respect of
their testimonial evidence in court fromincriminating themself for a particularoffence.
(ii) Transaction Immunity: is a blanket
protection to a witness fromprosecution regarding their testimonial
evidence in court for a particular crime,or a series of crimes (transaction), in
which s/he is incriminated.
“Informal” immunity is basically anagreement as a result of the bargain and/or negotiation between the defense counsel
and prosecutor, with the cognisance of thepresiding judge. By this agreement thewitness is protected from prosecution.
Our study of these 22 countries’ legal
justice systems revealed that provisions toregulate immunity exist in Colombia, Hong
Kong, India, Mexico, Pakistan, thePhilippines, the Republic of Korea, Saudi
Arabia, Venezuela and Viet Nam, although
the circumstances under which it isgranted may be defferent.
4. Controlled Delivery“Controlled Delivery” is an effective toolin combating illicit drugs trafficking andis defined in the 1988 United Nations
Conference for the Adoption of theConvention Against Illicit Trafficking inNarcotic Drugs and Psychotropic

245

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Substances, as “the technique of allowing
illicit or suspicious consignments, or
substances substituted for them, to passout of, through or into the territory of one
or more countries, with the knowledge andunder the supervision of their competentauthorities, with a view to identifying
persons involved in the commission of theoffence”.
Out of the 22 countries, adopting thetactics of controlled delivery in tackling
illicit drugs trafficking, handling stolen
goods, etc. is legalized in Hong Kong, India,
Japan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Pakistan,Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Turkey andVietnam. Nevertheless difficulties has been
experienced in some countries affecting the
success of these operations, due to theinadequate cooperation and coordination of
involved countries, especially destination
countries.
E. Witness Protection Programmes
The importance of witness protection isparticularly pertinent in the success of
combating organized crimes, not only
because of preventing threat and/or
violence to the witnesses but also as aguarantee in gaining the confidence of
witnesses in support in of organized crime
prevention and detection.
Most of the countries studied realize theessential need of protecting witnesses.
Their witness protection programmes canbasically be categorized in to three types:(1) Countries with witness protection
programmes regulated by legislation
are: Colombia, Mexico, Philippines,
Saudi Arabia and Turkey (applicable toterrorist matters only). While in Hong
Kong (Witness Protection Ordinance)and Nepal (Witness Protection Act) arein the draft stages.
(2) Countries with the witness protection
programme formalized by way of
executive action are: Bangladesh, Hong

246

Kong, Korea and Nepal.
(3) This group consists of those remaining
countries in which the witness
protection issue is not formalized nor
legislated, but may be provided in caseof need.
Of note is that despite witness protection
programmes in force in law or otherwise
in some countries, the extent andstandards varied. Some countries only
confine their protection to the trial period,
although some countries provide a fullrange of protection including physicalprotection, relocation of residence, financial
support, change of identity, and theextending of the scheme to cover thewitness family and relatives. However it
is unfortunate to note that some arehampered by the lack of financial andhuman resources to afford a comprehensive
witness protection programme.
F. Special Criminal Punishment/
Sentencing Policy
Sentencing policy is basically a decision
making process for the authority todetermine the treatment of a convicted
offender. It nevertheless implies themessage of deterrence, punishment andrehabilitation, in accordance with thepriority allocated and nature of the offence.
Of course, the background of the offendershould be taken into consideration as well.
Under this scope, a lot of factors such as
the characteristics of the country, social,political economic, development stage,
phenomenon of the country, may bebrought up. For the sake of our study, focus
is placed upon the issue of sentencing policy
with regard to organized crime offenders.
Amongst the countries studied, Hong Kong
(Society Ordinance, and, Organized andSerious Crime Ordinance), Japan (AntiBoryokudan Law) and Korea (Act for the
Punishment of Violent Crimes) havespecial provisions to criminalize themembers of an organized group by

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
enhancing the sentence for the offence
committed, although in Japan being amember of Boryokudan itself is not an
offence under the Anti-Boryokudan Law.
Whereas Bangladesh, India, Malaysia,
Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia
and Turkey, has capital punishment inforce for drug trafficking offences.
G. Provisions for International
Cooperation
There is no dispute that international
cooperation becomes a “must” if organizedtransnational crime is to be combatedeffectively and efficiently. The effectivemeans are the surrender of fugitives andmutual assistance in criminal investigationby the facilitation of national provisions
and/or bilateral/multilateral agreements;
although difficulty is experienced byrequesting countries due to lack of bilateralagreements with the requested countries,or, in view of the principle of speciality andof dual criminality.
Upon studying the 22 countries, thosewith national provisions to facilitate theinternational cooperation are Bangladesh,
Colombia, Japan, Madagascar, Mexico,
Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines,
the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia,
Thailand, Turkey and Venezuela, while
Hong Kong is in the stage of drafting the
fugitive offenders bill.
III. QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWEREDAmongst the above seven issues,
adoption of pro-active strategies such as
undercover operations, wiretapping,immunities, and controlled delivery ininvestigating organized crimes attracted
active discussions in the forum; not onlyin the scope of human rights, individual
freedom, personal privacy but also bringing
up the dilemmas being encountered by law
enforcement agents, the issue ofentrapment, and the issue of police ethics.

Despite in some countries undercover
operations and/or wiretapping are yet tobe legally permitted (of course in this sense
it should not be assumed as illegal), law
enforcement agencies adopt them as acommon practice for information/
intelligence gathering. This sort of practiceapparently brings out a question of
temptation and entrapment, should thelaw enforcement agent lack supervisionand coaching. Meanwhile the belief thatthe law enforcement agency, as part of thesocial justice system, should reflect justiceby maintaining the law and order withhonesty and integrity, these practices are
no doubt putting the law enforcement
agent(s) in a dilemma. It is easy to imagine
the next question of credibility of theofficers concerned in their testimonial
evidence under which the informational
evidence is gathered. Should the officer
intentionally deny or conceal the truth, orshould s/he be holding to the ethic ofhonesty and tell the whole truth?
Immunity was another hot issue during
the discussion session. By adopting theapproach of the U.S.A., immunity (asdescribed earlier), both formal or informal,
basically puts a suspect under exemption
from prosecution. This tool seems to be oneof the most effective countermeasures inbringing the heads of organized criminal
syndicates before justice. The question of
abuse (such as what can be done if thewitness whom the immunity has been
granted turns hostile in court) should
however become another concern of thelegislators.
In the course of the forum, the meaningof immunity also attracted active
discussion although it was eventuallyclarified that by adopting the U.S.A.’s
approach and other countries’ approaches,
the application and circumstances underwhich it is granted might be different. In
Hong Kong, the immunity (called Public247

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Interest Immunity) can be granted either
before the commission of the offence, orafter the commission of the offence. The
former applies to police officers (operative)
and/or witnesses (Informer) who have beentasked to take part in the undercover
operation, while the latter can be granted
to a suspect so as to testify against a
principal offender.
Unless undercover operations,
wiretapping, and immunity are formalized
and founded with clear and specificlegislation, the question of dilemmas andabuse remain to be answered.
The tactics of controlled delivery also
causes concern upon the issue of lack ofeffective and efficient cooperation andcoordination. In this aspect, the setting up
of a joint action task force which not only
involves law enforcement agencies ofaffected countries, but also includes legal
counsel of concerned countries, appears to
be a possible solution.
IV. CONCLUSION
Coming across the aforementioned
scenario of organized crime, it is realizedthat perhaps there is no country in theworld left free from organized crime one
way or other. The problem of crime has
been faced by all countries irrespective of
economic and technological development or
nation size. However, the crimes haveflourished all over the world wherever
there is a favorable atmosphere in respectof economic benefit and legal lacunas.
On the basis of general discussion of thisgroup, it may be commented that there isno specific law in each country dealing withall transnational organized crime, that has
substantive and procedural legal provisions
for the efficient countermeasures against
such crimes. In view of the rapid
development of globalization, the248

realization of provisions for confiscation ofillicit proceeds derived from specificorganized crimes becomes urgent.
Provisions providing undercover
operations, wiretapping, immunity,
controlled delivery and so on have been
discussed in length. Most of the countries
have these sort of practices in theircountries, necessary to overcome criminal
activities, but very few countries haveaccording legal provisions (without which
the law enforcement agencies are
handicapped to combat the targeted crimeand criminals). It is almost a consensus
that such laws should be materialized andformalized so as to enable crime combatting
agencies, but with full respect forrecognized human rights, individual
freedoms and personal privacy.
Protection of witnesses is needed forcases to be actioned effectively. By such,
witnesses as can not only be protected fromthe danger of threat and violence, but canalso be confident in their support oforganized crime prevention and detection.
Many countries are found to havedomestic laws providing extradition andmutual legal assistance in criminal
matters. Some of the countries, although
there is no such laws, have entered into
mutual assistance agreement with many
countries, especially neighbouring
countries, for the arrangement oftransborder as well as international
crimes. Beside this, countries studied havelinks with interpol, by which capability in
combatting organized transnational crimes
are further enhanced. Moreover, United
Nation’s instruments relating to drugs andother transnational organized crimes arein effect in almost all participating
countries, such as Vienna Convention
Against Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs
and Psychotropic Substances, 1988. The
Seminar was in consensus to make an

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
effort to adhere to such internationalarrangements and cooperation, either inbilateral or multilateral ways.
In sum, it is noted that the law
enforcement authorities would require
legal room to accommodate effective
methods against organised crime, either
through national or international means.
Being transnational in nature, proper
information, law and law enforcement
agencies, as well as proper adjudication are
a l w a y s d e e m e d n e c e s s a r y. To d a y,commitment has been shown by the worldin such matters in many forums. However,proper arrangements for uniform andefficient countermeasures are still needed
to be realized and explored as early as
possible before new crimes come.

249

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54

TOPIC 4CURRENT SITUATION OF DETECTION
AND INVESTIGATION
Chairperson
Co- Chairperson
Rapporteur
Co- rapporteur
Advisers

Mr. Armogam Gounder
Mr. Muammer Yasar Özgül
Mr. Purushottam Sharma
Mr. Claude Ranjatoson
Mr. Terutoshi Yamashita
Mr. Syoji Imafuku

I. INTRODUCTION
A. Introduction of Discussion Issues
The task given was to discuss the current
situation of detection and investigation
among the participating countries of the108th International Seminar, specificallythe discussion guidelines enumerated thefollowing points:(1) Structure and characteristic ofinvestigative organization, its
sufficiency in terms of personnel forinvestigation and devices (equipment).
(2) Ability and expertise of investigators.
(3) Collection of information for detectionof transnational crimes.
(4) D i f f i c u l t y i n i d e n t i f i c a t i o n o ftransnational crime groups and ingathering information on them.
(5) Success of detection and reasons for
failure in detection.
(6) A r e t h e k i n g - p i n s s u c c e s s f u l l yarrested?
(7) Difficulties in gathering evidence.
(8) Difficulties in international cooperation.
(9) Use of international systems andorganizations.
B. Definition/Characteristics ofOrganized Crime
If you notice the definition and/or
characteristics of organized crime, you may
realize that such characteristics may causesignificant and specific problems in
250(Fiji)(Turkey)(India)(Madagascar)(Japan)(Japan)investigation and detection of organizedcrimes compared to others. Thus, thisreport touches upon these points.
The definition of “organized crime” maydiffer from country to country, or
jurisdiction to jurisdiction, so it is betterfor us to try it and mention thecharacteristics of organized crime ororganized crime groups here. The
traditional definition and concept oforganized crime is somewhat restrictive in
its exclusion of general conspiracies toextort monies, services and associations ofoutfit, as well as by non-outfit
organizations and groups. Organized crimein effect, consists of the participation of
persons and groups of persons (organizedeither formally or informally) intransactions characterized by:(1) An intent to commit, or the actual
commission of substantive crime;(2) A conspiracy to execute these crimes,(3) A persistence of this conspiracy throughtime or the intent that this conspiracy
should persist through time;(4) The acquisition of substantial power
and money, and seeking of high degreeof political or economic security, as
primary motivation; and(5) An operational framework thatsometimes seeks the preservation of
institutions of politics, government andsociety in their present form.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
It should be noted that any definition oforganized crime or organized crime groups
does not refer to a particular offence orcrime. Even though some organized crimegroups may tend to commit specific typesof crime, most of them usually commits
many types of crime in order to haveeconomic gain and maintain its
organization. As already reported in Topics
1 and 2, even if limited to organized crimes
in transnational nature, various types ofcrime (such as drug trafficking, firearms
trafficking, smuggling of illegal migrants,
illicit trafficking in women and children,
illicit trafficking in stolen motor vehicles,
money laundering, etc.) are touched upon.
C. Investigative Agencies
In many countries, the police or/and
other law enforcement agencies (like thenarcotic control agency, immigration
agency, etc.) investigate crimes includingorganized crime in general. On the other
hand, it should be noted that in somecountries like Japan, Korea and Turkey,
public prosecutors investigate crimes in
addition to the police. Although Japaneseprosecutors initiate and complete
investigation about white-collar crime (e.g.,
corruption, tax evasion, etc.), they do notinitiate investigation about organizedcrime, which is primarily investigated by
the police. Japanese prosecutors conduct
supplemental investigation after thereferral of such cases by the police.
Needless to say, there is no significant
meaning in whether prosecutors
investigate crimes in terms of addressing
problems in investigation and detection.
However, since the current situation of
investigation and detection is to be
discussed, the word “investigator” in thisreport includes public prosecutors for thosecountries.

II. PROBLEMS IN INVESTIGATION
AND DETECTION
A. Difficulty in the Collection ofInformation and Witnesses
Investigation begins when investigators
recognize an occurrence of a crime in some
way or feel that a crime has beencommitted. In many countries, law such ascodes of criminal procedure stipulate acomplaint, an accusation, etc., as the
beginning of an investigation. This ismeant to give special legal effect to these
deeds, and not to restrict the beginning of
an investigation. Although some cases(especially, damage to individuals or theirproperty) tend to require a complaint/
accusation of an interested party, to beinvestigated or prosecuted; the damage
given by corruption cases is not concerned
to a particular party but to the public andthe state. Therefore, the clues to startinvestigation are not only a complaint/
accusation etc., but also the investigationof other cases, anonymous letters, news
articles etc. in order to initiate collecting
evidence.
However, in most organized crime likedrug trafficking, illegal trafficking infirearms, illegal, smuggling of illegal
migrants (in case some are willing to doso), money laundering, etc., there is nocomplainant reporting to the police or otherinvestigative authorities. A visiting expertof this Seminar mentioned that organizedcrimes are bloodless and victimless. Hence,
there is difficulty in reporting such crimeand consequently organized crime groups
maintain and further proliferate.
Even in traditional and serious crimes
having victims like murder, kidnapping,bodily injury, extortion, illicit, trafficking
in stolen motor vehicles, economic crimes,
etc., victims and other people concerned are
reluctant to report those crimes to thepolice or other investigative agencies
because of fear of revenge from organizedcrime members in the future. Thus, again

251

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
there is a difficulty in reporting suchcrimes.
Furthermore, although information frompeople inside or close to legitimate
organizations, like in cases of corruption
or economic crimes, may come out, suchinformation seldom comes out in organizedcrime. This is because of the tight
relationship among such group members
which is often reinforced by strict internal
rules and punishment.
B. Inadequacy of Existing Laws
Organized crime is a continuing
conspiracy, hence the incidents of theorganized crime are dealt with under thegeneral rule of conspiracy in most of
countries.
Existing laws are mostly inadequate tomeet the challenge as they target theindividuals and not the criminal groups or
criminal enterprises. Conspiracies arehatched in darkness and proving them ina court of law is a herculean task. Being amember of the gang is punishable in a few
countries.
In most of countries, anti-drug laws havebeen enacted after the so-called Vienna
Convention. Such laws criminalize money
laundering of illicit proceeds derived fromdrug-related crime. However, such laws are
insufficient for many countries to combat
organized crime or organized crime groups,
since their activities are not limited todrug-related crimes.
C. Difficulty in the Arrest of
Kingpins
As organized crime groups are
structured in a hierarchical manner, thehigher echelons of leadership are insulated
from law enforcement. It may be possible
to have the actual perpetrators of crimeconvicted, but it is difficult to go beyond
them in the hierarchy because, more often
than not, there is less evidence to get such
kingpins arrested. For example, thewitnesses are not willing to depose for fear

252of their lives and most countries have nolaw to provide protection to the witness
against organized gangs, except for thePhilippines.
D. Admissibility of Confessions
In some countries like Fiji, Hong Kong,Japan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, theRepublic of Korea and Tonga, theconfession made to investigators is
admissible in trial, subject to the proof ofits voluntariness, or other certain
requirements. However, a confession madebefore a police officer is not admissible inother countries like India and Pakistan.
There has been other practices forrecording confessions in such countries. A
police officer may take the accused before
an executive or judicial magistrate torecord the confession. Once recorded thisway, it is admissible in trial. However, forexample in India, when a police officer
takes the accused for confession, themagistrate provides one to two days timeto the accused for reconsideration, theaccused may meanwhile alter this version.
Hence, the investigative agencies find it
difficult to effectively cope with organizedcrime. As it is difficult to get eyewitness
evidence in cases of criminal conspiracy,
inadmissibility of confessions before apolice officer, can result in the failure toprove cases in the courts.
E. Time Lag between theCommission of Crime and Arrestor Trial
Even if investigators successfully obtain
information about organized crime, it takes
a long time to collect evidence, securearrest, prosecution and conviction.This is
the same in other crimes, but sinceorganized crime groups would continue
illegal activities and order their lower level
members to commit other crimes, such time
lag may give organized crime groups
significant benefit. Even after the arrestof such members and acquisition of

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
evidence to arrest them, members in higher
levels of hierarchy are still unlikely to becaught and more relevant evidence would
disappear.
“Justice delayed is justice denied” is awell known exiom. In some countries like
India, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines,
the pace of trial is very slow. Hence, people
are losing faith in the efficiency of thecriminal justice system and have become
cynical, apathetic and non-cooperative incontrol efforts.
F. Limited Special Techniques in
Investigation (UndercoverOperations and Wiretapping)
Undercover operations are carried out
in instances where a person approaches theinvestigative agencies and files an official
complainant against the illegal conduct ofoffenders. In Hong Kong, Madagascar,
Malaysia and the Philippines, this isfunctioning well. Normally, undercover
operations require the approval of thedesignated authority in those countries, forexample, Attorney General in Hong Kong,
magistrates/judges in Madagascar. Sinceother participating countries have notlegalized undercover operations, they facedifficulties in penetrating organized crimegroups by traditional investigation
methods.
Similarly, wiretapping is not allowed inmost of the participating countries likeHong Kong, Papua New Guinea, Tonga andThailand, except for Turkey. Thus, most of
the participating countries have difficulty
in revealing cases and collecting evidence.
Controlled delivery techniques are widelyused in some countries like India. There
has been good success in recoveries of drugs
there, however it is not fully used in othercountries like in Fiji, Tonga, etc.
G. Lack of Coordination
Crimes committed by organized crimegroups are not limited to certain types ofcrime as mentioned in the introduction. On

the other hand, some countries gives
investigative power to several agencies,
either exclusively for a particular crime orconcurrently for some crimes. In such acase, coordination among several agencies
are necessary because of the lack of orlimited coordination may cause somedifficulty in combatting organized crimegroups. Most countries have good
coordination but there is still a possibilityof failure in investigating organized crimes
because of un-streamlined coordination
among agencies.
Moreover, in India, there is no national
level agency to co-ordinate the efforts of theState/City Police Organizations, as well as
the Central Enforcement Agencies, incombatting organized crime. Further, there
is no agency to collect, collate, analyze,
documents and function as a Central
Exchange of information relating tointernational and inter-State gangs
operating in India and about the Indiangangs operating abroad. Similarly, there isno system of sustained pursuit of selectedgangs at the national and the State level.
Apart from lack of an institutional frame
work, there are problems of coordination
between the Central Government and theState Governments and between one State
Government and another State
Government due to differences in politicalperceptions. This problem becomes quite
acute when different political parties arein power at the center and in the States.
Thus, there appears to be no sustained
effort to combat organized crime. The
information that comes in the hands ofCentral and State investigating agencies
is not exchanged and, if exchanged, not inreal time. Thus valuable clues are lost.
H. Political Influence
There has been a rapid spread andgrowth of criminal gangs, drug mafias,
smuggling gangs, drug peddlers andeconomic lobbiests. Since some organizedcrime groups are close to some politicians,

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
political influence has been made during/after investigation in some countries. Dueto the political influence of these
syndicates, the investigating andprosecuting agencies are finding it
extremely difficult to deal effectively withthem. This problem was mentioned byIndia, the Philippines, Pakistan and
Thailand.

J. Inadequacy of Equipment
In most countries like Fiji, India,
Madagascar, Nepal, Pakistan, thePhilippines (law enforcement equipment),
Papua New Guinea (communicationequipment), Tonga (especially on detectionof drugs), there is problem of inadequacyof equipment to deal with sophisticated,
high-tech crime.

I. Problems in International
Cooperation
Different nations have different legal
structures. A certain act may be crime in
one country but not in another. Similarly,
some countries have laws against terrorism
but the others do not. Extradition of
criminals from one country to another ispossible only when the principle of dual
criminality is satisfied. However, nocountry agrees to abolish this principle
because it is natural for the requested
country that fugitives cannot be extradited
for conduct which is not criminalized intheir country.
Bangladesh, Fiji, India, Nepal, Malaysia
and the Philippines require an extradition
treaty to honor an extradition request. Thisis known as the treaty prerequisite
principle1, which is the most significant
impediment to extradition from theperspective of a civil law country (e.g.,
Japan, the Republic of Korea and Thailand
are categorized as civil law countries interms of extradition). A prima facie caserequirement is the usual practice incommon law countries. Some civil law
countries, in extradition procedure, requirereasonable grounds for having committed
a predicate crime (tantamount to “probablecause”). Even if all legal requirements are
satisfied, the execution of extradition takes
a long time.

K. Lack or Lesser Priority by theGovernment
In some countries like India, Malaysia,
Pakistan and Thailand, there has been
continued demand for increase in the workforce. Due to the variety of duties andcomplexities of crimes, it is extremely
difficult for the existing man power to copewith crime.

1 Although such countries do not need a treaty for

extradition within other commonwealth countries,
they are categorized as treaty prerequisite countries
since they still require a treaty with other countries.

254

L. Insufficiency of Expertise andTraining
Almost all participating countries
mentioned the problem of insufficiency ofexpertise and training in investigative
agencies. Investigation of cases, theirprosecution and the setting up of thecriminal courts is the responsibility of theprefectural Government concerned, like inIndia. Most of the prefectural States faceresource crunches and are not in a position
to spare adequate resources for thecriminal justice system agencies. The
number of police personnel posted in police
stations, is inadequate. Besides, hardly any
training facilities exist for the investigationof organized crime. Prosecutors neither
have any special aptitude nor any
specialized training for conducting
organized crime cases. Moreover, they arevulnerable to frequent transfers resulting
in discontinuity in prosecution efforts. As
organized crime cases are tried, there isinordinate delay in their disposal due toheavy backlogs.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
III. SUGGESTIONS
Realizing the problems the above
mentioned pose to law enforcement
agencies in combatting against organizedcrime, the following suggestions should betaken into consideration.
A. Projects to Collect First
Information
Even though investigation begins withvarious clues, it is necessary for successful
investigation or prosecution to obtain
credible information as much as possible.
However, such credible information isshared by the people who are officially or
personally close to corrupted officers,
because of the clandestine nature ofcorruption cases. Thus, how to encouragesuch people to release information must be
taken into consideration. Investigators
have to be cautious in dealing withanonymous letters because they are sentby someone to obtain a personal interestby making a false accusation against aparticular person. Such information tends
to be overstated or over-decorated. On theother hand, there are some anonymous
letters, especially from persons who haveinside information, which inform us of theimportant truth. In this regard, it is worth
considering introducing the project, socalled “Crime Stoppers” as in Fiji.
In order to resolve the problems of
having an uncooperative attitude fromorganizations concerned with criminalcases in Fiji, the Commissioner of Police
has introduced a project called “CRIMESTOPPERS” which is directly under his
control. For the last two years, it has beenfunctioning where anyone can address theletter without giving his identity and canforward information or lodge a complaint
regarding criminal activities of a person.
If people give information, and upon police
investigation the case information proves
to be true, the informer will be paid after
successful arrest (depending how serious

the information was). The source of
information will never be disclosed, thus
informers confidentiality is protected.
B. Effective Anti-Money Laundering
Law
Money laundering regulations were
initiated by the United States to deprive
criminals of property together with theAsset Forfeiture system. The predicate
crime of money laundering is now extended
to almost of all the serious crime in somecountries like Turkey and the UnitedStates. Even though some participating
countries have money laundering
regulations, the predicate crime is limited
to drug-related crime. However, organizedcrime groups commit any type of crime inorder to obtain economic gain, thus there
is no reason to limit predicate crimes todrug-related crimes. Moreover, since thedevelopment of transportation andcommunication carries over cultures, once
one country adopts stringent policies andcomplete legal systems for depriving
criminals of illicit property, it is natural forsuch criminals and property to move toanother country where such systems do notexist. Therefore, to protect one country
from such a situation, it is indispensable
to establish these legal weapons which
extend money laundering predicate crimes
as much as possible. Thus, for example,
Japan is now considering to extend thepredicate crimes of money laundering aswell as asset forfeiture. Such predicate
crimes may be serious crimes, including
those crimes committed by organized crimegroups. India has prepared a draft whichis in consideration in Parliament.
C. Legalization of UndercoverOperations
The law enforcement agencies in somecountries run under-cover agents to gather
information about criminal gangs, study
their modus operandi and evaluate their
future plans and strategies. This255

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
information is used both for preventive andinvestigative purposes. In the UnitedStates, the evidence gathered by the undercover agents is admissible in evidencewhether it is in the form of their oral
testimony or recorded in audio or video
form. However, most participating
countries laws do not permit this. Thishandicaps the law enforcement agents inbuilding up cast-iron cases againstorganized gangs. It is suggested thatamendment of the law should be taken into
consideration to provide for admissibilityof such evidence.
D. Immunity
Most of the participating countries do
not have the so-called use and derivative
use immunity. This is a statement given
by a witness (e.g. accomplice) implicating
the accused in a criminal enterprise
involving them. The statement will makeclear that the content therein will not be
used as evidence to exculpate the witnessof his criminal activity. Specifically, it does
not imply any promise that the statementmaker will be given immunity fromprosecution. However, since the prosecutor
must establish that the evidence to be given
to the court is not derived from suchpromises beyond reasonable doubt,
prosecution against him is quite difficult.
E. Witness Protection Programme
In cases of organized crime, thewitnesses are reluctant to depose in open
court for fear of reprisals at the hands ofcriminal syndicates/terrorists. The cases of
threat or criminal intimidation of potential
witnesses are too many to be recounted.
Some witnesses have also been killed by
the criminal gangsters. As the courts go byevidence on record for establishing the guiltof the accused, it is essential to protect thewitnesses from the wrath of the criminal
gangs. Hence, legal and physical protection
should be provided to crucial witnesses insensitive cases so that they can depose

256

fearlessly in the court. After the enactmentof Witness Security Reform Act 1984, theUnited States authorities could secureconviction of several notorious mafia
leaders. The United States Witness
Protection Programme, essentially,
involves changing the identity of thewitness, relocation, physical protection, if
needed, and financial support till such time
as s/he become self-supporting, subject tothe condition that s/he deposes truthfullyin the court.
Some participating countries like thePhilippines have witness protection
programmes similar to the United States.
However, most participating countries do
not have such programmes. These should
be taken into consideration to provide
protection to witnesses especially in casesof national importance involving criminal
syndicates.
F. Admissibility of Confessions
Although confessions made before police
officers are admissible in most countries,
in some countries like India, such a
confession is not admissible. Of course, thisis not to say that the court should baseconviction only on the un-corroborated
confession of an accused. What is being
suggested is that the court should take into
consideration the confession made by theaccused before a police officer along withother corroborative evidence forformulating its opinion.
G. Enhancement of International
Cooperation
If an extradition treaty has not beenconcluded between countries concerned,
especially treaty prerequisite countries,
even criminal fugitives who allegedly havecommitted serious crime cannot be
extradited. However, it should be notedthat Australia, recognized as a treaty
p r e r e q u i s i t e c o u n t r y, a m e n d e d i t s
extradition law so as to honor an
extradition request from a treaty non-

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE SEMINAR
prerequisite country.
It is our experience that extradition is atime consuming and lengthy process,where, apart from satisfying the legal
requirements of the requested country, thejudicial requirement of a foreign court havealso to be satisfied. Thus, efforts to simplify
or streamline extradition procedure should
be made as much as possible. For example,
some treaties provide that “the requested
country may grant extradition after receipt
of a request for provisional arrest, provided
that the person sought explicitly consents
before a competent authority”. This kindof simplified extradition procedure should
be taken into consideration for effective
international cooperation.
Furthermore, it should be noted thatamong some Asian countries (e.g., Malaysia
and Singapore) having similar legal
systems, special procedure for extremely
simplifying the extradition procedure has
been stipulated in their laws; whichenables an arrest warrant issued by acourt, a judge or a magistrate of one
country effective in the other country if amagistrate of the latter endorses it undersome requirements. Thus, various ways toenhance extradition should be taken if notprecluded by the law of the countries
concerned.
Moreover, if extradition is impossible,
deportation may be sought as the last
solution. Of most importance is to bringcriminal fugitives to justice.
As for gathering more information ontransnational criminal and their activities,
Interpol should come to the effective
assistance of affected countries. Interpol isan overloaded and overworked
organization at present, with focus on drugtrafficking and illicit transnationalmigrations. With the proliferation oftransnational crime in its various
manifestations, it is time to set up regional
units of Interpol in Asia, Africa and Latin
America.

H. Adequate Training Programme
One of the weakest links in the struggle
against organized crime is the educationand training at the local level. Public
administrators, who are aware thatorganized crime exists in their community,
are not spending sufficient time ineducating and training citizens, law
enforcement officers and other members in
the criminal justice system. Consequently,
local persons with interest in curbing
organized crime are left to their own
resources in securing information about
those engaged in organized crime. There
are three modus for transmitting
information to those concerned withorganized crime control. They are (1)education in academic institutions, (2)specialized training for law enforcement
officers, and (3) greater public co-operation.
To implement one mode of learning without
the other will not produce a desirable levelof information about the criminal
confederations.
It would be desirable to impart intenseand highly select training to the police,prosecutors, judges and probation officers,
about the impact of organized crime on thesociety, the intelligence system, thestatutes relating to organized crime, theutilization of technology in investigationand the various types of organized crimeand various strategies for combating it.
IV. CONCLUSION“Organized crime succeeds as long as anation permits it to succeed.” The first andforemost step in our control efforts should
be to keep incidents of ordinary crimes
within reasonable bounds, by keeping thecriminal elements under relentless lawenforcement processes. If we reasonably
succeed in this effort, we would haveobtained or at least diminished thepossibility of unattended criminal elements
forging alliances with big crime figures,constituting criminals networks and

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
thereby spawning the phenomenon oforganized crime. It is imperative to combat
the crime, to strengthen the criminal law
and tone up the criminal justice system.
Law enforcement, however efficient, cannot
succeed by itself without commitment by
the Government.
Despite best efforts, the domestic crime
is likely to spill over into internationalsociety and often does. Hence the need forinternational co-operation in suppressing
it in the form of expeditious extradition of
fugitive criminals, deportation ofundesirable aliens, mutual legal assistancein investigations and prosecution, andspeedy cooperation through Interpol.

258

PART II
Work Product of the 109th International Training
Course “EFFECTIVE TREATMENT MEASURESFOR PRISONERS TO FACILITATE THEIR REINTEGRATION INTO SOCIETY”

UNAFEI

108TH INTERNATIONALSEMINAR
VISITING
EXPERTS’
PAPERSVISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE APPROPRIATE MANAGEMENTOF RISK AND REINTEGRATION POTENTIAL
Don A. Andrews*
This paper has been updated from thenotes prepared for a session on Corrections
and Conditional Release at “Beyond
Prisons: Best Practices Along the Criminal
Justice Process,” an International
Symposium held on March 15-March 18,
1998, at Queen’s University, Kingston,Ontario, Canada. It is based on materials
prepared for the National Parole Board of
Canada in January of 1994 as well as
materials developed for NIC, the Vermont
Department of Corrections, the Ontario
Ministry of Community and Social
Services, the Ontario Ministry of the
Solicitor General and Correctional
Services, and Multnomah County Oregon.
I. INTRODUCTION
This paper is concerned in particularwith how current research, theory andopinion within the human and social
sciences may assist in decision making andpractice in relation to risk management
and risk reduction. In particular, howauthorities with an interest in community
corrections and conditional release mayassess the quality of each of the following:i) quality of understanding of intake
risk/needii) quality of understanding of anindividual’s criminality (individualized
assessment of risk/need)iii) quality of the correctional plan andin-prison eventsiv) quality of release plansv) quality of progress reportsvi) q u a l i t y o f a s s e s s m e n t s o f a n
offender’s behavior on conditional* Professor, Department of Psychology,Carleton
University,Canada

release.
An introduction to the power of current
knowledge and opinion regarding risk/need
and recidivism follows but obviously does
not imply that risk/need assessments andknowledge of program participation yield
perfect predictions of recidivism. To thecontrary, even the best of the empiricallybased knowledge of the value of preservice
risk assessments, reassessments of risk/
need, and program participation yieldpredictions that are less than perfect. Some
information, however, yields more accurate
predictions regarding the possibility of
future criminal conduct than does othertypes of information. For example;i) assessments of antisocial attitudes,
antisocial associates, psychopathic
personality, a history of antisocial
behavior, and problematic familialand educational/vocational
conditions are much stronger risk
factors than are assessments ofpersonal distress, low intelligence,
psychopathology or lower classorigins;ii) assessments of dynamic need factors
increase the predictability ofrecidivism over that provided by anassessment of criminal history;iii) assessments of current risk/needlevels are more predictive ofrecidivism than are intake risk/needassessments;iv) assessments of participation intreatment programs are morepredictive of effects on recidivism
than are assessments of the settings
established by the severity of official
punishment or of official processing
such as levels of custody or of261

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
supervision;assessments of the clinical andpsychological relevance ofcorrectional treatment participation
are more strongly predictive of effects
on recidivism than are assessmentsof undifferentiated treatment
participation;vi) assessments of changes under
supervision are predictive ofrecidivism over and above theaccuracy provided by prior risk/needassessments.
v)

II. THE GENERAL PERSONALITY
AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICALPERSPECTIVE ON CRIMINALCONDUCT: SOCIAL LEARNING
There are few scholars or practitioners
who would not agree that the occurrenceof criminal acts reflects the outcome ofparticular individuals being in a particularsituation at a particular time. The
immediate causes of criminal activity
reside in the immediate situation of action.
Situations, by virtue of objective featuresand prior personal experience, may varyin the temptations and controls
represented. In that immediate situation,a crime occurs when:i) An intention to behave that way isformed.
ii) The personal choice is made.
iii) Self-efficacy beliefs suggest that “I
am able to do it” and “it will payoff”.
iv) The situation is defined as one inwhich it is “OK” to behave that way.
v) The balance of signaled rewards
exceed the signaled costs of crime.
Understanding and managing risk ofrecidivism entails understanding:i) Individualized situational risk
factors, and:ii) Understanding those personal,
interpersonal and circumstantial risk
factors which shape particular262

intentions, choices, self-efficacy
beliefs, definitions of situations, or
shifts in signalled rewards and costs.
The research evidence regarding risk/need factors is now overwhelming in that
offenders may with some reliability andvalidity be grouped into lower and higher
risk categories. Over and over again in the
research literature, assessments of thefollowing factors yields predictions correctin from 65% to 80% of the cases:i) Antisocial attitudes, values, beliefs,
rationalizations, and cognitivee m o t i o n a l s t a t e s ( e . g . , a n g e r,
resentment, defiance);ii) Antisocial associates and relative
isolation from anticriminal others(interpersonal support for crime);iii) A history of antisocial behavior,evident from a young age, andinvolving a number and variety ofharmful acts in a variety ofsituations;iv) Aggressive, callous, and egocentric
personality;v) Weak problem solving and selfmanagement skills;vi) Generalized difficulties in thedomains of home, school, work andleisure (these problems may be
associated with substance abuse).
The above-noted risk factors are
generally applicable but if one is interested
in particular acts such as violent andsexual offenses then assessments are also
conducted of attitudes, associates,
behavioral history, and skill deficits
particular to violent and sexual offending.
Similarly, mentally disordered offenders
may present some special considerations
such as compliance with medication andready access to mental health services.
The sets of risk factors labelled“antisocial attitudes,” “antisocial
associates,” and “history of antisocial
behavior” are of particular significance inthe general social learning perspective on

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
criminal conduct.
A. A History of Antisocial Behavior
This set indicates that particularantisocial acts are part of the offender’srepertoire, and typically this means thatthe person has experienced immediate
reinforcement for engaging in those acts.
In the language of relapse prevention, thisentails the risk factor of PIG (the Problem
of Immediate Gratification). Many formsof criminal behavior do deliver immediate
positive sensations and events, including
sometimes short-term relief from feelingsof frustration, resentment, powerlessness,and boredom. The negative consequencesof guilt, shame, disapproval of others, andthe deprivations of official punishment aremuch more delayed (if they occur at all).
From the perspective of self-efficacy, ahistory of antisocial acts suggests that two
key beliefs necessary for engaging in an act
are readily present: “I am able to do that”
and “It will be rewarding.” From the social
learning perspective, in many high risk
situations the immediacy of the signaled
rewards for crime is far more potent thanthe largely delayed costs.
In order to neutralize PIG, a goodcorrectional plan will include elements
aimed at avoiding high risk situations (forexample, conditions around association
patterns, locale, alcohol use, etc). Moregenerally important, however, is that
personal attitudes and thinking patterns
and interpersonal support networks render
the potentially costly consequences more
immediate, more vivid and more dense, andthat the personal and interpersonal
supports for noncriminal behavior are
strong.
B. Antisocial Attitudes
This set is a major contributor to thedecision (or intention, or choice etc.) to
engage in criminal acts. Generally, it
includes having attitudes favourable to law
violations, identifying with others who

violate the law, having negative attitudes
toward the law and criminal justice,holding beliefs that suggest it is “OK” toviolate the law, and believing that eventhose laws that are generally worthy ofrespect may be broken when “one is out ofcontrol,” “pushed too far,” “the victim
deserves it,” “no one gets hurt,” “everyone
is doing it,” and/or “the whole system iscorrupt”. The latter represents
rationalizations for law violations,
techniques of neutralization, or
exonerating mechanisms. The attitude set
also includes those cognitions supportiveof crime that may be associated withfeelings of anger, despair, resentment, anddefiance. If anti-criminal alternatives toantisocial styles of thinking and feeling canbe introduced into the immediate situationof action, then even PIG will not lead tocriminal activity.
C. Antisocial Associates
Human behavior is strongly influenced
not only by personal attitudes, values andbeliefs but also by the support displayedby others for the particular behavior inquestion. Once again, even PIG can beovercome by the clear perception thatimportant others would disapprove. This
is why a good release plan attends toreducing association with antisocial others,
increasing association with anti-criminal
others, and building in social support forcompliance and active participation in therelease plan. Note too that while theimmediate presence of others isparticularly potent, even symbolic social
support may be influential (for example,
the use of published pornography inplanning an offence).
D. What about the Other Major Risk/
Need Factors?
The process of self-regulation depends
upon some minimal level of cognitive andinterpersonal skill for attitudes, associates
and behavioral history to translate into

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
particular acts in particular situations.
Thus, cognitive skill programs have beenfound to reduce recidivism. Additionally,
increasing the background levels of reward
for noncriminal pursuits in settings suchas family, school, work and leisure may
reduce motivation for crime and enhance
anticriminal attitudes and association
patterns, while simultaneously greatly
increasing the potential costs of crime(because there now is more to lose).
In addition to locating individuals
according to risk/need throughstandardized instruments, correctional
professionals and parole decision makers
may wish to construct an appreciation of
the criminality of particular cases. Thisentails an understanding of the particularrisky situations, circumstances, andthought patterns for this case. As suggestedr e p e a t e d l y, r i s k i s d y n a m i c a n d
individualized. It is here too that issues ofage, gender, ethnicity and class may shapeplanning. This detailed information may
then contribute directly to the correctionalplan, release plan and progress reports.
Before turning to those plans, remember
it is not just the ability of social learningperspectives to identify risk and needfactors that is impressive. The social
learning perspectives also suggest how
these factors influence criminal conduct
and identify powerful influence strategies.
The powerful behavioral/cognitive
behavioral/social learning strategies ofchange include all of the following (andmore):i) Modeling;ii) Reinforcement;iii) Graduated practice;iv) Role playing;v) Extinction;vi) Interpersonal disapproval (if in acontext of dense approval);vii) Giving reasons;viii) Cognitive restructuring.

264

III. ASSESSMENT OF
CORRECTIONAL AND RELEASE
PLANS
The following portions of this paper
represent an attempt to build a checklist
for assessing the quality of correctional
plans and release plans. These indicators
include relevance, specificity and clarity ofshared understanding, feasibility, decency
and legality, and value of proposedinterventions.
Is the plan relevant to the criminal
propensity of this case?
i)

Has a standardized well-validated
risk/need assessment been conductedand has the case been assigned to arisk category;ii) If a low risk case, have minimal
service and supervision conditions
been established;iii) If a higher risk case, have risk control
and risk management beenaddressed;iv) If a highest risk case, are you surethat the opportunity for early
detection of violations has beenmaximized, and that services arevery intensive;v) Have relevant need factors beenaddressed through programming in
the prison or in the community and/or through the setting of releaseconditions.
Is the plan specific and understood by
the offender and involved others?
i)

Does articulation of the plan by theoffender and involved others indicate
shared understanding;ii) In the case of detailed analyses, arespecific risk conditions indentified
and have risk lowering actions been
identified and rehearsed;iii) When the offender discusses prioro f f e n s e s , d o e s t h e o f f e n d e r ’s

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
description touch upon specific risk/need factors addressed in the plan;iv) When the offender discusses therelease plan, does the discussion
address risk/need in a mannerconsistent with the understanding ofoffender’s criminality underlying theplan.
Is the plan feasible?
i)ii)

Are the community supports for theplan (accommodation, employment,
treatment services, etc.) in place andreasonably stable;
Are the external and internal controls
and supports sufficient to maintainoffender compliance and active
participation.

Is the plan decent, humane, legal?
i)

Watch out for plans that cover somany bases (conditions) that failure
may be predicted in advance;ii) Restraint by relevance to criminality
is a good rule (experimental evidence
regarding the effects of intensive,
multi-conditioned community
supervision is clear regarding
increased revocation without reduced
criminal offenses);iii) Would victims and police understandthis plan;iv) Can you justify this plan consideringrisk, notoriety, and reputation of theagencies involved;v) Could you state to a victim or to thepress: good correctional practice was
employed, control and assistance was
directed at risk reduction.
Is the programming proposed valuable
programming the value of particular
programs and program participation?
i)Plans and programs may be assessed
according to the extent to which

criminogenic need factors are
addressed (see list of promising andless promising targets for change:
Appendix 1);ii) Promising programs include certain
core components in addition toaddressing criminogenic factors (seelist of indicators of promisingprograms: Appendix 2);iii) The risk reduction potential ofprogram participation is indicated byseveral factors, most notably by
actual change on criminogenic factors(see list of indicators of quality
program participation: Appendix 3);
A few cases will convincingly score low
on both the static risk factors and the more
dynamic risk factors. These cases may be
managed in the community with the least
intrusive supervision conditions consistent
with “just desert” and “notoriety”
considerations. Other cases, however, will
require the more detailed planning and replanning. Re-planning is not failure but arealistic recognition of the dynamic natureof risk, human behaviour, and life
circumstances.
IV. ASSESSMENT OF THE
CONTINUED RELEVANCE OF THE
CORRECTIONAL PLAN AND THE
RELEASE PLAN FOR THISPARTICULAR PERSON
Has the correctional professional’s
understanding of this person’s criminal
propensity changed? For example:i)

Increased appreciation of theimportance of particular risk factorsthat were seen as less important inearlier assessments (for example: useof alcohol is now seen to be interferingwith familial and employment
functioning, and instability in theseareas is reasonably linked to criminal
propensity in this case);

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
ii)

Expressed sentiments suggest thatrationalizations for law violations(e.g., discounting potential victims)
and negative feelings (e.g.,resentment) are emerging as risk
factors;iii) Problems of unemployment continue
but without any other indication ofincreased risk (perhaps concerns
around employment were over-rated
initially).
Do circumstances in the community(service availability, labour market, etc.)
suggest re-planning? Would any changes
in plan better manage risk and/or better
reduce risk?
V. ASSESSMENT OF PROGRESSSUMMARIESi)

Status on general risk/need factors
has been surveyed and foundsatisfactory?

ii)

Status on individualized risk factors
has been surveyed and foundsatisfactory?

iii) Status on conditions of release has
been surveyed and foundsatisfactory?
iv) Progress reports reflect view of
involved others?
v)

Any evidence of weak communication
among involved others?

vi) Would any changes in plan better
manage risk and/or better reducerisk?
vii) Overall, how do progress summaries
rate on specificity, relevance,
feasibility, shared understanding by
all involved?

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Remember, the lists of indicators ofpromising targets, promising programs,
and quality participation apply here as well
(Appendix 1, 2 and3).
VI. SPECIFIC POST RELEASE
INTERVENTIONS
Referrals to quality programs in someof the major need areas may be indicatedby progress summaries where judged
relevant to criminal propensity (refer toAppendix 1, 2 and 3).A major source ofcontrol and assistance, however, resides in
the relationship between the offender andthe parole officer, and between the offenderand other involved workers (for example,
in group homes).It is now clear, forexample, that the effectiveness ofsupervision programs does not reflect sizeof caseload, simple frequency of contact, or
electronic monitoring. The criticalcomponents of supervision for purposes ofrisk reduction are the well-known ones first
listed in the 1970s (and represented asworker characteristics in Appendix 2):i) Q u a l i t y o f t h e i n t e r p e r s o n a lrelationship between offender andworker: generally people learn morefrom and are more greatly influenced
by others who are respectful, caring,
concerned, interested, interesting,enthusiastic and engaged. In social
learning terms, these supervisors
have available high quality
reinforcers, their expressions of
disapproval function as high quality
costs, and they make more effectivemodels (their behaviours are more
likely to be imitated, and theirsuggestions more likely to be triedout). In brief, it is simply counter tothe psychology of human behaviour
to expect high levels of interpersonal
influence in the absence of open,
warm and enthusiastic
communication.
ii) Style of communication may also be

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
very important in the context ofsupervision, and particularly ininteraction with types of offenders.
Interpersonally anxious offenders do
not respond well to highly
confrontational and criticalinterpersonal exchanges, while theless anxious offender can respond aslong as there is the backgroundcondition of caring and respect.
Obviously, the less verbally gifted andcognitively immature offender will
not pick up on highly verbal andanalytic approaches to interpersonali n f l u e n c e . S i m i l a r l y, t h e l e s s
empathic, less interpersonallysensitive offender may not be
expected to respond to subtle cuesand suggestions. Generally, in fact,
it is best for communication to be
direct and concrete.
iii) A major role for supervisors andcorrectional workers is the modelingand reinforcement of anti-criminal
alternatives to antisocial styles ofthinking, feeling and acting. Here thesupervisors, workers and potentiallyeven citizen volunteers provide thevaluable service often missing in theoffender’s environment.
iv) Concrete assistance often takes theform of concrete problem solving
efforts with the offender, and/or
advocacy and brokering activity withother community settings.
v) Authority can be influential when
exercised with respect, with
explanation (giving reasons), withguidance on how to comply, and in a
firm but fair manner. Overall, theauthority figure would want tocommunicate that compliance ispossible and that the offender can
succeed. Failure is avoidable andcompliance will be rewarded!. One of
the few conditions under which
deterrence works is the condition
under which defiance is avoided

through respectful guidance toward
compliance. The child developmental
literature reminds us of theimportance of differentiating between
rules and requests. It is best toreserve sanctions for situations inwhich rules are involved. Best too
when the heavy sanctions (the“doomsday” contingencies whichremove the offender from community
control) are reserved for serious andimmediate risk. Finally, there is noevidence from the meta-analyses ofeffective treatment that mandated
intervention interferes with thesuccess of intervention.
Probation and Parole supervisors aremandated to give directions, develop goals
and objectives, and outline expectations to
the offender. The nature and extent of
support that will be offered by thesupervisor is also outlined for the offender.
Research with young offenders has shownthat these activities were associated with
reduced recidivism when the goals andobjectives were judged clear, clinicallyappropriate, and achieved.
When risk is high, the monitoring andassistance functions of supervision areenhanced through increased frequency ofcontact in combination with the strategies
of effective supervision. Parole supervisors
are also mandated to engage in disciplinaryinterviews when it is judge that risk to thecommunity may be increasing. Disciplinaryinterviews involve cautioning the offenderin a clear and formal manner. Sanctions or
new obligations or expectations may be
imposed. Once again, the style of thesecommunications and their relevance tocriminal propensity may be crucial to theireffectiveness.
REFERENCE
Andrews, D. A. and Bonta, James (1994).
The Psychology of Criminal Conduct
Cincinnati: Anderson.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Andrews, D. A. (1979) The Dimensionsof Correctional Counselling andSupervision Process in Probation and
Parole. Toronto: Ontario Ministry of
Correctional Services.
Andrews, D. A. (1989) Recidivism is
Predictable and Can Be Influenced: Using
Risk Assessments to Reduce Recidivism.
Forum on Corrections Research, 1(2), 1118.
Andrews, D. A., Bonta, J., & Hoge, R. D.
(1990) Classification for Effective
Rehabilitation: Rediscovering Psychology.
Criminal Justice and Behavior, 17, 19-52.
Andrews, D. A., & Friesen, W. (1987)
Assessments of Anticriminal Plans and thePrediction of Criminal Futures: A Research
Note. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 14,33-37.
Andrews, D. A., Zinger, I., Hoge, R. D.,
Bonta, J., Gendreau, P., & Cullen, F. T.
(1990). Does Correctional Treatment Work?
A Psychologically Informed Meta-analysis.
Criminology, 28, 369-404.
Antonowicz, Daniel H., & Ross, RobertR. (in press). Essential Components ofSuccessful Rehabilitation Programs for
Offenders. International Journal of
Offender Therapy and Comparative
Criminology.
Bonta, James, Law, Moira, & Hanson,
Karl (Forthcoming). The Prediction of
Criminal and Violent Recidivism among
Mentally Disordered Offenders: A Metaanalysis. Psychological Bulletin
Braithwaite, John (1993). Beyond
Positivism: Leaning from Contextual
Integrated Strategies. Journal of Researchin Crime and Delinquency, 30, 383-399.
Gendreau, Paul (1993). Does “Punishing
Smarter” Work? An Assessment of the New
Generation of Alternative Sanctions. A
paper prepared for Corrections Research,
Ministry Secretariat, Solicitor General,
February.
Gendreau, P., & Andrews, D. A. (1990).
Tertiary Prevention: What the Metaanalyses of the Offender Treatment

268

Literature tell us about “What Works”.
Canadian Journal of Criminology, 32, 173184.
Gendreau, Paul, Cullen, F.T., & Bonta,
James (1994). Intensive Rehabilitation
Supervision: the Next Generation in
Community Corrections. Federal
Probation, 58, March, 72-80.
Gendreau, P., Little, T., & Coggin, C.
(1996). A Meta-analysis of the Predictorsof Adult Offender Recidivism: What Works.
Criminology 34:575-607.
Gendreau, P., & Ross, R. R. (1979).
E f f e c t i v e C o r r e c t i o n a l Tr e a t m e n t :Bibliotherapy for Cynics. Crime andDelinquency, 25, 463-489.
Gendreau, P., & Ross, R. R. (1981).
Correctional Potency: Treatment andDeterrence on Trial. In R. Roesch & R. R.
Corrado (Eds.), Evaluation and Criminal
Justice Policy. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Gendreau, P., & Ross, R. R. (1987).
Revivication of Rehabilitation: Evidence
from the 1980s. Justice Quarterly, 4, 349408.
L i p s e y, M . W. ( 1 9 9 0 ) . J u v e n i l eDelinquency Treatment: A Meta-Analytic
Inquiry into Variability of Effects. A reportto the Research Synthesis Committee of theRussell Sage Foundation.
Lipton, D., Martinson, R., & Wilks, J.
(1975). The Effectiveness of Correctional
Treatment: A Survey of Treatment
Evaluation Studies. New York: Praeger.
Logan, C.H., & Gaes, G. G. (1993) Metaanalysis and the Rehabilitation of
Punishment. Justice Quarterly, 10, 245-63.
Losel, F. (1993). Evaluating Psychosocial
Interventions in Prison and Other Penal
Contexts. A paper for the Twentieth
Criminological Research Conference,
Strasbourg, November.
Martinson, R. (1974). What Works? Questions and Answers About Prison
Reform. The Public Interest, 35, 22-54.
Martinson, R. (1979). New Findings,
New Views: A Note of Caution Regarding
Prison Reform. Hofstra Law Review, 7, 243-

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VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
258.
*McGuire, James (Ed.) (1995). What
Works: Reducing Reoffending. Guidelines
from Research and Practice. Chichester:John Wiley.
Palmer, T. (1975). Martinson revisited.
Journal of Research in Crime andDelinquency, 12, 133-152.
Sherman, Lawrence W. (1993). Defiance,
Deterrence, and Irrelevance: A Theory of
Criminal Sanction. Journal of Research in
Crime and Delinquency, 30, 445-473.
Simourd, Linda & Andrews, D. A. (1994).
Correlates of Delinquency: A look at GenderDifferences. Forum on Corrections
Research 6:26-31.
Whitehead, J. T., & Lab, S. P. (1989). A
Meta-Analysis of Juvenile Correctional
Treatment. Journal of Research on Crimeand Delinquency, 26, 276-295.
* Note: the McGuire (1995) collection isvery valuable. Please explore chapters byAndrews, Lipsey, Lozel, Bush and all of theother authors.

• Reducing Chemical Dependencies andSubstance Abuse• Shifting the Density of the Personal,Interpersonal and other Rewards andCosts for Criminal and Noncriminal
Activities in Familial, Academic,
Vocational, Recreational and other
Behavioral Settings, so that the
Noncriminal Alternatives are Favored• Providing the ChronicallyPsychiatrically Troubled with Low
Pressure, Sheltered Living
Arrangements and/or Effective
Medication (risk is greatest during
periods of active psychosis)• Insuring that the Client is able torecognize Risky Situations, and has aConcrete and well Rehearsed Plan for
Dealing with those Situations.
• Confronting the Personal andCircumstantial Barriers to Service(client motivation; backgroundstressors with which clients may be
preoccupied)• Reduce Individualized need Factors (ifreasonably linked with crime)

APPENDIX 1APROMISING TARGETS FORCHANGE• Changing Antisocial Attitudes• Changing/Managing Antisocial
Feelings• Reducing Antisocial Peer Associations• Promoting Familial Affection/
Communication• Promoting Familial Monitoring andSupervision• Promoting Child/Family Protection(Preventing Neglect/Abuse)• Promoting Identification/Association
with Anti-Criminal Role Models• Increasing Self-Control, SelfManagement and Problem Solving
Skills• Replacing the Skills of Lying, Stealing
and Aggression with more Pro-Social
Alternatives

APPENDIX 1B
LESS PROMISING TARGETS• Increasing Self-Esteem (without
simultaneous reductions in antisocial
thinking, feeling and peer
associations)• Focusing on Vague Emotional/
Personal Complaints that have notbeen Linked with Criminal Conduct• Increasing the Cohesiveness ofAntisocial Peer Groups• Improving Neighborhood-wide Living
Conditions, without touching the
Criminogenic needs of Higher Risk
Individuals and Families• Showing Respect for Antisocial
Thinking on the Grounds that the
Values of one Culture are as Equally
Valid as the Values of another Culture(no culture but a criminal culture

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Values Harming others)• Increasing Conventional Ambition in
the Areas of School and Work without
Concrete Assistance in Realizingthese Ambitions• Attempting to turn the Client into a“Better Person,” when the Standards
for being a “Better Person” do not linkwith Recidivism.
APPENDIX 2
INDICATORS OF EFFECTIVE
PROGRAMS• An Empirically-Validated Theory
underlying the Intervention• Empirically-Validated Strategies
employed (or researchers involved indesign/delivery of service)• Adequate Dosage• Trained and Clinically supervised
Service Deliverers• Printed Training / Program Manuals• Addressing Criminogenic needs ofHigher Risk Cases• Uses Concrete Social leaning
Approaches• Structures Follow-Up• Workers are Enthusiastic andEngaged• Workers are able to handle their
Authority without Domination/Abuse• Workers are able to recorgnize
Antisocial Thinking, Feeling andActing, and are able to Demonstrateand Reinforce Concrete Alternatives• workers are predisposed to Offer
Concrete Problem Solving and toengage in Skill Building.
• Wo r k e r s e n g a g e i n A d v o c a c y /Brokerage where Appropriate
APPENDIX 3
INDICATORS OF QUALITY
PARTICIPATION• Check that Program is Appropriate on
Risk, need and Social Learning

270

Conditions• Check that Program is Actually
Delivered (integrity)• Attendance• Engaged in Process (active
participation)• Completion of Program (mature as
opposed to premature program
termination)• Quality Relationship with Service
Provider (respect, liking)• Showing change on the Intermediate
Targets (reduced criminogenic need)• No Evidence that other Criminogenic
needs are being Increased

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

SOME OLD AND SOME NEW EXPERIENCES: CRIMINALJUSTICE AND CORRECTIONS IN FINLAND
Matti Laine*
I. THE NORDIC MODEL?
First I would like to start from thequestion: “Is there a Nordic (Scandinavian)model in the field of criminal justice: thecase of Finland?” Sometimes we joke in
Finland about the question of Nordic cooperation. We say that Nordic co-operationmeans that Sweden makes all the mistakes
first and after five years, Finland follows.
A joke is a joke, but often things have gonein that order in the prison service. There
are, of course, certain reasons for that. Let
us not forget that the judicial system ofFinland remained basically Swedish
during the time when Finland was part of
the Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire.
But “Nordic” or “Scandinavian” does notmean similar concrete solutions to all
problems. Rather it means a similar wayof thinking. This commonly shared way of
thinking does not come from emptyness; itmust be regenerated all the time. We cansay that in criminal policy there are a lotof possibilities for this regeneration,
including the following:• Criminologists have regular meetings
and a permanent council for cooperation• Experts in criminal law have Nordic
meetings• Experts in criminal policy havemeetings• Experts in criminal statistics gather atseminars• General Directors of Prison
Administration meet annually• Prison governors and other leading* Principal Lecturer, The Prison Personnel Training
Centre, Finland.

•••prison officials hold traditionalseminars
Unions of prison officers have good cooperation and regular meetings
Researchers of prison matters meet ona regular basis
There is a Nordic exhange programme
for prison and probation officers

Much of this co-operation is taking place
annually, sometimes with even more
frequency. This is however, just the formal
framework of this co-operation, a lot of
meetings are informal; we just go and talk.
Personal contacts and relationships arevery important.
But Finland has not always been very
“Nordic” concerning criminal and penal
policy. For decades we were seen as deviantor the “black sheep” by other Nordic
countries. Our criminal justice system wasvery punitive, repressive and hardcompared to other Nordic countries. This
period lasted neary 70 years, from the endof last century to the early 1960’s of thiscentury. Why was that?
Researchers of this question haveprovided several answers. First we can saythat Finland was an agrarian society formuch longer than our western neighbours.
There is evidence that propety crimes areseen more seriously in agrarian societies
than in modern, urbanized communities.
Finland reformed the Penal Code in 1894
and this new Code saw theft as a crime
which must be punished severely,withimprisonment used more. This move wassoon seen in the prison figures. In the year
1893, 155 persons were put into prison

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because of theft, and after two years thefigure was 720. The crimes of theft had notincreased, but the penal policy hadchanged.
One explanation is our civil war in 1918
and its tragic aftermath. It created a very
bitter atmosphere and division in thesociety. In these circumstances, liberal and“soft” criminal policy was not seen possible,
as there was now a possible threat frominside. This situation continued after thesecond world war, but now the threat
experienced was coming from outside.
Societial demands and legislation stayedvery punitive until the late 1960’s.
We must remember that development
was not linear and one-sided all the time.
After the civil war of 1918, pardons wereused and a parole system was introduced
in normal criminal cases. Several reforms
in the prison service took place after the
war in the mid 1940’s. That was no
surprise; as some ministers and other highstate officials had experienced imprisonment
during the war.
In the beginning of the 1950’s, we had“a cold spell in spring”, as the penal policy
became more repressive. Different coercive
measures were used to cope with “the crime
problem”. Juvenile delinquency was seen
as a special problem (although juvenile
violence was at the lowest level ever in
Finnish history, before and after). Moralpanic was created.
The defining image of our repressive
system of criminal justice was the amountof prisoners. After the second world war we
had nearly 10 000 inmates daily and still,in the mid 1960’s, nearly 8000. As of April
16th, 1998 there were 2955 prisoners inFinland, which is 150 less than for thesame time last year. Our average daily
prison population is reducing and we havereached and gone under the level of272

prisoners in Denmark and Sweden. Thisdevelopment has nothing (or very little) to
do with the crime rates. The level ofimprisonment used is the political choiceof a society, not determined by necessity.
There are some other, often very
symbolic, images of this repressive modelin Finland. Prison rules were detailed andprisoners rights were very limited. I am nota very old man but I can remember
newspapers pictures of remand prisoners
carrying heavy hand and foot chains when
standing in front of court. These chainswere used in the late 1960’s. In 1969, thesecretary of the so called “November
Movement”, Reino Lehtiniemi, took thesechains (nealy 20 kilos) to the United
Nations Human Rights Commission in
Geneva, put them on the table and said:“These are still used in Finland”.
An other example was the excessive useof preventive detention. Hundreds of men,most of them petty property offenders, were
kept in so called “coercive institutions”(that meant under indeterminate
sentence). Some years ago there was aprogramme on Finnish TV about a man, athief, who had spent 26 years in prison,
mostly in “coercive institutions”. He hadstolen bicycles and other things.
Nowadays this preventive detention isused only for dangerous violent recidivists
who (in practice) do not have normal
possibilities for parole. At April 16th, 1998
there were 17 persons who have beendetained by the Prison Court to the“coercive institution”. The amount of“dangerous recidivists” has come downfrom nealy 500 to 17.
Strong criticism and discussion of thecriminal justice system started in the
1960’s in Finland. We had the “November
Movement” which lobbied for different
kinds of marginalized people. We had the

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
Prisoners Union ‘KRIM’ and critical
discussion against the coercive treatment
ideology (and treatment ideology in
general). The neoclassical winds were
blowing in criminal justice and a big partof this criticism was directed towards
prison conditions and administration.
Reform of the prison legislation was madein the middle of 1970’s. Slowly but steadilychanges started to happen. Former critics
and radicals got remarkable positions inthe state administration and universities.
If we simplify the picture a little bit,Finland, the Prodigal Son, returned to thewarm home of the Nordic family. The
Nordic model has sometimes been called“Nordic Minimalism”. What are the basic
features of this model? If I have understoodit correctly, the idea is to make the criminal
justice system as small as possible. Penal
policy, and especially prison sentence, is thelast way to tackle crime, the last resort.
Punishments are not always the best way
to prevent criminality (although sometimes
necessary). As somebody has put it: if in acertain area there is a problem of
dangerous alligators, we can of course try
to shoot them all, but it is sometimes wiser
just to drain the swamp.
There is also one very important idea inthat thinking: crime cannot be prevented
by any means. I think that is why we do
not usually speak about the “war against
crime” in Nordic countries. In a war,
usually all kinds of fighting methods areused. However there are, and must be,values that are above the task to prevent
crime, for example human rights
principles. Professor Raimo Lahti(University of Helsinki) has demanded(1990) that the penal system be bothrational as to its goals (utility) and rational
as to its values (justice, humanness).
The utility criterion means that criminal
justice measures shall be used for theprevention of unacceptable behaviour only
to the extent that proves necessary in a
cost-benefit comparison of criminal policy
measures. This criterion can also be usedin the prison service when consideringvarious proposals. We can for example,
make the prison like a bottle, where noone or nothing comes in or goes out. If thevarious social costs of this policy are higher
than the benefits, it may not be very wise
to do so.
However the criminal justice systemcannot be evaluated only on utilitarian
grounds. Criteriums of justice andhumanness must be taken into
consideration. The harmful effects of crimeand crime control must be distributed
justly between offender, victim and society.
The principles of equality, fairness andpredictability are basic elements of thecriminal justice systems. Thus when
imposing criminal justice measures wemust safeguard due process and also basic
human rights principles.
In Finland, as in all of the Nordic
countries, the prevailing view is thatpunishments primarily have, and should
have, a general preventive effect. One
component of prevention is generaldeterrence, which is related, inter alia, tothe certainty and severity of punishment.
Nordic criminal policy emphasizes
certainty, but not severity.
General prevention, however, also
involves the maintenance of standards ofmorality through the public disapprovalthat the punishment directs at thecriminalized behaviour. Individual
prevention is not considered the primary
goal of punishment. The coercive treatment
of offenders was found to be based onflawed arguments and raised problems
with due process and the control of
discretion.

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This insight does not preclude thedirection of rehabilitation efforts towards,
for example, prisoners serving theirsentence; as long as rehabilitative
considerations are not allowed todetermine the decision on whether or not
to place someone in prison, or how long tokeep him or her in that prison.
II. MODERN CORRECTIONAL
PHILOSOPHYThe Scandinavian or Nordic model has
also meant many practical changes ineveryday prison service andadministration. The basic approach is tokeep the prison system as small as possible,
with prison seen as the ‘last resort’ in crime
prevention. Especially when it comes tojuvenile delinquency, prison sentences havebeen seen as very harmful and we have
tried to avoid using them as far as possible.
Mr. William Rentzmann, who is the
Deputy Director General of the Danish
Department of Prisons and Probation hasvery neatly presented the threecornerstones of modern correctional
philosophy in Nordic countries. They arenormalization, openness and responsibility.
A. Normalization
The idea of Finnish prison legislation isthat prison sentence means only thedeprivation of liberty and no more (inpractice, of course it always means manyother things). So at least the idea is thatsuch things as coldness, darkness, hunger
or restricted diet, prohibition of cigarettes,
books, magazines, loss of civil rights etc.
are not necessary elements ofimprisonment. Everybody who has visited
the Central Prison of Helsinki can say thatthe inmates are not surely living a “normallife without liberty”, but at least
normalization is the direction where wewant to go. Mr. Rentzmann says that in
Denmark, normalization means first of all

274

that the norm is to place a person in an
open prison, i.e. a prison without walls andbars. Approximately two-thirds of Danish
state prisons are open prisons.
B. Openness
This principle is surely a kind ofparadox. The task of the prison is to close
people inside, away from normal life. At thesame time, we try to keep the prison as
open as possible. Openness means manykinds of things: open prisons; good
possibility for visits; uncontrolled conjugal
visits; basically no limitation or censorshipin correspondence; possibility to study andwork outside prison (so called ‘nightprison’); and prison leave.
We have good evidence from the westernsociology of prison and prison communities
that the more closed the prison is, the moreunsafe it is inside. “Hard against hard”, as
it is called, is the atmosphere often created.
The deprivation of safety is a crucial
problem in western prisons, and also in
Finland at the moment. In smaller, open
prisons the atmosphere and relations
between staff and inmates are different,
although the inmates may be the same asin other prisons.
C. Responsibility
For the last two hundreds years, thebasic problem of most western prisons has
been that the main thing they teachinmates is how to live in prisons, how tosurvive. These skills are not always thebest for living life in free world.
We know that this is often a typicalfeature of ‘total institutions’. When I wasin the military service, we were often
discussing what is the basic skill you learn
in the army. Very often the answer was:
how the avoid your responsibilities, how tolive lazy life.
When everything is done for you, whena special person opens the door in front of

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
and behind you, that does not strenghten
your sense of responsibility. Western
prisons can be like large hotels in anegative sense, and the effects can be seen.
When I was working about ten years ago
in the special after-care unit of paroledformer prisoners, it happened very oftenthat a newly released man couldn’t shutthe doors behind him.
Mr. Rentzmann sees it as possible andpositive that prisoners buy and cook theirown food, wash and repair their own
clothes and take responsibility for theirown treatment. We must not forget thatprofessional help can very often deepen theprocess of institutionalization or
prisonization.
One of the main ideas of the prison
legislation reform in Finland in the middleof 1970’s was that a prison sentence is always
harmful for the offender. Because of its total
and punitive character, it cannot rehabilitate
inmates and usually makes their situation
worse. That does not, however, mean thatthe harmful effects are always the same.
It is possible to influence these and so thetask was given to minimize the harmful
effects of imprisonment. Nobody believed
anymore in the coercive treatment ideology,
and so the main task was to shorten thelength of prison sentences.
Social services and participatory
activities are necessary in the process tominimize the harmful effects of a prison
sentence, but we must not expect too muchof them; they cannot abolish criminality
from the society.
Specialized professional skills arenecessary, but one mistake was made when
psychologists, social workers etc. came to
Finnish prisons. We divided the personnel
into two categories: into those who arealways giving ‘negative’ services (guarding,control, disciplinary measures) and into

those who are giving ‘positive’ services(personal help, listening, social services). I
am not sure if this can be wholly avoided,
but at least the canyon between thesegroups must not be so wide. That is why
the Japanese experience is so interestingfrom our point of view. I have read that inJapan not only psychologists andinstructors, but also uniform personnel
with rank, are involved in treatment forrehabilitating convicted inmates.
Correctional treatment officials take on
double duties.
So we in Finland have once again started
to follow other Nordic partners and set atask to broaden the scale of duties of basic
prison officers. Let us not forget that they
have one benefit: they often know theinmate best. A famous American
criminologists, Donald R. Cressey put
forward this demand in 1958:“What is needed is a correctional
technique which is explicitly based ona theory of behaviour and of
criminality and which can beroutinely administered by a rather
unskilled worker in the framework of
the eight-hour shift”.
We can draw some conclusions from theexperience of reform of the Finnish
criminal justice system:•

Nordic minimalism has worked rather
well in our circumstances. Defendingor protecting criminal policy seems to
be a better way than attacking criminal
policy (“war against crime”).

•

The sanction system must be
predictable, not too complicated.

•

If the prison sentence is the most severe
punishment, it is not wise to use it
extensively in petty offenses. There arealternatives: fines, suspended275

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
sentences, community sanctions.
•

Often a short prison sentence (together
with the criminal justice procedure)
fullfills the need for general prevention.

III. THE ROLE OF IMATE LABOUR
IN FINNISH CORRECTIONSWork has always been the heart of theprison. It is included in the definition of
the modern prison system as a correctional
method that will cure the criminal person.
In the beginning the function of inmate
labour was not to harden the sentence, but
to make it more lenient.
The predecessors of the modern western
prison were the so called workhouses,
which started in the sixteenth century, firstin England and in Holland. They gatheredvagrants, criminals and other deviant
persons to teach them how to work. In
Amsterdam there was one workhouse in thesixteenth century where they used to placea wicked inmate in a cell into where water
was flowing uninterruptedly. In the cell
there was a pump that had to be pumped
all the time if the inmate wanted to avoid
drowning.
Always when I relate this piece ofhistory, the listeners are laughing andsaying or thinking: “were it they uncivilized
at that time!”, but let us look a ourselvesin the mirror today. Do we still believe in
the idea that when a man is doing
something mechanically, this action willtransform him or her from an evil person
to a good one? That lazyness and idlenesswill make him or her worse? The positivist
thinking - to find a proper and simple
method to change and resocialize man - isvery deep in our tradition. Because man is
un-fortunately not so simple a creature, wemust look into that mirror every day whendeveloping our prison services andtreatment methods for offenders.

276

Inmate labour has also been in the very
centre of the Finnish prison service in thiscentury. We had in our legislation theprisoners’ work obligation which was more
extensive than in other western European
countries. Before the second world war, weconcentrated on farming and thereclaiming of swamp areas in the central
countryside prisons. After the war, weinvented a new type of institution, the open
labour colony. In the 1970’s a rather heavy
programme of building industrial
workshops and halls started.
As we know, the prison system is like a
big ship that turns very slowly, and thechanges in inmate labour have not adapted
well to the development of society ingeneral. When rapid industrialization wasgoing on in Finland, our prisoners were
keeping cattle or reclaiming swamps. When
we saw the first traces of the fall of the socalled ‘chimney industry’, we built moreroom for metalwork and carpentry
industries. Now, living in middle of theservice trade and information society, weare thinking of what to do. The obligationof work was replaced in 1995 by a morecomprehensive obligation to participate invarious activities arranged in theinstitutions.
Most often, when talking about Finnish
inmate labour, we mention the open labourcolonies, which were established in the
1940’s after the war. It has been said thatthese kinds of institutions are a specificFinnish invention. This view may bechallenged by prison historians, butnevertheless this tradition is interestingand important.
Sometimes the open labour colonies havebeen seen as a new kind of correctional toolin the rehabilitation of the inmates.
However the background of these
institutions was not so much correctional,
as economic. At the end of the 1940’s we108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
had nearly 10,000 prisoners daily inprisons. Overcrowding was a big problem
and a large portion of the prisoners wereskillfull workers. The open labour colonies
were seen as a solution to make use of thispart of the prison population more
efficiently than was possible in closed
institutions.
This type of institution differed from thetraditional prisons in many ways:•

The typical features of the prison milieu
were abandoned: closed complex ofbuildings, walls, bars and steeldoors.

•

Traditional guards and guarding wereabandoned.

•

Detailed regulations for inmates’
everyday life were abandoned.

•

Prison clothing was abandoned.

•

The institution was in many ways more
open than the closed prison
and the most important difference:•

The inmates performed ordinary workfor the same wages available in the
open labour market. That means today
for example, that the prisoner in an
open institution or labour colony earns
ten times as much as a prisoner in aclosed prison.

What were the benefits of open labourcolonies? There was research into thisquestion in the late 1960’s (Paavo
Uusitalo). It was shown that there was no
significant difference in recividism between
similar groups in open colonies as in closed
prisons. So the labour colony was not amore rehabilitative option. It also seemedthat the open colonies had the same
deterrent effect than closed institutions (ifthere is a such effect in general). So thelabour colonies were cheaper, more open
and maybe more humane and moreproducitive.
We are now facing inevitable changes.
During the last 25 years we have more thanhalved our prison population. Many
workshops and industrial halls are nearly
empty of prisoners. The inmates who arecoming in are, in many cases, dropouts
from basic school. They don’t have any
vocational training or experience. Even the
traditional Finnish workman’s ethic may
be vanishing. With this labour force theprison industry cannot be very productive.
Are there any lessons to learn from theexperiences of the Finnish inmate labour?
I’ll try to make some generalizations. They
are of course my own points of view andnot official statements from our prison
administration. I will present these in four
principles.
A. The Principle of Meaning.
Work can be important, especiallybecause meaningful action has animportant role in personal development. I
have worked for several years in theaftercare and employment of released
prisoners and from that experience, I cansay that even rather routine paid work canhave an emancipatory role in a person’s life.
The work carried out can however also
be without any meaning: it can be pureforced labour. We must ask if some very
traditional and mechanic industrial workor maintenance duties in prisons have any
meaning, or to whom they have thismeaning.
Although prisoners’ skills andmotivation for work are nowadays oftenvery low, that doesn’t mean that paid work
does not have any meaning to them. Paid
work and occupational development are so
fundamental in the construction of oursociety that they cannot be replaced very

277

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
quickly. Work is work and a hobby is hobby.
B. The Principle of Normality
This is the lesson that comes from theopen labour colonies and other open
institutions. We can get much closer tonormal life in prisons than we usually
think. We must take the principle ofnormality very seriously, not just as usual
rhetoric. Normality in work life means
normal work conditions, normal
leadership, normal products and services
and before all, normal wages. It also means
normal vocational training. Normality inworklife means today for example,
computers, teamwork and so on. Can it bereality in prisons too?
C. The Principle of Flexbility
When society is changing very rapidly
and unpredicably we shoud not create
systems that will last the next 100 years.
There can be a wide range of activities thatare offered to the inmates. I think thattraditional work can and must have arather strong role in the future. The systemof organizing the work must also be much
more flexible. Education and work canoccur alternately. The labour activities
must be founded on the development ofsociety, not from the history of corrections.
D. The Principle of Connection to
the Society.
As you might know there have beensome western sociologists who see the endof the labour society (Gorz, Illich). I am notgoing to challenge their arguments. At thesame time I am saying that it may not bevery wise to draw direct conclusions of theiranalysis to the employment of released
prisoners.
Although we are probably heading
towards a society of mass unemployment,
I don’t think it is good to start this “freeing
from paid work” with former prisoners. Heor she can be the person who needs

278

employment most. Probably we (the socalled ‘middle class’) are the persons who
can more easily start to live in “creative
idleness” than a former prisoner withvarious social and mental problems.
So I still believe in the idea of
employment in the after-care of a released
prisoner. Thus the activities organized
during the prison sentence must have a roleand connection to this after-care. We knowthat the prison is a social institution whichusually teaches strategies of survival thatare unusable in the society outside theprison walls. But it is not impossible tolearn useful skills and experiences inside
the prison. Let us think all the time whatkind of skills obligatory work teaches tothose persons who are forced to do it.
Finally, as a sociologist, I must remind
you all of one fact. Paid work is much moreessential to the maintaining of social orderin society than all the efforts we are making
in the whole criminal justice system.
IV. A NEW WAY OF
THINKNG:CRIME-BASEDPROGRAMS
I n 1 9 6 0 ’s a n d 1 9 7 0 ’s t h e r e w a s
widespread thinking both in the prison andprobation service in the Nordic andWestern Europe:the social circumstancesof the offender were in the center whencreating efforts to rehabilitate him or her.
That usually meant that jobs, housing andsocial relations were the most important,and sometimes the only things, to workwith in rehabilitation.
There was an active movement against
the coercive methods of treatment. Thisline of solution was not always wrong, but
the bettering of social circumstances did
not solve the problems of very many
offenders (some of them it did however).

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
Sometimes it was even said it was notnecessary to talk about the crime offence
at all. The offender has served his or her
sentence, we can forget the crime. This
concept of human mind was too simplistic,
and it was soon found that ware modes of
behaviour that were compulsive in nature,and they were not prevented by developing
only social services.
At the moment, the idea is to develop
offence and behaviour based programs, notfor all offenders, but for those who haveserious recidivism problems. One exampleof this kind of approach is The Cognitive
Skills Training Program (The Reasoning
and Rehabilitation) which has been boughtfrom the Canadian company (T3Associates, Fabiano & Porporino) byseveral Nordic Prison and Probation
services. This program started in autumn
1997 in six Finnish prisons and in two
regional offices of the Probation and AfterCare Association.
According to the Canadian instructors(Elisabeth A. Fabiano & Frank J.
Porporino) the basic idea in the program is
not to treat, reform or cure the criminals,
but to teach them. The offenders need tobe taught the basic cognitive demands
which, according the lecture of the
instructors, are as follows:•

TO REFLECT (the offenders usuallyjust react to the situation and thenforget the whole thing).

•

TO ANTICIPATE (the offenders do not
anticipate a situation, usually they
react harshly to the resultant
circumstances.

•

TO ADAPT (the offenders do not learn
enough from their experiences, theirthinking is too rigid)
The traditional western prison and otherinstitutions are usually not very well
prepared to teach these kinds of skills tothe offenders. The program focusesparticularly on six areas of deficit which
are the following:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Self control
Cognitive style
Interpersonal problem-solving
Social pespective taking
Values
Critical Reasoning

The program is implemented by thebasic prison officers who have been trainedby the Canadian experts. The program wasdesigned to be completed in thirty-fivesessions of two hours duration overapproximately 8 to 12 weeks.
Another example is to create programsfor sex offenders. A special committee in
Finland made a proposition to start thiskind of special program (a British model)
in one Finnish prison. The need for this israther limited because we have only about
50 sex offenders in our prison population.
Finland has the highest rate of violent
crime, especially homicide, in Western
Europe. So what is needed, is some special
program for violent offenders. We have a
lot of co-operation between different
authorities to prevent suicides in Finland,
but now we must find some ways to prevent
violence and homicides in our coutry.
A. What is the Result of
Rehabilitation?
When you look at the comparetive
research made of the possible results ofdifferent kinds of rehabilitative programs,
usually the basic criteria for success is therecidivism rate or the arrest rate. ºI thinkthat the recidivism rate or arrest rate are
not appropriate for this kind of program
evaluation. They do not always tell muchabout the possible changes that have279

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
happened during the training or
rehabilitation process.
Attitudes, values and skills can develop
although you are still committing somecrime (e.g. because of alcohol and drug
abuse). So there must be different stages
or a kind of hierarchy when thinking about
the results of the rehabilitation of inmatesand clients of the probation service. Thiscan be described in a following way, forexample:1. “Full Rehabilitation” : no recidivism, noserious crimes
2. The partial improvement of thesituation ; crimes are becoming morerare
3. The situation is not worsening ; somepositive things remain
4. Yo u a r e a b l e t o s l o w d o w n t h eworsening of the situation
5. Just easing the pain
After presenting this model we must
seriously ask if it is enough just to ease thepain of offenders and inmates? It might not
be so, but we must remember that demandsof absolute results may lead us tooversimplify the problem. The
rehabilitation of inmates is not an
industrial product, but a complicatedhuman process, where there is no clear
start point or end. Sometimes theserehabilitative programs can be seen likethe Red Cross action during the wars: it is
not ending the war but at least “easing thepain”.
B. Assessment Criteria for the
Rehabilitation and Treatment of
OffendersI have modified the work of some Finnish
substance abuse treatment researchers

280(Saarnio et al.) to create an assessment
criteria for, let us say, high quality
rehabilitation. These are the following
components:
1. ‘Matching’ as a general principle of theprobation services, institutions andprisons. The idea that we can find auniversal form of rehabilitation has
vanished. Some programs or methods ofrehabilitation work for one person, and not
another.
2. We must take into consideration both thecognitive styles of offenders and thecongnitive styles of staff members. We
must try to match these as much as
possible. (When there is only one therapist
and 200 clients, it is not always so easy).
3. Problems of congnitive damage andinjuries must be recognized. Many
offenders have even physical injuries anddamage because of alcohol and drug abuse
for instance.
4. The cultural matching of programs andoffenders. The elements of the programs
and methods must not be culturally
strange to the offenders.
5. The use of mini-intervetions is useful.
Even the giving of basic information about
crimes, drug abuse etc. can have at least
short term impact.
6. Teaching of social skills and self control
is necessary.
7. Teaching of stress management isnecessary.
8. The mechnism of everyday family life
must be taken into consideration.
9. Community Reinforcement Approach(CRA) means a combination of successfulprograms and working methods (family

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
therapy, learning of social skills, getting ajob, group counselling etc.).
10. Systematic after-care and systematic
evaluation are necessary.
The corresponding lists and metaanalyses can be found very often incontemporary literature. At the same time
we can also try to make up lists which are
telling us what is not likely to work.
Programs that are less likely to succeed arethose which:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

rely solely on punishment
lack clearly stated aims
are open-ended
rest on medical or psychotherapeuticmodelsprovide few opportunities for active
participation
ignore or avoid program integrity
are not monitored and evaluated.

C. “Portia vs. Persephone”
Finally I would like to raise an importantand actual question and division, which wemust analyze more when developing ourcriminal justice systems and the treatment
of offenders. In their very interestingarticle (1998) two British scholars, Guy
Masters and David Smith use a division of
criminal justice systems into two different
models. The “Portia” model means abstract,
rational, rights based and in a way,
masculine criminal justice. Contrast to that
we can find the “Persephone” model, which
is more concrete, relational, expressive andfemine model of treatment of criminals.
In their analysis they use the theory andpractice of re-integrative shaming (John
Braithwaite) and also evidence andexperiences from Japanese criminal justiceand corrections to describe the“Persephone” thinking. In this connection
they quote Shitika (1972) who writes:“The Ministry of Justice, by directive,
requires guards to be thoroughlyfamiliar with the backgrounds of all
prisoners assigned to them...A
guard...is expected to know theinmate’s moods and to be in a position
to readily detect any symptoms ofworry, concern, or unusual behaviouron the part of the inmate. He is
expected to counsel the inmate whent h e s e a p p e a r. . . A l t h o u g h s o m eprisoners try to reject their guard
because of the authority that he
carries, the majority regard him as anolder brother or father figure, andreadily accept his guidance andadvice.”They also refer to the importance andtradition of apology in Japan and theydescribe how offenders are expected tomake amends informally to victims in
exchange for a letter of absolution which
is presented to the court. Well known is also
the communal role of the police in Japan.
We must admit that the “Portia” modelin the field of criminal justice has beenrather dominant during the recent decadesin Finland and also in some other Western
European countries. Our experience of thecoercive treatment ideology was so
negative that perhaps we went too far whenreturning to the Classical School. Now it
is time to think more about relational
justice and to learn from that rich traditionand experience of Asian countries, such as
Japan. As Masters and Smith finalize theirarticle:“...we believe that the different voiceof Persephone needs urgently to beheeded. The consequences of heeding
only Portia would be unbearable.”
REFERENCES
Anttila, Inkeri; Incarceration for Crimes

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Never Committed. Research Institute ofLegal Policy, No. 9. Helsinki 1975.
Christie, Nils: Crime Control as
Industry: Towards Gulags Western Style.
London 1993.
Cressey, Donald R.: The Nature andEffectiviness of Correctional Techniques.
Law and Contemporary Problems, Vol. 23,
1958.
Garland, David: Punishment andModern Society: A Study in Social Theory.
Oxford 1990.
Lahti, Raimo: Sub-Regional Criminal
Policy-The Experience of the Nordic
Countries, in Bishop, Norman (ed.):Scandinavian Criminal Policy &Criminology 1985-1990. Stockholm 1990.
Masters, Guy & Smith, David: Portia
and Persephone Revisited: Thinking about
Feeling in Criminal Justice. Theoretical
Criminology, Vol. 2, No. 1/1998.
Questions and Answers about Japanese
Prison System. Correction Bureau,
Ministry of Justice, Japan.
Rentzmann, William: Cornerstones in a
M o d e r n Tr e a t m e n t P h i l o s o p h y :Normalization, Openness andResponsibility, in Prison Information
Bulletin No. 16, June 1992. Council ofEurope.
Ross, R.R. & Fabiano E.: Time to Think:
A Cognitive Model of Delinquency
Prevention and Offender Rehabilitation.
Johnson City 1985.
Shitika, M.: The Rehabilitative
Programmes in the Adult Prisons of Japan.
International Report of Criminal Policy,
vol. 30. No.1, 1972.

282

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERSCOMMUNITY- BASED TREATMENT FOR OFFENDERS IN THE
PHILIPPINES: OLD CONCEPTS, NEW APPROACHES,BEST PRACTICES
Celia Copadocia Yangco*
I. INTRODUCTION
The reintegration of offenders into theirown community and society is one of theuniversally accepted goals of corrections,
whether the latter is carried out ininstitutions or through non-custodial
measures. To ensure that offenders
discharged from detention centers, jails,
penal institutions or rehabilitation centersre-claim their part and role in society, there
is a need to assist them in theirreunification with their families and reentry into the community. Thus, it isimperative to sustain rehabilitation andachieve reintegration through thecommunity-based treatment of exoffenders.
Moreover, the commission of crime is a
result or consequence of the inter-play offactors and conditions in one’s self, theimmediate and bigger environment, andone’s choices and decision-making
processes. Hence, it is necessary that thesehuman and environmental factors are
examined closely and appropriate
measures adopted to assist ex-offenders intheir reintegration efforts.
Recognizing that the community is
usually also the locus of the offense orcrime, the community must be harnessedto assume greater responsibility inreforming offenders and preventing
recidivism. The community and society
must also play vital roles in the eliminationof the psycho-social, economic, and culturalbarriers and other causes of crime in its* Assistant Secretary, Department of Social Welfare
and Development, Philippinnes

environ, in order to prevent crime, ensure
peace, and promote development in thelocality.
To maximize the role of the community
in an offender’s reintegration process, there
is a need to continuously re-examine theconcepts related to community-based
corrections. At the same time, newapproaches that have evolved locally andglobally, related to these concepts, should
be appreciated. In this process, bestpractices in community based corrections
must be documented and replicated, so thatthey continue to be viable alternatives tocustodial care of offenders.
This paper is a modest contribution to
the continuous quest for effective
treatment measures to facilitate thereintegration of offenders into society. It
examines these measures mostly from asocial development perspective, withemphasis on the role of social institutions
such as the family and the community
within the Philippine experience. The term
‘offender’ rather than ‘prisoner’ has been
adopted and used throughout the paper
because it covers both adult and youth
offenders, as well as examines effective
practices before, during and after trial thatare conducive to the rehabilitation of
offenders.
II. RATIONALE FOR COMMUNITYBASED TREATMENT
The international community has longrecognized that the goals of a humane
criminal justice system are best served if
offenders are reintegrated andrehabilitated by means other than283

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
incarceration. In fact, it has been widely
accepted that incarceration or
imprisonment should be a last resort andutilized for those who have committed
serious and heinous crimes, and that
community-based treatment should
instead be promoted whenever possible andfeasible to hasten an offenders’reintegration into society.
Imprisonment leads to other problems
related to an offender’s stigmatization anddesocialization. Often, prisons thwart theoffenders’ potential for growth andexcellence, and spawn dependence andmistrust on their part instead. Prisons
usually alienate offenders from theirfamily, friends and acquaintances. Due toovercrowding, prisons lead todehumanizing conditions, which makereintegration and resocialization even moredifficult.
Prisons spawn the formation of “subcultures” among prisoners that tend toharden them. This is so because prisoners
have to counteract the effects ofdeprivations of imprisonment and theconditions prevailing in jails which areoften rigid and arbitrary.
Corrective actions and treatment
measures are better achieved in a naturalenvironment such as the community where
offenders can highlight and re-live theareas of their life they want to change.
Since the community is the natural locus
for legal, socio-economic and culturalchanges and development, community
based corrections enable offenders to adapt
more effectively to such changes in a more
realistic and flexible manner. The
community also provides a network of
relationships and a range of activities thatenable offenders to know themselves betterin a variety of real life situations, thus
improving their social skills and enhancing
their social functioning.
Moreover, offenders are able to continue
dispensing responsibilities for many dayto-day basic socio-economic commitments

284

such as managing a home, budgeting
resources, deciding on family matters, etc.
when s/he is with their family. This enables
them to maintain self-esteem. Due to their
exposure to the day-to-day realities of life
in society, they are afforded moreparticipation in planning, implementing
and evaluating their reintegration plans innatural settings. The planning process isalso more responsive and relevant because
both constraints and resources in thecommunity are taken into consideration by
the offender in a “here-and-now” situation
which calls for dynamic responses fromthem. This contrasts with imprisonment,
where rehabilitation work is based more
on a reflection of past failures and planningfor the future.
The implementation and evaluation ofrehabilitation and reintegration plans, on
the other hand, can be monitored moreclosely as these are related to the offenders’daily living in the community. Due to this,re-planning can be easily resorted to, basedon immediate feedback.
From an economic point of view, theburden of maintaining an entire prison
bureaucracy is eliminated in communitybased treatment. It is a fact that the costof rehabilitation is relatively cheaperoutside of prison, where huge personnel
complements, operating costs, capitaloutlays and other costs have to be
maintained. The cost of assisting andsupervising offenders is supplemented andcomplemented by existing community
resources and infrastructures, which areotherwise not present in institutionalarrangements.
Moreover, community-based corrections
offer opportunity costs that are not present
in most custodial-care arrangements.
Examples of these opportunity costs are thecosts of income and productive efforts ashead or a member of the family and thecommunity.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
III. OLD CONCEPTS AND NEW
APPROACHES IN THE TREATMENTOF OFFENDERSThe Philippines has been supportive of
the goals of community-based treatment
and has continuously adopted measuresconsistent with the United Nations
Standard Minimum Rules for Noncustodial measures or the Tokyo Rules.
In order to appreciate fully the goals andadvantages of community-based treatmentin the context of the Philippines, there is aneed to revisit the old and traditional
concepts of treating offenders and those of
emerging ones, specifically from a social
development framework.
Social development, as defined by theUnited Nations, is the greater capacity ofthe social system, social structure,
institutions, services and policy to utilize
resources to generate favorable changes inlevels of living, interpreted in the broad
sense as related to accepted social values
and a better distribution of income, wealthand opportunities. Social development
therefore, covers a comprehensive, yet
integrated, field that encompasses
education, health and nutrition, livelihood,social welfare, etc. It involves the servicesof educators, medical practitioners, social
workers, psychologists and other social
scientists that contribute to improvementin the quality of human life.
Doreen Elliott (1993) argues that social
development values represent an ideology
close to that of the values of social work,
except that the values are less individuallyfocused. She argues further that whilesocial work is essentially individuallyoriented and politically conservative, social
development is globally and radicallyoriented. Omer (1979) suggests thathuman dignity, equality and social justice
are key values in a social development
approach. These values are therefore
consistent with those adopted by theUnited Nations Minimum Standard thatencourages countries to pursue crime
prevention and criminal justice within theframework of the promotion of humanrights, social justice and social
development.
From this social development context, it
is best to examine old concepts related tothe treatment of offenders vis-a-vis the new
approaches in this field.
A. Individual Pathology vis-a-vis
Empowerment Approach
The traditional concept of treating
offenders has been towards examining theoffender’s characteristics, behavior, values
and other personal traits and the causes
behind committing a crime, among otherfactors. Criminals would be examined froma criminologic point of view, which usually
led to self-blaming. Thus, the treatment
approach would be individual therapy,
focusing on behavior modification.
The empowerment approach, which isbasically a social development approach,however, looks not only at simplistic unicausal explanations, but at the offender asa “person-in-environment”, i.e., one in a
dynamic relationship with theirenvironment and prescribed roles in variedsocial situations. It assumes aninterdependence of relationships between
the parts (the offender and his/her family)
and the whole (community and society).
Thus, while behavior modification
continues to be a goal in rehabilitation andreintegration, empowerment, which is theharnessing of the offender ’s adaptive
capacities, decision-making abilities andcapability to link and access to outside
resources, is a tandem goal in our present
efforts. Harnessing and honing adaptive
capacities are deemed necessary becauseof the fast changing conditions in theenvironment brought about by
globalization, information technology,
accelerated development and other factors.
The failure of some individuals andfamilies to adapt to such sudden and swift

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
changes brings about crisis in theiradaptation and social functioning. This
therefore calls for harnessing not only theoffender’s capacity to handle crisis, solve
problems, and make right and timely
decisions, but also their own and family’sability to identify resources. Through thisempowerment scheme, they are madeaware of what are the resources fromwithin and outside the family, which they
can tap to address their needs andproblems.
B. Analytical cum Systems
Approaches
Consistent with a lesser emphasis onindividual pathology is the move from theanalytical approach towards a systems
approach. In the analytical approach, thewhole is broken into parts and examinedclosely. Thus, an offender ’s mental,
psychological and socio-economic
conditions are examined thoroughly anddissected carefully as basis for treatment
goals.
In the systems approach, on the other
hand, the parts are linked and integrated
as a whole. It is an inter-disciplinary andholistic approach. Elliott offers a context
model or paradigm for the systems analysis
node of guidance in approaching social
problems, as shown in Table I. It ranges
through the system levels: international,
national, state, regional, local,
organizational, family and individual, andsets these alongside functional social
systems such as economic, political, sociocultural, scientific and religious.
Through this paradigm, problems will beless likely viewed from an individual

TABLE I
SocialSystemEconomic

Context Model for Systems Analysis
Political
Sociocultural
Scientific

Religious

SystemLevel
International

Production

Distribution of
goods,
services,income,wealth,opportunity

Structures,groups,sub-groups

MedicalWorship

National

Distribution

Identifying
needs

Communication
systems

Ecological

Unification
andBonding

State
Regional

Exchange

Value/education
rationalization

Creativity

PhysicalHealing

Local

Power
Recreation
distribution
and maintenance

Organizational

Access to goods

FamilyIndividual286

Education

Mathematicaland services

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
pathology but from a systems approach.
Elliott is cited as an example of theexamination of the interface between
economic (on the social system dimension)and the drug culture and the individual (onthe system level). Drug culture offers many
young people in the cities a quick way toachieve material goals, which may beclosed to them through legitimate means.
The lack of social stimulation and a poor
environment clearly impinges on drugrelated behavior. Current responses suchas border control and the growth of prisonsemphasize social control.
A social development approach, however,would address the problems at various
levels, namely:(1) individual therapy so that immediateand short term considerations are notignored;(2) economic re-structuring with a focus
on urban and rural poverty;(3) preventive educational campaigns;
and(4) empowerment schemes.
Thus, participants in the drug culture
would not be seen as criminal or sick perse, but as underprivileged and victims ofsocial injustice.
C. Micro-Macro Continuum
Approach
The foregoing discussions lead to theadoption of a micro-macro continuum in theprevention of crime and treatment ofoffenders. It links micro, or individual
therapy approaches, to macro or systems
approaches that enable multi-level andmulti-system intervention.
These multi-level approaches andinterventions from the Philippines
experience include:
1. Total Family Approach
A recognition of the importance which
the family plays in the commission of crimeand on the offender ’s rehabilitation

continues to be the focus of contemporarycommunity-based corrections in the
country. Today not only is the offender thefocus of intervention, but also their family
as well. Realizing and recognizing that thecrime offenders commit can be a symptomof a deeper problem or dysfunctioning
within the family, the family members are
assisted and harnessed to realize theirpotentials as individuals in this most basic
unit of society.
The family has been considered as a
primary support group for the offender’srehabilitation and eventual reintegration.
Most rehabilitation efforts are focused on
maintaining harmonious relations between
the offender, their family and thecommunity; strengthening andempowering them altogether. This stems
from the realization that in a number of
instances, the offender ’s reason forcommitting a crime is family-related i.e.,
the family is poor or hungry, lacking inbasic amenities, needing hospitalization,
etc.. Family-related concerns are also
reasons frequently given by offenders fortheir escape from jails, prisons or
rehabilitation centers and their desire tobe free.
The influence of family members is also
evident in the rehabilitation process,especially since most family members
constitute the “significant others” in an
offender’s life; thus providing a source of
motivation, help and “healing” to theoffender.
The total family approach in communitybased corrections looks at the offender inthe context of their family - its strengths
and weaknesses, its resources andproblems, potentials and constraints.
Family resources- both human andmaterial - are pooled together so that theoffender’s reintegration can be hastened
and facilitated, while at the same time
addressing the problems of other family
members.
Family-centered treatment is therefore

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
adopted and maximized by organizations
to assist the offender and their family. For
example, due to realization of theimportance of the family as a support
system, youth offenders who no longer havefamilies are placed in foster care, wage
homes or are afforded kinship-support
assistance to ensure that they are provided
the benefits and advantages of living in anatural, home-life situation andatmosphere.
2. Community Structure Support
Next to the family, the immediate
community is seen as a valuable support
system for an offender. The community
should assume primary responsibility forthe offender, as it is usually the origin ofcrime. It is in the community where theoffender’s roots are, where his/her peers
and friends are often found, where they canbe further educated and trained, where
they practice their religion, pursue life
goals and continuously strive to belong. It
is also a resource for their and their family,
in times of need and desolation, and towhich they and their family also contribute
their share and resources wheneverpossible. The community is thus the bigger
locus for an offender ’s change andtransformation given its resources,
networks and the opportunities it offers to
pursue a productive and useful life.
New approaches in community-based
treatment involve the harnessing andmaximization of community structures
outside of the family. Schools, the church,community leaders and members, nongovernment, voluntary and people’sorganizations, civic associations, businessgroups and other sectors, in addition to
government, should be tapped andmobilized to contribute their resources tothe treatment and reintegration of
offenders, and the strengthening of theirfamilies. These community structurescomplement and supplement the services
for offenders offered by the State.

288

Wi t h t h e m u s h r o o m i n g o f n o n governmental organizations, people’sorganizations, civic, religious orprofessional groups, and other community
structures, there are now many resources
to help offenders and their families leadproductive and meaningful lives.
Volunteer groups have become necessarycomponents in the rehabilitation of
offenders and their reintegration. Both at
the institutional and non-institutionalsettings, volunteer groups form part of therehabilitation resources. They are utilized
in the educational, physical, spiritual,social and cultural activities of offenders.
The Department of Social Welfare andDevelopment (DSWD) has a Volunteer
Intervention Program for Youth in Conflictwith the Law, which utilizes senior citizens,
women groups, civic, religious and otherorganizations and individuals. These
volunteers are trained and provided
technical assistance in their volunteer
work of assisting and monitoring the youth
as they are rehabilitated and reintegrated
into society.
The Department of Justice correctional
bureaus also utilize volunteer groups to alarge extent. The Probation and Parole
Administration (PPA) utilizes volunteer
probation aides which assist probation
officers in rehabilitating parolees andprobationers. Likewise, volunteers are
utilized in penitentiaries and penal
institutions.
The local government units and the
Bureau of Jail Management and Penology,
under the Department of Interior and Local
Government, also utilize volunteers to agreat extent in educational, medical,
religious, cultural and recreational
activities.
3. Maximizing Socio-Cultural Values as
Treatment Stimulus
The role of culture in crime prevention
and the treatment of offenders has long
been recognized. In the Philippines,

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
certain cultural values are maximized toassist in the reintegration of offenders andin their “healing “ process.
Among the strengths of the Filipino
character is a deep faith in God or belief ina Supreme Being. Such belief arouses
reverence, gratitude, the will to obey andserve and other positive values. In
ordaining and promulgating the country’s
Constitution, and in everyday life, theFilipino people invoke the aid of Almighty
God, whether this God at the individuallevel is Jesus Christ, Allah, Buddha,
Jehovah, etc.. We ascribe human traits,
our fate, and fortune to a supernatural God
whom we honor and love. This enables us
to accept reality in the context of God’s will
and plan. Due to this sense of spirituality,
we can be optimistic even at the mostpressing of times. Spirituality encourages
a life with values based on truth and loverather than the acquisition of material
things.
This sense of spirituality is thus
recognized and considered in formulating
treatment measures for the socially andeconomically disadvantaged, including
offenders. The spiritual dimension ofreintegration not only into the family andthe community, but also with one’s Creator
makes the treatment plans more complete
and holistic. It also makes the offender
more remorseful and insightful because of
the belief that “man does not live by breadalone” and that s/he must also take care ofwhat happens to their spirit.
Spiritual programs are therefore
integrated among the services andopportunities afforded to offenders, both ininstitutional and non-institutionalsettings, enabling them to strive towards
moral purity and healthy living inaccordance with God’s intent and purposes.
Moreover, among the regular volunteers
in prisons, jails or rehabilitation centers,
as well as community-based programs, arespiritual and religious groups. These
groups contribute to the improvement andbetterment of the offenders’ personality
and character, by giving deeper meaning
to life and the enhancement of thecorrections’ programs.
4. Devolution of Basic Services
Recent development of management
practices at the sub-regional levels of thecountry have also contributed to the micromacro continuum of the treatment ofoffenders. In 1992, the national
government through the Local Government
Code, devolved responsibility for theprovision of basic services, together withthe corresponding funds, manpower andother resources, to the local government
units in the provinces, cities, municipalities
and barangays (villages). This signaled thechange of responsibility from national
agencies to local government units over theprovision of basic social services. Includedin this devolution is the management ofcommunity-based services along with thesocio-economic development of families
within the local government’s area of
responsibility. Local government units
have therefore taken primary roles in the
alleviation of poverty among theirconstituencies, the promotion of peace andorder, and socio-economic development intheir areas.
Due to this devolution, support services
needed for the rehabilitation andreintegration of offenders into thecommunity became closer and moreaccessible to them and their families. Inview of the autonomy given to local
governments, they have embarked on new
and innovative ways of managing andadministering basic social services aimed
at improving the lives of their constituentsand promoting growth with equity. This
move complemented the strengthening offamilies and communities as support
groups for the disadvantaged such as theoffenders. It also afforded local
governments the opportunitiy to craft newservices that are relevant and responsive

289

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
to the local residents, given their resources
and the problems to be confronted. In fact,
a number of provincial governments havemade innovations in the management ofprovincial jails which are now under them,a welcome development in thereintegration of offenders.
5. Adoption of Social Reform Agenda
In 1994, the Philippines launched theSocial Reform Agenda (SRA) which is thecommitment of the Ramos Administration
to attain a balance between economic
growth and social equity. The SRA is a
package of programs and reforms that
addresses the minimum basic needs offamilies, and the reform needs of basic
sectors to reduce poverty. It is likewise astrategy of effectively converging all sectors— government, civil society and businesssectors-and matching their programs with
the needs of target communities andfamilies. It is aimed at improving thequality of life of Filipino families, especiallythose whose income falls below the poverty
threshold.
A feature of the SRA that directly relates
to the reintegration of offenders andstrengthening of their family is the use of
the Minimum Basic Needs (MBN)
approach in assessing the socio-economic
levels of poor families. It addresses
purposively the survival, security andenabling needs of poor families through 33
indicators.
The MBN for survival comprise ofmaternal and child health, adequate
nutrition, water and sanitation and basic
clothing. The MBN regarding security isaddressed by the program in terms ofincome and employment, security andsafety of families, and housing.
Specifically, under the security minimum
basic needs, two indicators are identified
directly with crime prevention, i.e.,
Indicator no. 18 (no family member is tobe victimized by crime against persons) andIndicator no. 19 (no family member is to290

be victimized by crime against property).
Since there is a purposive targeting offamilies in given communities through the
MBN, the poor conditions that spawn crimeand impinge on the successful
reintegration of offenders are improved.
Also, the prevention of crime is mademanifest at the family and village levels,
because target families of the program
consciously exert efforts to prevent crimeand avoid being victims or offenders.
The enabling needs addressed are
education, people’s participation and family
care/psycho-social requirements.
IV. MODALITIES IN THE
TREATMENT OF OFFENDERS IN
THE PHILIPPINES
Like many countries, the correctional
system in the Philippines has both an
institution-based and a community-based
component. It also has separate treatment
systems for youth offenders and adultoffenders.
The custodial care of adult offenders ishandled by the following:
1. The Bureau of Jail Management andPenology (BJMP) under the
Department of Interior and Local
Government (DILG) which has
supervision over all district, city andmunicipal jails and detention centers.
These jails house detainees awaiting
judicial disposition of their case andoffenders whose sentence range fromone (1) day to three (3) years.
2. The Provincial Governments, whichhave supervision and control overprovincial jails. These jails housecourt detainees and prisoners whose
prison terms range from six (6)months and one (1) day, to three (3)years.
3. The Bureau of Corrections (BUCOR)

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
under the Department of Justice(DOJ), which has control over thenational penitentiary and its penal
farms, houses convicted offenders
with prison sentences ranging fromthree (3) years and one (1) day, to life
imprisonment.

administered by the DSWD through its
regional field offices nationwide, incoordination with the local government’ssocial welfare and development offices.
After-care and follow-up services are
likewise carried out for youth offenders by
the DSWD.

Youth offenders in the Philippines aretreated differently. A youth offender isdefined as a child over nine (9) years but
below eighteen (18) years of age at the timeof the commission of an offense. Under thecountry’s laws, these youth offenders areentitled to a suspended sentence. Insteadof serving their sentence, they are
rehabilitated in regional youth
rehabilitation centers, which are managed
and supervised by the Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD). There
are ten (10) rehabilitation centers for youth
offenders, one of which is a National
Training School for Boys and the other, aNational Training School for Girls. Theirstay in the center can be shorter than theirsentence term, depending on how they
respond to the rehabilitation process
therein.
The non-institutional treatment of adultoffenders is managed primarily by the
Department of Justice (DOJ) through its
Parole and Probation Administration and
the Board of Pardons. Probation for adultoffenders is available to those whose
penalty of imprisonment does not exceed
six (6) years. It is considered as a matterof privilege and not of right. Hence, theadult offender has to apply for probation
before the court upon conviction. This isalso true for the parole system.
The Department, in cooperation withother agencies and the Asia Crime
Prevention Philippines Inc. (ACPPI), now
operates the recently constructed
Philippine-Japan Halfway House, a newalternative for treating adult offenders.
On the other hand, community-based
rehabilitation services for the youth are

V. BEST PRACTICES INCOMMUNITY BASED TREATMENT
After revisiting the concepts, approaches
and modalities in community-based
treatment of offenders in the Philippines,
an appreciation of the “best practices” oreffective treatment measures during the
pre-trial, trial, post trial and post
institutionalization is in order.
1. Pre-Trial(1)The “Katarungang
Pambarangay” (Village Justice
System)The Philippines takes pride in the factthat it has a unique and indigenous wayof settling disputes and treating
offenders at its smallest political unit
level - the village or “barangay”. The
system is called “Katarungang
Pambarangay” and is aimed at theamicable settlement of disputes at thebarangay level. Established in 1978, itaims to promote the speedy, peaceful andinexpensive administration of justiceand to relieve the police, prosecutors’
offices and courts of concileable cases.
Settlements and awards rendered under
this system have the force and effect ofa final court judgment.
Under the jurisdiction of the“Katarungang Pambarangay” are all
disputes which are punishable byimprisonment not exceeding one (1) year
or a fine not exceeding P5,000 between
and among parties actually residing inthe same village, city or municipality.
Non-criminal cases outside of thecoverage of the Katarungang

291

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Pambarangay may be referred, foramicable settlement, to the “Lupong
Tagapamayapa” or peacekeeping board
at any time before trial by the police,prosecutor or court.
This peace-keeping board carries out
the functions of the Katarungang
Pambarangay and is created in each of
the more than 42,000 barangays/villages
in the Philippines. It is headed by thebarangay Chairman and not less than10, nor more than 20, members selected
every three (3) years from among thebarangay residents or persons working
in the barangay not otherwise
disqualified by law.
A three-member “pangkat na tagapagkasundo” or mediation team isconstituted from among the Lupong
Tagapamayapa to continue conciliatory
efforts when the barangay chairman
fails to amicably settle disputes
submitted before the Lupon.
This form of justice administration
enables both the victim and the offender
the opportunity to amicably settle theirdisputes amongst people who have amore intimate knowledge of them, andtherefore the reasons for their dispute.
Due to their proximity to the locus of thecrime, the Lupon members are also able
to take stock of the socio-economic andcultural dimensions of the dispute andthus have a better understanding of thecrime and the parties involved.
Consequently, since the barangay
chairman, who is the chief executive
officer at the village level, is also thechair of the Lupon, he/she can link theparties involved in productive andmeaningful endeavors and address theroot causes of or contributory factors totheir problems which may be present in
the community which she heads. These
community factors may include the lackof employment, the presence of vices,
negative peer influences and so forth.
Thus, the early detection of possible

292

offenders and the correction of their
negative behavior can hopefully bebetter addressed in a manner that ismore responsive and relevant to themthrough the Katarungang Pambarangay
which prevents their further
involvement in crimes and offenses.
(2)Release on Recognizance andOther Diversion Services
A Filipino juvenile who comes inconflict with the law whether at thebarangay or police level is immediately
referred to the Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD), or
the local social welfare offices, by virtueof the provisions of the Child and YouthWelfare Code or Presidential Decree(PD) 603 enacted in 1974, way ahead of
the Beijing Rules. This law provides full
protection of the rights of Filipino
children and youths and enhances their
meaningful participation in national
development, regardless of their sociocultural and economic status in life.
Through community-based diversion
services, social welfare workers arecalled upon to assist youths who havecome in conflict with the law as early as
when they come to the attention of the
Lupon Tagapamayapa at the barangay.
They also visit detention centers andjails regularly i.e., at least once a week,
to check whether there are women andyouth offenders in detention. These
workers also maintain close coordination
with Women Desks and Child and Youth
Relations Units of police stations, whichhave Women Desk Officers and Childand Youth Relations Officers among thepolice force. So juvenile offenders arediverted from the criminal justicesystem, released on recognizance andplaced under supervision of a responsible
adult or are reunited with his/her family
under the supervision of a social worker.
Once diverted or out of detention, theyouths are assisted in their problems, in108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
the context of their family conditions andsituations, through the formulation of atreatment and rehabilitation plan. Mostof them are assisted to go back to school,
to gain some skills or, if already able towork, assisted in having self or open
employment. Their families’ concerns
are also looked into and they are linked
to resources that can help them.
This scheme enables the youth to beprotected, rehabilitated and trained forsocio-economic and civic responsibility
for the betterment of himself/herself,
their family and community, without
undergoing unnecessary detention andeventual alienation.
The Republic Act 306 or the Releaseon Recognizance Law also applies tooffenders whose penalty is six (6) months
or less and/or a fine of P2,000.00. They
are usually released in to the custody ofa responsible person in the community,
instead of posting a bail bond.
2. Trial or Adjudication Stage(1) Suspended Sentence for Youth
Offenders
Under the provisions of the Child andYouth Welfare Code, the execution of thesentence of youth offenders is suspended
and s/he instead is either committed tothe care and custody of the DSWD’s
rehabilitation centers for youths, orplaced under its custody supervision/
probation servise.
The probationary treatment ofjuvenile offenders in the Philippines
preceded that of the adult offenders andstarted on December 3, 1924 when Act
3202, the first juvenile delinquency lawof the land was passed. The probation
service for the youth offenders starts
when, after formal adjudication, s/he isreleased to their family, guardian or
responsible person in the community
under the direct supervision of theDSWD, instead of commitment to ayouth rehabilitation center. The

placement continues until such time that
the Court terminates the case upon
proper recommendation of the DSWD
social worker.
The social worker and the youth,
together with their family, prepare atreatment and rehabilitation plan thatguides the youth. Linkages and referral
to community services and institutions
such as school, the church, nongovernment organizations and othergovernment agencies are maintained toenable the early reintegration of the
youth offender.
Commitment to a DSWD
rehabilitation center for youths alsooffers various opportunities for an
offender ’s early reintegration to thec o m m u n i t y. S i n c e t h e D S W D ’s
rehabilitation centers are open
institutions and are situated in theregions where offenders come from, theyouth is afforded an opportunity tointerface with the community or
experience homelife conditions in a
number of ways that are conducive toreintegration and rehabilitation. These
opportunities are integrated in a
package of programs and services withthe acronym “SHEPHERDS”, namely:(a) Social Services: The DSWD social
workers in rehabilitation centers takethe lead not only in the formulationof treatment plans but also in the
integration of services for the offenderand their family. The social worker
ensures that offenders are afforded
individualized treatment by therehabilitation team. Case conferences
are done regularly among therehabilitation team members tomonitor the progress of treatment
plans.
In addition to providing the youth
casework and counseling services, therehabilitation centers provide
opportunities for the youth to293

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
continue contact with their family not
only by mail, but also through regular
visitations by the offender to theirfamily and vice-versa. The centers
also celebrate a “Family Day” once amonth where the youths’ families areinvited to a day of inter-action not
only with their children, but also withthe latter ’s fellow wards, social
workers, substitute houseparents
and the Center’s other personnel.
The youth can also be granted an“out-on-pass” privilege through thecourt to attend important family
developments such as when a parent
is sick or passed away; during
Christmas and New Year, and othersignificant occasions, based on good
behavior.
To ensure the successful reintegration of the offenders into theircommunity, the Center staff involvethe community-based social workers
in the treatment planning andimplementation, where the latterattends to the needs of the offender’sfamily. As early as the treatment
planning stage, reintegration isalready included as a goal for theoffender’s family. For instance, where
an offender’s problem stems from thefact that their family has a low
income, his/her siblings are not inschool, or his/her parents lackparenting skills, the community
social worker addresses theseconcerns and reports progress onthese efforts to the Center staff.
The center-based and communitybased social workers also collaborateon the discharge planning for theoffender. Eventually, the community
social worker provides supervision
and after care services to thedischarged offender to ensure thatthe reintegration plan is put into
action.

294(b) Homelife Services: enables the youth
to learn household chores such as
shopping, cooking, cleaning, making
beds, etc., as well as positive values
in relation to their present homebased roles as son/daughter, brother/sister, etc., in addition to those roles
they will assume in the future if theychoose to have their own families.
(c) Educational Services: these centersutilize existing schools within thevicinity or, if the schools are within
the center, the youths in the nearby
community are allowed to avail of thecenter ’s school. This enables the
youth offender to be mainstreamed
and to interface with other youths
without cases, thus preventing theirfurther alienation. In a few instances,offenders are allowed to pursue
education beyond high school incooperation with nearby colleges anduniversities.
(d) Psychological Services: provide theyouth opportunities to understandthemselves better, to know how tobehave in a group, and to relate withothers. Upon admission, the youth
undergoes psychological testing
which is utilized in the crafting of thetreatment and reintegration plan,and in helping them modify their
behavior according to the sociocultural norm of the community.
Through this service, individual andgroup sessions are held with theCenter’s residents.
(e) Health Services: are provided toyouth offenders to hasten their
physical development. Medical anddental services enable the youth toattain physical well being that
contributes to their personality
development and sense of security as
they prepare to be reintegrated into

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
their community.
(f) Economic Programs and Services in
Rehabilitation Centers: provide skills
training, entrepreneurial or business
management exposure and direct
experience in productivity or
livelihood projects to the offenders.
The skills or crafts they are trainedin and exposed to are in accordancewith their “back-home situation”. For
example, if an offender comes froman agricultural area, s/he is trainedin agricultural productivity skills.
The offender is also equipped with theappropriate work ethics and values
relevant to their work when they are
finally discharged from therehabilitation center, thus ensuringthat reintegration is easier.
(g) Recreational Services: are likewise
made available to the offender in linewith their interest and physicalcondition. Recreation can come in theform of indoor or outdoor games andsports, television viewing, painting,reading, and the like. Their exposure
to sports enables the offender topractice discipline, sportsmanshipand know how to relate with others.
(h) Developmental Services: are also
afforded to the offenders throughtheir exposure to group meetings,
consultations, and other groupexperience. The offenders areorganized into youth groups known
as “Pag-asa (Hope) Youth Association(PYA)” which becomes a means foroffenders to participate in theplanning and decision-making
processes inside the Center. Since the
PYA is also present in the community
where they live, it becomes easier forthe offender to be re-integrated into
the community by linking them withexisting PYA groups in the area.

Their experience as a member orleader of the youth group enables
them to have planning andmanagement skills that will be useful
should they wish to be active
members of their barangay
development councils and/or assumecommunity leadership roles in the
future.
(i) Socio-cultural Programs: are likewise
available in the DSWD’s
rehabilitation centers. These include
cultural presentations that enable
the youth to develop their talents andskills along theater, acting, drama,
dancing, singing, etc., as well as toappreciate cultural practices handed
over from one generation to another,to deepen their roots and love ofcountry.
Spiritual programs are part of thiscategory of services for the offender.
By experiencing a deeper relationshipwith their Creator, the offenders areafforded more guidance, protection,liberation and friendship. Throughthis program, they are encouraged tohave faith in their capacity to change,
and in God, and in God’s plan forthem. They are made to understandthat they are unique and have a
distinct role to play to make the world
a better place, hence are enabled toperform all their daily roles with careand enjoyment.
The statistics of the DSWD for 1996 and1997 indicate that for every one (1) youth
offender served in the Rehabilitation
Centers, a corresponding number of four(4) offenders avail of custody supervision/
probation in the community, or a ratio of
1:4 institutional versus non-institutional
treatment. Table II details these figures.
From the figures in the table II, it can begleaned that community-based treatment
has been maximized for youth offenders by

295

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
the DSWD. This is not only in line withthe country’s support for the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, but inaccordance with the provisions of thePhilippine Constitution which recognizes
the vital role of the youth in nationbuilding, and promotes and protects their
physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual andsocial well-being.
TABLE II
NO. OF YOUTH OFFENDERSSERVED BY DSWD (1996 - 1997)
Corrections Mode
1. Served in 10
Rehabilitation Centers
2. Served throughCustody/Supervision
TOTAL

1996

1997

1,861

1,691

7,361
9,222

6,747
8,438

Source: DSWD Planning Service(2) Probation for Adult Offenders
Probation for adult offenders in thePhilippines came much later than that foryouth offenders. Started in 1976 throughPresidential Decree (PD)968, adultprobation can be availed only once, andusually only by first time offenders, forpenalties of imprisonment not exceedingsix (6) years. Thus, an offender has to apply
for probation before the court uponconviction.
Probation as defined in the PD, refers
to a disposition under which a defendant,
after conviction and sentence, is released
subject to conditions imposed by the Court
and under the supervision of a probation
officer. The investigation and supervisionof probationers are latched on the
Department of Justice’s Parole andProbation Administration (PPA) which was
created upon the passage of PD 968 in
1976, and which has administrative
authority over probation officers.
Probation supervision aims to bring about
the rehabilitation of the probationer and296

their re-integration into the community.
The probationers are afforded by the
PPA the opportunity to continue education(whether formal or non-formal), be
employed or engaged in income generating
activities and pursue other worth-while
projects while under supervision. These
are carried out directly by the PPA or
through coordination with othergovernment agencies such as the DSWD,
the Department of Education, Culture andSports (DECS) and local government
agencies, as well as private and civic
groups. While already a form ofcommunity-based treatment by itself,
probation in the Philippines allows forearly termination of probation cases oncertain grounds.
The following probationers are eligible
for recommendation of early terminationof their cases:(1) Those who are suffering from serious
physical and/or mental disability suchas the deaf-mute, lepers, the crippled,the blind, the senile, the bed-ridden,
and the like.
(2) Those who do not need further
supervision as evidenced by thefollowing:(a) Consistent and religious compliancewith all the conditions imposed in
the order granting probation;(b) Positive response to the programsof supervision designed for theirrehabilitation;(c) Significant improvements in theirsocial and economic life;(d) Absence of any derogatory record
while under probation;(e) Marked improvement in their
outlook in life through becomingsocially aware and responsible
members of the family andcommunity; and(f) Significant growth in self-esteem,
discipline and self-fulfillment.
Provided that, the probationers involved
have already served one-third of the

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
imposed period of probation; and provided
further, that in no case shall the actual
supervision period be less than six (6)months.
(3) Those who have:(a) To travel abroad due to any of thefollowing:· An approved overseas job contract
or any other similar documents;or· An approved application for
scholarship, observation tour or
study grant for a period not lessthan six (6) months; or· An approved application for
immigration;(b) To render public service:· Having been elected to any public
office; or· Having been appointed to any
public office.
Provided, however, that the probationers
involved have fully paid their civil
liabilities, if any.
(4) Other probationers who have fully
cooperated with/participated in the
programs of supervision designed fortheir rehabilitation and who aresituated under conditions/circumstances similar in nature to
those above described at the discretionof the proper authorities.
3. Post-Trial Stage(1) Open Prison Programs
The Bureau of Corrections (Bucor)
under the Department of Justice also
maintains penal colonies and farms
outside of prisons where deserving
prisoners can bring their families.
They are also allowed to engage inlivelihood by being contract farmers,
cultivating a piece of land, raising
livestock and poultry, engaging indifferent crafts for their subsistence
and being involved in other economic
and socio-cultural activities. This open

arrangement also enhances
reintegration efforts for ex-offenders
and their re-adjustment in community
setting.
(2) Pardon
The act of forgiving the wrongdoing of
an offender and which is conducive toearly reintegration, is also practiced in
the Philippines. Under Philippine Law,a Board of Pardons and Parole oversees
this program and recommends to the
President of the Republic the grant ofexecutive clemency to certain
prisoners. Executive clemency refers
to either the commutation of sentence,absolute pardon and conditional
pardon, with or without parole
conditions as may be granted by the
President upon recommendation of theBoard.
(3) Parole
Which refers to the conditional releaseof an offender from a penal orcorrectional institution after s/he hasserved the minimum period of theirprison sentence under the continued
custody of the State and underconditions that permit theirreincarceration if s/he violates a
condition for their release, is also
administered by the Parole andProbation Administration (PPA).
The Board of Pardons and Parole,
which recommends both pardon andparole privileges to the President, doso under the policy of “uplifting andredeeming valuable human material toeconomic usefulness and to prevent
unnecessary and excessive deprivationof personal liberty”.
4. Post-Institutionalization(1) Halfway House for Adult Prisoners
An essential transition arrangement
between institutional placement,
especially among prisoners or offenders
long confined in closed institutions, and297

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54that of community-based services isthat of a halfway house. A halfway
house, as the term connotes, is a
residential facility where released
prisoners can be provided theopportunities to gradually adjust tocommunity life, and to prepare themfor full reintegration to society.
The first halfway house for offenders
in the Philippines was that for youth
offenders. Set up in the mid-1960’s ina regular community in Quezon City,
Metro Manila, this halfway house,
known as a Youth Residence, wassupervised by the DSWD for youth
offenders released from the National
Training School for Boys (NTSB). At
that time, there was only one
reformatory school for boys. Whenregional youth rehabilitation centerswere established all over the country
in the late 1970’s, the need for the YouthResidence was no longer seen asnecessary. This was because theregional centers provided a communitybased setting for the youth offenders
that hastened their reintegration
process without the necessity of going
through a halfway house. Thus, theYouth Residence was phased out in
1979.
It was, however, a different case for
adult prisoners confined in the national
penitentiary, who needed a halfway
facility because the national penal
institution was situated in Metro
Manila. Thus in 1996, a PhilippinesJapan Halfway House was started toprovide residential setting for releasedor pre-released prisoners. The facility
was a joint effort of the Asia Crime
Prevention Foundation (ACFP), theNagoya West Lions Club, and UNAFEI
from the Japanese end, while the Asia
Crime Prevention Philippines, Inc.
(ACPPI), the Department of Justice,
the National Police Commission, theDepartment of Social Welfare and298

Development, the Muntinlupa Lions
Club, and other non-governmentalorganizations provided the support
from the Philippines end.
The halfway house provides home
life and group living experiences to theadult ex-offenders, offers them
opportunities for vocational andeconomic skills, and subsequently job
placement and employment. The
residents are likewise afforded
opportunities to grow emotionally,
mentally, physically and spiritually for
their eventual reintegration into theirfamily and community. A multidisciplinary team of social workers,
psychologists, educators, and otherrehabilitation workers manage thehouse.
(2) After Care Services
Youth offenders discharged from the
DSWD’s rehabilitation centers areprovided after care services upondischarge up to a period of one (1) year.
As discussed earlier in this paper, social
workers in the communities where theyouth come from are involved early inthe formulation of the treatment anddischarge planning. Thus, they are
maximized in monitoring and assisting
the discharged youth in thereintegration process. Communication
is maintained between the center andcommunity social workers on theminor ’s status, and those of theirfamily, to determine if they needfurther assistance.
The youth is assisted by thecommunity social worker to either goback to school, acquire productivity
skills or be employed if of employableage. Meanwhile, the halfway house for
adult prisoners also provides after-caremonitoring for ex-residents of thehouse, in coordination with the DSWD
and DOJ regional and field offices, local
government units and other entities.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
VI. LESSONS LEARNED:NEED FOR AN INTEGRATEDAPPROACH IN REINTEGRATING
EX-OFFENDERSThe management of community-based
treatment measures for persons in conflictwith the law has its share of problems andweaknesses. Firstly, low priority has been
given to budgetary outlays and support foroffenders and prisoners because of thestigma attached to crimes and offenses.
Secondly, the general public perception on
offenders continues to be in the context thatthey have violated laws and human rights.
Thus, continuous advocacy efforts have to
be done to change the mind set about
offenders and their capacity to berehabilitated and be productive.
Thirdly, while village level efforts arewelcome and widely used, personal andfamilial ties sometimes influence decisions
at that level, thus, affecting the efficacy ofsome corrective measures. This is a
disadvantage of the informal system, which
can be addressed by constant orientation,
information, and education of community
leaders and residents.
Fourthly, while youth offenders arewelcomed easily, adult offenders are lessaccepted by communities because of thefact that they are perceived to have fullcognisance of their offenses andwrongdoing. Thus, there are more
opportunities for youth offenders thanadult, because of the perceived higher
chance of rehabilitation by the latter.
The fifth, and most important lesson, isthat investing in prevention anddevelopmental programs, to ensure
economic stability and social equity among
the populace, is far better and less costlier
than the treatment of offenders. This is inconsonance with the old saying that “anounce of prevention is better than a poundof cure.” Thus, the government and civil
services are investing in strengthening
families as a basic unit of society thatshould nurture, care and develop its
members to be useful and responsible
members of society.
Crime prevention and the treatment ofoffenders are among the most importanttasks and responsibilities of governments.
This fact is confirmed by the 1997 WorldBank Development Report that listed thefive fundamental tasks of the States in ourchanging world. The five tasks are:
1. Establishing a foundation of law.
2. Maintaining a non-distortionary
policy environment, including macroeconomic stability.
3. Investing in basic social services andinfrastructure.
4. Protecting the vulnerable.
5. Protecting the environment.
Clearly, tasks numbers 1 and 4 (above)cover crime prevention and control andtreatment of offenders, respectively. Thus
states of the world should invest in thisendeavor in order to ensure that its
development goals are achieved and its
progress attained.
To fully operate these state tasks,
particularly in the field of the communitybased treatment of offenders and exoffenders, there is a need for acomprehensive and integrated planning,
implementation, monitoring andevaluation system between and among thefive (5) pillars of the criminal justice. Since
these pillars have the same goals that vary
only in degree of congruence and emphasis,
they form a chain of efforts to rehabilitate
and reintegrate offenders. These pillars
constitute the sectors in a reintegration
continuum: community (development,
prevention, early detection); law
enforcement (interrogation,detention);prosecution (investigation); courts(adjudication); corrections (retribution,
rehabilitation)
The initial step towards this integrated
approach is ensuring a common paradigm
in reintegration that starts and ends withthe community as the vital and leading

299

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
component of a reintegration continuum.
Proceeding from a systems approach inrehabilitation, reintegration goals must
permeate and be integrated in all pillarsof the criminal justice system. This also
calls for a comprehensive and wholistic
view of reintegration as a continuum starting at the point where an offender isseparated from their community, to thetime s/he is brought before law enforcement
entities, the prosecution, the courts, thecorrections authorities and finally back to
the community. Thus, even at the first
instance when s/he is apprehended, thepolice must view an offender not just as acriminal, but a human resource that canbe a potential loss and a subject forrehabilitation and eventual reintegration.
Subsequent pillars, to which the offendermust be exposed, should also have thesecommon goals.
At the initial stages of interrogation,
detention and investigation, therefore, anoffender must be seen not only as anindividual whose criminal behavior needs
to be contained or curtailed, but also as aperson in an especially difficult
circumstance who should nonetheless be
helped in facing their problems and copingwith life’s realities. Similarly, while theprosecution and the court pillars treat
offenders as worthy of deterrent measuresand punishment, they must havereintegration in final view. Correction
officials and staff should not, therefore, be
the only advocates for reintegration.
This reintegration continuum approach,at the formal criminal justice pillar levels,must be supplemented and complemented
by informal social control and economic
growth mechanisms at the community
level to improve quality of lives andstrengthen the prevention of crime at its
very source - the individual, their family
and community. These efforts must be
supported by all the elements and sectorsof a nation that must see crime as amanifestation of weaknesses in a given

300

society. For in ultimate analysis, thestrength of a nation can only be truly tested
at the level of its poorest and mostvulnerable families, and those of its
weakest communities.
REFERENCES
United Nations (1969). ‘ The Role ofSocial Factors in Development,’ Expert
Group Meeting on Social Policy andPlanning, Background Paper No.2, p.2.
Stockholm:UN.
Elliot, Doreen (1993) ‘ Social Work andS o c i a l D e v e l o p m e n t : To w a r d s a n
Integrative Model for Social Work Practice,’
International Social Work, Sage; London,
Vol.36 pp.21-36.
Omer, S.(1979) ‘ Social Development ‘International Social Work, Vol. XXII (3):1126
Department of Social Welfare andDevelopment (DSWD) Reports for 1996 and1997
Rules and Regulations of the Board of
Pardons and Parole, Department ofJustice, 1990

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERSEFFECTIVE TREATMENT MEASURES FOR PRISONERS AND
DRUG ADDICTS TO FACILITATE THEIR REINTEGRATION
INTO SOCIETY
Lohman Yew*
It is a fact that the majority of prisoners
will return to society at some point in time.
The only difference being whether it is at
an earlier or later date. Thus, it is very
important or at least hoped for, that thetime a prisoner spends in an institution
would contribute positively to his or her
rehabilitation. However in reality, forpractitioners, ideology does not oftentranspose to social phenomenology. There
are numerous factors that have to be taken
into account in attempting to reduce
criminal behaviour through treatment.
These range from external social factors,
to internal psychological factors. In most
instances, modifying a person’s overt
behaviour alone is considered a notable andsuccessful goal, if actually achieved. The
psyche of a person, in terms of covert‘behaviours’ like thoughts, attitudes andexpectations, is however much more
profound and difficult to change. In theattempt to modify behaviour, at least overt
behaviour, we see the proliferation of expert
opinions and treatment strategies in themodern penal setting and aftercare.
But now a quite different question oftruth is inscribed in the course of the penal
judgement. The question is no longer
simply: ‘Has the act been established andis it punishable?’ But also: ‘What is this act?
What is this act of violence or this murder?’To what level or to what field of reality doesit belong? Is it a phantasy, a psychotic
reaction, a delusional episode, a perverse
action?’ It is no longer simply: ‘Who

committed it?’ ... It is no longer simply: Whatlaw punishes this offence?’ But: ‘What
would be the most appropriate measures totake? How do we see the future developmentof the offender? What would be the best wayof rehabilitating him [or her]?’ A whole setof assessing, diagnostic, prognostic,
normative judgements concerning thecriminal have become lodged in theframework of penal judgement.
Foucault (1977, parenthesis added)
I n a c t u a l i t y, r e d u c i n g o f f e n d i n gbehaviour is a time-consuming and difficult
enterprise, with sometimes few rewards or
success stories despite the rise of treatment
programmes. Singapore does not purport
to have the ‘magic pill’ nor does it intend
to. However, through the sharing of penaland drug treatment practices, it is hopedthat the Singapore Prison Service would
be able to contribute to the knowledge ofthis greater community concerning
corrections. Hopefully, we may all learn
from both the strengths and weaknessesof each penal system to improve ourindividual programmes. It is within thisframework that the issue of “effective
treatment measures for prisoners and drug
abusers to facilitate their reintegration into
society” will be discussed. The paper will
begin with a brief introduction to
Singapore, and short historical accounts ofour penal and drug systems, to set thecontext for the discussion of our current
treatment programmes.

* Deputy Director, Prison Department, Ministry ofHome Affairs, Singapore.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Singapore-Island State
Singapore has total land area ofapproximately 647. 5 sq km and is situatedin Southeast Asia, approximately 137 km
north of the Equator. Singapore wasfounded in 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles,
Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen. Selfgovernment was attained in 1959 whereby
Singapore’s first general election was heldwith The People’s Action Party (PAP)
winning 53. 4% of votes. On 16 September
1963, Singapore joined the Federation of
Malaysia. However on 9 August 1965,
Singapore was separated from the rest of
Malaysia to become a sovereign, democratic
and independent nation. Singapore is arepublic with a parliamentary system ofgovernment based on the Westminster
model. Organs of State include: The
Executive-Head of Government andCabinet, The Legislature-President andParliament, and The Judiciary-Chief
Justice, The Supreme Court andSubordinate Courts. The Judiciaryadministers the law independently of the
Executive and this independence issafeguarded by the Constitution.
Singapore’s official languages are English(language of administration) , Mandarin,
Malay and Tamil.
B. Penal and Drug History
During the early 19th Century, prisoners
were housed in semi-permanent attap andwooden dormitory-type buildings. These
convicts of the past were active in public
contributions like the building of roads andbuildings - some of which have now become
historical landmarks like, for instance, thepresent St Andrew’s Cathedral that wascompleted in 1862. Colonel Butterworththen the Governor of the Straits
Settlement-in 1845 created a set of rules
and regulations that emphasised
redormative training and usefulemployment rather than punishment. As

302

a result, Singapore’s system at that time
became a hallmark, which attracted
visitors from the Dutch East India
Company, Siam and Japan.
In 1872, a Commission of Inquiry into
the Prisons concluded that the system had
lost sight of the punitive aspect of prison
life. As a result, the old system wasabandoned and convicts were no longer
employed on public projects. More severe‘punishments’ were imposed.
However, in 1948, the Singapore Prison
Enquiry Commissions recommended theremoval of the punitive approach and inits place; safe confinement, creative
activities, education, religion andrecreation. This became the forerunner ofthe current prison system.
Opium smoking was prohibited in
Singapore in 1946. The first opium
treatment centre was set up on St John’sIsland (one of the some 60 small islets ofSingapore) in 1955. The centre wasgazetted as a prison for the custody andtreatment of opium addicts. However, in
1960, the Prisons Inquiry Commission
pointed out that drug addiction should beseen as essentially a social problem in a
medical context, not as criminal. Thus in
1963, the Opium Treatment Centre was degazetted as a prison and its administration
was handed over to the Ministry of Health.
In 1973, the government passed theMisuse of Drugs Act in July, providing forthe compulsory treatment andrehabilitation of addicts with the emphasis
now being on drug addiction as a social andbehavioural problem. The Opium
Treatment Centre was renamed as a Drug
Rehabilitation Centre (DRC). More DRCs
were later introduced.
However, incidents of drug abuse grewat an alarming rate. On 1st April 1977, a

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
nation-wide crackdown on abusers codenamed ‘Operation Ferret’ was launched.
Thirteen thousand (13,000) people werearrested and around 6,700 were detainedin DRCs from April to December that year.
It is from this historic incident that the
drug scene evolved into today’s current
system.
II. THE SINGAPORE PRISONSERVICEThe Singapore Prison Service is part of
the Home Team of agencies related to crime
control, security and civil defence. These
agencies fall under the purview of the
Ministry of Home Affairs. Both penal anddrug inmates fall under the jurisdiction of
the Prisons Department. The mission
statement of the Prisons Department is:
To protect society by ensuring the secure
custody of offenders in a humane
environment, and to facilitate their return
to society as law abiding citizens byproviding rehabilitative opportunities.
Our mission statement is
operationalised by four (4) guiding
principles that form the components of our
Operations Philosophy. These are:i) Prisons and Drug Rehabilitation
Centres are not holiday resorts...
conditions shall be spartan but not
an affront to human dignity.
ii) Prisoners are here with us aspunishment but not for punishment.
iii) Drug inmates are here with us, notas punishment, but for treatment andrehabilitation.
iv) E v e r y i n m a t e w i l l b e g i v e nopportunities to change, but more
effort will be accorded to thosegenuinely desirous of changing.
The Director of Prisons is appointed by
the Minister of Home Affairs. He is assisted

by a Deputy Director and three (3)Assistant Directors. The Department
operates on the staffline function systemwith the Superintendents of Penal
Institutions and Drug Rehabilitaion
Centres (DRCs) reporting directly to the
Director. The Assistant Directors and theirvarious Branches under their charge
provide Staff Support functions (please see
Organisation Chart Appendix A) .
There is a total of 2214 Staff comprisingof:i) 1612 staff in the Uniformed Prisons
Service•401 in the Senior Officer grades.
•1211 in the Junior Officer grades.
ii) 215 Civilian Staff.
iii) 387 staff in the Police Gurkha
Contingent (who provide manpower
to guard towers in the maximum andmedium security Prisons/DRCs).
III. CURRENT PENAL SCENE
A. Description of Penal Institutions
The penal institutions are classified into
maximum, medium and minimum security
prisons depending on the physicalstructure of the institutions and thecategories of prisoners that areaccommodated therein. There are four (4)maximum-security prisons, four (4)medium-security prisons and one (1) minimum security prison.
B. Approach to Rehabilitation of
Prisoners
Criminal behaviour is regarded as abehavioural problem. The criminal isneither a victim of society nor
circumstances, and is responsible for theconsequences of his or her actions. Whether
a criminal can be successfully rehabilitateddepends solely on himself or herself. Those
who are positive and show genuine desire
to change for the better will be given all
the help and opportunities to do so.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Having stated the above this is not to
imply that sociological or circumstantial
factors do not influence a person’s actions.
Indeed, social demographics, like low socioeconomic status (SES), are often strong
predictors of criminal offending. However,
the emphasis is rather on a neo-classicalnotion of the volitional agent. Despite thecircumstances and situational variables,
the choice to offend still rests on theindividual. It is precisely in recognising theexistence of such sociological andcircumstantial variables that help will begiven to those who actually want to change.
C. Description of Reception,
Processing and Allocation
The reception centre for all maleconvicted inmates is the Queenstown
Remand Prison (QRP). As its namesuggests, QRP also houses people on
remand, i. e. , awaiting trial. Once admitted
into QRP, a nominal roll will be opened forthe new prisoner. All personal property andcash will be accounted for, verified and kept
by the Officer-in-charge of Records andReception. Each inmate will undergo a
medical check-up. The Superintendent of
the Prison will also interview each inmate.
informing him of issues related to lengthof sentence, filing of appeals and property
and cash. With the necessary
documentation in order, convicted inmates
are allocated to the appropriate
institutions. This allocation is based on
selection criteria that takes into accountfactors such as sentence length,
seriousness of convicted offence andcriminal antecedents.
Women offenders, both convicted andremandees, are received at the Changi
Women’s Prison cum Drug Release Centre(CWP/D). Because of the low population
size of convicted female offenders, there isat present only one institution thatencompasses both female prisoners anddrug inmates.

304

D. Incare of Penal Inmates
The penal institution plays a two-foldfunction, namely, social control andrehabilitation. It must be recognised that
other than a rehabilitative role ofattempting to reintegrate a person back tosociety, the function of the penal institution
is to perform the socially and legally
sanctioned control functions of punishment(retribution) and deterrence (individualand general). As mentioned earlier, theprisoner is in the prison as punishment andnot for punishment. The detention is thepunishment he or she receives for the crimecommitted. The individual deterrence
aspect comes from the regime that he or
she has to undergo while under detention.
Prisoners spend the initial stage of theirincarceration under lock-up. This isconsidered as a highly deterrent aspect ofimprisonment. The duration of this lockup depends on the prisoner’s conduct andlength of imprisonment.
A convicted prisoner qualifies for a onethird-remission of sentence. However, theremission period is deducted up to a
maximum of seven (7) days whenever theprisoner is adjudicated for breaches of
institutional rules. The maximum periodof punishment imposed is seven (7) days if
given solitary confinement. In addition, theSuperintendent can impose a maximum of
twelve (12) strokes of the cane. All
adjudicated cases are submitted to the
Director of Prisons for confirmation ofsentence. If the case is deemed very serious,
the case can be referred to the Visiting
Justice who can impose a sentence of
canning up to twenty-four (24) strokes.
E. Rehabilitation Programmes in
the Penal Setting
The purpose of rehabilitation
programmes in the prison regime is threefold:i) Manage inmates effectively.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERSii) Reduce reoffending behaviour.
iii) Facilitate reintegration to society.
While the onus of criminal offending isultimately placed on the individual, there
must be a balancing between justice andmercy. It is to this end that the Singapore
Prison Service administers justicetempered with mercy, i. e. , assistance inthe rehabilitation process not only for the
purpose of reducing or modifying offending
behaviour, but also for helping the inmate
to effectively reintegrate into sociery.
Before discussing treatment strategies,
it is to be noted that in assisting inmates
to reduce offending behaviour, as well as
to facilitate their reintegration into society,physical organisation plays an importantrole, albeit more indirectly, in the
rehabilitation of the inmate. What is meantby physical organisation is that inmates
are allocated not only to different
institutions-as discussed earlier inreception, processing and allocation-but
within institutions they are also segregatedfrom each other; hard-core offenders are
physically separated by walls, gates anddoors from first-timers. Older inmates arealso segregated from younger ones. This is
to reduce ‘contamination’, i. e. , negativesocial modelling and sub-culture, from themore ‘experienced’ convicts.
Recent trends in rehabilitation
programmes in western countries haveshown a move towards community-based
rehabilitation programmes. The reason forthis shift being that institutionalisation
tends to ‘nullify’ the effects of proactive
efforts (Andrews & colleagues, 1990;
McGuire & Priestley, 1995) . However, it is
to be noted that this ‘principle of using
custody as the last resort’ is still weakly
established. For instance, Losel (1994) in
his study of institutionalised juveniles
found that an institutional climate that ischaracterised by openness, autonomy,cohesion, organisation and a low level ofconflict, has also obtained success in
reducing reoffending. The debate ofwhether the prison institution is effective
in rehabilitation and deterring offenders
from recidivating, while important, isnevertheless out of the scope of the current
paper. The point for practitioners incorrectional settings is that we have a poolof convicted offenders under our custody.
It is thus our responsibility to at least
attempt to provide effective treatment
measures for prisoners to facilitate theireventual reintegration into society.
Wi t h t h i s i n m i n d , t h e g e n e r a lrehabilitation programme available for
prisoners comprise of the following key
elements in a five-fold package describedhereafter.
1. Work
The inculcation of discipline (e. g. , theroutine of working fixed hours in a day) andstrong work ethic presented to the offender
are major priorities in the rehabilitation
programme. The ability to hold on to a job
should serve as a stable foundation for
reintegration in to society, as many inmatesare either jobless or practice ‘job-hopping’prior to conviction. In this area, theSingapore Corporation of Rehabilitative
Enterprises (SCORE), a statutory Board
which manages the prison industries andprovides rehabilitative opportunities, sets
up or invites companies to establish
workshops in the prisons and DRCs, where
the inmate may work and learn on-the-job
skills. SCORE’s bakery and laundry
services are examples of enterprisingindustrial pursuits that have taken root in
the prison setting successfully.
2. Education
As mentioned earlier, demographics likelow education are often predictors ofoffending. Thus, an important priority is
to reduce the statistical chance or

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
probability of reoffending. The provision of
education, either academic or vocational,
for the purposes of upgrading prisoners’
educational status and skills is thus
essential. In a competitive society like
Singapore, education is highly valued.
Helping to increase the education level ofinmates would also increase their chancesof finding a job and reitegrating back tosociety. Academic classes, conducted byqualified teachers seconded from the
Ministry of Education, range fromcertification courses to GCE ‘O’ levels, andup to GCE ‘A’ levels. In 1997, inmates under
the assistance of our teachers achieved anaverage of 86% pass rate for GCE ‘O’ Level
examination, which is above the national
figure of 76. 9% pass for private candidates.
Vocational classes are conducted byqualified vocational trainers from SCORE
who teach preparatory English courses,
work induction, problem solving, foodpreparation, book binding cleaning skills,
etc. In 1997, SCORE conducted vocationalcourses for 1,424 inmates from the prisonsand DRCs.

has two Muslim religious teachers toprovide religious activities to Muslim
prisoners. Religious counselling is provided
by counsellors from various religiousorganisations to look after prisoners’
spiritual needs.

3. Physical Training
Inmates are required to undergo
physical training that includes drill,
exercise and games. Physical activities help
to keep the inmates healthy and fit, while
recreational games help them to relieve thepressures of incarceration. This at the sametime promotes healthy interaction between
the inmates.

Notwithstanding the importance of
coping skills, certain problems and issues
cannot be resolved to an acceptable level
whereby inmates and their families aresocially functional by counselling alone.
Therefore, RCB handles referrals forinvestigation and assistance. These
referrals can come from inmates andappeals submitted to Prisons
Headquarters, from family members
through the Members of Parliament (MPs).
Upon receiving a referral, investigations
will be carried out by the counsellors todetermine the extent of the problem andhelp that can be rendered. Home visits will
be conducted, if necessary. Cases will bereferred to other social agencies forassistance if necessary. The more common
problems referred are:i) Financial problems.
ii) Housing problems.

4. Religion
It is a well-known fact that religion has
and continues to perform a major role inchanging a person’s life. It is thus a
powerful force in the rehabilitation process,as it gives the individual a sense of
direction and meaning to life.
Inmates are therefore encouraged todevelop their spiritual side by turning totheir respective religions. The Department306

5. Counselling
Existing personal, social or family
problems, as well as new ones that arisefor some inmates as a result of
incarceration, if not resolved, would
distract them from the rehabilitation
efforts.
Trained officers from the Prisons’
Rehabilitation and Counselling Branch(RCB) handle referrals, requests andspecial cases. RCB is considered a
specialised unit. RCB provides various
forms of social services and intensive
counselling to inmates and visits to theirfamilies. Its operational philosophy is toassist inmates and their families to learn
to be independent through imparting
coping skills.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERSiii) No visits from family.
iv) Marital problems.
v) Welfare of children.
Thus, in essence, RCB provides
counselling for inmates to reduce offending
behaviour as well as to prepare him or her
for eventual reintegration into society.
Service delivery is also rendered to theinmates’ families when necessary.
The bulk of counselling and inmate
interviews are however conducted by therespective Hall Officers who are Senior
Prisons Officers in the grade of
Rehabilitation Officer within theinstitutions.
The Prisons Department has a
Psychological Unit to assist inmates thathave depression and more serious forms of
psychological maladjustment. Volunteer
counsellors from external organisations
also assist us in social counselling in
preparing the offenders for reintegration
to society.
F. Preparation for Release
The Prisons Department notes thatincarceration, especially long-term
imprisonment, can affect the chances of aperson reintegrating into society. After
spending a long time in prison, a person
may be institutionalised whereby
ironically, life on the ‘inside’ is somewhat
preferred to the ‘outside’. To some extent,
this is not too surprising. Life inside theprison setting, although highly disciplined
and regulated, is rather predictable with
its fixed routines and expectations. One
could get used to the life there. Thus,
without preparation for the return tosociety, an inmate who has undergone longterm detention would be faced with thecultural-shock of the fast-paced anddemanding society that Singapore is.
Thus, during the last stages ofimprisonment, inmates all have to go

through a pre-release counselling
programme that lasts for around two (2)weeks. Pre-release programmes provide anavenue for imprisoned offenders toreintegrate into society, hopefully withminimal disorientation. If prepared andconducted effectively, they can impact upon
relapse rates and enhance the effectivenessof the overall rehabilitation strategy. It may
at the same time generate goodwill
between the prison authorities and thedeparting offender, thereby reducing any
lingering bitterness about the offender’sprison experience and serve as a source of
encouragement.
Contents of the package include not justcoping strategies but practical help as well.
In short the general structure of the
package includes topics like prisonsdebrief, post-release plans, stressmanagement, sources of support, work
attitudes and job performance andrejoining the community. Inmates are also
notified of sources of help available to themwhen they rejoin the community
concerning life issues like housing,
employment, social support and vocational
training.
G. Early Release
As for early release, Singapore at present
has not legally adopted any probation
system for adult offenders. Currently, theonly early release system that Singapore
is using is the one-third remission ofsentence. Inmates would normally have toserve only two-thirds of their original
sentence. However, early release on license
is one of the options being considered toease overcrowding.
H. General Crime Statistics
Singapore’s crime rate fell again in 1977,
for the 9th consecutive year. The numberof seizable offences reported fell by 5%,
from about 47,100 cases reported in 1996
to about 44,800 in 1997. This is very307

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
encouraging, as such trends are very rarein other countries.
IV. CURRENT DRUG SCENE
A. Description of Drug Institutions
In addition to penal institutions, thePrisons Department also takes charge of
the Drug Rehabilitation Centres (DRCs)
which house the different categories of drug
addicts. There are altogether four (4) male
DRCs and one (1) female DRC. First andsecond time offenders are housed in one
institution. Third and fourth time offenders
are housed in their respective institutions.
Fifth time offenders and above arecontained in another institution. As
mentioned, Changi Women’s Prison is alsoa DRC where all female addicts are housed.
Lastly, there is also a work release campLloyd Leas Work Release Camp-for drug
addicts selected on the work release
scheme.
B. Approach to Rehabilitation andTreatment of Drug Addicts
Singapore does not subscribe to the belief
that drug addiction is a medical problem.
As in the case of the criminal, drug
addiction is viewed as a social andbehavioural problem. An addict is
responsible for the consequences of his or
her own actions, and it is up to the addict
to make a determined effort to kick the
habit. If the addict does not want to change
his or her ways, no amount of treatment
and rehabilitation can make that person
do so.
The present drug regime differentiates
between non-hardcore and hardcore
addicts. Non-hardcore addicts are addicts
who have been admitted into the DRC for
the first and second time, i. e. , first or
second timers. Hardcore addicts are thosethat have been admitted into the DRC forthree or more times, i. e. , third timers andabove. This differentiation is essential for308

the determination of not only the period ofdetention but also the type of treatment
and rehabilitation regime, which the addict
will undergo. In general, a hardcore addict
is not only detained in the DRC for a much
longer period as compared to a nonhardcore addict, but that person undergoes
a tough, penal-like regime with minimal
privileges and greater measures ofdeterrence.
On the other hand, a non-hardcore
addict is accorded more rehabilitative
opportunities, is given more intensive
counselling by trained counsellors in the
DRCs (both individual and group
counselling) and is given greater
opportunities to enrol in educational or
vocational courses for personal
development through academic pursuits or
the acquiring of new vocational skills.
C. Length of Detention
Drug addicts are detained under the
executive order of the Director of Central
Narcotics Bureau, under section 37 of theMisuse of Drugs Act (MDA). The addicts
are detained in the DRCs for a minimum
period of six (6) and up to a maximum
period of thirty-six (36) months, dependingon the number of previous admissions.
Generally, inmates with greater number ofprevious DRC admissions will be kept
longer in the DRCs. Each inmate’s care isreviewed every six (6) months by a DRC
Review Committee chaired by a medical
practitioner with members comprising
reputable persons from the public andprivate sectors. These appointments are
made by the Minister. At present there are
four (4) DRC Review Committees.
D. Description of Reception,
Processing and Allocation
Sembawang DRC-the centre that houses
4th timer addicts-is also the reception
centre for all male drug addicts. Female
addicts are referred to the Changi Women

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
Prison/DRC. These drug addicts arebrought in by law enforcement agencies,
viz the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB)
and the Police. As with the reception ofp r i s o n e r s a t Q R P, t h e r e i s t h edocumentation stage of recording theindividual’s particulars and possessions.
After which, they undergo a medical checkup. They are also medically examined overa period of three (3) days to ascertain theirdegree of opiate or heroin addiction.
E. Incare of Drug Addicts
The purpose of the stay in the DRCs is
two-fold: addicts are detained in the DRCs
not only for treatment and rehabilitation,
but also to prevent the spread of the
problem of drug abuse. By taking these
addicts out of circulation from the generalpublic, it reduces the chances of them‘contaminating’ others.
F. Rehabilitation and Treatment
Programmes in the Drug Setting
The purpose of institutional
rehabilitation programmes in the DRCs isto reduce drug abuse and to facilitate
reintegration into society. As mentioned,
upon arrest, all drug addicts are sent to
the reception centre. This is where they
undergo a compulsory detoxification periodof one (1) week. During this period, thedrug addicts are under close medical
supervision as they experience pangs ofwithdrawal symptoms whilst their bodies
rid themselves of drugs. Afterdetoxification, the inmates go through arecuperation period of rest for one (1) week.
Inmates are then transferred to otherinstitutions depending on their number ofprevious admissions. Fourth timers remain
in Sembawang DRC. Orientation in therespective institutions late one (1) week,whereby inmates are told about houserules, as well as other relevant information
concerning drug abuse and its effects.
Following which, inmates undergo a toughregime of drill and physical exercises tobuild up fitness levels, as well as discipline,
before being introduced to other aspects ofrehabilitation programmes which include
work, education and counselling. These
institutional programmes in the DRCs arevery similar to the general rehabilitation
programmes for prisoners.
It was mentioned earlier that physicalorganisation plays an important support
function to the rehabilitation programmes.
Negative peer group influence is an
important determiner of drug-taking
behaviour and this is the reason why nonhardcore addicts are placed in separate
institutions from hardcore addicts. Even
within the pool of hardcore addicts, there
is delineation between the number oftimers.
G. Specific Drug Treatment
Programmes
Following a review of the drug
programme, Community-Based
Rehabilitation (CBR) was given greater
emphasis in 1995 to assist the treatedaddicts to reintegrate into society. Uponcompletion of their minimum period of
DRC detention, inmates will be placed in
one of the following programmes:i) Community-Based Rehabilitation(CBR).
ii) E x t e n d e d I n s t i t u t i o n a l
Rehabilitation (EIR).
Under Community-Based
Rehabilitation, inmates may be selected forany of the three schemes:(1) The Halfway House Scheme (HWH)(2) Residential Scheme, or(3) H a l f w a y H o u s e S c h e m e w i t hNaltrexone/Residential Scheme with
Naltrexone.
CBR was introduced with the intentionof helping the drug addict ‘kick’ the habit
through social support within thecommunity. To some extent, the CBR
programme is a form of ‘early release’ for309

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
drug addicts from DRCs. However, these
inmates are still under the jurisdiction of
the Prisons Department. It is important tonote that for the CBR scheme, once theinmate is selected, he or she may
voluntarily opt out of the programme only
before it starts.
Inmates who are selected for CBR aretransferred to the Lloyd Leas Work-Release
Camp in the last month of their DRC stay
to undergo the Pre-Release Programme.
The features of the one (1) monthprogramme are:i) Counselling involving coping skills
and group dynamics to prepare themfor work-release and reintegration
into society.
ii) Physical training.
iii) Drills.
The Halfway House Scheme (HWH)
involves the inmate staying in a halfway
house for a period of six (6) months whilst
undergoing the rehabilitation programmeof the halfway house. Inmates placed on
the HWH Scheme are required to work
during the day and return to the HWHs inthe evenings to observe curfew hours.
Being able to keep a job would ideally
increase the ‘stakes’ in conforming tosociety. Inmates in HWHs are given regularurine testing for drug consumption. This
scheme particularly benefits those inmates
who are genuinely desirous of changing but
who have no family support, no home toreturn to, or whose family environments
are not conducive for their recovery fromdrug addiction. It is intended that throughpositive interactions with other treatedaddicts, as well as HWH staff, in both socialand counselling sessions, pro-social
behaviour will develop to enable the inmate
to forgo drug abuse.
The Residential Scheme also lasts for aperiod of six (6) months. It, however,involves the inmate being tagged with an

310

electronic monitoring device and returning
to his or her place of residence to stay. Like
the HWH Scheme, the inmate is also
required to work during the day but has toreturn home in the evenings to observe
curfew hours. Inmates also have to report
regularly back to Lloyd Leas Work Release
Camp for counselling and urine testing.
This scheme would only be offered toinmates whose families are supportive.
Family support is an important aspect offacilitating two reintegration of the inmate
into society.
As can be seen from the above
programmes, the Prisons Department
recognises the importance of psychosocial
support in the efforts to help the addict‘kick’ the habit. Unique to drug addicts
though, is the fact that drug consumption
affects not only the psychology but thephysiology of the individual. Theories that
explain drug-taking behaviour are various.
They range from pleasure-seeking
behaviour to reducing the pangs ofwithdrawal.
It is to these reasons that in August
1993, the Department launched a pilot
programme involving the use of the drug
Naltrexone on some inmates. This drug,
which is an opiate antagonist, is consumed
orally in pill-form. It blocks the gates of therelevant receptors of the brain that are
responsible for the euphoric effects brought
about by consuming opiates. In otherwords, a person who is on Naltrexone will
not be able to ‘get high’ if he or she were to
consume a narcotic drug. Importantly,
Naltrexone is not addictive. Hence, it is nota substitute drug for the addict. Results ofour pilot study project have been very
encouraging and the Prisons Department
has incorporated the use of Naltrexone fora selection of inmates in the Residentialand Halfway House Schemes underCommunity Based Rehabilitation, witheffect from June 95.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
Selection of inmates for the threeschemes is based on a set of stringent
criteria. Only those inmates who areassessed as being responsive to their
institutional rehabilitation, and haveshown a desire to change, will be selected
for the CBR programmes. In other words,
only the most amenable inmates are chosen
for these 3 Schemes. As mentioned earlier,the individual is ultimately responsible forhis or her actions. More help will be given
to those that are desirous of change.
Notwithstanding this, it is important toemphasise that hardcore addicts are also
allowed to participate in the CBR
programmes.
Those inmates who do not qualify for
Community Based Rehabilitation or who
voluntarily opt out of CBR programmes areplaced under Extended Institutional
Rehabilitation (EIR). In effect, this meansthat detention period in the DRCs would
be extended up to between 12 to 24 months,
depending on their categories. During theextended period, they will continue theirrehabilitation programme of work,
vocational training and counselling. They
will also undergo the 1-month Pre-Release
Programme in the DRC, The activities in
the Pre-Release Programme are similar tothat carried out in the Lloyd Leas WorkRelease Camp.
H. Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB)
Supervision
Upon completing their CBR programmesor Extended Institutional Rehabilitation,
as the case may be, the inmates are thenpleced under compulsory Central Narcotics
Bureau (CNB) supervision for period of two
years. During this period, the inmates are
required to report for regular urine tests
at designated reporting centres an police
stations, to ensure that they remain drugfree.

I. General Crime Statistics
Prison’s treatment and rehabilitation of
drug addicts encompasses part of the multipronged enforcement, rehabilitation,
aftercare and prevention education
strategy to proactively arrest the drug
situation in Singapore. In 1994, our
Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Wong Kan
Seng, also mentioned that it was critical
for the family and the community to get
involved in preventive education andrehabilitation.
Since then, drug agencies andcommunity organisations havecollaborated in a holistic effort to make themulti-pronged strategy work. We arepleased to announce that the upward trend
in drug statistics has been reversed. A
striking point to be highlighted is that
despite Central Narcotics Bureau’s (CNB)
intensified raids, i. e. increased
surveillance and enforcement, the numberof drug abusers arrested fell almost aquarter, from 6160 in 1994 to 4750 lastyear. The number of new drug addicts
arrested also fell from 1340 to 1130 overthe same period. The average daily
population in our DRCs also fellsignificantly. Of greater concern andencouragement to Prisons, the relapse rate
has declined from 81% in 1994 to 66% lastyear.
V. AFTERCAREThe Singapore Corporation of
Rehabilitative Enterprises (SCORE), a
Statutory Board, provides work for drug
and penal inmates within the institutions.
The organisation is also the lead agency inaftercare. The Prisons Department also
works closely with other aftercare agencies:
The Singapore Aftercare Association(SACA) catered for exprisoners; The
Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association(SANA) ; and various Halfway Houses that
also provide aftercare services for treated311

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
drug addicts. Both SACA, SANA andHalfway Houses are referred to as
Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs)
in Singapore. These VWOs provide various
functions and services, ranging from social
counselling for ex-Inmates and families, topractical help like finding lodging and jobs
for ex-inmates.
SCORE has an Aftercare-Counselling
Programme (ACP) which is a one-year
programme providing counselling andsupport to recovering addicts. It was
launched in November 1995 to complement
SANA’s Voluntary Aftercare Officer (VAOs).
These VAOs have for many years helped
recovering addicts cope with the demandsof life after they have completed theirrehabilitation and treatment in the DRCs.
However, due to demands, this limited poolof VAOs were not able to cope with theservices needed by recovering addicts-thus
explaining the need for the ACP
programme. Professionally trained fulltime counsellors were recruited tocompliment the role and functions of VAOs.
The ACP is greared towards placing theownership of the drug problem, and action
for recovery from drugs, on the supervisees
themselves. These expectations are clearly
articulated to the supervisees right fromthe beginning of the programme, and aresystematically inculcated throughout the
duration of the programme. The
programme emphasises relapse prevention
training, gainful employment, and family
and peer support. The counselling schedule
begins with twice a week for the first threemonths, once a week for the next six
months and finally once in two weeks forthe last three months. As can be seen, morecounselling is given at the initial stage ofthe programme to the recovering addict, asadjustments and reintegration problems
are usually the greatest upon discharge
from DRCs.

312

Practical needs of ex-prisoners andrecovering addicts are also tended to help
them successfully reintegrate into society.
SCORE has a Job Placement Unit (JPU)
and its function is to assist released
prisoners and addicts, who experience
difficulty in securing a job, to find suitable
work based on their qualifications and priorexperience. As many as 14,000 inmates andex-inmates have benefited from JPU’s
services since its inception. JPU is also
responsible for arranging jobs for all our
drug inmates who are emplaced on the
CBR-Residential Scheme. Some of there
inmates are placed on the Corporate
Adoption Scheme (CAS). Initiated in 1992,
this scheme aims to help inmates turn overa new leaf at work, gain confidence andboost their self-esteem by encouraging
employers to play a bigger role in theinmates’ recovery and reintegration into
society.
Under the CAS, respective companies
assign mentors to provide individualised
attention and guidance to help the inmates
adjust better to the work environment. The
mentor, together with SCORE’s job
placement officers, regularly meet with theinmate to discuss progress and problems
encountered at work.
VI. FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
It is the wish of any correctional agency
to discover the elixir to the successful
rehabilitation and treatment of offenders.
However, reality tells us that such an aim
is difficult to achieve, if it is indeed everachievable. Looking at Singapore, ourstatistics show that we may be on the righttrack. Perhaps part of our success lies notjust in our rehabilitation efforts but ourunique situation. Singapore is a small
country, which makes it easier to manage.
Success can also be attributed to the sternrehabilitative programmes and a strong
and supportive community to pitch in the

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
Community-Based Rehabilitation
Programme.
Nevertheless, there are still some areasthat need to be improved in the effort toprovide effective treatment measures for
prisoners and drug abusers, to facilitate
their reintegration into society. Some ofthese are as follows:(i) Our current allocation of inmates torespective institutions is based more
on security and procedure, rather
than rehabilitation and treatment.
The Prisons Department is currently
looking into the arena of objectiveclassification for inmates fortreatment purposes, pertaining to theempirically established principles ofrisks, criminogenic needs andresponsivity.
(ii) There is a need for greater coordination with aftercare agencies toconsolidate a holistic treatment
package for our drug and penal
inmates. This is to maximise the useof resources as well as to prevent‘double work’.
(iii)There is a need to constantly improveand upgrade the knowledge and skillsof our counsellors, so that they may
possess the skills needed for effective
counselling. Recently, a number ofour counsellors were sent for acertification course in substanceabuse counselling, conducted by two
trainers from the Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Division (ADAD) from Hawaii.
The examinations were set andconducted by the International
Certification and Reciprocity
Consortium (IC & RC). Plans areunderway to set up a Local
Certification Board to certify all
counsellors from the Prisons
D e p a r t m e n t . Tr a i n i n g i s a l s orequired in more specialised topics
like the treatment of sex offenders
and violent offenders.

(iv)The Prisons Department is working
on improving its research capabilities
to objectively evaluate existing
programmes and policies, as well as
to propose new programmes thathave been found to be effective inother correctional settings. Of course,such programmes would have to becontextualised and be evaluated for
effectiveness in the Singapore
setting.
VII. CONCLUSION
In sharing innovations concerning therehabilitation and treatment of penal
inmates and drug addicts, we can only
begin to expand our knowledge base of‘what works’ at a practical level, in
correctional settings. The sharing of the‘Singapore experience’ is based on a context
that is unique-given our history, culture,geographical size and economy. Thus, what
appears to work for the Prisons
Department may not necessarily transpose
effectively to other settings. Nevertheless,
it is hoped that through this paper, theSingapore Prison Service would havecontributed valuable knowledge to thewider community. May our combined
efforts encourage and spur each other toprovide effective treatment measures for
prisoners and drug addicts to facilitate
their reintegration to society.
REFERENCES
Andrews, D., Zinger, I., Hoge, R., Bonta,J., Gendreau, P. and Cullen, F. (1990) ‘A
Clinically Relevant and PsychologicallyInformed Meta-Analysis’ Criminology, 28(3) : 369-403.
Foucault, M. (1977) Discipline andPunishment: The Birth of the Prison,
London: Allen Lane.
Losel,F. (1994) ‘Protective Effects on
Social Resources in Adolescents at High-313

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Risk for Anti-Social Behaviour ’ in E.
Weitekamp and H. J. Kerne (eds) CrossNational and Longitudinal Research on
Human Development, pp 281-301.
McGuire,J. and Priestley,P. (1995)‘Reviewing ‘What Works’:Past, Present andFuture’ in J. McGuire (ed) What Works:
Reducing Reoffending, New York: John
Wiley & Sons.

APPENDIX APRISONS DEPARTMENT
OGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

Director

Dy Director

Asst. Director(Operations)Superintendents(Prison Institutions)

314

Asst. Director(Administration)

Superintendents(DRCs)

Asst. Director(Personnel & Training)

Head(Support Units)108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

CURRENT TRENDS IN CORRECTIONAL PROGRAMMING IN
THE USA
Kenneth G. Adams*
ABSTRACT
Correctional programming has
undergone important changes over the past
two decades. These changes have been
instigated by rapid grow in prison
populations, worries over public safety andconcerns for reducing the cost ofincarceration. Despite a lack of faith in the
rehabilitative ideal, correctional
programming continues to flourish, albeit
in a form that is very different from thepast. This paper discusses recent trends
in correctional programming. Specifically,
it discusses legally mandated services,changing characteristics of inmate
populations, inmates with crime-related
problems and cost-saving measures.
I. INTRODUCTION
The faith and optimism that oncesurrounded the “rehabilitative ideal” in the
United States is largely extinguished.
Decades of evaluation research showing
negative results has left the public highly
skeptical of treatment and other forms ofprison programming. Prisons and jails
were once viewed primarily as places where
the business of rehabilitation was carriedout. Now they are now seen as places
where isolating offenders from society
furthers the goal of public safety. One
might think that as a result of this shift inpenal philosophy that correctional
programming is withering on thecontemporary vine. On the contrary, while
the patient is not always as robust as in
the past, correctional programming is alive* Associate Professor, School of Public andEnvironmental Affairs, Indiana University,U.S.A.

and well, and in some situations could beconsidered as flourishing. One reason isthat some services are mandated by law
and therefore cannot be eliminated.
Another reason is the American spirit ofpragmatism. Our practical view of theworld leads us to develop and search out
programs that do indeed work and to findcheaper and more efficient ways ofdelivering programs. We are always
looking for ways to alter the cost-benefit
equation to society’s advantage.
While correctional programming
continues to be a major activity of prisons,the face of these activities has changedr a d i c a l l y.
Indeed, correctional
programming is very different today ascompared to one or two decades ago. Threedevelopments - a rapidly growing andchanging inmate population, an emphasis
on public safety and a concern for costeffectiveness - have been primarily
responsible for the transformation incorrectional programming.
The United States has experienced
tremendous growth in the number of
persons under the custody of the criminal
justice system. Over the past decade anda half, the average annual rate of expansion
in correctional populations has been 7.6%.
Currently, there are more than five million
adults under custody, or about 3% of theadult population. Over one million adults
are confined in prisons and jails. Some
forecasts predict that by the year 2000 the
prison population will increase by halfagain. This situation means thatadministrators will continue to scramble
for resources to deal with an ever-growing
number of inmates. At the same time, thelarge influx of inmates has changed the315

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
characteristics of prison communities
because growth has not been even acrossthe board. Shifts in the composition of
inmate populations has created newchallenges for prison administrators who
are responsible for seeing that confinement
does not become a form of idle time-out
from society tediously spent.
A primary theme that underlies theprison boom is public safety. Americans
believe that incarceration, through themechanisms of deterrence andincapacitation, is an effective way of
reducing the crime rate. For manyobservers, declining crime rates coinciding
with rising incarceration rates is strong
proof that incarceration works as a crime
control strategy. Consequently, calls formore prisons and tougher laws that provide
for longer prison sentences served underharsher conditions continue unabated.
Also, correctional programs are being
judged individually in terms of how muchthey contribute to a safer society.
Another theme that underlies the prisonboom is strict economy. Americans arecoming to realize that incarceration isexpensive and that we may not be able toafford all of the prison capacity that wewould like to have. As a way of dealing
with this situation, economy and cost
efficiency are being emphasized in every
aspect of criminal justice administration.
Prisons administrators are becoming
obsessive in their determination to bring
down the costs of incarceration.
Correctional program administrators
increasingly are being asked to cut costs
and to justify a program’s existence interms of social and economic analyses.
In this essay, contemporary trends incorrectional programming are explored.
We will consider legal mandates fortreatment, changes in inmate
characteristics, offenders with crimerelated problems and pressures for costsavings.

316

II. LEGALLY MANDATEDSERVICES IN CORRECTIONSOffenders have legal rights to treatment
in certain circumstances. These rights, forthe most part, are limited to medical andmental health care. Nevertheless, a large
number of offenders receive services whilein the custody of correctional officials
because services are legally required.
Three categories of inmates that receive
legally mandated services and that present
exceptional challenges to correctional
programming are: mentally ill inmates,
inmates suffering from AIDS/HIV andinmates with disabilities that may beprotected under the Americans with
Disabilities Act.
A. Mentally Ill Offenders
Over the past several decades the UnitedStates has pursued a policy of moving
mental patients out of hospitals andpsychiatric institutions into nonresidential community-based treatment
centers. Many scholars suspect that as aresult of this policy ofdeinstitutionalization, an increasing
number of mental patients are finding theirway into the criminal justice system. This
shifting of clientele from the mental healthto criminal justice system is sometimes
referred to as transinstitutionalization.
Inmates with mental health problems
can present difficult challenges tocorrectional programming. Foremost,authorities must insure that necessary
psychiatric services are provided while theoffender is in custody. Some inmates may
require special living arrangements thatcombine a sheltered environment withsupportive services. For inmates withchronic and severe emotional problems, it
may be unrealistic to think in terms ofintegrating them into the prison
community. These inmates may have tospend their entire sentence, both within
and without prison, in special facilities. For

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
inmates with acute, episodic problems,prison staff periodically face the challengeof reintegrating the inmate back into theprison community after periods ofresidential treatment. This may be difficult
if the inmate has limited ability to copewith the regular prison environment. Also,
mentally ill inmates may suffer
discrimination at the hands of otherinmates and even correctional officers,
owing to callous attitudes based onstereotypes of mental illness.
As release approaches, correctional
officials face the challenge of arranging fora smooth transition back into thecommunity for mentally ill inmates. The
success of reintegration depends, in large
measure, on continuity of effective andappropriate psychiatric treatment.
Arranging for treatment, and then seeing
to it that the inmate participates in thetreatment, can be difficult. Also, these
inmates may require extra support services
to help offset the social, emotional andintellectual liabilities that can accompany
mental illness.
B. HIV/AIDSThe HIV/AIDS epidemic isunprecedented in recent modern history interms of its scope and deadliness.
Correctional administrators have been
especially hard hit in terms theconsequences of this epidemic because
offender populations contain a large
proportion of individuals who are high risk
for HIV/AIDS. According to the U.S.
Bureau of Justice Statistics, approximately
2.3% of all state and federal inmates are
infected with HIV. In New York, theincidence of AIDS in prisons in seven times
greater than in the general population.
In the early stages of the disease,correctional officials face the challenge ofidentifying those who are infected so thattreatment can be provided. Many prison
systems resist mandatory screening for
HIV/AIDS because of the social stigma that

attaches to the disease. Once the client
population is identified, the next challenge
is to provide treatment in a way thatminimizes adverse social consequences.
This challenge can be greater after releasefrom prison, because community healthagencies can be overwhelmed with local
demands for treatment. Also, the socialand physical consequences of the disease
may negatively impact plans for normal
reintegration.
In the advanced stages of the disease,the focus is on providing humane care toease suffering. In many prison systems,
AIDS is the leading cause of death among
inmates. One in three inmate deaths were
attributable to AIDS between 1991 and1995. In 1995 alone, 1,010 inmates in the
U.S. died of AIDS-related causes.
HIV/AIDS treatment has had a serious
financial impact on prison expenditures for
medical care. According to the Wall Street
Journal, the total lifetime cost of treating
HIV is about $119,000. When the high costof treatment is combined with the large
numbers of inmates suffering from thedisease, the financial consequences can be
staggering. For example, spending on HIV/AIDS treatment in the Illinois prison
system increased ten-fold in a three-year
period, jumping from $30,000 to $300,000
per month.
Some prison systems have implemented
early release programs for inmates in theadvanced stage of AIDS. In part, themotives are humanitarian. Inmates canspend their last few months in community
hospice settings where they can enjoy
greater contact with family and friends. In
large measure, however, the motives arepragmatic. Seriously ill inmates present
little threat to the community, and the
combined costs of security and treatment
are high. In returning inmates with AIDS
early to the community, the prison system
often attempts to transfer the financial
burden of treatment to someone else. To
the extent that the inmate’s quality of care

317

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
is compromised in this process,humanitarian rationales for the program
are undercut.
C. Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act(ADA) prohibits discrimination in access toprograms and services solely on the
grounds of a disability. In pursuit of thisgoal, reasonable accommodation must be
made in attempting to provide programs
and services to the disabled. This year, theU.S. Supreme Court will review a Federal
Appeals Court affirmative ruling that theprovisions of the ADA apply to prison
inmates. If the lower court decision isupheld, prison officials will be required tomodify many prison programs in order toprovide access to inmates who are now
routinely denied participation. Thesechanges could be expensive and may bringincreased security risks. However,increased access to programs arguably will
facilitate the reintegration of theseoffenders into society upon release.
III. CHANGINGCHARACTERISTICS OF INMATEPOPULATIONS
Inmate populations can be viewed as acomposite of many different subpopulations, each with its own uniqueprogramming needs. As the size of various
sub-populations wax and wane, demands
for inmate services will shift accordingly.
Since recent growth in prison populations
has not been even across the board,changing characteristics of the inmate
clientele has had an important effect on thetypes of correctional programs being
offered.
A. Elderly Inmates
As a result mandatory sentences, longsentences, and increased restrictions onparole release, elderly inmates are rapidly
growing sub-population within prisons. In

318

state and federal prisons, the proportionof elderly inmates grew from 4.9% in 1990
to 6.8% in 1997. This change represents a
74% increase in 7 years.
The cost of incarceration is three times
greater for elderly inmates compared toyounger offenders. In particular, the costof medical care, which is considerably
higher, has become a major issue for prison
systems. Some correctional systems havedeveloped specially designed facilities in an
attempt to meet the needs of elderly
inmates. One such example is the Hocking
Correctional Facility in Ohio. The facility
contains 600 inmates, the majority of whom
are over fifty years old. Depending on thelife situation of the offender, traditional
prison programs may be irrelevant. For
example, an elderly inmate may have little
need for additional formal education or forvocational training. The challenge forcorrectional programming is to keep these
inmates active in meaningful andproductive ways, and specialized facilities
are better situated for this task. Suchfacilities not only can provide inmates withneeded services during incarceration, they
can prepare inmates better for release into
the community through specialized
programs.
Pre-release preparation and aftercare
are very serious concerns for older inmates.
If an elderly inmate has been in prison fora long time, the society to which he or she
returns will be much different than the one
left behind. Preparing an inmate for thistransition can be challenging. Dependingon their physical and mental condition,elderly inmates may not have the fulldegree of independence that younger
inmates have, so they may need assistancewith some of the daily tasks of life. Other
key aftercare concerns include access to
medical services and adequate nutrition.
Since elderly inmates do not represent
much of a threat to society, economic andpolitical pressures are building for the early
release of these offenders back into the108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
community. As with HIV/AIDS inmates,
the idea behind early release partly is totransfer the cost of medical care and othersupportive services to anotherorganization.
B. Young Inmates
Increasingly, juvenile offenders who
commit serious crimes are being tried andsentenced as adults by means of juvenile
waiver statutes. The pace of revisions overthe past decade in these statutes has been
phenomenal. These changes have had theeffect of subjecting ever-younger juvenile
offenders to adult sanctions, which often
result in placement with adult correctional
authorities. The pressures of juvenile
waiver statutes, on the one hand, andlonger mandatory sentences, on the other
hand, have squeezed correctional
programming at both ends of the age
spectrum with increasingly larger numbersof juvenile and elderly offenders. In termsof juvenile offenders, indications are thatthe problem will continue to get worse. The
U.S. Bureau of Census estimates that thesize of the juvenile population aged 15 to
19 years will grow by 15% in the near
future.
Youthful offenders present a distinct anddifficult set of challenges for correctional
programming. Aspects of physical, socialand emotional development differ
considerably for juveniles as compared toadults, and addressing this situation canbe a difficult task for correctional staff,
especially when youth are mixed withadults in the same institution. In
particular, youthful offenders often lackmaturity and good judgment. They also
may have problems with impulse and anger
control.
Provision of basic correctional programs,
such as education and job training, is morecritical for youthful offenders, both because
they are likely to have serious needs inthese areas, and because there ispotentially greater returns for successfulprogramming. Some young offenders may
still be of school age and therefore entitledto educational programs under the law.
Other young offenders may be in the earlystages of a work career. Care must be taken
to insure that educational and vocational
progress is not interrupted byinstitutionalization. Likewise, releasefrom prison is another critical juncture interms of continuity of programming. Lackof experience and immaturity may requirethat youthful offenders be provided withsupportive and directive services upon
release, if reintegration is to be successful.
C. Female Inmates
Another inmate sub-population that has
grown considerably during the prison boom
is female offenders. As a proportion of thetotal prison population, female inmates
went from 4.1% in 1980 to 5.7% in 1990 to
6.4% in 1997. Throughout most of theperiod of prison expansion, the rate ofincrease in female inmates has exceeded
the rate of increase for male inmates. For
example, the female population in thefederal prison system grew by 480% from1980 to 1994 compared to 313% for the
male population. In terms of numbers ofinmates, the female population increased
from 13,420 inmates to 64,403 inmatesduring this period.
In keeping with the generalcharacteristic of offender populations,
female inmates are disproportionately
drawn from minority groups and sufferfrom high rates of alcohol and drug abuse.
As compared to male inmates, female
inmates are more likely to havecommunicable diseases and to have ahistory of childhood or adult abuse.
Female inmates also differ notably frommale inmates in terms of problems createdby family demands. About 6% of female
inmates enter prison pregnant. For thisreason, infant nurseries are common infemale prisons. However, infants rarely
stay with their mother throughout the319

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
entire term of incarceration, and theseparation of mother and infant causes
anxiety during confinement. It also is
significant that about 67% of female
inmates have a child under 18 years of age
for which they are responsible. Again,
concerns about maternal responsibilities
may become visible during incarceration,
especially just prior to release. Family
visitation programs in prisons can help toalleviate some of these problems. Both prerelease programming and post-release
aftercare need to address the complexities
of motherhood for female inmates.
IV. OFFENDERS WITH CRIMERELATED PROBLEMS
Concomitant with the fall of therehabilitative ideal, there has been firm
rejection of the notion that all criminal
behaviors are the product of abnormal or
deviant processes that need correction. It
follows from this view that not every
offender is in need of treatment, andprisons today no longer try to rehabilitate
every inmate. Correctional programs thatare made generally available to inmates,
such as education and work programs, arejustified more on the grounds of keeping
inmates busy and out of trouble than for
any rehabilitative effects they might have.
Treatment programs that are designed
to rehabilitate inmates and reduce
recidivism have not disappeared from theinventory of correctional programming.
Rather, a greater degree of selectivity has
been implemented in defining the inmate
clientele. Treatment programs now target
inmates who have serious andconsequential deficits or who haveproblems that are clearly linked to criminal
behavior. The strategy is to concentrate
limited resources on situations where thepromise of reducing criminal recidivism isgreatest.

320

A. Drug Addiction
A link between drug addiction and crime
is firmly established in the criminologicalliterature. According to the National
Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse,
drugs or alcohol were a key element in thecrimes of 80% of inmates. Although theprecise nature of causal relationships
between drugs and crime is not fully
understood, it makes intuitive sense that
addicts will commit crimes in order tofinance expensive drug habits. Thus, if we
can eliminate the addiction, then the
motivation for some crime will be removed.
Arguments in favor of drug treatment
of offenders are gaining strong support
from program evaluation research. Several
recent evaluations are worthy of mention.
A study by the Federal Bureau of Prison
found that completion of a residential drug
treatment program reduced short-term
recidivism rates by about 75%. In
particular, inmates who received treatment
had a six-month recidivism rate of 3.3%
compared to 12.1% for inmates who did notreceive treatment. Furthermore, inmatesin the treatment group had a drug use
relapse rate of 20.5% for the first six
months compared to 36.7% for controls.
Another recent evaluation by RAND
argues for the cost-effectiveness of drug
treatment. The study concluded that forheavy drug users treatment produces thebest return compared to various otheroptions, including mandatory minimum
prison sentences. At a cost of about $6,500
per year, substance abuse treatment
appears to be a good investment. Thus, anaccumulating body of solid evidence
indicates that drug treatment is effective
in reducing criminal recidivism.
If we are to have a policy of making drug
treatment widely available to offenders,
substantial increases in resources will beneeded. For example, the Federal Bureauof Prisons runs 42 residential treatment
programs with a combined capacity of 6,000
inmates. However, about 30% of the federal

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
inmate population, which stands at about
110,000, have moderate to severe drug andalcohol problems. Thus, the potential client
population is about 33,000 inmates.
Clearly, the demand for drug treatment
among offender populations outstrips the
supply.
In the past, the U.S. has showed awillingness to spend considerable sums ofmoney on the drug problem, particularly
with regard to law enforcement. President
Clinton is currently seeking $17 billion fora variety of anti-drug-initiatives, a little
less than half of which is earmarked for
the Justice department. A new federal
development raises the possibility that
more funds will be made available fortreatment. President Clinton has proposedthat prisons test inmates for drug use on aregular basis to gauge the extent of drug
use in confinement. Thus, the war on drugs
has expanded its battleground into prisons.
A logical follow-up of the President’s
proposed policy of inmate drug use testing
is to expand treatment options to takeadvantage of periods of enforced drug
abstinence.
B. Alcohol Abuse
The relation between alcohol abuse andcrime is as strongly documented as thatbetween drug abuse and crime. According
to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics,
about 36% of offenders under correctional
supervision, or about 2 million offenders,were drinking alcohol at the time they
committed their offense. Yet, alcohol abuseremains an under appreciated factor in the
etiology of criminal behavior. Perhaps, thisis because alcohol, unlike drugs, is a legal
commodity, so that only its abuse, and notits use, is seen as problematic.
As drug abuse treatment becomes morewidespread in prisons, we can expect a spillover effect that will emphasize theimportance of alcohol abuse treatment.
Many offenders are polymorphous in theirdrug use, moving from one substance toanother as availability and interestchanges. Many drug addicts also abuse
alcohol, because it is readily available andinexpensive. At a policy level, it may not
make sense to distinguish too precisely
among various forms of substance abuse.
Well-developed treatments for alcoholabuse exist, and expanding thesetreatment options could bring benefits
similar to the expansion of drug treatment
programs.
C. Chronic Violence
Chronically violent officers are a
problem of utmost concern to society, as
well as to correctional officials who arecharged with their care. In the U.S., the“super-max” prison has emerged as theprimary strategy for dealing withpersistent violence. These facilities, which
are designed to house the “worst of theworst,” have become very popular.
Presently, there are 57 “super-max”
facilities in the U.S. being operated by 36
states and the federal government. Humanrights organizations have been extremely
vocal in their criticism of “super-max”
prisons, alleging that the conditions or
confinement are extremely harsh. The
incidence of mental illness in thesefacilities appears relatively high, further
heightening human rights concerns.
Most of these prisons are modeled after
the federal penitentiary in Marion, Illinois.
The inmate regime typically consists of 23hours a day of seclusion in a cell with 1hour of sequestrated recreation. In recent
years, there has been an increasing
reliance on technology to minimize inmate
interactions with other persons, including
correctional officers, as a way of increasing
safety. “Super-max” prisons are much more
expensive to operate than traditional
prisons; however only a small fraction of
the inmate population is subjected to theregime. Indiana has a total of 198 inmatesconfined at two super-max facilities out ofa total population of about 15,400 inmates.

321

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
We know very little about the effects of
the “super-max” regime on inmates.
Important questions of reintegration
remain unanswered. Most inmates in“super-max” facilities come from, andreturn to, general prison populations; justas they come from and then return to theoutside world. The characteristics ofinmates selected for confinement in “supermax” facilities, the circumstances
surrounding transitions in and out of thesefacilities, and the factors that contributeto successful reintegration into thecommunity, are not known.
D. Sex Offenses
Of the nearly 5 million convicted
offenders serving sentences in federal orstate prisons, 4.7% are convicted of sex
crimes. This group of offenders
traditionally has been the target oftreatment programs. The deliberately
predatory, highly compulsive and privately
erotic nature of many sex offenses suggeststhat psychological treatment is needed toprevent recidivism.
As a group, sex offenders have been thetargets of tougher laws over the past
several years. In Texas, longer sentences
combined with curtailment of parole
release has caused the number of sex
offenders to double in four years, jumping
from 6,262 inmates in 1991 to 11,782
inmates in 1995
Many new laws dealing with sex
offenders run counter to reintegration
goals. These statutes, which resulted fromseveral highly publicized cases of heinous
sex crimes, emphasize public surveillanceover anonymity in the interest of safety.
For example, some states require public
notification of the release of sex offenders,
as well as registration and tracking of their
whereabouts. Citizens may be proactively
informed that a sex offender has moved into
the neighborhood, or they may accesscomputer files that display the location ofsex offenders by geographic area. Such322

laws make it considerably more difficult toreintegrate sex offenders back into thecommunity.
Another development involves sexual
predator laws that provide for indefinite
terms of confinement in a mental hospital
after expiration of a criminal sentence.
These laws invoke the civil authority of thestate to protect the public from clear andpresent dangers. The sexual predator laws,
which are reminiscent of the preventive
detention laws and dangerousness civil
commitment laws popular in the 1960’s,
allow for psychiatric confinement until
such time that the person no longer
represents a threat to public safety. In
some cases, the term of confinement could
amount to a life sentence.
V. COST SAVINGS MEASURES IN
CORRECTIONAL PROGRAMMING
Along with huge growth in prison
populations, there has been a tremendous
increase in prison expenditures. In somestates, it is predicted that spending forcorrections will soon exceed that for
education. Much of the growth in spendingis tied to the construction and staffing of
new institutions. For example, the 1999
budget request for the federal prison
system includes a 7.4% increase for salaries
and expenses and a 62.3% increase forbuildings and facilities. As prison
expenditures skyrocket, government
officials and correctional administrators
are searching for ways to limit spending.
Areas that often are scrutinized for possible
savings involve non-security-related
expenses such as medical care, food,transportation and inmate programming.
A. Program & Staff Cuts
In an attempt to reduce costs, someprison systems have adopted a very simple
and direct approach: eliminate programs
and cut staffing. For example, between
1994 and 1995, New York State eliminated108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
most higher education programs for prison
inmates. In 1996, the state eliminated 263
program positions in prisons. The positions
included drug counselors and teachers. In
the following year, 155 additional positions
were eliminated.
There is popular support for theelimination of inmate programs because
prisons are perceived as being too
comfortable. In order to be effective,
punishment should involve discomfort, andso the public and many politicians havebeen pushing for a “no-frills” approach toleaner and tougher incarceration.
Correctional administrators, however,while generally supportive of the “no-frills”
approach, are careful to protect programs
that enhance security by keeping large
numbers of inmates productively occupied.
B. Technology
Technology is making strong inroads into
all aspects of modern life, and correctional
programming is no exception. The impact
of technology is perhaps most evident ineducation where computers, televisions
and video are being used to facilitate
distance learning and forms ofprogrammed learning. In general society,
it is anticipated that these newtechnologies will be cost-effective inbringing educational programs to large
numbers of students. Correctional officials
are prepared to capitalize on thisdevelopment in hopes of lowering existing
costs and offsetting the effects of program
cuts that may have occurred.
Computer technology can be used todeliver a wide array of instruction that
often can be adapted to meet individualized
needs. For example, a reading program canbe set up to accommodate inmates withwidely varying reading skills, and deliveryof instruction is flexible enough to follow
the inmate as he or she changes
institutions. Occasionally, inmate accessto technology creates security problems,
but so far the benefits of these programs

have outweighed the risks.
Computer technology also can be used
to manage correctional programs in orderto make them more efficient and effective.
As computerized records of inmate
participation in various programs becomes
more available, we can anticipate that thedelivery of services will become more finely
tuned and evaluations of program
effectiveness will become morecommonplace.
C. Outcome-based Evaluations &Cost-benefit Analyses
As part of the emphasis on reducing
prison costs, programs are being called
upon to demonstrate their effectiveness. In
most cases, programs have primary andsecondary goals. Vocational programs, forexample, may have as a primary goalteaching inmates marketable skills, while
as a secondary matter it is hoped that
better employment prospects upon release
will facilitate reintegration and prevent
recidivism. For some, the most importantcriteria by which programs are to be judged
is reduction of recidivism.
Program evaluations can be useful tools
for improving existing programs or forchoosing among program alternatives inorder to maximize results. However,program evaluations can serve a morenarrow purpose of identifying programs forelimination. For example, the senate
Criminal Justice Committee in Texas
recommended that any substance abuse,job training or education program thatcannot clearly demonstrate its ability toincrease public safety in a cost-effective
manner should be abolished.
D. Privatization of Facilities
The privatization of institutionalcorrections ranks among the mostsignificant penological developments of the
century. The growth in private corrections
has been phenomenal both in the U.S andthroughout the world. Since 1983, the323

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
number of beds managed by privatecompanies in the U.S. grew from 350 to
87,000. According to some estimates,
private companies will manage about
400,000 beds in less than a decade.
Privately run correctional facilities havebecome popular in hopes of capitalizing on
the management flexibility and innovationthat is typical of the private sector. At
minimum, competition from the private
sector is forcing administrators ingovernment-operated facilities to adopt a
more business-like stance towards therunning of prisons.
There is some evidence to suggest thatprivatization can increase a prison system’s
flexibility to respond to rapidly changing
circumstances. For example, theDepartment of Corrections in Florida was
unable to keep up with the pace of growthin the inmate population. They turned to
private corrections as a solution to
overcrowding, which brought theadditional benefit of an increase inprogramming resources. Most critically,
opportunities for inmates to participate ineducational and substance abuse programs
expanded.
Recently, private companies have
expanded their operations into the area of
mental health correctional facilities.
Another likely area of future growth isjuvenile facilities. Both these types offacilities require a greater than average
investment of resources in programming.
Also, both groups of clients present difficult
reintegration challenges. It remains to be
seen whether private corrections canmaintain its competitive edge as the mixof facilities it operates changes and as theneed for specialized staff for inmate
programming increases.
E. Contracting for Correctional
Services
Another aspect of the privatization
movement is having government-run
institutions contract for services by private

324

companies in an effort to increase flexibility
and reduce costs. While the private sector
typically can provide a lower bottom-line,
there are concerns that profit motives may
adversely affect the quality of institutional
life for inmates. This is especially true withregard to correctional programming, whichis generally accorded a secondary status in
the hierarchy of prison activities. However,competition could increase the quality ofservices especially if this factor is clearly
emphasized in the evaluation of bids.
Prison systems now routinely contract
for major program activities such as healthcare, substance abuse treatment andeducation. In particular, contracts withlarge health care providers, which involve
payment of a flat fee per inmate for all
medical care, appear to be successful inbringing down the cost of inmate healthcare without adverse consequences. In thisregard, prisons are following the moregeneral trend of capatization of health carecosts in our society. It remains to be seen
whether cost-savings can be sustained overthe long term and whether use of similar
approaches towards education and drug
treatment services will be successful.
Another aspect of contracting involves
housing inmates in out-of-state prison
systems in an effort to relieve
overcrowding. For example, Texas
correctional facilities routinely houseinmates from other states, from as close as
Louisiana to as far away as Massachusetts.
Confinement is a “foreign” prison system
can make adjustment more difficult. Also,these arrangements make it difficult tomaintain family ties during incarcerationand post-release planning is harder to do.
F. Co-payment fees
Another popular strategy for reducing
inmate program costs, borrowed from theprivate sector, is requiring a co-payment
fee for services. According to a survey by
the Association of State Correctional
Administrators, 30 states now charge fees

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS
for program services, such as educational
programs. Often the fee involved isnominal. In Connecticut, for example,
inmates pay $3 for elective education
courses or vocational courses, $10 for
extended family visits and $3 for sick calls.
The actual revenues generated from thefee, while not insignificant, cover only asmall portion of program costs. Much of
the savings come from discouraging
inmates from requesting services in thefirst place. While the wisdom of thisstrategy is debatable, modest co-payment
fees do have the effect of limiting capricious
service requests. What the cost of thisproblem is, and whether the size of the
problem varies by type of service is notknown. Fees can have the advantage ofrestricting programs to the motivatedinmates by requiring a tangible form ofcommitment from them. However, thismay not be the group who can benefit mostfrom the program.
In some instances, the motivation for thefee more clearly is to recoup program costs.
Offenders have been required to pay forprobation and parole supervision, use ofcommunity correctional centers andelectronic monitoring. Concerns have been
expressed, however, over the possibility
that offenders may be denied participationin more desirable community-based
sanctions based on their financial situation.
G. Short-term Intensive Programs
Another cost-reduction strategy involves
use of short-term intensive programs,
which often are described under theheading of “shock incarceration.” These
programs are gaining favor because they
involve a shortened period of custody thatbrings reduced costs to the correctional
system and quicker freedom to the offender.
Higher levels of programming and services
negate some of the savings that accrue
through shorter custody, although this isthought to pay off in the longer term
through reduced recidivism.

A good example of short-term intensive
correctional programming is the juvenile
boot camp. These programs are organizedaround an intensive, military-style
regimen that continues for about 120 days.
Activities include calisthenics, schoolingcounseling and manual labor. Participants
for these programs are carefully screened.
Good candidates include young, first time
offenders with no history of violence. Some
programs target drug users, and include
this as an entrance criterion. In fiscal year
1995, the U.S. congress appropriated $22.5
million for boot camp programs.
Several large-scale evaluations of bootcamp programs have been carried out.
These evaluations indicate that boot camps
are no cheaper and no more effective at
reducing recidivism than other correctional
options. Among the key findings of thisresearch is that continuity in treatment
between the residential and aftercare
phases is critical to positive outcomes, andthat quality aftercare is difficult toimplement.
VI. CONCLUSION
Three major trends have affected
corrections in the United States over the
past decade and a half. The first trend isunprecedented growth in inmate
populations owing to changes in police
practices and criminal sentencing.
Extended rapid growth has pushed somecorrectional systems to the edge of abreaking point, redefining “business as
usual” into “crisis management”. The
second trend involves a shift in penal
philosophy emphasizing the protection ofsociety. Deterrence and incapacitation
have become the dominant rationales forpunishment, increasing the certainty andlength of prison sentences. Society has
become more concerned with the dark sideof offenders, worrying about possible future
harms, and more guarded in its confidence
about the need for and the success of325

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
correctional programming. The third trend
is an emphasis on economy and costcontrol. Recognizing that incarceration isexpensive and that it may not be able toafford all the punishment it would like todispense, society has chosen to deal withthe problem by tightening its belt andcutting costs.
Wi t h r e g a r d t o c o r r e c t i o n a lprogramming, these developments haveplayed out against a backdrop of a loss offaith in the rehabilitative ideal. This
combination of circumstances has
dramatically altered the face of correctional
programs. Dramatic growth in prison
populations has brought large increases in
the number of offenders who are legally
entitled to receive various services.
Dramatic growth also has brought changes
in the characteristics of inmate populations
that are relevant to programming
decisions. Numbers of elderly inmates,
young inmates and female inmates are
increasing disproportionately in prison
systems. Each group has distinct program
needs both during confinement and after
release. An emphasis on public safety has
meant that scarce program resources areconcentrated on offenders who present thegreatest threat to society or who havetreatable problems that are clearly crimerelated. Finally, the emphasis on cost
reduction has led to a wide variety of
initiatives. Most notable are calls forevaluations of program effectiveness andthe privatization of many correctional
activities. In the long run, thesedevelopments may benefit correctional
programming by increasing its stock withthe public, although there will be periodsof chaos and turmoil before this happens.
These developments that are now
shaping correctional programming
probably will continue to do so for sometime. We appear to have entered an era ofrealistic pragmatism in corrections;acknowledging, on the one hand, that there
are limits to what can be done, while on326

the other hand, redoubling ourcommitment to take action where andwhen it matters most. In this process,correctional programming will continue tobe transformed, occupying, as it does, acritical role in penal management andphilosophy.

108TH INTERNATIONALSEMINARPARTICIPANTS’
PAPERSPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERSEFFECTIVE TREATMENT MEASURES FOR PRISONERS TO
FACILITATE THEIR REINTERGRATION INTO SOCIETY:
THE GHANAIAN EXPERIENCE
Asiedu Willam Kwadwo*
I. TREATMENT OF OFFENDERS IN
GHANA
A. AimThis papers aims at examining theobjectives and practice of treatment of theincarcerated, early release prisoners andthe post-release offenders in Ghana. The
various forms of treatment at different
levels (of the penal system) will be
evaluated to assess their effectiveness intransforming offenders into acceptable anduseful members of society. Where there areshortcomings, suggestions andrecommendations will be made.
B. Objective
Since independence in 1958, Ghana’s
penal system of forty-three (43) prisons anda juvenile facility, the Ghana Borstal
Institute, has been guided by the objectiveof ‘reclaiming’ the criminal with the viewof rehabilitation. All members of the Ghana
Prison Service are trained to be very
professional in their approach to work. By
doing so, prison officers are able to exert
the necessary moral influence over theprisoners.
All prison officers are particularly
enjoined by section 165 of the Prisons
Regulations, 1958 to “ treat prisoners withkindness and humanity, to listen patiently
to and report their complaints orgrievances, at the same time being firm in
the maintenance of order and disciplineand enforcing complete observance of orderand discipline”.
* Regional Commander, Northern Region Prisons,Prisons Service, Ministry of Interior, Ghana.

In the course of work, the officer isguided by a plethora of legislation
constituting the Penal Law of Ghana. They
are particularly mindful of section 2 of the
Prisons Service Decree (NRCD 46)
1972,which makes it an offence to tortureor subject a prisoner to inhuman ordegrading punishment. By treating
prisoners with dignity, the prisoner seethemself as a worthy member of society
who is undergoing correction.
As the first line of contact, prisoners
learn to re-socialize from the prison officers.
The officers closely monitor the progressof the prisoners and encourage them to beindustrious. The Ghanaian prison officer
serves the dual role of custodian of theprisoner, as well as a change agent in theinmate’s quest for the acquisition of
positive values.
II. THE FUNCTIONS OF THE
SERVICE
Section 1 of the Prisons Service Decreerequires the prison service to maintain “thesafe custody and welfare of prisoners and,
whenever practicable, to undertake thereformation and rehabilitation ofprisoners”. It is not only necessary tophysically secure the prisoner (in custody)(remand and trial prisoners inclusive), but
it is equally important to provide anenvironment which would guarantee theirhealth and welfare. With this achieved, itis the further mandate of the service toadopt measures which would reform andrehabilitate the convicted prisoner.
Reformation and rehabilitation
programmes are solely for the convicted

327

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
prisoner. It is the foundation of the penal
system in Ghana that it is the reformed
person who can be successfully
rehabilitated into society.
III. MECHANISMS FOR
TREATMENTTo operationalize the functions ofreforming and rehabilitating the prisoner,
the service has adopted a combination of asound physical infrastructure andtreatment programmes. Treatment isbased on formal and informal education;technical and vocational training in thewalled prisons and agricultural training in
the camp prisons. The camp prisons areopen facilities in farming communities. The
prisons along the coast engage in fishingas the choice of vocational training.
A. The Juvenile System
The same approach has been adopted in
the treatment of the inmates of the Borstal
Institution. This facility houses youth
offenders who are not older than seventeen(17) years. The dual themes of reformation
and rehabilitation are embodied in thecharter of the institution; “training for
citizenship and a concern that the young
and careless should be saved from a wasted
life of crime”.
The juveniles are given four (4) years offormal education by prison officers who areprofessionally certified teachers. They areprepared for national examinations. Thereis an option for trade training and wellequipped workshops are provided forpractical training. The inmates who opt fortechnical training are prepared for tradecertification tests at the national level.
After serving the mandated years, nocriminal records are kept on the former
inmates of the Borstal Institute. It is anoffence to refer to the criminal history ofthese juveniles for any purpose. This is very
important for their reintegration into
society. As a result, a lot of former inmates328

occupy responsible political, economic andsocial positions in the country.
B. Physical Conditions
The Industrial Unit of the Service carriesout regular inspection and maintenance ofits physical infrastructure. The Health
Unit has responsibility for the maintenanceof hygyienic conditions. The Ghana Prisons
Service operates in an environment of closemonitoring of its activities. As part of the
Security Services of the country, theNational Security Council, chaired by the
President of the Republic, keeps an ‘eagle
eye’ on the activities of the Service, as does
the Parliamentary Committee on Defence
and the Interior.
The Commissioner for Human Rights
and Administrative Justice has theconstitutional duty of ensuring that theprisons of Ghana are managed in the bestinterest of prisoners and the society as awhole. In particular the commissioners
checks for violations of the human rights
of prisoners. The various branch offices
conduct inspections of the juvenile facility
and all the prisons in the country, in thepresence of the state and independentpress. The officials of the Commission
conduct interviews of the prisoners as totheir impressions of the facilities andconditions. Prison officers are not allowed
to be present during the inspection andinterview. The Commissioner’s reports on
the conditions of the prisons and thefacilities available are sent to the President
for reaction and directives.
The Government of Ghana, mindful of
its constitutional obligations and thebenefits of sound penal administration, has
set up the Prisons Service Council for
ensuring that the Prison Service performs
its role efficiently. The members of theCouncil are: the Chairman who represents
the President of the Republic of Ghana; theMinister responsible for the Interior; theAttorney-General and Minister of Justiceor his/her representative; the Director of

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
S o c i a l We l f a r e a n d C o m m u n i t y
Development; and representatives of the
Bar and Medical Associations. Others are
representatives of Chiefs and religious
bodies, the Director-General of Prisons, two
representatives from prison officers, theChief Director of the Ministry of theInterior and two other appointees of the
President, one of whom is a woman.
The Prisons Service Council advises the
President of the Republic on matters ofpolicy relating to the organisation andmaintenance of the penal system in Ghana.
The council regulates the conditions for
imprisonment, the appointment andcomposition of welfare committees, andgenerally adopts measures for the humane
treatment and welfare of prisoners andother persons in legal authority.
At the regional level, the Council
appoints Prisons Committees to advise theCouncil and the Director General on any
matters relating to the administration ofprisons in the region. At the station level,
the Service Council appoints a welfarecommittee for each prison. The Committee
consists of two or more persons andexcludes the medical officer of the prison.
The Committee visits the prison at least
twice a month to inspect all wards, cells,
yards, solitary cells, kitchens, wash-rooms,
toilets and every other part of the prison,and to hear the complaints of the prisoners
and to inspect the registers, books andrecords of the prison.
Giving them sufficient quantities of goodquality food ensures the health and welfareof prisoners. Special diets are given toparticular prisoners the medical officer
recommends. Generally, prisoners areallowed to supplement their diet by making
their own arrangements for food, provided
they go through the proper channels. The
prison authorities supply sufficientquantities of clothing, soap, bedding andsundries to maintain their decency,cleanliness and good health. The prisoners
can arrange for the supply of special itemsof toiletries and have unrestricted
oppertunity to use these items. Prisoners
in Ghana also have unlimited opportunity
to perform exercise and to engage in games
like volleyball, basketball, tug of war,
football and table tennis. They also playindoor games like ludu, cards, draughts,
chess, scrabble and locally invented games.
Officers keep a close eye on the healthof prisoners, as the death of a prisoner canhave adverse consequences for the Service.
In this regard, every effort is made to
procure prescribed drugs for any prisoner
in need and the Service bears the cost of
any kind of surgery the prisoner has toundergo. These facilities are maintainedeven when the prisoner is undergoingpunishment for breach of prison
regulations.
C. Communication
Every convicted prisoner is entitled towrite and to receive mail once every two
weeks. Special circumstances can warrant
an increase. Non-sentenced prisoners are
not limited in the number of mail they cansend or receive.
All categories of prisoners have the rightto unlimited correspondence with theirlegal advisers, the Commissioner for
Human Rights and Administrative Justiceand their religious advisers. These rights
are entrenched and are without prejudice
to any infraction of prison regulations. The
Department of Social Welfare andCommunity Development has welfare
officers posted to the various prisons to help
provide for the welfare needs of theinmates, in particular helping them seek
redress at the courts and maintaining links
with their families.
D. Visits
While non-sentenced prisoners areentitled to visits at all reasonable times,
the convicted prisoner is limited to one visit
every a fortnight, except when s/he has a
medical problem. In such situations, the329

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
number of visits would be increased. Visitsby legal advisers are not limited. At all
times prisoners are allowed to receive food,provisions and medical supplies from theirfamilies, friends, benevolent societies andphilantrophists.
E. Religious Observances
There is freedom of worship in theprisons; ministers of all faiths are
permitted to visit their adherents in prison.
This is also an entrenched right. Since theprison administration cannot interferewith religion, and is conscious of its
relevance to reformation, religious leaders
are encouraged to offer moral and religious
instruction during their visits.
Religious instruction is an importantmeans of giving a positive belief system andvalues to the prisoner, thus helping themto reform. The Service has a chaplaincy
serviced by ordained priests. This unit
coordinates religious activities and liaises
with religious groups and civicorganizations like the Rotary Club, who
donate food, clothing, medicine andequipment for industrial training to
supplement the efforts of the government.
These organizations show films withreformatory and rehabilitative messages tothe inmates. They also offer entertainment
facilities like television sets to the prisons.
The prison libraries are also usuallyequiped by the religious groups who help
finance educational and training
programmes in the prisons.
F. Observation
Generally, Ghanaian prisons are safe
and clean. Given the state of the economy,
the utmost is done to make life comfortable
for the inmates. Healthcare is provided by
the state with a low mortality rate; 0.028%
for 1996. With the strict supervision of thepowerful organs of state and various
interests groups, high standards aremaintained.
In 1996 the escape rate from prison was

330

0.026%. Escape in Ghana presents aninteresting phenomenon, especially at thecamp prisons where security is minimal.
Dissatisfaction with conditions or crippling
objection to particular officers usually leads
to the escape of prisoners who are sent out
to work. Examples abound of escapees
reporting at other prisons, or to theresidence of the Director-General, to seek
transfers.
IV. PROGRAMMES
A. Formal and Informal Education
The major focus of the treatment
programmes is education. By 1967, theService had established schools for theinmates at all the central prisons. The
central prisons hold long-term prisoners
who stand to benefit from such long-term
schemes. Libraries have been establishedin some of the prisons to facilitate
education.
At the Borstal Institution, certified
teachers were involved in the general,technical and vocational education of theinmates. As far back as 1967, nine (9) out
of eleven (11) inmates presented fornational examinations passed. As a major
training centre, the Borstal Institution has
industrial installations comparable withthe largest factories in the country. At
present, some junior high schools in thenation’s capital use the facilities of theInstitution for their practical training,under the guidance of specialist prison
officers.
The 1967 Commission of Enquiry into
the conditions of the Service, (the Asafo
Adjei Commission), while acknowledging
the role of education in the prisons, urged
the prison administration “to provide
prisoners with facilities to promote theirformal and informal education within theprisons service and institutions under its
administration”. The Commission further
stressed: “Although they [prisoners] may
be incarcerated as a punishment, every

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
that ignorance prevents a large number ofthe incarcerated from presenting theircases properly. An examination of theeducational background of inmates in two
given years confirms this startlingsituation. Although recent statistics are notavailable, it is safe to assume that thissituation is unchanged.

thing done to avoid creating bitterness andresentment in them is ultimately for thegood of the society to which they will
eventually return. All programmes for civic
or social education for the rest of thecommunity may diminish in value, if
prisoners, for whom there is ample
opportunity now for their reform and help
to become more responsible citizens thanthey have ever been, are neglected in thenational effort for general re-education”.
Following the recommendations of the
Asafo-Adjei Commission, the Service
intensified its efforts by recruiting morequalified teachers to undertake the urgent
task of educating the mass of illiterate
inmates. Ghana has a large population ofilliterates and this is naturally reflected in
the prison population. It has long been felt

Of the categories of prisoners in Tables
1 and 2, the illiterate category registered
the highest number of convicts. Thisdefines the task of the Prisons Service inits bid to reform and rehabilitate the large
band of illiterate and semi-literate
prisoners who have overwhelmed the penal
system. The correlation between illiteracy
and criminality is well defined. The Service
has adopted measures to enable illiterate

TABLE 1EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND OF CONVICTED PRISONERS, 1990
Illiterate

Elementary

SecondaryTechnical

Graduate

Post-Graduate

48%

39%

8%

3%

1.5%

0.5%

Source; Ghana Prisons Service Annual Report, 1990.

TABLE 2EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND OF CONVICTED PRISONERS, 1992
Level of
Education

First
Quarter

SecondQuarter

Third
Quarter

Last
Quarter

Illiterate

4028

3964

4106

4693

Elementary
Secondary /

3911

3569

2977

1781

Commercial /Technical

558

491

899

1229

Tertiary

33

55

140

157

Other

57

134

99

195

Total

8587

8213

8221

8055

Source; Ghana Prisons Service Annual Report, 1992.

331

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
prisoners to learn to read and write, andto afford teaching in preparation foradvanced studies to prisoners who may sodesire.
Prisoners are permitted to engage instudying for self-improvement and areprovided books and stationery by
benefactors like the churches and the nonformal education division of the Ministryof Education, which has extended its
national programme to the prisons.
Prisoners are encouraged to prepare andsit for educational examinations. For the
purpose of education, library services have,since 1967, been extended to all the prisons.
Since the promulgation of this decree,a massive drive has been made towards
improving the education of inmates. A
batch of professional teachers wererecruited in 1976 to teach prisoners.
Professionals and technicians are recruitedannually. Added to the lack of education is
the lack of skills as shown in Table 3.
From a study of table 3 it is obvious thatthe higher the skills, the lower the rate ofincarceration. Farming in Ghana is basic
and does not need formal education.
Indeed most farmers are illiterate andfarming is the only way to survival.
Together with the mostly poorly educatedcommercial drivers, farmers are largely

victims of ignorance.
B. Vocational Training
Vocational training, another componentof the treatment package, is backed by
Section 41of NRCD 46, 1972. The Prisons
Service is specifically charged to “ establishin every prison courses of training andinstruction assigned to teach simple trades,
skills and crafts to prisoners who may
benefit from such training.”
Vocational training is carried out in thewalled prisons. These are the maximum
and medium secrity facilities. Major
industries exist in the central prisons.
Trades such as carpentry and joinery, caneand basket making, black-smithing andmasonry are undertaken, as well as taught.
Other areas include shoe- making, tailoringand dress-making, textile manufacturing,ceramics, automobile repair, electrical andelectronic goods repair. The Service relies
exclusively on specialist prison officers for
trade instruction and supervision of theindustries. Trade training is in the form oftheoretical instruction and practicalexperience in the workshop or on the field
where the inmates serve as apprentices.
Inmates who are already skilled areengaged as workers and are given
incentives.

TABLE 3
OCCUPATIONS OF CONVICTED PRISONERS -1992
OCCUPATION FIRST QUARTER
Farmer (crop)
3347
Fishermen
398
Artisans
359
Businessmen
137
Clerks129
Drivers
1114
Teachers
Other
2162
TOTAL
8587

SECOND QUARTER THIRD QUARTER LAST QUARTER
3285
3463
3141
315
273
291
307
355
640
101
108
88
298
176
87
946
789
707
8
21
9
2165
1924
1958
8213
8221
8055

Source; Ghana Prison Service Annual Report, 1992.

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108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
C. Agricultural Training
An off-shoot of working on farms,
agricultural training is the most popular
activity in the prisons. Almost all prisoners
have rural backgrounds and can easily
cultivate crops and generally imbibe
modern farming methods. The same‘learning on the job’ approach is applied in
the fishing camps where officers fishalongside prisoners.
D. Assessment of Programmes
Tables 4 and 5 show the recidivism rate
for two years. The 1992 rate of 9.2% rose
to 14.1% in 1996. Generally recidivism has
been the measure of the success oftreatment programmes. In Ghana’ssituation, the comparatively low rate mustbe treated with caution. Record-keeping isunreliable and their is virtually nomonitoring of discharged offenders,enabling prisoners who relocate to be tried
for subsequent offences without the Court’sknowledge of the previous record.
In reality, the range and degree oftreatment programmes in Ghana do notlend to an assertion of a positive effect on

the rate of recidivism. As an observerparticipant, one is of the opinion that the
programmes are not structured andorganized. Special programmes are
required to treat the needs of some classes
of prisoners. These would more particularly
be seen during classification. At present,
sexual offenders, substance and drug abuse
offenders, prisoners with anger or
psychological problems and psychiatriccases hang on without any programmes totake care of their needs. A lot of work needs
to be done in the area of treatment inside
the prison in this regard.
The greatest contributing factor to theprobable low rate of recidivism is the easeof absorption of the discharged offenderi n t o t h e i r c o m m u n i t y, d u e t o t h ecohesiveness of the social fabric.
E. Prison Labour
Prison labour is used in two ways in
Ghana. One way is where prisoners are
generally hired out for physical labour onfarms and in industry. Skills are notrequired and the objective is to raise income
for the state. The other form involves

TABLE 4TYPES OF OFFENDERS, 1992
Quarter
First
SecondThird
FourthTotal
Percentage

First Offender
6389
6119
6248
5985
24741
74.8

Second Offender
1494
1240
1249
1321
5304
16.0

Recidivists
704
854
724
749
3031
9.2

Total
8587
8213
8221
8055
33071
100

TABLE 5TYPES OF OFFENDERS, 1996
Number
Percentage

First Offender Second Offender
6991
1904
67.5
18.4

Recidivists
1456
14.1

Total
10351
100.0

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
utilizing prisoners on contracts, especiallyfor building constructions. Prisoners areplaced on the field and work alongside theofficers on such projects. These prisoners
return to the prison in the company of theirescort each working day. Except for a brief
period during the revolutionary era whensome prisoners were allowed to spend theweekend at home, prisoners in Ghana are
not allowed to go out on their own.
Contracts are also taken for the
manufacture of various items inside theprison, for instance, furniture and cabinets,
tools, garment and baskets. Prisoners who
have gained trade skills are exposed to thepractical side of their training and are
given work incentives.
Labour is governed by Section 42 of the
Prisons Service Decree (NRCD 46) 1972,
which requires every prisoner convicted ofa criminal offence to perform work
beneficial to the community or the Prison
Service, or to assist them to lead a
responsible life after release. Only the verystrong prisoners get the chance to workoutside. Even in the yard, sick, weak andold prisoners are not allowed to perform
any duties. Prisoners are not forced to do
any kind of work. It is enough that a
prisoner claims they are ill, though the
medical officer is always available to detectmalingering.
Deployment of prisoners on jobs outsideof the prison is becoming increasingly
difficult. With a large mass of unemployedpeople, labour is cheap and readily
available outside of the prison. Prisoners
who perform duties in the yard, those who
go on outside labour (if any) and thoseworking in the shops are expected to be
paid, but the very low level of income fromthe labour charges and the industrial
activities make this almost impossible. In
Ghana the problem is not getting prisoners
to work; the issue is getting work for theprisoner.

334

V. ALTERNATIVES TOIMPRISONMENT
A. Fines
Fines have been the only traditional
alternative to imprisonment in Ghana.
Attempts made at introducing ‘community
service’ as envisaged under the Public
Tribunal Law (PNDCL 78), now replaced,
were stillborn. Probation has not yet been
introduced.
The Courts Act (Act 459) 1993 introduces‘restitution’ as an alternative. By operationof section 35 of the Act, where an accused
person, after conviction for causing
economic loss, harm or damage to the stateor any state agency, is willing and able topay compensation or make restitution andreparation, the court may instead of
passing sentence on them, make an orderto pay compensation, make restitution, or
make reparation. This is seen as a crossbetween imprisonment and the paymentof a fine. It is however clearly limited andcould be abused as a tool for the rescue ofthe affluent from the crminal justicesystem.
B. Bonds
A frequently used devise in
misdemeanour cases is the ‘bond’. This is
usually granted upon the intervention of
the community heads or leaders. The
accused persons are bonded to be of good
behaviour for periods normally notexceeding one year .If during the period theaccused is found guilty of breaching thebond, s/he is given a prison term for theperiod s/he was expected to observe thebond.
C. Probation
At the juvenile courts, probation reports
are prepared by social workers for theconsideration of the court before issuing its
orders as to the treatment of the offender.
However the offenders are not usually
granted probation. On conviction they are

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
sent to the Boys and Girls Industrial
Homes or to the Borstal Institution, if theoffence is serious.
Probation, as is commonly accepted, is
not available in Ghana yet; it is part of
judicial reforms being contemplated by the
judiciary and relevant stakeholders.

(6) months earned remission and 28 days
earned remission. In both respects, theperiod of forfeiture should not exceed theremission already earned. Remission is arequirement of the law and it is a duty
incumbent on the Officers-in-Charge of theprisons and the Director-General.

D. Early Release System
Early Release in Ghana is usually by the‘remission system’. ‘Amnesty’, which is anannual affair, and ‘medical release’ are usedin exceptional circumstances. ‘Pardon’ is ararity.

F. Amnesty
The Head of State exercises theirprerogative of mercy by releasing prisoners
annually. The beneficiaries are (initially)
recommended by the Officers-in-Charge ofthe various prisons. The Director-General
studies the recommendations and seeks theapproval of the Minister Responsible for
the Interior, who would present the final
list to cabinet.
Annually, a medical board made up of
independent medical personnel, tour all theprisons and recommend the release of thevery sick, the aged and the mentally
incapacitated. If the recommendations are
acceptable, the Head of State orders theirrelease. Article 72 of the 1992 Constitution
empowers the Head of State to exercise thisprerogative of mercy and, in consultation
with the Council of State, may:a) Grant to a person convicted of an
offence a pardon either free or subject
to lawful condition or:b) Grant to a person a respite either
indefinite or for a specified period,
from the execution of punishment
imposed for an offence ; orc) Substitute a less severe form ofpunishment for a punishment
imposed on a person for an offence ;ord) Remit the whole or part of apunishment imposed on a person orof a penalty or forfeiture otherwise
due to Government on account of any
offence.
An example of the exercise of thisprerogative is the amnesty granted during
the first anniversary of the Fourth Republic
in 1997 for :E. Remission
Authority for the operation of theremission system is section 34 of the
Prisons Service Decree (NRCD 46)1972 “A
prisoner serving a sentence of six weeks ormore may, by steady industry and good
conduct, earn a remission not exceeding
one-third of his sentence”. Some categories
of prisoners do not enjoy remission. These
are those:a) Serving a sentence of imprisonment
for life;b) Detained during the pleasure of the
Head of State;c) Committed to prison for debt;ord) Committed to prison for contempt of
court.
In theory, remission is earned while theprisoner is in custody and their conduct andenterprise are being observed. In practice,
the third part of the sentence is calculated
right at reception and the ‘Earliest Possible
Date of Release’ (that is, having earned
remission) and the ‘Latest Possible Dateof Release’ (without remission) are known
from the first day.
All remission (earned), or any part ofit, can be forfeited when the prisoner fails
to maintain steady industry or good
conduct. The Director-General of Prisonsand the Officer-in-Charge, the only
authorities who can impose punishment ona prisoner, can respectively forfeit up to six

335

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
(i)

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

(v)

(vi)

Condemned prisoners who had
served more than 10 years as atJanuary 7 were to have theirsentences commuted to life;
Prisoners condemned to death foreconomic sabotage were to havetheir sentences reduced to 15
years;
Prisoners serving life
imprisonment who had served atleast 10 years as at January 7,
1994 were to have their sentences
reduced to 10 years. This excluded
armed robbers, those convicted forrape and narcotic drug offences;
Prisoners serving sentences for 20
years and over and who had
served five years thereof were tohave their sentences reduced by
1/3 remission. This excluded
convicts sentenced for armed
robbery, drug trafficking and rape;
First and second offenders who
had served half of their sentenceswere to be released on parole andwere obliged to undertake
community service. This excluded
persons convicted for murder,
manslaughter, rape, armed
robbery and drug trafficking andConvicts found to be seriously sickand those 60 years of age were to
be released. This excluded
convicts sentenced for rape,
murder, manslaughter, armed

robbery and drug trafficking.
To give an idea of the effect of theamnesty on the prison population during
a year which averaged a daily lock-up of
7630 in the prisons of Ghana, a break-downof the convicts who were affected by theamnesty of 1997 is as follows.
• First and second offenders 938• Death sentence now commuted tolife
11• Life sentence now reduced to 20
years
6• Those serving 20 years and thosecondemned to death for economic
sabotage now with sentence
reduced by 1/3 remission and by
15 years respectively
18• Those serving above 20 years 26• Those who benefited frompresidential pardon
2
G. Qualification for Early Release
With the operation of the remission
system and amnesty, prisoners in Ghana
are generally beneficiaries of early release.
In addition to four categories of convicts
who do not benefit from the remission
system-i.e those serving life imprisonment,
inmates detained at the President’s
pleasure, debtor prisoners and those held
for contempt-the amnesty policy excludes
those convicted for armed robbery, murder,
rape, narcotic offences and manslaughter.
Amnesty and the remission system
combine to release a lot of convicts yearly.

TABLE 6PARTICULARS
Average population at the beginning of the year
Average population at the end of the year
Number of persons incarcerated during the year
Number of convicts discharged during the year
Average convict population
Rate of incarceration
Rate of release (1/3 remission, fine paid, court order) etc.
Source; Ghana Prisons Service Annual Report, 1994.

336

POPULATION
8,752
7,639
9,158
9,874
7,693
25 times daily
27 times daily

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
Table 6, for the year 1994 evidences thisfact.Discharges in 1994 exceeded
admission by 716 inmates, thus registering
14.6% decrease in the commutative prison
population of 463,997 in 1993 to 396,474
in 1994.
H. Factors and Authority for Early
ReleaseConsiderations such as the victim’s
feelings and the prisoner’s potential forreformation are not taken into accountwhen amnesty is considered. The gravityof the offence, as the exemptions show, iscontemplated. It is an exercise of mercy,
entirely at the discretion of the President
who has no obligation to heed the advice of
the Council of State. It cannot be denied
that the devise is also used as a means ofdecongesting the prisons and cutting down
on prison expenditure.
I. Release on Licence
Male prisoners who have served a termof two (2) years or more for a felony or any
criminal offence involving fraud or
dishonesty, but excluding murder, arerequired by the Prevention of Crimes
Ordinance (Cap. 38 of Vol. ll) of the Laws
of Ghana to be released on licence after
they have earned their remission. The
range of offences which require release on
licence includes the abetment, attempt orconspiracy to commit felony, fraud or
dishonesty. All other prisoners who earnremission are released absolutely. Female
prisoners are not released on license.
J. Conditions for Release on
Licence
The prisoner released on licence shallnot, for the unexpired period of his original
sentence (the outstanding third) and whileat liberty, be convicted of any criminal
offence involving fraud or dishonesty. If
he is so convicted, his licence is
automatically forfeited. He is further
required to notify the police of his presence

and subsequent change of address.
K. Breaches
For breaches of the conditions of releaseon licence, the forfeiture of the licencemeans the convict has to serve theunexpired period of his original term andthen the fresh sentence for the current
conviction. For failure “to report as aconvict on licence” or “failure to notify
police of the change of address” the convict
either receives a twelve (12) month termof imprisonment or serves the unexpired
term of his original sentence.
L. Supervision
The police are charged to monitor the
movements of the convicts on licence, by
the system of periodic reporting of theconvicts to the police. This is certainly notenough by way of supervision. All otherdischarged prisoners do not report to any
authority.
M. Parole
Though parole was cited as one of themechanisms of implementing the amnesty
policy of 1994, in reality no prisoners werereleased on parole. They were released on
licence or unconditionally, and did not
engage in any community service. This isbecause there is no one to supervise theconditions under which parole is granted.
The place of parole in the penal system has
been appreciated in Ghana and theConstitution of 1992 enjoins the Prisons
Service Council, in Article 208, to provide
for its introduction. Six (6) years later
there is still only talk of a bill underconsideration.
N. Guidance
The only form of guidance is the advice
offered to the prisoners on their release bymembers of the Prisons Discharge Board.
The Board provides, on an irregular basis,transportation fees to some of the indigent
prisoners who are making their way home.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
O. Halfway Houses
There are no such facilities in Ghana.
The Presbyterian Church of Ghana, in its
Prison Ministry, is committed to creatingsuch a facility and is preparing for the
housing and trade training of ex-prisoners.
VI. TREATMENT OF DISCHARGED
PRISONERS IN THE COMMUNTY
In Ghana there is no programme for thetreatment of prisoners outside of theprison. On release, the prisoner barely has
sufficient money to live on. They are only
given transportation to their place oforiginal conviction; no state or nongovernmental organization has a
programme to help them get settled.
Though by law, the only restriction on
re-entry into the public service is forfinancial positions for prisoners withconvictions for offences involving fraud anddishonesty, in practice there is no avenueof employment in the public sector for adischarged offender, no matter what theoffence. The only recourse is the family.
Social ties are still strong and sayings like“one does not cut off a limb because her
child had soiled it”, reveal that familybonds are not broken by criminal conviction
and subsequent imprisonment.
In the urban areas, it is usual for a wellto-do member of the family in selfemployment to engage the discharged
offender and offer them accommodation in
their house in order to monitor him/her. In
the village, the discharged offender iswelcomed and has the same right tocultivate family land or engage in a cottage
industry. The family and community offer
physical and material help to resettle. If
s/he is a ‘royal’, the only disability as aresult of imprisonment is the chance of
becoming a chief.
It is easy for the discharged prisoner who
is willing to go back to the family to bereintegrated and rehabilitated. In cases
where there is difficulty because the offence338

was committed against a member of thecommunity, the elders of the family pacify
the offended party through the offer ofmoney, livestock and drinks.
The problem of re-offending has to dowith the discharged offender who is either
ashamed of going back to their family or isstill lured by the ‘city lights’. In the face ofmassive unemployment and crippled by thestigma of imprisonment and general lackof education or skill, the attraction of crimesoon claims him/her. The same persons,constituting the recidivists of the Ghanaian
penal system, always revolve through theprison gates.
VII. FACTORS MILITATINGAGAINST TREATMENT
A. Alternatives to Imprisonment
The absence of national policies for the
institution of alternatives to imprisonment,such as probation, work release,community service, suspended sentences,committal to drug and alcohol
detoxification centres and psychiatriccentres, is a great disservice to the nation.
Most of the convicted prisoners do not haveto be in prison. Some offences are so trivial
that community service orders could havebeen used. Many sentences are so shortthat it would have been better to convert
them to any of the alternatives. Fines havebeen unreasonably fixed on manyoccasions, with the result that convictedpersons in Ghana invariably serve prison
terms. A lot of the drug-related cases needclinical help, not imprisonment, where theoffenders deteriorate mentally. The same
applies for alcoholics.
Prisons are full of offenders who could
legally be serving their punishments
outside the prison, thus avoiding
overcrowding in the prisons. Alternatives
to imprisonment does not mean avoidanceof punishment, and recourse to amnesty
can not be a long term panacea for the illsof the system.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
B. Treatment in the Prison
1. Congestion
It is certainly difficult embarking on any
meaningful programme with a bloatedconstituency. While short-sentenced
inmates cannot be offered any meaningfultreatment, their presence puts tremendous
pressure on existing facilities and on thetime and energy of the officers who could
otherwise be deployed in treatment
programmes for the long sentenced
i n m a t e s . Wi t h a r e d u c e d i n m a t e
population, some of the buildings could be
used as classrooms, libraries, workshops
and rooms for group therapy. Parliament
has also been slow in passing the Parole
Bill; perhaps intimidated by the cost of
creating a new bureaucracy, a National
Parole Service.
2. Financing
Until the beginning of the 1998 financial
year, there was no budgetary allocation fortreatment programmes in the Service. The
paucity of the allocation does not give room
for comfort. Massive investment must be
made in terms of the repair and provisionof new machinery and raw materials where
necessary. The Prisons Service has long
been the orphan of the public service andfunding for its activities has traditionallybeen poor. Yet the service has a great
potential of bringing in large revenue if its
resources are properly utilized.
3. Attitude
The attitude of post-independence prison
officers has largely contributed to thecurrent state of affairs. If the officers had
maintained the programmes left by the
British in 1957, the Service would havemade head-way in its treatment
programmes. Advocating reforms in the
penal system should have been theconstant refrain of the prison officer, yet
focus has been on security, not reformation
and rehabilitation.
Ghana has no problem with trained

personnel in all aspects of treatment. The
Service abounds in certified teachers ingeneral, agricultural, technical andvocational education. These categories of
employees, together with the psychologists
and sociologists, were employed for theexact purpose of designing andimplementing treatment programmes forreforming and rehabilitating theincarcerated, but now find themselves ingeneral administration where their skills
can not be fully utilised.
C. Treatment in the Community
1. Supervision
In the absence of a well thought-out
supervisory system such as provided by theinstitution of a parole system, community
based supervision is currently highly
ineffective. The understaffed and overworked police have no time to monitor the
licencee system.
Moreover in Ghana it is difficult to trackpeople down, as large parts of the country
are virtually inaccessible. Record keeping
is very poor and there is no national
identification system. Unless somebody
identifies the offender as a previous
offender in the course of the trial, s/he canalways hide the previous conviction.
VIII. RECOMMENDATIONS
The factors preventing the adoption of asystematic approach can be over come by
a commitment of the Prisons Service
Council and prison administrations to theideals of reformation and rehabilitation.
The Service has been obsessed withsecurity, as it forms part of the Security
Services of Ghana, and perhaps a redesignation to a socially-oriented ministrylike Social Welfare or Justice would
reshape the direction of the Service.
It is also plausible to amend the charterof the Service which requires it to “ensure
the safe custody and welfare of prisoners
and whenever practicable to undertake the339

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
reformation and rehabilitation ofprisoners”. By removing “wheneverpracticable”, it can make it mandatory forthe prison service to perform the two tasks.
The Prisons Service Council also has amajor role to play. By its composition, it isa very powerful and influential body whichshould be able to influence policy-making
at the highest level. The 1992 Constitution
charged the Council with the responsibilityof introducing a parole system. With theBill before parliament, the Council has toexert pressure to get it passed. Its passage
would reduce the problems of post-releaseprisoners to a large extent.
The Council would do the penal system
of Ghana a world of good by promoting the
adoption of non-custodial sentences. This
would revolutionize the system and pave
the way for real reformation andrehabilitation programmes. However theCouncil would have to use its influence tosecure adequate financing to enable thescheme to take-off. The Financial
Administration Regulations must be
amended to allow the Service to reinvest
its self-generated income as capital for
growth and expansion.
It would also be necessary for the Service
to intensify its income generating activities
by taking on jobs which can be undertaken
inside the prison, for instance, assemblingsmall components for outside companies.
Finally, all personnel who administer
criminal justice must be re-oriented andsensitized on the need for reforms. This
would involve holding refresher courses for
prison officers in particular, and generally
for police officers, social workers, thejudiciary and staff of the AttorneyGeneral’s Department. Given the place oftreatment in Ghana, immediate focus must
be on alternatives to imprisonment andprogrammes inside the prisons. A step bystep approach would have to be adopted inconsidering post-release programmes.

340

IX. CONCLUSION
Ghana can learn from many countries
which have designed and successfully
implemented programmes for thetreatment of offenders at the pre-trial,
incarceration and post-release stages.
While it is true to say that the treatment
methods reflect the level of sophisticationof the various countries, the adaptation ofcommendable programmes to the local
situation is possible.
Alongside the goal of reaching a middleincome country by the year 2020, there
must be a recognition of the changing
trends in society, and their possible effects
on the penal system in Ghana. The
adoption of reforms now would, in addition
to solving a lot of problems, pre-empt afuture situation where the system can nolonger respond to the needs of society andthe incarcerated.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS

TREATMENT PROGRAMMES FOR OFFENDERS RUN BY THE
HONG KONG CORRECTIONAL SERVICES
Chung, Wai Man*
I. INTRODUCTION
Correctional work today is different fromthat in the past in that it is directed
towards offender rehabilitation and social
re-integration, and no longer relies mainlyon physical incarceration. Hong Kong has
developed, in synchronized pace over theyears, a penal system which places
paramount importance on the
rehabilitation and social re-integration of
offenders. On the strength of legal
provisions, the Correctional Services
Department of Hong Kong, hereinafterreferred to as HKCS, has taken up theimportant task of implementing a series ofdiversified treatment programmes tailored
to meet the needs of different types ofoffenders. This paper outlines thesetreatment programmes exclusively run by
the HKCS, which are typicallyrehabilitative and socialy reintegrative.
II. THE HKCS
With an establishment of over 7,000
staff, the HKCS is responsible for theadministration of 23 correctional
institutions, which now accommodate morethan 12,000 offenders. These include
minimum, medium and maximum security
prisons; training, detention and drug
addiction treatment centres; and a
psychiatric centre. The HKCS also
operates four half-way houses providing
residential accommodation for about 200
supervisees.

* Chief Officer (Development Training), Staff
Training Institute, Correctional Services
Department, Hong Kong.

In carrying out its functions and roles,
the HKCS aims to achieve the objectivesof:(i) providing safe and humane custody ofoffenders as ordered by a court of law;(ii) providing purposeful employment foroffenders in the Correctional Services
Industries to enhance their ability toeventually resettle in the community;and(iii)facilitating the social re-integration of
offenders as law-abiding andconstructive members of the society.
The HKCS has its own vision, mission
and values. They are being inculcateddeeply in its staff members for their strict
observance. The vision is to serve thecommunity, by providing quality custodial
and rehabilitative services, in which the
public can be confident and its staff
members can take pride. The mission is todetain persons committed to its custody ina manner which is secure to the public, safefor offenders and compatible with humandignity, and to provide the best possible
opportunity for all inmates to make a newstart in life by offering timely, apt andcomprehensive rehabilitation programmes.
The values stress integrity, dedication,
humanity and discipline. In terms of‘integrity’, the HKCS staff members are tovalue personal honesty and frankness. Of‘dedication’ they are committed to theirwork and together strive for efficiency,
competence and quality of service. Of‘humanity’ they are to recognize that all
persons have the right to be treatedcorrectly, fairly and with due respect totheir dignity; whether they are membersof the public, members of staff or persons

341

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
in their custody. Of ‘discipline’ they are tohave loyalty and duty to the principles oflaw and order, and a respect for orderlinessand harmony.
III. GENERAL TREATMENT INPENAL INSTITUTIONSAll offenders in the HKCS institutions
are required to work unless otherwise
directed by medical officers. They canpurchase canteen items from theirearnings which are credited to themthrough a progressive earning system.
Such earning systems aim at increasing
their employability and developing positive
incentives towards work.
Offenders will also be provided with awide range of treatment programmes
which include medical check-ups,
counselling sessions, academic studies,
vocational training, physical education,
recreation, welfare services, religious
services, family visits, etc. All of the above
aim at making the offenders better sociallyequipped for their adjustment to theoutside world.
IV. CLASSIFICATION OF
OFFENDERS IN HKCSINSTITUTIONS
For the sake of better management andfor meeting rehabilitation needs, offenders
are classified into different categories
according to their major characteristics,
e.g. sex, level of security risk, age etc. They
are also divided broadly into the following
groups for which special programmes havebeen developed to achieve both punishment
and rehabilitation :(i) Young offenders aged from 14 to 20.
(ii) Young adult offenders aged 21 to 24.
(iii)Young prisoners aged between 14 to
20.
(iv) Drug addicted inmates.
(v) Adult prisoners.

342

V. TREATMENT PROGRAMMESFOR OFFENDERS RUN BY HKCS
Treatment programmes for various
types of offenders are comprehensive andunique. They are specially tailored to caterfor the needs of particular types ofoffenders. All in all, they are characterized
by being rehabilitative and reformative, as
well as reintegrative.
A. Detention Centre Programme for
Young Offenders and Young Adult
Offenders
The Detention Centre programme iscarried out under the Detention Centre
Ordinance (Chapter 239 of Laws of HongKong). A young male offender aged
between 14 and 20 years sentenced to a
Detention Centre can be detained for aminimum period of 1 month to a maximum
period of 6 months, whereas a young maleadult offender aged between 21 and 24
years sentenced to a Detention Centre canbe detained from a minimum period of 3
months up to a maximum period of 12months.
The programme places emphasis on
strict discipline, hard work and counsellingto teach offenders respect for the law, whileproviding positive training conducive totheir rehabilitation and social reintegration. The highly disciplinarianregime enables the offenders to gain insight
into their recalcitrance and to motivate
their determination for reformation.
A Board of Review assesses the progress,
attitude, efforts and response of each
offender at monthly intervals. An offender
may be released if the Board is satisfied
with his/her institutional performance andthat s/he has secured suitable employment
or a place in school. However, upon release,s/he is placed under a statutory period ofaftercare supervision for one year. An
aftercare officer of the HKCS will monitor

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
their progress in complying with theconditions of supervision. A breach to anyof the supervision conditions may result inbeing recalled for a further period of
institutional training :(i) in the case of young offenders, until the
expiry of 6 months from the date of firstadmission or 3 months from the dateof arrest under the Recall Order,
whichever is the later; and(ii) in the case of young adult offenders,
until the expiry of 12 months from thedate of first admission or 3 months fromthe date of arrest under the Recall
Order, whichever is the later.
A very successful result has been
attained, and maintained year after year,that over 94% of the offenders discharged
from the Detention Centre completed the
one-year aftercare supervision without
reconviction for any criminal offences.
B. Training Centre Programme for
Young Offenders
Under the Training Centre Ordinance(Chapter 280 of the Laws of Hong Kong),
the Training Centre Programme provides
for young offenders, aged between 14 and20 years convicted of a criminal offence, anindeterminate period of training ranging
from a minimum of 6 months to a
maximum of 3 years.
Prior to sentence, each case is assessedby a Selection Board which, having
considered the offender’s family, social andcriminal background, makes arecommendation to the court as to whether
the particular offender will benefit from theprogramme.
All offenders, after admission to theTraining Centre, have to undergo half-day
educational training and half-day
vocational training commensurate with

their previous educational attainment andwork experience. The educational training
provides an opportunity for young
offenders to continue their education whilein custody. They are encouraged toparticipate in public examinations.
Vocational training enables them tocultivate good working habits. It equips
them with a level of training in skills,
commensurate with their aptitude andcapacity, so that they can compete forrelated and satisfying employment upon
release; and so adjust more readily to theopen community after release and refrainfrom crime.
Scouting and guiding activities areincorporated in the programme to refine
the character of the offenders. Parentoffender meetings and home leave arearranged to strengthen family interactions.
Again, similar to the Detention Centre
programme, a Board of Review will assess
the progress of each offender on a regularbasis. Depending on their response totraining, and exhibiting a determination
to lead an honest and industrious life upon
release, an offender may be released after
receiving a minimum of 6 months training,
and thereafter placed on mandatory
aftercare supervision for 3 years. An
aftercare officer of the HKCS will monitor
their progress in complying with theconditions of supervision. A breach of anyof the supervision conditions may result inthem being recalled for a period further of
institutional training until the expiry of 3
years from the date of first admission, or 6months from the date of arrest under the
Recall Order, whichever is the later.
C. Drug Addiction Treatment Centre
Programme
The Drug Addiction Treatment Centre
Programme is operated on the strength of
the Drug Addiction Treatment Centre

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
Ordinance (Chapter 244 of the Laws ofHong Kong). The Ordinance empowers thecourts to sentence a drug addict foundguilty of an offence punishable byimprisonment, to detention in a drug
addiction treatment centre.
Before sentencing a person to an
addiction treatment centre, the court willconsider a report prepared by the HKCS
regarding the suitability of such person fortreatment, as well as the availability ofplaces in the addiction treatment centres.
The period of treatment ranges from aminimum of 2 months to a maximum of 12months.
The programme bears the objectives of:detoxifying and restoring the physicalhealth of the offenders; uprooting theoffenders’ psychological and emotional
dependence on drugs, and preparing for
offenders’ re-integration into society.
Offenders are assigned to work aimed
at improving their health, and establishingself-confidence and a sense of
responsibility. The work is commensuratewith their capabilities, skills and fitness.
Offenders who are medically unfit for work
will attend special occupational therapy
classes.

check if s/he has relapsed with drugs. A
breach of any of the supervision conditions,
including drug relapse, may result in the
ex-offender being recalled for a further
period of ex- treatment until the expiry of
12 months 10 the date of first admission,or 4 months from the date of arrest under
the Recall Order, whichever is the later.
D. Young Prisoners Programme
Offenders under the age of 21 years whoare sentenced to imprisonment (classified
by the HKCS as Young Prisoners) are
separated from the adult penal population.
They will participate in an institutional
programme based on half-day educationand half-day vocational training.
Education classes are provided for theseyoung prisoners so that they can continue
their education while in prison. They will
be provided with every possible assistanceto participate in public examinations run
by local educational authorities or overseas
professional bodies.

A Board of Review reviews the progressof each offender and make decisions on
their release during the second month after
admission. This is also done at least once
every 2 months during the 4 months
following the first interview, and thereafterat least once in each month.

Vocational training, covering a wide
spectrum of trades, is provided to young
prisoners with the objectives of cultivating
good working habits and equipping young
prisoners with a level of training in skillscommensurate with their aptitude andcapacity, so as to enable them to compete
for related and satisfying employment
upon release. This will enable them toadjust more readily to the open community
after release and refrain from crime bygaining confidence, satisfaction and selfrespect through the acquisition of
vocational training skills.

On release, each offender is placed under
one year mandatory aftercare supervision
aimed at assisting and guiding them insocial re-integration and a drug-free life.
The HKCS aftercare officers will conduct
visits to the ex-offender’s residence andworkplace. Urine samples are collected toUnder the Criminal Procedure
Ordinance (Chapter 221 of the Laws ofHong Kong), a young offender sentenced
to imprisonment, for 3 months or more
before the age of 21 years, and released
from prison before the age of 25 years for
an offence other than default of a sum of344

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
money, is subject to a statutory period ofsupervision for 1 year. A breach of any of
the supervision conditions may result inthem being recalled for a period equivalent
to the amount of remission earnt.
E. Release Under Supervision
SchemeThe Prisoners (Release Under
Supervision) Ordinance (Chapter 325 ofLaws of Hong Kong) allows offenders
sentenced to imprisonment (i.e. prisoners)
to participate in the Release Under
Supervision Scheme and the Pre-release
Employment Scheme.
Under the Release Under Supervision
Scheme, prisoners after serving 20 months,
or at least half of a three-year sentence ormore (other than life imprisonment), may
apply for early release. If approved, they
will be released and remain under
mandatory aftercare supervision for thebalance of the sentence. The aftercare
officers of the HKCS will conduct visits toensure that they comply with the specified
conditions including residence,
employment, refraining from visiting
notorious places and association withcriminal characters, etc.
Under the Pre-release Employment
Scheme, prisoners in the last 6 months ofany sentence longer than 2 years may apply
to engage in open employment outside of
the prisons. Upon approval they, will betransferred to a designated half-way house
where they will spend their last 6 months
engaging in open employment in thedaytime, while returning to the half-way
house at night. During their stay in thehalf-way house, they will participate incounselling sessions to enhance theirintergration into society and to sustain theefforts leading them to a productive andlaw-abiding life. During the weekends oron general holidays, when they are notrequired to work, they may apply for homeleave which is aimed at encouraging there-establishment of family relationships
and facilitating the process of social reintegration.
Both of the above schemes provide forthe re-imprisonment of any participant
who contravenes any of the supervisionconditions, for a period equivalent to theremaining portion of their sentence
reduced by the period for which thesupervision order was in effect. This may
be further reduced by remission inaccordance with the Prison Rules (Chapter
234 of Laws of Hong Kong).
F. The Post-Release Supervision of
Prisoners Scheme
The Post-Release Supervision of
Prisoners Ordinance (Chapter 475 of theLaws of Hong Kong) provides a statutory
supervision scheme for certain categories
of adult prisoners. The objectives of the
Scheme are to assist certain categories ofdischarged prisoners rehabilitate andreintegrate into society, and to protect the
public from serious harm in preventing
discharged prisoners from reoffending.
The Scheme applies to every adultprisoner who is sentenced to imprisonmentof 6 years or more, or imprisonment of 2
years or more but less than 6 years in
respect of a conviction for some specifictypes of offences. These offences mainly
include triad (organised crime) related
offences, sexual offences and crimes ofviolence. The Scheme also applies toprisoners serving any sentence ofimprisonment ordered to be servedconsecutively to the sentence mentioned
above. The Scheme does not apply to some
adult prisoners who are subject todeportation, supervision for early releaseor supervision after release under other
Ordinances.
A Post-Release Supervision Board,

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
consisting of not less than 8 members
appointed by the Chief Executive, considers
whether a prisoner should be placed under
supervision on release, and if so, makes asupervision order specifying the conditions
and length of supervision in accordancewith the objectives of the Scheme. The
objectives of the Scheme are as follows: toconsider applications from prisoners(supervisees) for the varying or discharging
of supervision orders; consider applications
from prisoners (supervisees) or supervising
officers for varying the terms or conditionsof supervision orders subsequent to amaterial change in the circumstances of theprisoners (supervisees); and to consider
applications from the HKCS for suspending
supervision orders.
The supervision period is decided by the
Board and shall not be longer than theremitted part of the sentence earned by theprisoner. Each prisoner to whom the Board
has made a supervision order is to be
assigned to the care and supervision of ateam of supervising officers comprising of
two Aftercare staff from the HKCS andone Assistant Social-Work Officer from theHong Kong Social Welfare Department.
During the supervision period, thesupervising officers either visit thesupervisees at their home/work places, or
require them to attend interview sessionsat any other place as appointed by thesupervising officers. These visits/
interviews are to be conducted on a regularbasis. The supervising officers endeavor
to help supervisees tackle any adjustment
difficulties after discharge, and to ensurethat the supervision conditions arecomplied with by the supervisees.
If the Commissioner of Correctional
Services considers it to be in the public
interest that a supervisee should be
detained in custody without delay, s/he may
recall the supervisee and detain them inprison, for a period not exceeding 72 hours,

346

pending a decision as to the issue of atemporary recall order from the Chairman
or Deputy Chairman of the Board. If the
Chairman or Deputy Chairman of theBoard considers that there are grounds for
the Board to suspend a supervision order,
the Chairman or Deputy Chairman mayorder the supervisee to be temporarily
recalled and detained in prison for a period
not exceeding 14 days pending thedeliberation of the Board. The Board mayorder that a supervision order besuspended for a specified period, notexceeding the unexpired term of the order,
if it is satisfied that: the supervisee has
failed to comply with any term or conditionof the order without lawful authority orreasonable excuse; or because of conduct
or a change in circumstances since release,
they are likely to commit an arrestableoffence; or in case s/he has been recalled tothe prison under the summary recall by theCommissioner of HKCS or temporary recall
by the Chairman / Deputy Chairman of theBoard, s/he was at the time of recall aperson likely to commit an arrestableoffence.
VI. ESTABLISHMENT OF A NEWREHABILITATION DIVISION
Testimony to its full commitment tofacilitating the rehabilitation and social reintegration of offenders, the HKCS set up
a new Rehabilitation Division in January
1998. It is headed by an AssistantCommissioner whose responsibility it is totake charge of the rehabilitation services,and oversee the policy and programme
development for rehabilitation.
The Division, consisting of 15 staff
members who are mainly professionals,
plans and utilizes the resources in the
programme area of reintegration andrehabilitation services provided foroffenders, scrutinizes and reviews existing
policies and programmes of reintegration
and rehabilitation; and develops new

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
initiatives in a coordinated manner.
Illustratively, the Division is now engaging
in the examination and implementation of
the proposals contained in the research
report on “The Effectiveness of
Rehabilitation Programmes for Young
Offenders” recently put forward by the City
University of Hong Kong.
VII. PROBLEMS AT PENALINSTITUTIONS AND
COUNTERMEASURESIn 1997, the penal population of Hong
Kong remained high and averaged 30%
over the certified accommodation.
Overcrowding has inevitably led toproblems. Accommodation and facilities
are less than adequate and the increased
wear and tear exacerbates this. There arealso chronic shortages of work-places for
prisoners. Such conditions create
exceptional strain on prisoners and staff.
Despite the difficulties, the HKCS has
managed to effectively discharge theresponsibilities entrusted to it, as reflectedby the low level of escapes and incidents of
disciplinary problems. However, theDepartment considers any disciplinary
incident as one incident too many. Aftereach and every incident, a prompt andthorough investigation is conducted andremedial measures are implemented as far
as practicable. To relieve the overcrowding
at penal institutions, the Department
continued to redevelop the existing
institutions and to build new ones in
conjunction with other government
departments.

balance tipped recently in favor of theformer. The rehabilitation-oriented
approach in penal systems would now seem
victorious.
Hong Kong has increasingly become
more rehabilitation oriented in the way it
deals with offenders. The rehabilitativeand social integrative approach has been
mcorporated into the Hong Kong penal
system. The HKCS has adopted adifferentiated approach to the treatmentof various types of offenders in recognitionof their rehabilitative needs. Different
treatment programs have been designed
and implemented to cater for the needs ofsuch offenders. The existing programmes
would not have been so successful without
the constant review of their feasibility andeffectiveness which was initiated by theHKCS. The recent setting up of theRehabilitation Division is among these
initiatives. Yet, the HKCS has not rested
on its laurels. By learning from theexperience of other successful penal
systems in the world, it keeps on striving
for the best in implementing programmes
for offenders that are universally accepted
and recognized.

VIII. CONCLUSION
Throughout the 20 th century, thephilosophical traditions of rehabilitationand punishment have fueled debates
surrounding the development of penal
systems in every part of the world. The
struggle between rehabilitation andpunishment has been on going, with the347

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54

EFFECTIVE TREATMENT MEASURES FOR PRISONERS TO
FACILITATE THEIR RE-INTEGRATION INTO SOCIETY
Yossawan Boriboonthana*
I. INTRODUCTION
The treatment of Thai prisoners is under
the responsibility of the Department ofCorrections, Ministry of Interior, which has
the duty to take into custody andrehabilitate prisoners through institutionaland non-institutional treatment.
Institutional treatment is carried out inprisons and different types of correctional
institutions, i.e., correctional institutions
for women, young offenders, drug offenders
and open correctional institutions. Noninstitutional treatment is carried out
through parole, sentence remission, pardon
and penal settlement. Some measures
might be similar to the correctional
systems of other countries, others may bedifferent. Therefore, this paper hopes toprovide an opportunity to review thepresent the Thai correctional treatment
methods and bring about comparative
study which would to be beneficial to theThai correctional system as well as othersystems.
II. CORRECTIONAL TREATMENT
IN PRISONS
As stated in the Corporate Plan for the
Next Decade of Department of Corrections
B.E.2536-2545 (1993-2002), one of themissions related to correctional treatment
is “to rehabilitate prisoners and foster theirre-integration into society as law abiding
citizens.” To carry out this mission, theDepartment has implemented several
measures for rehabilitating, reintegrating* Chief of Correctional Development Unit, Bureauof Penology, Department of Corrections, Ministryof Interior, Thailand.

348

and developing the living skill of prisoners.
These measures range from classification
to pre-release programs and cover different
types of activities, such as vocational
training, contact visits, medical care anddrug treatment. The details of correctional
treatment in prison are presented in thissection.
A. Classifications of Prisoners
The Department recognizes theimportance of prisoner classification andregards this measure as a major means to
successful prisoner rehabilitation.
Accordingly, effort has been made to
implement prisoner classification systems
as much as possible. The following are thedepartmental directives on prisonerclassification in Thailand:(i) Each prison shall set up an induction
section or designated cells for newly
admitted prisoners. This is to allow
new prisoners to adjust to the newenvironment and to become familiar
with the prison regime.
(ii) Appropriate numbers of classification
officers shall be appointed in eachprison to carry out the above. Such
officers shall be fully trained andequipped with knowledge about theclassification process.
(iii)The staff in every prison shall recognize
the importance of prisonerclassification, and provide support toand cooperate with classification
officers. Trained Classification officers
shall not be assigned to work on duties
other than carrying out classification
tasks.
(iv) Every new prisoner shall undergo theclassification process from admission

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
until release. This applies to bothconvicted and prisoners awaiting trial.
Classification reports shall be kept inprisoner information files for further
use when considering the granting ofprivileges or punishment.
(v) T h e r e s h a l l b e a c l a s s i f i c a t i o ncommittee at every prison. This
committee is responsible for assigning
treatment programs and places ofconfinement for each prisoner. The
determinations on placement andprograms are made in light of theknowledge obtained about theindividual’s needs, background, offense
and severity, term of imprisonment,
capacities, interests and so on.
(vi) A monthly report on the progress ofclassification at each prison shall bemade to the Department Headquarters.
Despite having encouraged every prison
to implement prisoner classification
systems, the overall success rate is still far
from reaching optimum. There are only 12
prisons that have a separate section for
newly admitted prisoners, and another 33
percent have a designated area for new
prisoners. In terms of the numbers ofprisoners, only 59 per cent of prisons could
have all prisoners undergo theclassification process.
B. Work of Prisoners
According to the law, every convicted
inmate is required to engage in useful workin all prisons and correctional institutions,while unconvicted prisoners (ie, remand)
are required to work only for thecleanliness, health or sanitary conditionsof the prison. The work that is available
in the prison cover almost 25 areas of trade.
The aim in providing work programs is toinstill in the inmates good working habits,
to provide basic skills in trades which willassist them in earning a living after
release, and to make the best possible
economic use of prison labor.

In accordance with the ministerial
regulations, work provided to a prisoner
shall take into account the following
factors:(i) The term of punishment.
(ii) The physical strength of theprisoner.
(iii) Intelligence.
(iv) Disposition and skills or knowledge
expertise.
(v) R e s u l t s f r o m a n e c o n o m i cstandpoint.
(vi) Results from the standpoint oftraining and instruction.
(vii)Conditions of the prison.
Having used their labor in the work
programs, inmates receive 50% of the net
profit of prison industry sales.
C. Vocational Training
The purpose of vocational training in theprison is to provide skills and knowledge
which will be of value to inmates after theirrelease. Vocational training is offered bothin classes and workshops. There arevarious types of vocational programs which
include: agriculture, carpentry, barbering,welding, automobile repairing, dress
making, tailoring, radio repair, carpet
making, compositor, wood and bamboo
craft, mat making, masonry, etc.
The teachers who work with the inmates
can be classified into two main groups:(i) Prison officials who hold teachingcertificates and the officers (who are in
the workshops) assigned to teach at the
Adult School in prison. In addition,
assistant teachers are selected frominmates who hold teaching certificates,
and have shown themselves to be ofgood behavior, to help with someteaching duties.
(ii) Vi s i t i n g t e a c h e r s , e x p e r t s a n d
specialists from various institutions,such as local vocational schools and theDepartment of Industrial Promotion,
invited to teach the inmates.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
D. Academic Education
The main policy of the Department ofCorrections is to provide inmates various
forms of education according to theirindividual differences. Educational
services are carried out under the close
supervision of the prison authority. The
Department of Corrections reguires thatevery prison and correctional institution
provide at least one adult education schoolfor inmates.
Adult education curricula are employed
under control of the Non-Formal Education
Department, Ministry of Education. The
inmates who attend classes provided by theprison authority are eligible to takeequivalent certificates issued by the
Ministry of Education or the authority
concerned.
1. Curricula for Inmates(i) General Education: General education
programs are provided for inmates on
4 basic levels:• First Level : this level is for theilliterates. The program will take six
months to complete early primaryschool.
• Second Level : this level serves theinmates who are able to read andwrite the Thai language. It will takeapproximately six months to finish
middle primary school.
• Third Level : the inmates who havecompleted Level 2 will be able tostudy at this level. One year and ahalf is needed to get through thislevel.
• Fourth Level : this level is provided
for the inmates who have alreadycompleted Level 3. A period of one
year and six are needed for them tosucceed.
(ii) Higher Education: The Department ofCorrections also has a policy to support
inmates who are interested in further
education by providing them the chancefor higher education through350

correspondance courses with the Open
University.
E. Religious Activities
Buddhism courses are provided top r i s o n e r s a t 3 l e v e l s : b e g i n n e r,intermediate and advanced. Religious
instructors are either prison chaplains or
qualified Buddhist monks who are invited
to instruct in the prison. As for otherreligions, religious instructors of eachreligion, like Muslim, Christian and so on,
are invited regularly to conduct religious
courses according to their own faith.
Moreover, during weekends or on special
occasions, these instructors are invited toperform religious rites inside the prisons.
F. Drug Prevention and Treatment
Programs
Although drug addicted prisoners haveto quit using drugs during incarceration,
drug spread still exists in some prisons.
Therefore, the Department has toimplement some measures to prevent andsuppress this problem. Some of thesemeasures are as follows:(i) Segregation of prisoners who have ahistory of drug misuse to the Drug
Rehabilitation Center or special units.
Those prisoners will be closely watchedon their behavior and communications
with outside visitors.
(ii) Routine searching and inspecting of
those who enter the prison.
(iii) Searching of packages, mail, food etcthat is sent from outside to prisoners.
(iv) Random searching of the rooms andpersonal items of the prisoners,
without advance notice.
(v) Regular urine tests of prisoners inorder to identify drug addicts. Those
who are found to have drugs in theirurine are transferred to institutions for
drug addicts or special units for drug
addicts, and they will be closely
watched on their behavior.
(vi) Establishing of a prison canteen in the

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
front of the prison. Relatives who want
to bring goods and items to prisoners
are urged to buy them from the prison
canteen. Goods and items from theprison canteen would be wrapped andsealed by prison officers in order toassure that such packages, are drugfree.
(vii) Establishing a mobile unit which isauthorized to conduct random
searches at any institution, without
advance notice, in order to seach for
drug smuggling into the prison. Thisunit, headed by the Department’s
inspector, consists of well trained
prison staff from various prisons. The
work time-table of this unit isconfidential.
Besides the preventive measures, thecorrectional institutions for drug addicts
have provided treatment programs for drug
addicted prisoners which consists of 3stages:(i) Withdrawal stage: Detoxification
methods used in institutions are basedon going “cold turkey” without
methadone. According to this method,
the patient may suffer from side effects,
such as insomnia, anxiety, nausea andvomiting or diarrhoea. Some medicine
may be given in order to relieve these
symptoms.
(ii) Psychological and physical recovery
stage: Psychological treatment is aimed
to restore and reconstruct self confidence, morals, and an attitude to
be independent from drugs. Individualand group counselling, moral training,as well as community therapy, aresignificant tools in this form oftreatment. Physical reconstruction,
which is done at the same time as
mental treatment, is aimed to restore
body strength and fitness, as well as toinstill order and discipline. Daily
exercise and drills are used in thisstage.
(iii)R e h a b i l i t a t i o n s t a g e : B e s i d e s

psychological and physical treatment,
vocational training, formal education
and work are the main elements of therehabilitation program. There are morethan 25 kinds of vocational training
offered in prisons. The Adult
Educational Scheme, ranging fromelementary to undergraduate level, isalso provided in prisons. Moreover,those who work in prisons gain thebenefit of 50% remuneration of the net
benefit.
M o r e o v e r, t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f
Corrections has implemented theT h e r a p e u t i c C o m m u n i t y ( T. C . ) t o
rehabilitate ex-drug addicts mentally andphysically. T.C. was firstly introduced to
the Department by the Office of the
Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), anddeveloped in the correctional setting by
Daytop International Inc., USA andCommunita Incontro, Italy. In 1996, theT.C. program was implemented in 75
prisons and correctional institutions where
drug addicted prisoners were imprisoned.
There were 2,316 ex-drug addicts who
actively participated in this program.
G. Regular Visits and Contact Visits
1. Regular Visits
In general, prisoners are entitled to havevisits as often as circumstances and thefacility permit. Visitation is allowed on
weekdays for a period of 30 minutes during
office hours. Prison officials have the right
to: hear conversations between prisoners
and visitors; patrol around visiting areas;search visitors; and to remove visitors outof the prison when necessary. In the typicalvisiting room, there is iron bar barrier,providing a one meter distance between theprisoner and visitor, to ensure that there
is no contact. Prisoners are allowed toreceive permitted items that visitors bringin for them. Cash given to prisoners must
be deposited into the prisoner’s account.
As for visitors, there is no limit on thenumber of persons wishing to visit the351

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
prisoner, but the visitor’s Identification
Card and information must be recorded,
and they are subject to search before
entering the prison. Visitors are requested
to stay within designated areas.
In terms of frequency, prisoners arenormally allowed to have a visit at least
once a week. In some prisons, wherecircumstances permit, prisoners may beallowed to have visits a few times per week.
Visits may be suspended for a period of no
more than 3 months if the prisoner
breaches any rules or regulations.
2. Contact Visits
This program aims to strengthen the ties
between prisoners and their family
members, by allowing visits where there
is no barrier that hinder theircommunication. Visitors (no more than 5
per prisoner) are allowed to enter into theprisons and remain in designated areas.
While having a contact visit, prisoners areallowed to take meals and talk freely with
their family for a period of 2 hours. Visitors
and prisoners are subject to being searchedthoroughly before and after a visit.
Prisoners who are eligible for this visit
must be in the ‘good’ class or above. The
contact visit may be revoked if a prisoner
breaches prison rules and regulations. The
Department holds contact visits twice ayear, and each visit period lasts for 10 days.
The Department also holds a contact visit
for foreign prisoners during the Christmas
holidays.
H. Medical Care
During custody, sick inmates are treatedaccording to their illness by the
Department’s physicians. Facilities forminor treatment are available in eachprison. Serious medical or psychiatriccases, requiring emergency treatment or
intensive care, are referred to either
outside hospitals or the Medical Prison
located in Bangkok.
Like other governmental agencies in352

Thailand, the Department has faced ashortage of medical doctors. So the
Department has hired part-time doctors tolook after sick prisoners. In 1996, 49,321
sick prisoners were provided treatment by
8 part-time doctors in 9 prisons.
I. Child Care in Prison
Nursery units will be provided for the
day care of children in prisons where there
are pregnant prisoners or children attachedto their mothers. Mothers and children will
receive adequate nutrition based diet,medical services, and learning activities.
During the night time, children sleep with
their mothers and are nurtured by babysitters during the day. According to the
Department’s regulations, children are
allowed to stay in prisons until they are 3
years of age. Prisoners’ children can stayin correctional institutions only when there
are no outside institutions available forthem.
J. Prisoner Welfare
The Department of Corrections has
provided social welfare services for
prisoners as follows:
1. Prisoner’s Hygiene
In 1996, the Department has provided
1,100,000 Baht to every prison to purchasehygiene materials for prisoners.
2. Sport and Recreation
Recreation and entertainment facilities,
both indoor and outdoor, are available toinmates in all institutions. These include
reading libraries, televisions, film showings
and various types of sports and games.
Participation in recreational programs isvoluntary. Recreational activities ininstitutions provide many benefits toprisoners, such as relaxation, good healthand group relations.
3. Music
The Department has supported prisons/108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
institutions to have musical instruments,
both traditional and modern ones, as wellas prison bands, especially in institutions
for young offenders.
4. The Sparrow HomeThe Department has cooperated with
NGOs to establish a house named “Sparrow
Home” to take care of the prisoners’
children until they are 7 years old. Children
will be taken care of by this charity groupand will be taken to visit their parents
regularly. This project has become very
successful and represents well the attemptsof the Department to treat inmateshumanely.
5. The Assistance to No-relatives Prisoners
Every year, the Department holds
contact visits to provide the opportunity for
relatives to visit inmates inside prisons
without any barriers. However, there are
a number of prisoners who have no
relatives who visit during their period ofincarceration. The Department has tried
to help these prisoners by seeking
assistance from various agencies. Every
year there are charity organizations
donating food and necessities for theseprisoners.
III. EARLY RELEASE SYSTEM
The existing early release measures inThailand are parole, sentence remission,
pardon and penal settlement. Somemeasures like parole, sentence remission
and pardon might be similar to othercountries, but the measure of penal
settlement might be rarely known. The
details of all these measures are discussed
below.
A. Parole
Parole was implemented in Thailand in
1937. This mechanism is granted toprisoners who show good conduct andprogress in rehabilitation, and who have

served the minimum period of theirsentence as specified by the law. Thatmeans that parole is not the right of all
prisoners, but will be a benifit applied to
selected and eligible ones.
1. Parole Board
There are 2 levels of parole board
ranging from the prison level todepartmental level. The parole board at
the prison level consists of thesuperintendent and 2 other heads of thesubdivision. The parole board at the
departmental level consists of 7 highranking officials, including the Deputy
Director-General of Department ofCorrections who acts as a chairman of theboard, and other relevant officials fromconcerned departments such as the
Department of Public Welfare, Departmentof Public Prosecution, Department of
Public Health and Police Department
respectively. The board has to submit its
suggestion to the Director-General of
Department of Corrections for final
approval. Therefore, the decision to grantparole to qualified prisoners by the
Director-General is final.
2. Eligibility for Parole
The rule of Penitentiary Act of 1936
states that the qualifications for prisoners
to be eligible for parole as follows:(i) Must be a convicted prisoner showing
good conduct and progress in education.
(ii) Must have already served more than
two-third of the time fixed in thewarrant of imprisonment as the termof sentence, or not less than 10 years
in the case of life imprisonment.
(iii)Must be an ‘excellent’ class, ‘very good’class or ‘good’ class prisoner.
(iv) The ‘excellent’ class of prisoner may be
granted parole for not more than onethird of the time fixed in the final
warrant of imprisonment.
(v) The ‘very good’ class of prisoner may
be granted parole for not more than353

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
one-fourth of the time fixed in the final
warrant of imprisonment.
(vi) The ‘good’ class of prisoner may be
granted parole for not more than onefifth of the time fixed in the final
warrant of imprisonment.
B. Sentence Remission
Sentence remission was introduced into
the Thai correctional system in 1978. It is
used as the benefit for the ‘good’ conductprisoner. There are two different types ofsentence remission:(i) Good time allowance which is given to
prisoners who: serve their sentence forat least 6 months, show good conduct,
and are in the ‘good’ class or above. The
number of sentence remission days
given to those prisoners will depend on
their class, i.e.: Excellent class earns 5days a month, Very good class earns 4days a month, Good class earns 3 daysa month.
(ii) Public work allowance which is given
to prisoners who are participating inpublic work programs. Prisoners whoare convicted and are in the ‘good’ classor above will be eligible for the public
work allowance when they serve halfof their sentence.
The aim of the public work program isto provide an employment opportunity toprisoners and to utilize prison labor for
public and community interest. Under thisscheme, prisoners who are eligible to workoutside the prison, and have passed thescreening process, will be assigned to workin various types of public work projects
such as drain-pipe cleaning and canaldredging. Apart from remuneration,prisoner shall have a one-day sentence
remission for each day of working outside.
The days of sentence remission from thissystem can be counted together with theallowance from the good conduct allowancesystem. Regarding incentive payments for
prisoners, 85% of net profit is divided
among the prisoners who have engaged in354

the work.
C. Royal Pardon
The Royal King’s Pardon is part of thesovereignty that the King, as the head ofstate, may grant to anyone. Under theConstitution, the King has power to grantpardon to commute, reduce or terminate
sentences with or without conditions. Suchpardons would overrule all the previous
convictions. There are two types of RoyalKing’s Pardon; the collective pardon andindividual pardon.
1. The Collective Pardon
Whenever there is an important eventin the country, such as to mark their
Majesties 60th Anniversary, the Golden
Jubilee and so on, the Cabinet may submita recommendation to His Majesty the King
to consider granting the Royal King’s
Pardon to commemorate these important
events. The Royal Pardon will be in theform of release or sentence remission.
Statistics of the Royal King’s Pardon
granted during past 10 years are shown in
Table I.
2. Individual King’s Pardon
Any convicted prisoners, or theirrelatives, have the right to submit apetition to His Majesty the King for royal
clemency. This is stipulated in the Penal
Code and the Penitentiary Act. Prison
officials, upon receipt of such a petition,
shall forward it to His Majesty the King
through a designated channel. The
channel begins at the prison where all
information on prisoners is filed. It is thenforwarded to the Department
Headquarters, to the Minister of Interior,
to the Prime Minister, to the Office of His
Majesty Principle Privy Secretary, to the
Privy Council and to His Majesty the King.
However, once the petition is denied, aprisoner has to wait for two years to resubmit their petition again.
Death sent ence prisoners shall not be

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
executed once they have submitted apetition to His Majesty the King for Royal
Pardon. As long as there is no notice
whether or not the Royal King’s Pardon is
granted or denied, such prisoners remainon the death row.
D. Penal Settlement
Penal settlement is another type ofprogram which has been set up as a place
for pre-released prisoners, as the next stage
after prison, so as to help them re-adjust
to the community. At present, there is only
one penal settlement in Thailand called
Klongpai Penal Settlement. The Klongpai
Penal Settlement, established in 1977, islocated in Nakornrachasima Province andthe total area is 4,450 acres. Prisoners whoare selected to enter the Klongpai Penal
Settlement, are required to practice
farming and agricultural schemes. They
are, of course, given land for living andagricultural purposes. Moreover, they areallowed to settle down at the penal
settlement after their sentence has expired,as the period of stay is unlimited.
Qualified and selected convicts areallowed to bring their family to stay withthem while being treated in the penal
settlement. They are also required to build
their own house or cottage in the area
provided by the penal settlement.
Nowadays, the Department has ceased tosend prisoners to the penal settlement due
to problems in land sharing.
E. Pre-release Programs
The Department has recognized theimportance of preparing prisoners before
release into society. The pre-releaseprogram was separated into 2 services thatare ‘Group Counseling’ and ‘Group
Guidance’. The operation of the pre-releaseprogram is as follows:(i) Interview of individual prisoners so as
to find out living problems, such asproblems in employment and educationof their children.

(ii) Group Guidance provides knowledge
and information on career management
to prisoners.
(iii)G r o u p C o u n s e l i n g p r o v i d e s
psychological counseling to prisoners tobuild up their ability to adapt
themselves to society.
(iv) Persuasion of prisoners’ relatives toparticipate in rehabilitation programs
before release.
IV. TREATMENT FORDISCHARGED PRISONERS IN THE
COMMUNITY
At present, the major ‘treatment’ methodfor discharged prisoners in Thailand isprobation. This measure is applied toparolees and sentence remission releasees.
The responsible organization for probationis the Probation Bureau, which is under
the Department of Corrections.
Meanwhile, other kinds of treatment forunconditional releasees are not fully
developed. There are only some services
provided to releasees by NGOs.
A. Probation
Prisoners who are released on parole orby sentence remission are subject tosupervision under the conditions set by the
Department. These conditions are as
follows:(i) To refrain from committing crimes.
(ii) To refrain from entering any areas so
determined by the competent authority.
(iii)To abstain from consuming narcotics
and from gambling.
(iv) To report in person to the competentauthority designated by the DirectorGeneral of the Department.
(v) To carry on with the occupation
arranged and supervised by thecompetent authority.
(vi) To resume their former occupation ortake up the occupation as arranged andsupervised by close friends or relatives.
(vii)To practice his/her religion.

355

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
1. Investigation
Investigation is the method before
prisoners are released on parole or sentence
remission. A probation officer will interview
the prisoner and visit their home toinvestigate the background of their family,
education, job and way of life, in order toinform the results to the Committee. In
this case, the prisoner must have aguarantor who promisses to accommodate
and monitor him/her.
2. SupervisionThis method is applied after prisoners
are released into the community on paroleand by sentence remission. Supervision isconducted by the probation officers and thevolunteer probation officer in regard to theliving conditions of releasees, including
relations to family, job and neighbors, andto give guidance to them.
3. Breach of Conditions
If parolees or probationers fail to comply
with any conditions, they may be arrested
without warrant and imprisoned for theremaining period of their term of sentence.
Disciplinary charges will also be brought
against them. The number of releasees who
breach conditions are shown in Tables II
and III.
As seen in the statistics, although thepercentage of breach of conditions is very
low, the early release measures are not
popularly used in the Thai correctional
system. When compared with the total
releases, the percentage on early releaseis only 30-40%. The reason for this is that
there are not enough probation officers tosupervise releasees, and the grant process
takes so much time that most qualified
prisoners are released before parole isgranted.
B. Halfway House
While probation is the major form oftreatment for parolees and otherconditional releasees, the halfway house is356

the treatment for all releasees. The
purpose of establishing halfway houses isto provide substantial assistance toimmediately released prisoners during thecritical readjustment period, as anaftercare scheme. The types of assistanceinclude places to live, meals, help in finding
jobs and counseling services. Furthermore,by sharing their environment with othersin the same situation, the prisoner will nolonger feel that their problem is unique,and their will be in an environment which
understands the special difficulties andfrustration of their status. It is expected
that, by a combination of their own
initiatives and relevant help from the otherresidents and staff, the resident will soon
be able to emerge from difficulty andbecome confident in making post-releaseadjustment successful .
The construction of the halfway house
was finished in September 1996. It willserve as a welfare residence for prisoners
who have problems upon release. It is
expected to be fully operative by the fiscal
year of 1997.
C. Volunteer Probation Officers
In 1977, the Department of Corrections,Thailand established the Volunteer
Probation Officer Program for assisting
probation officers of the Department tosupervise parolees and those who are on
sentence remission. In 1998, there wereabout 14,000 volunteers who workthroughout the country. These volunteers
are interested persons who are aged above
25 years and have secure jobs. They willbe trained for 2 days on probation work andrelated topics, and will attend a seminar
every year to promote their knowledge andto exchange experiences and problems.
They do not receive any payment except
the transportation fee which is 120 baht
or 400 yen per case.
Generally, volunteers are recruited fromrespected persons in the local community.
They come from all types of occupations,

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
such as teachers, farmers, chiefs of village,monks and retired government employees.
Thus, for nearly 20 years the volunteer has
played a significant role in helping theprobationer readjust to society.
V. CONCLUSION
The Department of Corrections ofThailand agrees with the assumption thatthe rehabilitation and reintegration of
offenders should start at the time offenders
enter prison, and should continue until
they are released into the community.
However, the implementation of measures
for fulfilling this goal are not easy.
In 1998 there were 138,000 prisoners
confined in prisons and correctional
institutions all over country, while there is
only 80,000 capacity available. The influxof offenders coming into prison is becauseof the government’s crack down policy on‘Speed’ pills (Amphetamine), which has
resulted in a great number of drug
offenders being incarcerated. When serious
overcrowding situations occur in the Thai
correctional system, the Department’s
resources have to mainly be employed forcustodial projects such as the constructionof new prisons, the remodeling of outdated
prisons and an increase in manpower.
Moreover, the economic crisis which we are
now facing creates a limited budget. Many
projects and programs related to therehabilitation of prisoners are held back orhave had their budgets cut.
However, the Department of Corrections
has continued to achieve the goal of
rehabilitation and reintegration ofprisoners, athough there are many
obstacles for rehabilitation like theovercrowding situation and the budget
cuts. The outcome of the rehabilitation ofprisoners in Thailand might not be very
impressive for colleagues in othercountries, but progress as our goal still
persists.

357

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
TABLE INUMBER OF ROYAL KING’S PARDONS GRANTED 1977-1996
Occasion

Year
1977

Unconditional
Release13,359Sentence
Remission
22,319

Royal Marriage of HRH
Crown Prince
His Majesty the King’s 50th
anniversary birthday
Royal Ordination of HRH
Crown Prince
Her Majesty the Queen’s
birthday
Bangkok Bicentennial
His Majesty the King’s 60th
anniversary birthday
His Majesty longest
accession to the throne
90th anniversary of the
Princess Mother
Her Majesty the Queen 60th
anniversary
His Majesty the King’s 50th
year accession to the throne

1977

17,53923,0101979

12,03332,1581980

16,16429,661

1982
1987

18,43837,40036,18846,603

1988

22,922

34,215

1990

20,13332,697

1992

30,62035,861

1996

24,751

57,815TABLE IINUMBER OF PROBATIONERS FROM 1987 TO 1997
Year
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997

358

Sentence Remission
Granted11,49010,871
9,721
10,392
9,363
11,321
12,02014,003
17,46017,543
19,824

ParoleGranted
2,778
787
1,220
1,768
956
945
1,282
2,088
2,114
805
1,114

Breach ofConditions
88
20
48
43
44
54
50
86
88
62
42

Percent of Breachof Conditions
0.6
0.2
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERSTABLE IIITHE PERCENTAGE OF CONDITIONAL RELEASEESCOMPARED WITH ALL RELEASEES
Year

1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997

Released on
Conditional
Release12,266
13,302
16,091
19,574
18,34820,938

Released byTerminationof Sentence
28,73324,29331,98732,31532,387
27,119Total
Releasees
40,99937,59548,07851,88950,73548,057

Percent of
Conditional
Release
30
35
33
38
36
44

359

REPORTS
OF THECOURSERESOURCE MATERIALSERIES
No. 54
GROUP 1REHABILITATION PROGRAMMES IN THE PRISON TO
PREVENT PRISONERS’ RECIDIVISM: THE ACTUAL
SITUATION, PROBLEMS AND COUNTERMEASURES
Chairperson
Co-Chairperson
Rapporteur
Co-Rapporteur
Members

Advisers

Mr. Chung, Wai Man
Mr. Osman bin Ahmad
Ms. Yossawan Boriboonthana
Mr. Michael Naplau Waipo
Mr. Mokhammad Frandono
Ms. Junko Fujioka
Mr. Hisashi Ishizuna
Mr. Kenichi Kiyono
Mr. Yoshio Shibata
Mr. Nobuyuki Yamada
Mr. Titera Tewaniti
Mr. Joseph Elvy Szetu
Professor Chikara Satoh
Professor Ryosuke Kurosawa
Professor Shinya Watanabe

I. INTRODUCTION
There is a notion that rehabilitation
programs reduce recidivism quite
markedly with some types of offenders insome circumstances. It is not surprising tofind that some questions will be raised, forexample, with whom they are implemented
and under what circumstances the
programs work. To answer these questions,
we have to analyze the characteristics ofoffenders and the treatment programs inuse.
Since criminals commit crimes becauseof different reasons, the characteristics ortypes of offenders are varied. Some typesof offenders, especially those who commit
crimes because of external factors, such as
economic problems, peer group pressure orlack of knowledge, etc., can be rehabilitatedby general treatment programs likevocational training and education. For
those who commit crimes because ofinternal factors, such as psychological360(Hong Kong)(Malaysia)(Thailand)(Papua New Guinea)(Indonesia)(Japan)(Japan)(Japan)(Japan)(Japan)(Kiribati)(Solomon Islands)(UNAFEI)(UNAFEI)(UNAFEI)

problems, behavior disorders, or antisocial
attitudes, their situations are more
complicated and they are in need of special
psychological treatment programs forrehabilitation.
To address the distinctive needs ofindividuals, appropriate treatment
programs should be applied to therespective types of offenders. Normally, thetreatment programs being implemented bysome countries are referred to as programs
promoting the socio-economic ability ofoffenders, such as prison work, vocational
training, and education. These types oftreatment programs are provided to almost
all offenders in some countries. However,there are some specific types of offenders
who need special treatment due to thecomplexity of their problems, for example,
drug addicted offenders, sex offenders,violent offenders and organized crime
offenders. To rehabilitate these types ofoffenders in prisons, the application of
specially designed treatment programs is

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
considered to be indispensable.
We believe that if offenders are provided
with proper treatment programs in prisons,
there will be a higher chance to reduce
recidivism. However, the implementationof this idea cannot be made possible in somecountries, due to a lack of resources or otherreasons. Thus, our group tried to study theactual situation of the rehabilitation ofprisoners in the 17 participating countries,
as well as the problems that impede thesuccess of rehabilitation, and attempt todetermine the countermeasures to betaken. Moreover, we realize that treatment
programs cannot be effective without theparticipation of prison staff. Therefore,ways to secure the treatment potential of
prison staff will also be explored.
II. GROUP DISCUSSION
After being assigned the topic of“Rehabilitation Programs in the Prison toPrevent Prisoners’ Recidivism”, our groupdecided to focus discussion on the following
issues:(a) Treatment programs to enhance thesocio-economic ability of prisoners.
(b) Categorized treatment programs
according to the offence type and/or
problems of individual prisoners.
(c) Treatment programs addressing thepsychological problems of prisoners,
specifically their emotions, cognition,
attitudes, etc. which lead to theoffence.
(d) Ways to secure the treatment
potential of prison staff.
According to the work plan devised by
all the group members, the relevant
information was collected through different
resources, such as the individual
presentation papers of participants andvisiting experts who attended the 109th
I n t e r n a t i o n a l Tr a i n i n g C o u r s e ,professional articles and resource
materials kept at UNAFEI. Moreover, ourgroup distributed two sets ofquestionnaires to the course participantsof the 17 participating countries, for datacollection. The approach of the study wasby comparing the situations of those 17
countries. Moreover, the specific treatment
programs conducted in some countries
were also analyzed.
The 17 participating countries of the109th International Training Course arelisted: Bangladesh, Botswana, Fiji, Ghana,
Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya,
Kiribati, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua
New Guinea, Philippines, Republic ofKorea, Solomon Islands, Thailand.
III. TREATMENT PROGRAMS TO
ENHANCE THE SOCIO-ECONOMICABILITY OF PRISONERS
Rehabilitative treatment programs toenhance the socio-economic ability ofprisoners are offered in various ways inprisons. According to our observation of theactual situation, prison work and education
are the two main and common
rehabilitative treatment methods being
implemented by most participating
countries. In this paper, we intend to
identify the problems commonly
encountered by those 17 countries and tooffer some countermeasures to address the
problems.
A. Prison Work and Vocational
Training
Prison work covers a wide range ofactivities whereby prisoners are physicallyinvolved in some kind of work while serving
a term of imprisonment in prisons. Under
the scope of work in prisons, general prison
work and vocational training are the two
integral parts which will be discussed in
the respective sections below.
1. Actual Situation(a) Prison WorkRegarding the statutory requirement ofprison work, 14 participating countries

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have obligatory prison work while theremaining three(3); Nepal, Philippines andSolomon Island, have voluntary prison
work (see Appendix 1).
In the context of obligatory prison work,
we are referring to two(2) specific types ofsituations. The first situation is when
prisoners are sentenced by a court of law
under a penal code with work (i.e. hardlabor or light labor). The second situation
is when the prisoners are sentenced to
imprisonment and must work under aspecific prison regulation.
As for voluntary prison work, we arereferring to the situation under which
prisoners are sentenced to imprisonment
without work, in accordance with the lawsof a country. However, they can volunteer
to do prison work in prisons.
In countries with job-oriented work
programs, prisoners can easily find jobs
after release. However, other countries
with inappropriate work programs will nothave this favorable result.
Among those 17 participating countries,
14 countries have prison obligatory work.
Seven (7) out of these 14 countries canprovide prison work to prisoners becauseof some problems which will be discussed
later on. Prison work commonly employedby those participating countries are:
• Primary industries (e.g. agricultural,fisheries, etc.).
• Secondary industries (e.g. textile,wood work, metal work, handcraft,etc.).
• Routine and maintenance work inprison (e.g. laundry, painting,c a r p e n t r y, p l u m b i n g , c o o k i n g ,cleaning etc.).
(b) Purpose of Prison Work
Prison work is organized so as to serve
a constructive purpose in the treatment ofprisoners. Its objective is not only to provide
inmates with vocational knowledge andskills, but also to strengthen their will towork, sense of self-help and spirit of362

cooperation through working together inwell regulated circumstances. Thus, theprison industry contributes to thecorrectional aims of re-socializing
offenders.
Some of the other purposes of prison
work among the participating countries areto make profit out of prison work (to lighten
the running costs of the prison experienced
by prison administration) and to provide
an opportunity for a prisoner to make someearnings to before s/he is released fromprison.
Our group basically agreed that the
purpose of prison work is not only torehabilitate the prisoners by providingthem working skills or habits, but also toprevent the prisoners from degradation.
Accordingly, those with working skills or
habits, such as offenders of white-collar
crime or corruption, should also be provided
with prison work.
(c) Vocational Training
Vocational training in prison can be
regarded as part of prison work. However,it should be more skill-oriented in the sensethat the training so provided can enhance
the competitive ability of prisoners to fined
work after release. With the exception of
Kiribati, 16 participating countries
introduced vocational training not only toenhance the productivity of prison, but also
to improve the vocational skills of prisoners(see Appendix 1).
In some countries, prisoners who havepassed the qualifying examinations ofcertain training courses are awarded tradecertificates or licenses, for example, for
operating construction machinery,barbering, auto-repairing, electricalrepairing and so on. With the exception of
Kiribati, the other 16 Participating
countries have introduced vocational
training in their prisons, but most of themconcentrate their vocational training informs of trade-related prison work, such as
electrical plumbing and carpentry

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
conducted in the workshop.
(d) Purpose of Vocational Training
The purpose of vocational training is:• To provide the prisoners withvocational training, up to a qualifying
level of training, in and type of skill
appropriate to their aptitude andcapability, that would enable them tocompete for related and satisfying
employment upon release from prison.
• To give the prisoners confidence,satisfaction and self-respect, throughacquiring these new found skills, sothat the offender may adjust moreeasily to normal society after release
and refrain from a deviant way of life.
• To cultivate good working habits.
With these purposes borne in mind, we
have studied the situations of those 17
participating countries and found that only
a few countries have appropriate vocational
training programs and qualified
instructors to conduct such programs
accordingly.
2. Problems
The over-all assessment of the actual
situations in the 17 participating countries
enabled our group to identify certain typesof problems. Although these problems differ
in their magnitude among those countries,
we considered some of them to be common.
The common problems experienced bythose 17 countries are as follows:(a) Insufficiency of Work
Although we acknowledge both prison
work and vocational training as
rehabilitative treatment programs toenhance the socio-economic ability ofprisoners, we find that there is aninsufficiency of work to accommodate all
the prisoners in some countries. It is
understandable that prison administratorsin the participating countries willencounter different kinds of problems intheir own settings. Apart from the financial

stringency, the following are the mostcommon problems for those countries:• Inadequacy of facilities to carry out
work or conduct vocational training
for the prisoners.
• Lack of qualified specialists to provide
various specialized training.
• Lack of marketable skills.
(b) Security Problems
In addition to the obligation to provide
prison work and vocational training for
prisoners, prison administration has the
responsibility to protect society byproviding the safe custody of prisoners.
With the overcrowding situation in prisons,prison officials will always encounter somekinds of security problems while
implementing the above programs. The
security issues that prison officials worry
most about are:• Escape of prisoners from custody.
• Assault with tools in workshops.
• Prison riots or breakouts from prison
with tools.
The above incidents cannot be avoided
without adequate and close supervision bystaff.
(c) I n a d e q u a t e F o l l o w - u p a n d
Evaluation
According the current practice of mostparticipating countries, they do not makeany evaluation on the effectiveness of theaforementioned treatment programs
provided by prisons. For example, after the
release of a prisoner who has received
vocational training on auto-repair trade, nofollow-up action is taken to find out
whether s/he can secure a job of the same
nature.
3. Countermeasures
After assessing the common problems
now being experienced in the participating
countries in relation to their actual
situations about prison work in prisons, itis necessary to offer a practical solution.

363

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
We would like to give the following
suggestions as countermeasures for thosecounties with not so well-developed
programs. On the other hand, thosecountries with developed programs may
also use these suggestions, in combination
with their experience, to further develop
their current programs.
We consider that in order to help
prisoners find jobs easily after release, thework and training provided to them inprisons should be, as far as possible, of asimilar nature. Since the aforementioned
problems are considered to be inter-related,
it will be necessary to offer thecountermeasures in a package as follows:(a) Cooperation with Other Public
Organizations
As far as practicable, prison
administrators should provide sufficient
work and training to the prison population
with full cooperation with publicorganizations. For example, some prisonersof Botswana are employed by othergovernment organizations, like the defense
force and police, to do work like cleaning
barracks, packing stores, cooking etc. In
Japan, some governmental organizationsorganize automobile repair workshops andtraining institutions for operating
construction machinery etc. in the prison.
These authorized facilities can provide
prison work and vocational training toprisoners.
(b) Joint Venture Projects in Prison
Joint venture is regarded as a type ofcooperation between the prison
administration and private sectors inproviding management and resources toutilize prison labor both within and outsideof prison. A joint venture project provides
an alternative avenue for prisoners to doboth work and vocational training. This isa practical solution for the prison
administration of the participating
countries to provide both work and364

vocational training for the balance of theunengaged prisoners in their prison
population.
According to the questionnaire
distributed, 6 out of the 17 Participating
countries have introduced joint venture
projects, to their prisons. Most of theprivate organizations supply materials andmachinery to prisons, and the prison
administration provides manpower.
Hereunder are the experiences of Japanand Singapore.
The Prison Industry Cooperation
Division(PICD) was set up by theCorrectional Association of Japan in 1983,
and has been very useful to activate theprison industry. The main task of PICD is
to provide raw materials for the operationof prison industries, instead of thegovernment. In particular, it created thebrand “CAPIC” to establish a corporate
identity and to improve the image of prison
products. It also established a well-planned
product system to increase productivity.
In Singapore, The Singapore
Cooperation of Rehabilitative
Enterprises(SCORE) is a statutory board
which manages the prison industries andprovides rehabilitative opportunities. It
sets up, or invites companies to set up,
workshops in the prisons where theinmates will work and learn the on-the-job
skills. SCORE’s bakery and laundry
services are examples of enterprisingindustrial pursuits that have (successfully)
taken root in the prison setting.
(c) Security and Motivation for WorkTo address security concerns, adequate
staff should be allocated to supervise work
programs and prisoners should be carefullyclassified when they are assigned to work.
Incentives like payment and otherprivileges should be encouraged tomotivate prisoners to engage in prison
work.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE(d) Evaluation of the Programs
Any given programs should be followed
up and evaluated to assess the success andfailure rate, and the findings should be
used to improve the deficiency. Because
each program will have its own objective,
statistics should be maintained to list how
many ex-prisoners have been employedwith a steady job relating to the skills ortrade they learn in prison. This kind of
information should help the prison
administration review their work or
training programs and make necessary
improvements to suit actual situations
outside the prison.
This may only be one aspect of the study
as there are many other indicators that canbe used to determine the success or failure
rate of any given program. The results may
improve existing programs to suit theconditions outside of prison.
B. Education
Globally, education is an essential basic
need to enhance human development.
Demographics like low education, in thisinstance, are often predictors of offending.
Thus, an important priority is to reduce thestatistical chance or probability of reoffending. The provision of education,either academic or vocational, for the
purpose of upgrading prisoners’
educational status and skills is thus
essential in a competitive society.
1. Actual Situation
The main purpose of education is toenhance a prisoner’s competitive ability for
employment in free society after releasefrom prison. Our assessment of the 17
participating countries shows thefollowing: 13 out of 17 countries haveintroduced fundamental(literacy andnumeracy) education in view of global
trends in literacy, and these programs are
funded by the state.
As for further education such ascorrespondence courses, high school,secondary school and undergraduate
studies, 11 out of 17 countries facilitate
correspondence courses for their prisoners.
In most cases, a government meets the costof these types of programs as long as theprisoner is still serving their sentence ofimprisonment. In other cases these
programs are assisted by Nongovernmental Organizations like churches
and others.
In order to offer educational programs
to prisoners, they have to pass a selection
or classification process. Depending on thatconsideration, those prisoners who reallyhave the need for a specific type of
educational course are offered places toundertake various types of courses. We
observed that, the type and level of
educational courses varied among the 17
participating countries. This was because
the aptitude of each individual prisoner
also differed by country.
We also learned that in those 13
countries which conduct fundamental
educational program, the participating
prisoners will be awarded a certificate ofattainment at the completion of theappropriate course. This is also true for the
11 countries that also have prisoners
engage in further education throughcorrespondence. The award of certificatesof attainment depends upon theappropriate education authority in therespective countries.
2. Problems
In our observations, we found thefollowing concerns to be common problems;
again the magnitude varied widely among
the participating countries.
(a) Difficulty in Grouping Prisoners toAttend the Class
Difficulty was experienced when trying
to group prisoners into classes, because it
is not like ordinary school when all the
intake can start together, as prisoner are
admitted to prison on different dates. One

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
other related matter has to do withindividual educational backgrounds, or the
specific needs of the individual prisoner.
(b) The Lack of Qualified Specialized
Teachers to Carry Out Academic
Programs in Prison
Prison administrators of some of theparticipating countries cannot provide
educational programs. This is because they
do not have qualified teaching staff within
their existing staff strength. For the
purpose of education there must be
qualified teaching staff to teach theprisoners the training material. This is also
true for those other countries that havesupplementary educational programs.
They rely on relevant state agencies toassist them with their programs, as they
do not have their own qualified staff.
(c) Poor Learning Environments
The experiences of some participating
counties show us that prisons are in lackof educational programs, materials andsuitable facilities to carry out theirprograms. These matters are the essential
components of any educational programs,
without which we cannot conduct any
programs.
3. Countermeasures
Our general observation about the actual
situation re educational programs in the
17 participating countries also exposed anumber of problems commonly shared bythose countries. In the context of
educational programs utilized to enhance
the socio-economic ability of prisoners inprison, we are of the view that the threecommon problems are somewhat closely
related. Therefore, in a practical sense, any
countermeasures should be offered in a
package to complement each of the
problems being identified. The following
suggestions are considered as thecountermeasures:

366(a) Development of School Calendar Year
In order to address the problem relating
to difficulties resulting from the different
admission dates of prisoners, we suggestthat school calendars be developed andenforced in prison. However, should there
be any large intake of prisoners at any
time, a special class should be organizedto cater for need. Thailand is adopting sucha measure. Another suggestion would beto engage volunteers, like retired teachers,
from the surrounding community.
(b) Utilization of Existing Staff
Available staff should be reorganized
and re-deployed for the purpose of
conducting educational programs. Selectedstaff should be identified and trained
adequately to carry out the intended
programs. If this can not be done withavailable manpower and resources, then it
is necessary to sell this idea to the publicat large, where there is bound to be somekind of assistance forthcoming fromvolunteer organizations or othergovernment agencies.
(c) Cooperation with Other Public
Organizations
To solve the problem of insufficiency ofteaching staff, prison administrator may
consider cooperator with publicorganizations. There are specific examplesof this approach as follows:• In Japan, The Ministry of Education
set up a branch of a junior high schoolin one of the juvenile prisons, where
teachers are seconded from the main
school campus;• In Singapore, academic classes andcertificate courses are conducted byqualified teachers seconded from the
Ministry of Education.
(d) Development of Education Materials
At this point the programs will neededucational material to provide courses.
Again, if it is not possible to provide those108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
needs within the prison then it is necessary
to go to the relevant government agency to
assist the prisons(e) I m p r o v e m e n t o f E d u c a t i o n a l
Facilities
With whatever resources are available,
the educational facilities needed for
educational programs should be renovatedor developed. Desirable learning
environments will enhance the willingnessof prisoners to participate in the
educational programs. If improvement is
not possible from within the prison setting,efforts should be made to seek assistancefrom the public, like voluntaryorganizations and government agencies.
(f) Evaluation of Educational Programs
Evaluation on the results of course
examinations will help prison
administrators assess the effectiveness ofthe educational programs and makecorresponding improvements.
IV. SPECIAL TREATMENTPROGRAMS FOR SPECIFIC TYPESOF PRISONERSIn addition to the treatment programs
enhancing the socio-economic ability ofprisoners, there are other special treatment
programs aiming to rehabilitate somespecific types of prisoners in prisons. The
treatment programs provided to thoseprisoners are different and distinctive.
Thus, the group will discuss the treatment
programs for some specific types ofprisoners as follows:(a) P r i s o n e r s w i t h p s y c h o l o g i c a l
problems(b) Drug addicted prisoners(c) Sex offenders in prison(d) Violent offenders in prison(e) Organized crime offenders in prison
It is noted that the interpretation of theabove classification of prisoners varies fromone country to another and the different

viewpoints of scholars and legislators will
make interpretation more complicated.
Nonetheless, the main objective of thegroup discussion was to study thetreatment program; so that the definitionof each type of offender is briefly statedbelow in order to limit our scope of
discussion.
(a) “ p r i s o n e r s w i t h p s y c h o l o g i c a l
problems” mean those who havepsychiatric problems, adjustment
problems and criminal behaviors(b) “drug addicted offenders” mean those
who habitually abuse illegal drugs;(c) “sex offenders” mean those who
commit offences of rape, indecent
assault, public indecency, etc.;(d) “violent offenders” mean those whohave the tendency to solve theirproblems by violent actions, forexample physical assault, bodily
i n j u r y, m u r d e r, h o m i c i d e e t c .
excluding “organized criminal
offenders”, which we mention below;(e) “organized criminal offenders” mean
those who are members of a gangengaging in various kinds of crimes
like drug smuggling, extortion,
intimidation, physical assault, bodily
injury, murder, homicide etc.
A. Treatment Programs for
Prisoners with Psychological
Problems
1. Actual Situation
According to our questionnaire: 14 out
or 17 participating countries haveprisoners with psychological problems; 12
out of 17 countries consider psychologicaltreatment programs to be critical; 11 outof 17 countries have classification systems
to detect the psychological problems ofprisoners; and 8 out of 14 countries havepsychological treatment programs.
For those countries where psychologicaltreatment programs do not exist, someother measures are taken to lessen the
problem. Those measures are as follows:

367

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54• Counseling programs conducted bywelfare officers, religious groups or
prison officers.
• Family visits.
• Tr a n s f e r o f p r i s o n e r s w i t h
psychological problems to receive
treatment from outside mental
hospitals.
Summing up the collected data, there arethree kinds of ‘psychological problems’ and‘psychological treatment programs’. Theyare ‘psychiatric problems’, which should betreated in mental hospital; ‘adjustment
problems’ inside institutions, which could
be handled by other ways such as family
visits and religion; and ‘criminality’
behavior. Although psychiatric andadjustment problems are important, thispaper is to address “rehabilitation
programs in the prison to prevent prisoners
recidivism”. So the programs aimed atchanging behavior and decreasing
psychological tendencies to commit crimeshould be focused.
In this meaning, only Japan and Hong
Kong have some of those programs, butthey are far from sufficient. Other countries
do not have psychological programs aimed
at changing criminal behavior, not theconcept/idea of these kinds of treatment
programs. Actually, for some countries,
psychological programs should and could
not get priority. In these countries, the firstpriority is to have good enough living andsecurity conditions. Secondly, they needwork and education programs. Then
thirdly, they can deal with the psychologicalprograms of prisoners. As the programs
aimed at changing criminal behavior are
rather new in the world, no country has
achieved the goal of establishing these
programs. Thus the programs which
disturb the implementation of treatment
programs aimed at changing criminal
behaviors, will be the focus of this paper.
2. Problemsa) Lack of Full Understanding of Crime

368

Causes and/or Characteristics of
Criminals
There has been some research on thecauses of crime and/or criminal behavior,
which revealed that individual criminal
characteristics include biological andpersonality aspects, and family
characteristics. However, no single factor
can predict criminal behavior. Althoughsome general factors that might enhancecriminal behavior could be addressed, it isdifficult to estimate and predict individual
criminal behavior. When we cannot
understand the causes of crime, it is hardto treat the criminals.
b) Lack of Effective Methods to Change
Behavior
Behavioral science and psychology are
rather new sciences and psychotherapies
aimed at changing behavior, having ahistory of only two hundred years. Humanbehavior is very complicated and difficult
to change once reaching adult hood.
Furthermore, when criminal behavior is
identified, changing it becomes difficult.
Usually, you find clients who lack the
motivation to change, often tell lies,
distrust you, and decieve you. They are
persons who have some difficulty in having
good relationships with people; while trust
and a good relationship is the basis of
making people change.
Also psychotherapy has been developedin the framework of medical hospitals and/or clinics for patients. Usually thosepatients want to be cured and follow theframework of psychotherapy. However,since prisons confine different kinds ofpeople, and have another kind of purpose,
they have different type of framework.
Contradictions in the frameworks ofprisons and traditional psychotherapy
could be another factor disturbing thepsychological treatment of offenders inprisons. After all, effective methods tochange criminal behavior have not been
established yet.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSEc) Lack of Reliable Statistical Methods
to Evaluate the Effectiveness ofPrograms
Lastly, there is a problem in evaluation
the effectiveness of treatment programs.
You need feedback to improve theprograms, however statistical methods toevaluate treatment programs have somedifficulties, such as random sampling andselection of independent and dependent
variables. As a result, some say that norehabilitation program works effectively,
and others say that some programs do
work. No lay people understand thestatistical methods to get these results
fully. People doubt that any kind of valid
result could be drawn. In this type ofsituation, people tend to believe what theywant to believe. Treatment programs can
not be improved if you do not understandwhat kind of programs is effective for whattypes of offenders, and to what extent.
3. Countermeasures
The countermeasures to these problems
are basically to work with each factor
disturbing implementation of effective
treatment programs, and to break throughthe vicious circle created by these factors.
Below are some countermeasures to solve
or improve each problem factors disturbing
the implementation of effective treatment
programs to reduce criminality.
a) Greater Understanding of Crime
Causes and/or Characteristics of
Criminals
Concerning the cause of crime, somecharacteristics of criminals are becoming
clear. One factor is the psychology ofaggressive and psychopathic personalities.
Hare made a Psychopath CheckList
Revised(PCL-R)(4), which is an objective
assessment measure based on his researchand Cleckley’s concept to the psychopath,“Mask of Sanity”. This measure makes it
possible to operationally define
psychopaths and Gacono and Meloy havestudied psychopaths using PCL-R and
Rorschach Tests. Those studies foundpsychopathic criminals to have more ability
to ward off anxiety, or decrease dysphoric
affects, and this ability had obvious impact
in eliminating the deterrents to criminal
activity. They also found that psychopaths
had aggressive and narcissistic
personalities with some extent of cognitive
disorder(Gacono & Melay, 1994; Hare,
1995).
There are also some bio-psychologicalfindings. One aspect of the psychopath’s
physiology is evident in the differential
patterning of lower skin conductance level,an under-aroused EEG profile and higher
heart rate in anticipation of aversive
stimuli when compared to nonpsychopaths. This pattern suggests a
decreased sensitivity and active
psychological coping in preparation for anaversive stimulus. It is not clear how thosebiological aspects, family background,socio-economic background, andpersonality make an individual criminal.
However, all negative factors are required
to be a perfect criminal. If one of thosefactors is lacking, other positive factors canprevent them from becoming a criminal.
Another kind of concept concerning thepersonality of criminals and delinquents is
the Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD)
and Conduct Disorder in DSMIV(American Psychiatric Association,1994). When the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders third
edition(DSM-III) employed the Axis
concept and mentioned Personality
Disorders in 1980, it became possible todefine antisocial personality disorders
operationally, and study them with somereliability. Now people believe a criminal
does not become a criminal in one day.
Hardcore criminals have started theircriminal carrier before the age of 10 years,
committed a variety of delinquent andcriminal conduct.
Juveniles under 16 years who have369

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
behavioral problems could be diagnosed ashaving conduct disorders. Among thosewith conduct disorders, some would growup to become adult criminals diagnosed ashaving antisocial personality disorders.
Other juveniles diagnosed with conductdisorders quit criminal conduct and becomelaw abiding people. What makes thisdifference is now believed to be the: abilityof attachment; ability to have arelationship with real human beings (notidealized); and ability of impulse control.
Even though causes of crime are notunderstood perfectly, it is possible todifferentiate juveniles who become chronic
criminals and those who do not to someextent, and these criminals who are
dangerous and those who are not. Anyway,
it is a good idea to continue to try to gain
more understanding of crime causes and/or characteristics of criminals.
b) Establishment of Effective Methods toChange Criminal Behavior
Even though psychological treatment tochange criminal behavior is stilldeveloping, DSMs have also contributed
much to the development of psychotherapy
for personality disorders, including
antisocial personality disorders(ASPD).
Although there are some psychiatrists whobelieve it is impossible and/or unnecessary
to treat ASPD, others have addressed someways to treat ASPD affected. Basictechniques to treat ASPD are concerned
with: how to motivate for change, how tohave and maintain relationships, and how
to treat therapist’s counter transference(Davio, 1990, Dergsen, 1995; Fujioka,
1998;. Livesley, 1995).
Some psychiatrists emphasize types ofconduct disorders. According to them there
are 4 types of conduct disorders; socialized,
characterological, neurotic, andpsychiatric. The prognosis and appropriate
treatment differs according to types. The
extent of psychological problems andnecessity of psychological treatment also370

differ according to types (Fujioka, 1997;
We i n e r, 1 9 9 2 ) . T h i s m e a n s t h a tclassification aimed at making treatment
plans is important. Some might need more
psychological treatment, others might needother kind of programs such as vocational
training and education.
Still some psychiatrists prefer cognitivebehavioral treatment. They tend to bepractitioners and prefer group treatment.
They believe that even if they do notunderstand the causes of crimes, it ispossible to treat them. They do not believein the medical model, which emphasizes
professional people who have fullunderstanding of the causes and methods
to cure the disease and help patients. They
tend to believe in the ability of criminals
to help themselves. Since professional
people can not follow criminals and prevent
criminal behavior all the time, it is thecriminals themselves who must prevent
themselves from committing criminal
behavior again. So, the basic idea oftreatment is to help the criminals enhancetheir ability to help themselves. They focus
on specific types of offenders such as sex
offenders, violent offenders and drug
addicts. Now most people believe sometreatment programs will help someoffenders to prevent recidivism, to someextent. So the topic should be focused onwhat treatment programs are effective forwhat types of offenders. Programs should
be developed according to these lines. Thesetypes of treatment programs for specifictypes of offenders will be dealt with indetail in the next sections.
c) Establishment of Statistical Methods
to Evaluate the Effectiveness ofPrograms
It is very important for improving
treatment programs to evaluate the resultsof programs and have feedback on them.
Because of computerization and progressin the field of statistics, methods toevaluate the effectiveness of the treatment

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
programs have been much improved andthe effectiveness of some programs has
been proved (Andrew, 1998). Efforts toevaluate the effectiveness orineffectiveness of treatment programs
should be continued and will help improvethe understanding of causes of crimes andtreatment programs of criminals.
B. Treatment Programs for Drug
Addicted Prisoners
1. Actual Situation
According to the distributed
questionnaire, we observed that among 17
participating countries, only Japan, Hong
Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand have special
treatment programs for drug addicted
offenders in their prisons; whereas
Botswana, Fiji, Kiribati and Solomon
Island do not have any programs. The other9 participating countries treat drug
addicted prisoners with the treatment
programs available for the general prison
population. The actual situation of thetreatment programs implemented in therelevant countries will be discussed
hereunder.
(a) Hong Kong
In Hong Kong the Drug Addiction
Treatment Centers Ordinance(Cap.244)
empowers the courts to sentence a drug
addict, found guilty of an offence
punishable by imprisonment, to detention
in a drug addiction treatment center. The
aim of the compulsory drug treatment
program is threefold:a) Detoxification and restoration ofphysical health;b) Uprooting of psychological andemotional dependence on drugs; andc) P r e p a r a t i o n f o r t h e i n m a t e s
reintegration into the society
The period of treatment ranges from aminimum of two months to a maximum of
12 months, followed by 12 months ofstatutory aftercare supervision. The actual
length of treatment is determined by theprisoner’s health and progress, and thelikelihood of remaining completely drug
free after release. The work program in thetreatment center aims at improving theinmate’s health, developing good work
habits and establishing self-confidence anda sense of responsibility. Inmates are
assigned with work commensurate with
their capabilities, skills and fitness. Those
who are found to be medically unfit for awork program will attend occupational
therapy classes. Prisoners released fromaddiction treatment centers are subjected
to 12 months of supervision, which aims
at assisting the released inmates toreintegrate into society.
(b) Japan
In Japan, the situation of the treatment
program of drug addicts prisoners in prison
is organized in groups at three points intime: upon entry, at the mid-point of theircustody and at the time of discharge. The
general treatment program summarized asfollows:i) Fact Finding Survey: A survey isdone to find out how drug abusers become
addicted to drugs by answering a set ofquestionnaire.
ii) Stimulants’ Effects on the Mental
and Physical Aspects of Abusers: The
prisoners are made to consider the effects
of drugs on their body and mind. In this,prisoners record experiences, such as
illusions and delusions.
iii) Social Effect of Drugs Abuse:Prisoners are made to record their own
experiences and discuss the negative
effects of drug use on them and theirfamilies.
iv) Legal Restrictions: In this particular
step, prisoners are made to understand thesignificance of legal restrictions and theactual system of court trials. The strict
implementation of trial sentences andimposition of punishment are explained to
them.

371

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54v) Methods and Determination on the
Abandonment of Stimulant Abuse:Prisoners are told to make a commitment
to completely give up stimulant drugs.
Prisoners prepare methods for abandoning
stimulant drugs, and consider how to resist
temptations from their peer groups.
vi) A f t e r R e c e i v i n g D r u g - F r e e
Education: Lastly after receiving drug freeeducation, the level of comprehension of thecourse content is checked. In addition,
female prisoners are taught to understandthat stimulant drug abuse affects not only
themselves but also their fetus andnewborns.
(c) Malaysia
In Malaysia, a TherapeuticCommunity(T.C) Program is implemented
together with the general treatment
programs such as orientation, prison workand physical training. This program
bridges the communication gap between
staff and drug addicted prisoners typicallyfound in correctional institutions, and alsoutilizes the prisoners’ peer influence andself-help concepts. Drug addicted prisoners
who live and work together meet with thestaff regularly with a desired goal of
improving post-release performance. By
employing (under staff direction) open
communication, discussion, as well as other
T.C treatment methods, participating
prisoners can adjust their behavior throughlearning, testing and projecting themselves
as effective role models.
(d) Thailand
In Thailand, drug addict prisoners will
be sent to special prisons which provide
treatment and rehabilitation programs. At
present there are 6 prisons to cater for such
prisoners. Treatment programs provided
for drug addicted prisoners consist of 3stages:i) Withdrawal stage: Detoxification
methods used in institutions is based on‘cold turkey’ without applying methadone.

372ii) Psychological and physical recovery
stage: Psychological treatment aims to
restore and reconstruct self-confidence,
morale and attitude. Physicalreconstruction, which is done at the sametime, aims to restore body strength andfitness.
iii) Rehabilitation stage: Besides thepsychological and physical treatment,
vocational training, formal education andwork are the main elements of therehabilitation program. Moreover, theDepartment of Corrections has
implemented the Therapeutic Community(T.C) program to rehabilitate the ex-drug
addicted prisoners mentally and physically.
The T.C program is implemented in 75
prisons and correctional institutions where
drug addicted prisoners are imprisoned.
(e) Singapore
In Singapore, drug addicted prisoners
are detained in Drug Rehabilitation
Centres for a minimum period of 6 month
up to a maximum period of 36 months
depending on the number of previous
admissions. Prisoners with greater numberof previous DRC admission will be kept
longer in the DRCs. Upon arrest, all drug
addicts are sent to the reception centre.
This is where they undergo a compulsory
detoxification period for one week. Afterdetoxification., inmates are transferred to
DRCs.
Following a review of the drug program,
Community-Based Rehabilitation wasgiven greater emphasis to assist the treatedaddicts to reintegrate into society. Uponcompletion of their minimum period in
DRC detention, inmates will be places in
one of the following programs:a) C o m m u n i t y - B a s e dRehabilitation(CBR)b) E x t e n d e d I n s t i t u t i o n a l
Rehabilitation(EIR)
Under Community-Based
Rehabilitation, inmates may either be
selected for any of the three schemes: the

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
Halfway House Scheme(HWH),
Residential Scheme or Halfway House
Scheme with Naltrexone/Residential
Scheme with Naltrexone. Once the inmate
is selected for the CBR scheme, they may
voluntarily opt out of the program only
before it starts. Inmates who are selected
for CBR are required to undergo the PreRelease Program.
The Halfway House Scheme requires theinmates to stay in a halfway house for aperiod of six months, work during the day
and return to the HWHs in the evening toobserve curfew hours. The Residential
Scheme lasts for a period of six months.
However, the inmates are required to betagged with an electronic monitoring device
when released. The inmates are also
required to work during the day but haveto return home in the evening to observe
curfew hours. They must report regularlyback for counseling and urine testing.
In August 1993, the Department
launched a pilot program involving the useof the drug Naltrexone on some inmates. A
person who is on Naltrexone will not beable to ‘get high’ if he or she consumes anarcotic drug. Naltrexone is not addictive,
hence it is not a substitute drug for the
addicts.
Those inmates who do not qualify for theCommunity-Based Rehabilitation or who
voluntarily opt out of CBR programs areplaced under Extended Institutional
Rehabilitation(EIR). In this way theirdetention periods in the DRCs would be
extended up to between 12 to 24 months,
depending on their categories.
2. Problems
In order to implement special treatment
programs for drug addicted prisoners, wewill identify various problems faced bythose related countries. The population of
drug addicted prisoners in many countries
has been soaring, thus making the special
treatment of drug addicted prisoners aglobal and urgent issue. The problems

concerning special treatment programs for
drug addicted prisoners are as follows:a) Lack of Treatment Programs or Other
Related Resources
In Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal,
Ghana, Papua New Guinea and Kenya,
drug addicted prisoners are treated
together with other prisoners by giving
them counseling and religious guidance. In
the Philippines, there is no special
treatment program for drug addictedprisoners. In Korea, drug addictedprisoners are segregated from otherprisoners, but general treatment will begiven to them. In Pakistan, drug addictedprisoners are sent to hospital outside of theprison to undergo the medical treatment.
b) D i f f i c u l t i e s E n c o u n t e r e d i n
Implementing Special Treatment for
Drug Addicted Prisoners(i) Lack of motivation of drug addictedprisoners: From our experience, drug
addicts have very weak willpower. They
can maintain a drug-free life while inprisons, but once they are released, due toeasy access to drugs and for other reasons,they soon relapse. This implies that the
programs are not effective enough tomotivate drug addicted prisoners to quit
drugs when they are released from prison.
On the other hand, drug addicted prisoners
have some health problems, e.g., HIV,physical deficiencies etc. which need special
care from the prison authorities.
(ii) Lack of specialists to implement the
program: Due to increase of drug addictedprisoners in some countries, e.g. Malaysia
and Thailand, prison authorities faces theinsufficiency of specialists who are able toconduct treatment programs effectively.
3. Countermeasuresa) Establishment of Treatment Centers
for Drug Addicted Prisoners
As far as resources and security factors

373

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
permit, it is preferable to separate all drugaddicted prisoners from those non-addicts,
and to centralize them in separate,
designated institutions. This is to facilitate
the implementation of treatment programs
especially designed for drug-addictedprisoners. It is also the best way to treat
the various types of drug addicted prisoners
such as the seriously addicted prisoners or
the drug addicted prisoners with healthproblems e.g. HIV, physical deficiency. For
those countries where there are no specifictreatment programs for drug addictedprisoners, they may consider adopting thetreatment programs that we havediscussed.
b) Countermeasures to Solve Problems
in Implementing Special Treatment
Programs for Drug Addicted
Prisoners(i) Cooperation with other agencies
outside prisons: Successful rehabilitation
programs for drug addicted prisoners
require strong and sustainable systems,
especially to prevent the ex-drug addict
prisoners from relapse.
Cooperation with other related agencies,
outside of prison, is required to giveaftercare or counseling services to the exdrug addict prisoner to maintain theirdrug-free life and motivate them to keepaway from drugs. Facilities and programs
provided by halfway houses, community
rehabilitation centers etc. can be utilized
in order to monitor the ex-drug addictedprisoners, having personnel to educate andsupervise them closely within certain
period.
(ii) Recruit and train more specialists:
To cater for the needs of special treatment
programs for drug addicted prisoners, andin accordance with the increasing numberof drug addicted prisoners in prison, more
specialist in related fields should be
recruited. The other alternative is to train
selected staff in the respective treatment374

programs.
C. Treatment Programs for Sex
Offenders in Prisons
1. Actual situation
According to the questionnaire
distributed to all the course participants,
only 4 out of 17 countries have special
treatment for sex offenders. These
countries are Botswana, Hong Kong, Korea
and Japan. Therefore, we introduce thetreatments measures for sex offenders inthose countries and discuss the problems
and countermeasures.
(a) Botswana
There are special treatments for sex
offenders in prisons in Botswana. They
include interviewing the sex offender,
individual counseling, sex education, group
counseling and group discussion. The
purpose of this treatment is to help anoffender realize their problems and how todeal with them. These treatments are
conducted by prison social workers andchaplains. These social workers andchaplains are sent to training institutions,like the university for social work trainingor theology, which cover psychology as amajor subject. The group counseling is held
once per a week with a duration of one hour,
whereas individual counseling is conducted
frequently. However, it normally takes longtime for prisoners to open up and talk about
their problems.
(b) Hong Kong
The objective of the treatment programsfor sex offenders is to provide
comprehensive assessment and treatment
services for incarcerated sex offenders, aswell as for those referred by the court andrelevant review boards for evaluation
purposes. At present both individual
treatments as well as a structured
treatment program, “The Sex Offenders
Self-Help Program”, is offered to inmates.
The Sex Offenders Self-Help Program has

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
a combination of self improvement
stratergies covering the following areas:• Sex knowledge;• Managing stress and negative
emotions;• Identifying and changing distorted
sex attitudes;• Improving social skills;• Victim empathy training;• Understanding offending patterns
and relapse prevention;• Community reintegration andresources.
The Sex Offender Self-Help Program isdesigned to supplement individual
psychotherapy. The program provides a
non-coercive and supportive environment
for motivated offenders to learn, throughusing the multi media materials containedin the self-improvement packages, with theassistance of the Duty Psychologist. Weekly
group sessions to consolidate learning andcontact with a personal tutor for in-depth
therapy is also arranged. The treatment
period for offenders varies depending on
individual needs and may range from a few
weeks to six months.
(c) Korea
There is specific treatment for sex
offenders in Korea. The contents of thetreatment are counseling, interview andeducation about sex, HIV and sexual
morals. This treatment is conducted bypsychologists or religious leaders (such as
priests, monks, etc) who emphasize theimportance of the family. Prison officers
makes prisoners exercise to have a soundmind. The purpose of this treatment is toprevent the offenders from relapsing into
sex offences.
(d) Japan
Not all sex offenders are given specifictreatment in Japan, but some ambitious
treatment is conducted in juvenile prisonssuch as Kawagoe and Nara Juvenile
Prisons (Correctional Bureau, 1994). The

purpose of these special treatment
programs is to make the sex offender inprison aware of their problems, to remove
their problems and to realize their reintegration. The detailed objectives are as
follows:• To motivate them and to make themaware of their own problems;• To make them think of how to solvethese problems;• To make them have sympathy toothers;• To make realize the damage to victims
and have respect for women;• To make them realize how to express
themselves in an unselfish way;
• To make them internalize treatments.
Necessary treatment is given to the sex
offenders six to twelve times in accordancewith the treatment programs. The content
of this treatment is summarized as follows:• Counseling;• To make them write a composition
titled “My future”;• Group discussion;• Role playing;• To make them watch videos about sex,
HIV and sexual harassment;• Role lettering (to make them write aletter titled “If I were the victim”).
2. Problems
There are many problems concerning thetreatment of sex offenders in prisons. These
problems can be broadly divided into two
categories. One is the lack of specifictreatment programs and/or other necessary
resources in most countries, and the otheris related to the difficulties in
implementing the special treatment
programs for sex offenders.
a) Lack of Treatment Programs or Other
Related Resources
As we described above, only 4 countries
have specific treatment programs for sex
offenders. That means the otherparticipating countries do not have specific375

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
treatment methods. According thequestionnaire, the reasons why specifictreatment for sex offenders does not exist
in those countries are as follows:• Because there are few sex offenders(e.g. in Nepal and Pakistan)• Because treatment for sex offenders
in prisons is not established yet (e.g.
in Ghana, Kiribati, Philippines, PNG,
Solomon stands and Thailand.)• Because there are no specialists who
can give specific treatment for sex
offenders (e.g. in Fiji and Malaysia)
For the countries who have few sex
offenders, specific treatment for them isstill needed because sex offenders mostly
have psychological problems resulting
from, for example, child abuse or incest.
Therefore, even though there may be few
sex offenders in a country, the importanceof specific treatment for sex offenders
cannot be ignored.
b) D i f f i c u l t i e s E n c o u n t e r e d i n
Implementing Special Treatment
Programs for Sex Offenders
There are special treatments for sex
offenders in prisons in Botswana, Hong
Kong, Korea and Japan. However, thepsychologists or specialists who treat sex
offenders in prison encounter the following
difficulties in implementing thesetreatment/methods:(i) Unwillingness to participate inSpecific Treatment by sex offenders:Counseling or group discussion is contrary
to their privacy, especially when themes are
related to sex offences. As sex offences areof a shameful nature, most offenders justexpress “I feel repentant deeply” and do not
speak or discuss actively their crime.
(ii) Variety of sex offenders: There aremany type of sex offences such as sexual
perversion, fetishism, exhibitionism,voyeurism, pedophilia, sadomasochism etc.
Consequently, those offenders are inclined
to think “I am different from others” andare not motivated to join group activities.

376(iii) Deep-rooted causes of sex offenders:
It is difficult to change the base characterof sex offenders because the cause of theseoffenders have sometimes arisen from theirinfant experiences such as child abuse orincest. Accordingly, specific treatment forthem, other than prison work or academic
education, should be implemented.
(iv) Changes of counselors or trainers:
From time to time, the counselors or
trainers will be changed due to transfer,promotion or retirement. However, it isdifficult to change the trainer of sex
offenders because the treatment of sex
offenders is based upon the trust
relationship between the trainer and theprisoner.
3. Countermeasures
The group members agreed that it would
be difficult to solve the above-mentioned
problems, but the following
countermeasures might be useful to ease
off the present situation.
a) Introducing Treatment Programs or
Other Related Resources
For those countries that lack specifictreatment for sex offenders, they may givedue consideration to the types of treatment
programs being implemented in othercountries.
For those countries that lack
psychologists or specialists, the present
situation can be improved if some selected
correctional officers are educated in
psychology and used to assist thepsychologists to provide necessary thetreatment for sex offenders. If the authority
doesn’t understand the importance ofspecific treatment programs for sex
offenders, these officials should be invited
to attend relevant international seminars,
conferences or committees in order to makethe governments of those countries awareof the importance to the treatment of sex
offenders108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSEb) Countermeasures to Solve Problems
in Implementing the Specific
Tr e a t m e n t P r o g r a m s f o r S e x
Offenders(i) Privacy and good atmosphere: If thesex offenders doubt that their privacy is
not well secured, they will not speak
frankly in counseling or group discussions.
Accordingly it is most important to teachthe inmates strictly keep others secrets andprivacy. In addition, the atmosphere ofgroup discussions should be made asrelaxing as possible, for example byarranging the allocation of tables in theform of circle or by adopting individual
counseling when needed.
(ii) To teach them sex offenders havecommon ground: The study of by Jonathan
E. Ross, M.A. “New Hope Treatment
Centers” (1-800-776-6482, 1994) teaches usthat sex aggressors, for example those steal
who sexual items, sexually harass, commit
pedophiles, forcibly rape and commit
sexual homicide, drives are based on thesame background. Accordingly, sex
offenders should be convinced that othersex offences come from common ground andthey should be motivated to understandeach others problems.
(iii)Relapse Prevention Program: It is
hard reform the character of sex offenders,
but it is possible to make them prevent
relapse. George and Mariatt suggested a“Relapse Prevention (RP) Program for sex
offenders”. The purpose of the RP Programis to make an offender anticipate therelapse problem and manage it. The
method of the RP Program is to make themwrite what problems may happen in a day
and how to manage them, individual
counseling, group discussion, role playingetc (George and Mariatt, 1989).
(iv) To standardize methods and keep
good records: It is unavoidable that thetrainers are sometimes changed because oftransfer, promotion or retirement.

Accordingly, it is very important tostandardize the methods of treatment via
working manuals and to keep good recordsof treatment for proper hand-over from one
to another.
D. Treatment Programs for Violent
Offenders in Prisons
1. Actual Situation
In this paper, violent offenders arereferred to as those with a tendency to solve
their problems by resorting to violent
actions. Those with this propensity will
inevitably bring into prisons their violent
behaviors when convicted. Therefore, somekind of psychological treatment is deemednecessary to reduce the risk of their reoffending.
As indicated by the questionnaire
distributed, none of the 17 participating
countries have treatment programs forviolent offenders, but the psychologists, ofsome countries will provide some sort oftreatment to them if necessary. For
Botswana and Fiji, counseling is the only
treatment measure they employ. In thecase of the Solomon Islands, violent
offenders are encouraged to attend
religious activities and participate inreligious seminars that are normallyprovided by church organizations. In
Indonesia, they arrange a “SHOLAT”
session that requires the violent offenders
to pray to God five times a day. The otherparticipating countries like Bangladesh,Pakistan and Thailand segregate violent
offenders in separated cells. In Ghana,
Kenya, Kiribati, Malaysia and Papua New
Guinea, violent offenders are treated likeany other prisoners. They have no special
treatment programs but they are treatedlike the rest of prisoners who participate
in prison work, education or vocational
training.
It is essential to identify the motives of
the commission of violent crime and thecauses to enable us employ the appropriate
treatment.

377

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54

2. Problemsa) No Specific Treatment Programs forViolent Offenders in Prisons
According to the questionnaire, none ofthe participant countries have any
comprehensive treatment programs forviolent offenders. The common treatment
is only the separation of violent offenders
from the rest of the prison population.
Chronic violent and aggressive prisoners
are locked up for their own safety, and forthat of staff and other inmates.
The absence of specific treatment
programs in prison for violent offenders has
been identified as a problem. This isbecause violent offenders are prone toviolent actions and their treatment isessential to reduce re-offending whenreturned to normal society. Why do we needtreatment programs for violent offender?
The reasons are as follows:• Some of them have cognitive
behavioral problems.
• Some of them have a tendency to solve
their problems by violent actions. Thisis a common factor in all countries andmost of these offenders are recidivists.
• Some violent offenders may havemental problems and or alcohol
problems.
3. Countermeasuresa) I m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f P a c k a g e d
Programs for Violent Offenders
The mere segregation and locking up ofviolent offenders is seen to be a nonrehabilitative measure. The violent
offender will not receive any treatment for
their violent behavior. For this reason, we
intend to introduce a treatment programthat has been initiated by the CanadianServices for Correction(CSC). The program
has been researched and tested by thisagency and proved effective. Seeing thatnone of the 17 countries have such atreatment program, the introduction of the
CSC treatment program for violent
offenders may help in formulating such
378

programs in the those countries. The
program may not be suitable to somecountries but it will give them some ideas.
b) Intensive Treatment Program forViolent Offenders
The treatment program conducted by
the Regional Health Center in Abbottsford,
Canada offers an intensive treatment
program for violent offenders, specificallyfor federal inmates who are seen as being
at a very high risk of re-offending (Mulloy& Brown, 1994). The staff involved in the
program include a psychologist, social
worker and nurses, who implement thetreatment provisions. Staff from otherdisciplines are also involves as needed. The
treatment team model is used with all staff
involved in treatment.
The program is a multi-model, withemphasis on cognitive-behavioral therapy
and relapse prevention. There is also focus
on amending specific offender skills
deficits, such as communication and anger
management. The setting of pro-socialgroup norms by participants is encouraged
through daily group psychotherapy andgroup living. Two methods included in the
program are:i) C o g n i t i v e - b e h a v i o r t h e r a p y :cognitive-behavior therapy is the
predominate treatment model, and has
been shown to be one of the most effective
treatment methods. A strong emphasis isplaced upon the group experience and theimportance of forming supportive
relationships with other group
participants. Teaching offenders different
ways to think and to form relationships,
while at the same time encouraging themto practice their developing skills on eachother in a supportive environment, isbelieved to have a promising effect in termsof recidivism on re-entry to the community.
It is also seen to be effective in improving
self-regulatory cognitive, emotional andbehavioral controls.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSEii) Anger Management: The importantelement in this therapy is the creation of adelay between the provoking event and theemotional arousal. Criminal or delinquent
populations have often been described as
impulsive people who ‘act before they
think’. For this reason, the program will
incorporate a number of elements intended
to extend the amount of time between theevent and the response. These elements
include relaxation training, theidentification of an internal observer andthe recognition of internal dialogue about
the provoking event. The inclusion of thesedelaying events should act to reduce theimpulsive nature of the inmates anger
response.
E. Treatment Programs for
Organized Crime Offenders in
Prisons
1. Actual Situation
According to the questionnaire
distributed to all the course participants,
no country, other than Japan, has special
treatment programs for organized crime
offenders. However we agreed that there
was an increase in the trend toward
organized crime in some countries, andefforts should be made to help those
offenders re-integrate into society.
Notwithstanding the tremendous
difficulties encountered in the newchallenges, in 1994 the Correctional
Bureau of Japan set forth a new guidelines
for those hard-core offenders.
a) Characteristics of Boryokudan
Inmates
In Japanese prison ‘Boryokudan’members are regarded as dangerous
habitual offenders and have the following
characteristics:• Generally speaking, the Boryokudan
inmates are classified as ‘B class’ interms of allocation category, and ‘Gclass’ as to treatment category. ‘Bclass’ inmates have a propensity

toward committing crime and ‘G class’inmates should be given guidance andlife skills training;• They like to show off and are easily
driven by impulsive characteristics.
They have high loyalty to theorganization and have little selfrepentance;• They undermine prison regulations
and general treatment, and evendisturb the rehabilitation of otherinmates.
According to the statistics of Osaka
Prison, which accommodate 2003 inmates,in May 1998 the number of Boryokudan
inmates was 338(16.9%). While the total
number of prison penalties during 1997
was 1792, the number of penalties imposedon Boryokudan inmates was 399(23.3%).
Consequently, special treatments are
conducted for the Boryokudan inmatesfrom a security view point, such as:• Boryokudan prisoners areadministered according to the groupthey belong to. They are separated
from each other not only in cells but
also in institutions.
• To avoid contention or strife inprisons, prison officers prohibit themfrom talking about the groupstruggles outside of the prison, andfrom organizing group with in theprisons. Letters are sensored carefully
for this purpose.
b) S o m e A s p e c t s o f B o r y o k u d a n
Members
Research on the life of Boryokudan madeby the National Research Institute of Police
Science in 1994 indicates that:• The motivation to become members of
Boryokudan is ostensibly theaffluence of the Boryokudan.
• Over half answered that they blindly
obey the direction of their boss.
• Most of them have no clear goal intheir group.

379

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54c) The Consciousness of Boryokudan
Members
Research on the life of Boryokudan
members made by the National ResearchInstitute of Police Science in 1994 indicatesthat the main reasons for leaving theorganization is due to anxiety for theirfamily, financial independence from theorganization, being arrested by the police,
having an appropriate occupation andbeing persuaded by their family or friends
to leave the organization.
d) Treatment Programs for Organized
Crime Offenders in Prisons
In the past, there was little treatment
methods for organized crime offenders
other than segregation and tight security
control. To help the offenders leave the
Boryokudan, in 1994 the Correctional
Bureau of Japan set forth guidelines forthe treatment of organized crime offenders
in prisons.
e) T h e C o n t e n t o f Tr e a t m e n t f o r
Organized Crime Members
The Correctional Bureau set up 10 typesof treatment programs for organized crime
members. These treatment programs are
given to organized crime offenders 12

Target of Treatment
Division of prisoners

Form of Treatment
Cell

380

times, and the content of this treatment is
as follows:• To make them realize that it is
impossible to continue as a memberof the Boryokudan, ‘that there are
specific organizations to help theirbreakaway. Also that it is impossible
to live as a Boryokudan member
without committing illicit acts,
especially after the enactment of theAnti-Boryokudan Law and that the“Giri and Ninjyo (duty and love)” in
Boryokudan is just deception;• To make them think about: the bad
influences when living as members of
the Boryokudan, the image of the
Boryokudan in the future, theinconvenient life of the Boryokudan,
the importance of the free citizenshipand the reason why they became
members of the Boryokudan;• To make them understand how: toleave the organizations and to maketheir intention to leave theorganizations more strong; theycaused difficulty for their family andhow to re-build good relationship withthem;
• To make them understand theimportance of lawful work and toteach them how to work in thecommunity.

All the members, semi-members and Boryokudan-related
prisoners.
1. Those whose intention to leave the organization is verystrong.
2. Those who have the will to leave the organization, but
hesitate to proceed with the breakaway.
3. Those who will not leave the organization.
Generally speaking, treatment of the first period is held ingroup and the second half is held individually.
Those who will not leave the Boryokudan are obstacles tothose who intend to leave the organization. Accordingly,
those who intend to leave the organization should beincarcerated in solitary cells if possible.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
2. Problems
There are many problems concerning thetreatment programs for organized crime
offenders in prisons. These problems canbe broadly divided into two categories. One
is the lack of treatment programs and theother is related to the difficulties in
implementing specific treatment programsfor organized crime offenders.
a) Lack of Specific Treatment Programsfor Organized Crime Members
As described above, only Japan has
specific treatment for organized crime
offenders in prisons, among the course
participating countries. That means, thatthe other 16 countries, have no specifictreatment programs except segregation.
According to the questionnaire, the reasons
why specific treatment programs for sex
offenders do not exist are as follows:• Because there are no organized crime
offenders (e.g. in Fiji, Ghana, Kiribati,
Nepal, PNG and Solomon Islands);• Because there are few organized crime
offenders (e.g. in Botswana, Pakistan
and Thailand);• Because it is very difficult for prison
officers to make the organized crime
offenders re-integrate into thecommunity, so the treatment of themshould be carefully implemented (e.g.
in Indonesia).
It was noticed that as the transportation
network developed, crime has become moreinternationalized and border less. In
addition, as a country develops andbecomes richer, the criminal organizations
will increase their influence. Furthermore,
the criminal organizations are always
trying to extend their sphere of influence
to get more money by illegal acts.
Accordingly, even if there are few organizedcriminal offenders in a country, theimportance of the specific treatment forthem cannot be ignored.
b) D i f f i c u l t i e s E n c o u n t e r e d i n

Implementing Special Treatment for
Organized Crime Offenders in
Prisons
There are special treatment programsfor organized crime offenders in Japan.
However the implementation of thistreatment is very difficult due to thefollowing reasons:(i) Lack of Personal or Other Resources:
This problem has three aspects, that is:• The prison officers provide little
treatment for those who will not leave
the criminal organizations, because it
seems to be a waste of time.
• The main treatment for the
Boryokudan is to encourage them toleave the organizations. However, thereasons why they cannot leave theorganizations are quite different fromeach other. Accordingly individual
treatment is most ideal for
Boryokudan members. However, it isvery difficult to conduct suchprograms for each of the Boryokudan
members, because of a lack ofpersonnel or other resources.
• The treatment programs for
Boryokudan members have been
newly introduced to the penal system.
It is noticed that teaching materials
such as videos, brochures and cassettetapes are still limited.
(ii) Lack of Cooperation by Related
Divisions: Three divisions are involved in
the treatment of organized crime offenders;the classification division, educational
division and classification board. However,
it is difficult for the officers of these threedivisions to cooperate with each other,because Japanese administaration isdivided vertically.
(iii)Lack of Care and Investigation After
Release: Many organized crime members
submit documents in which they pledge toleave the organizations. However, many ofthem may submit the documents because

381

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
they want to get parole. Moreover, there
are still no measures to follow-up thesecases and confirm whether prisoners reallyleave these organizations after release.
More than that, it is difficult to help theseprisoners find a job after release.
3. Countermeasures
In conclusion, it is difficult to solve all of
the above-mentioned problems, but thefollowing countermeasures may help toease the present situation:a) Introducing Specific Treatment
Programs for Organized Crime
Members
For those countries with a lack of specifictreatment programs for organized crime
offenders, the treatment system of Japan,
as explained above, may be helpful. In
addition, those countries where there are
few organized crime offenders should study
how to treat organized crime offenders in
preparation for the future.
b) Countermeasures to Solve Problems
in Implementing the Special
Tr e a t m e n t P r o g r a m s f o r S e x
Offenders
The problems we mentioned above may
be solved by following countermeasures.
(i) D e v e l o p m e n t o f N e w G r o u pTreatment Programs and Materials: Prison
officers should be reminded of theirimportant role in the rehabilitation of
offenders, notwithstanding that prisoners
are organized crime offenders.
Furthermore, those who need treatment
most are those whose want to remain in
the Boryokudan, because they have more
likelihood of recommitting crimes thanothers. Accordingly treatment should be
extended to those Boryokudan members
who want to remain in the criminalorganization.
Due to the lack human resources, moreemphasis should be put on the grouptreatment and the combination of group382

and individual treatment from theviewpoint of expense and effectiveness.
Since the existing treatment programs arestill at the primitive stage, more effective
teaching materials such as videos,brochures and cassette tapes should be
developed and introduced.
(ii) Close Cooperation of Related
Divisions and Agencies: Close
communication and cooperation should bemaintained among the three divisions, thatis the classification division, education
division and classification board. Moreover,other authorities, for example police andpublic prosecutors office, should also be
involved in follow-up action.
(iii)Effective Care and Investigation
After Release: Following the release of a
Boryokudan member on parole, joint
follow-up action should be taken to confirm
whether they have organization by theProbation Office and the Police. Working
in the community is one of the best waysof re-integration, though it is difficult tohelp them find jobs after release.
Accordingly, the Public Probation Officers
should help them find jobs in conjunction
with the Voluntary Probation Officers andother agencies.
V. WAYS TO SECURE THE
TREATMENT ABILITY OF PRISON
STAFF
A. Recruiting Capable Staff
1. Actual Situation
Normally, the process of recruitment,
selection and appointment of prison staff
is basically similar in most countries.
Firstly, all the applications are strictly
tested against the requirements of the job
specification as advertised. The job
specification will comprise of theeducational qualifications, academic
status, work experience, age, gender,
general health, marital status, criminal

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
records and other information.
Secondly, the preliminary selection
process begins soon after all applications
have been received with a short list of
candidates drawn up. The shortlisting of
applicants will then have to undertake an
intensive selection process conducted by
the boards or commissions.
Thirdly, the examinations are composedof personal interviews, other specific jobrelated or job-oriented questions andexaminations. If the applicants referencesand examination results meet the desired
standard of the Selection Board, then thecandidates will appear for a complete
medical examination.
Having studied the actual situations
among the 17 participating countries on the
recruiting of prison staff, the group foundthat most countries recruited prison staff
and some kinds of specialists to conduct therehabilitation program, such as social
workers, psychologists, doctors, nurses,
vocational trainers, religious instructors,
teachers, etc. However, some of thosecountries, for example Indonesia, Thailand,
Malaysia, Kiribati, Nepal, Papua New
Guinea etc., cannot recruit sufficient
specialists in to their system. For somecountries like Hong Kong, Malaysia and
Nepal, some specialists are deployed fromother government agencies, such as the
Department of Health, Ministry of
Education, etc.
Some countries also recruit specialists
in accordance with their relevant
qualifications. However, other countries
like Botswana, Indonesia, Thailand andMalaysia, the educational requirements forthe posts of specialists are generally
required to hold a diploma or degree ofsocial science or education, which include
various majors. Thus, the personnel sorecruited will undertake the jobs which
may not be relevant to their knowledge, forexample, those who graduated with a major
in politics may work as a social worker. It
was also observed that the educational

requirement for recruiting prison staff in
most countries, except Ghana and thePhilippines, does not include the fields ofcriminal justice, criminology or corrections.
For the recruitment of prison staff whoworks as prison guards, the minimum
educational requirement specified by all
countries, except the Philippines, is a highschool certificate.
In conclusion, those 17 countries haverecruited some kinds of specialist to
conduct the rehabilitation programs inprisons. However, most of them cannot
sufficiently recruit these specialists into
their own system.
2. Problemsa) Difficulty in Recruiting Rehabilitation
Staff
Most participating countries
encountered great difficulty in recruiting
the appropriate of people for positions. This
results in an insufficiency of qualified staff
who are capable of implementing therehabilitation programs effectively, like
psychologists, teachers, prison officers,
technical instructors in various fields oftrade etc. The difficulties of recruiting
rehabilitation staff are mainly due to theunattractiveness of correctional work
including low salary, poor working
environments, poor working conditions anda bad public image.
As revealed by the questionnaire, forsome countries like Bangladesh Indonesia,
Papua New Guinea and the Solomon
Islands, their situations may be worse thanthe other countries. For example, theirprison buildings lack maintenance and theworking conditions are far fromsatisfactiory.
b) Inadequate Educational Backgroundof Prison Staff
While correctional work is viewed as aprofession which requires specificknowledge on criminology, criminal justiceand corrections, many countries do not

383

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
include these fields of knowledge in the
educational requirements for recruiting
prison staff. Prison staff are only required
to have an educational background in social
science or education. In many countries,
prison guards have only a high school
education. The lack of specific knowledge
and advanced education of prison staff
results in the inadequacy of educational
backgrounds for working in correctional
services. This problem will have adverse
effects on the ability of staff to rehabilitate
prisoners.

administrators could render assistance by
providing scholarships or study leave etc.

3. Countermeasuresa) Enrichment of Recruiting Qualified
Staff
To solve the problems of recruiting theright caliber of people for prison jobs, thecorrectional administrators must have aneffective recruitment system with a view
to attracting and selecting qualified
persons to join the correctional service. This
involves the ability to publicize andmaintain a good public image, and also theability to set up an effective staff selection
process.
M o r e o v e r, t h e g o v e r n m e n t a n dcorrectional administrations in various
countries should consider the necessity ofawarding a premium to correctional officers
who have to work under demanding prison
conditions.

B. Training of Prison Staff toEnhance Their Treatment Ability
1. Actual Situation
After selection has been made, recruited
prison staff should be put through intensive
and extensive training programs,
conducted by a training institute.
Apart from Bangladesh, Kiribati and
Nepal, most participating countries haveestablished staff training institutes to
conduct training courses for prison staff.
In general, the major levels of training,provided by training institutes, can bedivided into two types:(i) Basic Recruit Training: This training
aims at providing new personnel with thebasic knowledge and skills for carrying out
their duties. The basic recruit training also
aims at imparting a sense of professional
ethics, conduct etc. The course content forthis training includes: basic prison laws,
rules, and regulations; correctional
treatment programs; counseling skills etc.
Other practical skills taught in training
programs are self-defense, use of firearms,
first aid, foot drill, riot drill, fire drill andso on. According to the questionnaire, we
found that all participating countries,
except Nepal, have these kinds of training
course.

b) Quality Training for Prison Staff
To equip the new recruits with thenecessary knowledge and skills fordischarging their duties and implementing
the various treatment programs,
correctional administrators should provide
quality basic training and constantguidance. In addition, appropriate
development training should be provided
to currently serving staff, in order toenhance their job performance and develop
their potential for taking up higher
responsibility. To motivate staff to achieve
academic qualification, correctional(ii) Refresher and Developmental
Training Courses: Refresher courses areorganized regularly for correctional staff to
update their operational knowledge. This
also serve to inspire a renewal of interestin their daily duties. Developmental
training courses for promotional purposes
are conducted for selected personnel to givethem a thorough grounding in thetheoretical aspects of their work. This is toprepare them for a higher level of
responsibility.
Apart from the above training courses,
in most participating countries, training384

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
courses relevant to the rehabilitation ofprisoners are provided. In Papua New
Guinea, the training courses on conflict
resolution, and for religious educational
instructors and trade instructors, areprovided by training institutes. In
Thailand, there are training courses onclassification, Therapeutic Community andreligious activities
In Malaysia, the training courses oncrisis management, counseling,
Therapeutic Community and handling HIV
related prisoners, are provided by atraining institute; while training for trade
instructors is conducted by the National
Council for Vocational Training. Apart from
that, opportunities have been given toserving officers to pursue their educationof local universities in the areas ofcounseling, psychology, human resource
management etc.
The training institute in Hong Kongruns various development/specialist
courses such as Management Development
Courses, Hospital In-service Training
Courses for Assistant Officers (General andPsychiatric) , Detention Center Courses,
Drug Addiction Treatment Center Courses,
Emergency Services Training Courses andPersonal Computer Training Courses, etc.
In Japan, a training institute conducts
training courses for psychologists, social
workers, religious instructors, vocational
trainers in progressive techniques. In thePhilippines, there are training course in
first aid, counseling and stressmanagement. In Indonesia, the training
courses relevant to rehabilitation programs
are conducted by outside agencies, such as
the Department of Industry, Departmentof Manpower and Department of
Education.
2. Problemsa) Lack of Systematic Training Program
According to the survey conductedduring the workshop, many countries haveheld training courses for newly recruited

prison staff and training courses relevantto the rehabilitation of prisoners. However,it was observed that the training programs
are not systematic. One of the reasons isthat training programs are establishedwithout assessing the training needs of theprison staff. Thus, the curriculum of sometraining programs does not include
essential knowledge on the rehabilitationof prisoners, e.g. psychology, criminology,social work, etc.
Moreover, lecturers in the training
programs are normally senior prison staff
who are not well skilled to be trainers.
Mostly, they teach in accordance with theirown experience and knowledge, without afull understanding of related theories orconcepts. The lack of training assessment
and qualified lecturers are the two main
factors attributing to the ineffectiveness oftreatment programs.
b) Lack of Proper Guidance to Performthe Job
In some countries, prison staff who havejust undergone basic training are often
placed on their own to perform their jobs
in prison, without any proper assistanceor guidance from the senior or peer officers.
Due to the lack of experience andconfidence in work, newly recruited prison
staff are at risk of being tempted byprisoners and misguided by bad staff.
Since correctional work now requires
prison staff to play a greater role than
before, improvement in treatment
programs will be more complicated. In
some countries, prison staff have toperform security tasks as well as
rehabilitative tasks. Both security tasks
and rehabilitative tasks require high skill
and understanding from prison staff, sincethese tasks sometimes conflict. To securesafety and prevent disturbances in prisons,staff have to carefully supervise prisoners,
the rehabilitative task requires prison staff
to provide the necessary services toprisoners with understanding. Without

385

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
proper guidance, it is difficult for new
prison staff to perform their duty
professionally and effectively.
3. Countermeasuresa) Establishment of Systemic Training
Packages
Systematic and standardized training
programs are essential and vital forequipping prison staff with necessary
knowledge, skill and concepts. Suchtraining programs should be job-oriented
and useful in helping them discharge theirstatutory duties effectively.
In order to provide systematic training
programs, it is suggested that the training
package should be developed by assessing
the training needs of prison staff at
different levels and in different fields. Afterassessing the training needs, thecurriculum of the training program should
include subjects for enhancing staff
performance, skill and concepts relating to
the rehabilitation of prisoners, e.g.,criminology, psychology, social work etc.
The training package should also include
a training manual providing the methodof teaching, and a presentation of thecourse content fro the trainer which
provides the method of teaching and thepresentation of the course content. The
training manual will assist the trainer, as
well as the lecturers, to conduct thetraining program consistantly from one
trainer or training center, to another. The
adoption of a standardized and systematictraining package will improve the standardof training programs and guarantee thattrainers will deliver the necessary
knowledge and skill to trainee constantly.
b) Development of ‘On The Job’ Training
It is suggested that newly trained staff
are, when possible, given on-the-job
training so as to promote their skill andexperience. Well structured on-the-job
training will protect prison staff from thebad influence of prisoners and improper

386

guidance from more experienced prison
staff who have misconceptions about
correctional work, as well as improve theirunderstanding of their roles.
On-the-job training courses conducted insome countries like Hong Kong may beconsidered and applied. In Hong Kong, thecorrectional Services Department provides
in-service training sessions for serving staff
once per week in order to update theirknowledge on laws, rules and regulations,operational duties and treatment programs
etc. The officers also take the opportunity
to discuss among themselves ways topromote the effectiveness and efficiency ofthe correctional work in their institutions.
This kind of training is organized by the
Staff Training Committee of the respective
institutions, with close monitoring bysenior officers and assistance from theRegional Training and Liaison Officers
deployed from the Staff Training Institute.
For officers under probation for a period of
2 years, the Regional Training and Liaison
Officers will provide them with guidanceand counseling in order to help them copewith their work environment.
VI. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, our group has studied therehabilitation programs conducted in 17
countries as well as some specific countries,
e.g. Finland, Singapore, Philippines,
Canada, USA, etc. The rehabilitation
programs, which are explored, are as
follows:• The treatment programs to enhancesocio-economic ability of prisoners,i.e., prison work, vocational training
joint venture schemes and education
systems.
• The treatment programs for specifictypes of prisoners, i.e., prisoners withpsychological problems, drug addictedprisoners, sex offenders, violent
offenders and organized crime
offenders.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
After studying the actual situation for
implementing these treatment programs in
the 17 countries, we found that mostcountries sustained prison work andvocational training to rehabilitate
prisoners. However, only a few countries
could provide special treatment programsfor specific types of prisoners in need ofrehabilitation. In fact, many countries did
not separate the specific types of prisoners
from the general prison population. As
such, some countries confined drug
addicted offenders, violent offenders andsex offenders together in the same
correctional institution, without theprovision of special treatment programs.
The problem of lack of special treatment
programs partly resulted from the lack of
specialists capable to implement thetreatment programs. The study revealed
that the lack of a financial budget was themain reason for this fall short. It wascommonly said that countries havebudgetary and personnel constraints, sothey could not implement any new
treatment programs. These problems seemto be the major obstacle for some countries
in rehabilitating prisoners and they
prevent new kinds of progressive treatment
from being introduced.
Nevertheless, our group has identified
some countermeasures for such problems.
Some countermeasures are proposed by
way of securing the rehabilitation abilityof prison staff. This means that trained
prison staff may be deployed to plays theseroles. Prison staff do not only play the roleof security guards, but also that of thecorrectional staff who can perform
rehabilitation roles and act as social worker
or teachers. To play a different role in the
rehabilitation of prisoners, prison staff
should be trained and equipped withprofessional know ledge and skills in order
to meet the requirements of the treatment
programs.
Furthermore, cooperation with outside
agencies is another countermeasureproposed to solve the problem of budgetary
constraints. Group treatment programs arealso introduced in order to increase thecost-effectiveness of programs. To assure
the effectiveness of rehabilitation
programs, the following recommendations
might be taken into consideration.
A. Necessity of a Classification
System for the Rehabilitation of
Prisoners
A classification system is a method toinvestigate the characteristics of prisoners
in order to provide them with suitable
treatment programs that address theirproblems. Therefore, without an effectiveclassification system, it will be hard to
identify the needs of individuals and to
implement treatment programs
accordingly. It was also noted that someprisoners need special treatment programs;
whereas others may just need generaltreatment programs like prison work,
vocational training and education.
Therefore, it is suggested that prisoners
be classified in accordance with their
distinctive problems prior to receiving any
kind of treatment programs; and should bereclassified after the treatment programs
are provided in order to enhance follow up
treatment.
B. Combination of Various Types ofTreatment Programs for the
Rehabilitation of Prisoners
Since the problems of prisoners arecomplicated, no single treatment program
will be applicable to all types of prisoners.
In addition, each type of prisoner may needmore than on type of treatment program.
It is recommended that prison work isnecessary for almost all types of prisoners.
However, prisoners should also be treatedby other programs in accordance with theirown needs. Prison officers should consider
adopting appropriate treatment programs,
or a combination of such, to address the
problems encountered by different types of387

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
prisoners, in order to help themrehabilitate.
C. The Importance of theWillingness and Motivation of
Prisoners in the Effectiveness of
Rehabilitation
The common problem repeatedly
identified in this paper was the lack of thewillingness of prisoners to participate in
the treatment programs. Thus, it isstrongly recommended that prison staff
encourage prisoners to voluntarily
participate in treatment programs. The
ways of persuasion may be different fromone country to another, depending on theircorrectional systems. In some countries,
incentives, for example, remuneration or
wages, can be employed to persuadeprisoners. Other countries may persuadeprisoners to participate by providing nonmonetary privileges, e.g., promotion to ahigher class and eligibility for early release,etc.
D. The Importance of Evaluating toRehabilitation Programs
Despite some countries not having any
evaluation systems for their rehabilitation
programs, it is considered that these kinds
of follow-up measures are necessary andimportant for correctional administrators
to assess the effectiveness of the programs.
As such, necessary improvements can bemade accordingly.
Finally, we are fully aware that thecorrectional system in each country isdifferent and distinctive. Some treatment
programs may be applicable to somecountries, but not to all. Thus, therespective countries may consider thefeasibility of adopting the treatment
programs as recommended by this reportin order to meet their own needs.
REFERENCE
American Psychiatric Association (1994),

388

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders. 4th ed.
Andrews,D. (1998), An Overview ofTreatment Effectiveness: Research andClinical Principles. Paper presented in
UNAFEI 109th training course.
Anechiarico,Barry. (1998), “A Closer
Look at Sex Offender Character Pathology
and Relapse Prevention”, International
Journal of Offender Therapy andComparative Criminology, 42(1), 16-26
Correction Bureau, Ministry of Justice(1994), Cases of Educational Treatment.
Correction Bureau, Ministry of Justice(1991), A Handbook for Prison Officers 112134
Correction Bureau, Ministry of Justice(1997), Manual of Classified Treatment,“Guidance on Leaving the Boryokudan”
Davis, D. (1990), “Antisocial Personality
Disorder” In Beck, A. & Freeman, A.
Cognitive Therapy of Personality Disorder.
Guilford.
Derksen, J. (1995), Personality
Disorders: Clinical and Social Perspectives.
Wiley.
Fuchu Prison, (1997), Statistics ofClassification.
Fujioka, J. (1997), “Rorschach
Assessment and Treatment Planning for
the Conduct Disorder”. Japanese Journalof Adolescent Psychiatry, 7(1), 13-20.
Fujioka, J. (1998), “Guidance of SST”,
Keisei vol.109 p96-102.
Fujioka, J. (1998),“Assessment andTreatment of Antisocial Personality
Disorder”. Psychotherapy, 24(1), 23-29.
Gacono, C. & Meloy,R. (1994), The
Rorschach Assessment of Aggressive andPsychopathic Personalities. LEA: NY.
Hare, R. (1995), Without Conscience:
The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths
Among Us.
Ikushima, H. & Muramatsu, T. (1998),
Practice of Clinical Treatment for Juvenile,
Kongou Shuppan.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
Imafuku, S. (1997), “Sex offenders andCommunity-based Treatment”, Crime andDelinquency, 111,114.
Jonathan E. & Ross, M.A. (1994), New
Hope Treatment Centers.
Kawagoe Juvenile Training School(1997), Manual of Classified Treatment andStandard of Classification.
Livesley, J. (1995), The DSM-IV
Personality Disorders. Guilford.
Miner, Michael H. &. Dwyer, M. (1997),“The Psychosocial Development of Sex
Offenders”, International Journal of
Offender Therapy and Comparative
Criminology, 41(1), 36-44.
Mulley, R. & Brown, C. (1994), Canadian
Psychological Association. Abbotsford
British of Columbia.
Osaka Regional Correction Bureau,
Correction and Education, vol.304, 305 and308.
Perry, Garry P. & Orchard, J. (1992),
Assessment & Treatment of Adolescent Sex
Offenders.
Strain, C. & Sheath, M. “Groupwork as
a Basis for Assessing Sex Offenders”,
Prison Service Journal, Issue 103 40-43.
We i n e r, I . ( 1 9 9 2 ) , P s y c h o l o g i c a lDisturbance in Adolescence. 2nd ed.
chapter 8 Delinquent Behavior. Wiley.

389

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
TABLE IPRISON WORK
Prison Workobliged voluntary
Bangladesh○
Botswana
○
Fiji
○
Ghana
○
Hong Kong○
Indonesia
○
Japan
○
Kenya
○
Kiribati○
Malaysia○
Nepal○
Pakistan○Papua New Guinea○
Philippines○
R. of Korea○
Solomon Is.
○
Thailand○

Vocational Training
yes
no
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○

Joint Venture
inside outside none
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○

TABLE 2EDUCATION

Bangladesh
Botswana
Fiji
Ghana
Hong Kong
Indonesia
Japan
Kenya
Kiribati
Malaysia
Nepal
PNG
Pakistan
Philippines
R.of Korea
Solomon Is.
ThailandFundamental level
Int.
F.A.
Yes
Gov
Yes
n/a
No
Yes
Gov,Pri
Yes
Gov
Yes
Gov
Yes
Gov
Yes
Gov
No
Yes
Gov
Yes
Gov
Yes
Gov
Yes
Gov
Yes Gov,NGO
Yes
Gov
No
Yes
Gov

Advanced level
Int.
F.A.
No
Yes Gov,Pri
Yes
n/a
No
Yes Gov,PTA
No
Yes Gov,Pri
No
No
Yes
Pri
Yes
Gov
Yes
Gov
Yes Gov, Pri
Yes Gov,NGO
Yes
Gov
No
Yes
Gov

Illiteracy rate*
Male(%)
Female(%)
50.6
73.9
19.5
40.1
6.2
10.7
24.1
46.5
4.0
11.8
10.4
22.0
13.7
30.0
10.9
21.9
59.1
86.1
19.0
37.3
50.0
75.6
5.0
5.7
0.7
3.3
4.0
8.4

Int: Introduction, F.A.: Funding Authority, Gov: Government, Pri: Prisoner(s), PTA: Prison Trust Account, n/a: Not available, *: UN Statistics Division (1995)

390

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSEGROUP 2EARLY RELEASE OF PRISONERS TO FACILITATE THEIR REINTEGRATION INTO SOCIETY: THE ACTUAL SITUATION,
PROBLEMS AND COUNTERMEASURES
Chairperson
Co-Chairperson
Rapporteur
Co-Rapporteur
Members

Advisers

Mr. Mohammad Yamin Khan
Mr. Takao Nakamura
Mr. Elizabeth Malebogo Masire
Ms. Emilie Pantoja Aranas
Mr. Md. Hemayet Uddin
Mr. Tetsuya Kagawa
Mr. Akihito Suzuki
Mr. Gyan Darshan Udas
Professor Hiroshi Iitsuka
Professor Kayo Konagai

I. INTRODUCTION
This group consisted of 8 participantsfrom Bangladesh, Botswana, Japan, Nepal,
Pakistan and Philippines. The group iscomposed of an Assistant Judge, aPsychologist, Social Worker, Police Officer,
an Under Secretary, Probation Officer and
2 Prison Officers. The group was assigned
to study and present a detailed report on
the above subject, keeping in view thefollowing points:i) selection of early release candidates
in balance with the risk of recidivism;ii) time of early release to facilitate thereintegration of prisoners into society
in balance with the execution ofsentence as a punishment;iii) adjustment and/or improvement of
the living environment to which
prisoners will return after theirrelease from prison;iv) composition of the decision making
body for prisoners’ early release.
In an effort to facilitate the prisoners’smooth re-integration into the mainstreamof society upon their release, many
countries have adopted remission, parole,pardon, amnesty, extra mural employment/(Pakistan)(Japan)(Botswana)(Philippines)(Bangladesh)(Japan)(Japan)(Nepal)(UNAFEI)(UNAFEI)

labour etc, as early release measures. It isnecessary to point out here that there are
two types of extra mural employment/labour existing in some of the participants’countries. In one, prisoners are allowed togo out from the prison for work or labour,and they come back in the evening to theprison. This type of extra muralemployment/labour cannot be considered
an early release measure. However, insome countries, prisoners are released fromprison to work in the community under
supervision, and they are not required tocome back to the prison. In this paper, only
this latter type of extra mural employment/labour is discussed as an early releasemeasure.
However, these early release measures
are confronted with many problems in theparticipants’ countries such as:i) improper selection of early releasecandidates in balance with the riskof recidivism;ii) timing of early release;iii) consideration of living environment
to which prisoner will return after
release;iv) inappropriate composition of decision

391

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
making body;v) negative public perception;vi) lengthy procedure involved; andvii)inadequate trained staff to supervise
the releases.
It has been recognized, through researchstudies, that prolonged imprisonment does
not serve the purpose of the reformation ofprisoners. Rather, it has been observed thatthe early release of prisoners increases the
chance of reformation and rehabilitation,
and also the risk of their recidivism
decreases. As such, the release of an inmate
before the expiry of his/her sentence, under
supervision, is seen as a logical step in the
total correctional process; designed
particularly to assist the prisoner tobecome a productive, useful and lawabiding citizen. It is believed that theconditions imposed upon their release areclose to those they will again experience
as a free citizen after the expiration of theirsentence. At the same time, for a prisoner,
early release is an opportunity to test theirself-control and ability to adjust in thecommunity. For society, it offers immediate
protection through a degree of control overthe prisoner’s behavior and long term
protection through a reduced likelihood ofrecidivism.
However, offenders can best be helped
to be come law-abiding citizens in thecommunity rather than in prison. The mostimportant aspect of the early releasemeasure is its efficacy; when welladministered it assists the prisoner tosuccessfully re-adjust into community
living.
This report covers the aims andobjectives of the early release system; theactual situation, and problems andcountermeasures existing in the early
release systems of all participating
countries. Conclusions will be reached on
the basis of the detailed study of actual
situations and problems existing in theparticipants’ countries.

392

II. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
A. To Help in the Prisoners
Reintegration and Adjustment inSociety
Prisoners, especially those who havebeen incarcerated for long periods, often
find it difficult to readjust to life in thecommunity. Therefore, early release under
any circumstances must provide a means
whereby a prisoner may make a smoothtransition from prison life to living in thec o m m u n i t y. Wi t h s o m e d e g r e e o fsupervision this will reduce the incidenceof criminal behavior and recidivism, whileat the same time ensuring the safety of ourcommunities.
B. To Act as an Incentive for Good
Behavior
The granting of early release to inmates
based on good behavior serves as anincentive to the prisoners. It helps mostprisoners to make an effort to be of good
behavior and improve their discipline byobserving rules and regulations in
anticipation of an early release. On theother hand, prison officials are assured thatwith this kind of incentive, it is expectedthat there will be fewer incidences of jaildisturbances such as riots, noise barrage,
escapes, etc.
C. To Decrease Prison and Jail
Overcrowding
Some correctional administrators areconfronted with prison overcrowding,which poses more problems and has a great
influence in the decisions made in thecriminal justice system. Therefore, early
release measures on the practical side, areseen as a temporary solution to alleviate
this problem. However, this should not beseen as the major objective, as theprisoners’ re-integration into the society
should be of paramount consideration.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
D. To Cut the Costs of Maintenance
A major justification generally given insupport of the early release system is that
it is cheaper to maintain offenders in thecommunity than in prison. Countries withlimited resources tend to use this system
more in order to cut the costs ofmaintenance in prisons.
III. ACTUAL SITUATION
A. Situation in Participants’
Countries
1. Bangladesh
Bangladesh has the following early
release measures:a) Remissionb) Pardon or Clemencya) Remission
The aims and objectives of remission are
to rehabilitate the prisoner in society, toease the problems of overcrowding and to
reduce the cost of running expenses. It is
granted to prisoners of good conduct andthose who have showed the willingness towork and to learn a skill in prison. On theother hand, prisoners who donate blood
also benefit from the remission exercise.
The minimum period of imprisonment
required to be served before release is 3/
4th of the sentence or 75% of the total termof imprisonment.
b) Pardon
Pardon is granted on Independence Day
and on Eid festival day by the President of
Bangladesh to all convicted prisoners withthe exception of violent and dangerous
prisoners. They are denied this privilege
because they are considered to be a danger
to the society, and that there is a highpossibility that they will re-offend during
the period of early release. No statistics
were given about the re-offending rate of
the early releases, which made it difficult
for us to determine its effectiveness and therecidivism rate.

2. Botswana
In Botswana, the early releases
available are:a) Remissionb) Parolec) Extra mural laboura) Remission
It is granted to prisoners of good conduct
for the purpose of integrating andrehabilitating prisoners in the community.
On the other hand, it is used as an incentive
and reward for good conduct and behavior.
There are two types of remission in
Botswana:i) The officer-in-change of a prison isempowered to release all prisoners witha sentence of one month and above on
remission. One third of their sentence
is set aside and normally they will be
required to serve two-third or 66% of
the total sentence before they can bereleased. The officer-in-charge may also
recommend to the Commissioner theforfeiture of their remission in case ofa breach of the disciplinary rules.
Prisoners sentenced to life or under the
Presidents’ Pleasure or death, do notbenefit from the remission exercise.
About 99% of all the releases are dueto the remission exercise, while theremaining 1% is for those released onparole. Apart from good conduct, there
are no other requirements to be fulfilled
before the release. There is no after careof those released and no conditions are
imposed at the time of release.
ii) Under section 90 (4) of the Prisons Act,
the Parole Board may recommend to
the Minister of Labour and Home
Affairs to grant special remission toprisoners on any of the following
reasons:• Meritorious conduct and/or
achievement;• Special circumstances such as
mental or physical conditions;• To commute a life term prison or for

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
those serving under the President’s
pleasure.
This article, although enshrined in the
Prisons Act, has never benefited any
prisoner. The Parole Board and The Prisons
Department have, for unknown reasons,chosen to ignore it.
b) Parole
The Prisons Act of Botswana governs all
issues pertaining to parole. The parole
system provides encouragement toprisoners to make greater effort toward
rehabilitating themselves while in prison,
as well as in the community. Its purpose isto encourage inmates to display a positive
response to rehabilitation programs. On
the other hand, it helps inmates to adjust
to community life and lead a normal life
with both their families and the community
before the actual expiration of theirsentence.
According to the 1996 statistics, only 1%of the total releases were on parole. The
period actually served by parolees before
being released was about 80% of the total
term of imprisonment. However, it shouldbe mentioned here that prisoners releasedon parole benefit twice, that is, as a resultof the remission and the parole exercise.
Eligibility for Release on Parole:i) The prisoner should be serving four
years or above, neither the whole norpart of it was imposed for stock theftor being found in possession of
precious stones. They must have
served half of the term or three years
imprisonment, which ever is thelonger;ii) They must be serving more than five
years, the part or whole of which was
imposed for stock or possession of
precious stones. They must have
served half of that term or five years
imprisonment, which ever is thelonger; oriii) A term of imprisonment for life orconfined during the President’s

394

pleasure and has served seven years
imprisonment.
The Minister of Labour and Home
Affairs is responsible for nominating
members of the Parole Board. The Parole
Board consists of the following:i) A Judge who is the Chairperson,ii) A Medical Practitioner,iii) A Social Worker,iv) Two other persons who aremembers of the public.
Before deciding to release prisoners onparole, the following aspects are taken into
consideration by the Board:i) That there is no possibility of reoffending during the period underparole supervision, and they poseno risk to society;ii) views of the victim and society;iii) previous criminal and disciplinary
records;iv) Whether s/he has learnt a skill or
benefited from any of thetreatment programs offered by theprison;v) Whether s/he has accommodation,
employment and or a support
system after release.
Supervision of parolees is done by thesocial workers of the area where theprisoner will be residing after release. In
areas where there are no social workers,
the chief, headman, teachers or police
normally do the supervision. Parolees are
required to comply with conditions which
will be stipulated to them during theirparole period. In case of breach ofconditions, a parolee may be reprimandedor the release license may be revoked.
Action taken depends on the gravity of theviolation. Upon recall to prison, the period
stayed outside prison is not considered astime served.
c) Extra Mural Labour
Extra mural labour is the conditional
release of an inmate from prison tocomplete their sentence outside prison

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
under the supervision of a public authority.
It benefits prisoners sentenced to six
months or less; or for non-payment of finenot exceeding P400. Under this order,
prisoners of good conduct are required to
do public work with no pay for the durationof their remaining part of the sentence.
Failure to comply with release conditions
may result in the revocation of the releaselicense and the prisoner will be arrested
and serve the remaining sentence in prison.
The advantage of this scheme is that theoffender lives at home and can therefore,
continue to fulfil family responsibilities.
About 9% of prisoners were released on
extra mural labour in 1996. Only 0.05%
were recalled back to serve the remaining
terms of their imprisonment for failure tocomply with the release conditions.
3. Fiji
In Fiji, the following early releasesystems exist:a) Remissionb) Pardonc) Extra mural labourd) Compulsory Supervision Ordera) Remission
Remission is granted by the officer-incharge of a prison to all convicted prisoners
with a total sentence of 30 days or more,with the exception of those sentenced to life
imprisonment. One third of the sentence
is set aside at the beginning of the sentence
but prisoners are required to serve a
minimum of 2/3rd of the total sentence. No
factors are considered in awarding it.
Statistical data was not provided.
b) Pardon
The President of the Republic Fiji has
the authority to grant pardon to prisoners
serving more than 10 years with a good
conduct and industry record.
c) Extra Mural Labour
Prisoners sentenced to imprisonment

not exceeding 12 months may on
commitment or thereafter, apply to theCommissioner of Prisons for their desire
to undertake public work outside theprison. Upon release, such prisoners are
employed and supervised by a publicauthority during the period of extra murallabour. Those with previous extra murallabour breaches may not be considered forrelease. Only 387 prisoners were released
in 1996. The re-offending rate during theearly release period was not provided.
d) Compulsory Supervision Order
The Minister of Justice has the authority
to release a prisoner on Compulsory
Supervision Order at any time, as she may
think fit. On the other hand, theCommissioner of Prisons too can release ap r i s o n e r, u n d e r t h e C o m p u l s o r ySupervision Order, who has been sentenced
to prison on not less than two previous
occasions, and is serving a sentence of 3
years or more. This is after the prisoner
has served 2/3rd of the sentence and until
released under Compulsory Supervision
Order for the period of 12 months.
Prisoners serving life imprisonment cantake advantage of early release/
Compulsory Supervision Orders after
serving more than 10 years in prison, withfavourable reports. 12 such prisoners werereleased in 1996.
Prisoners are allowed to apply for release
under Compulsory Supervision Order andthe officer-in-charge of a prison will
forward such an application to theCommissioner, together with otherrelevant reports. It is then sent to the
Minister of Justice and Minister of Home
Affairs for final decision.
Remission is the only release measure
granted without imposing any conditions.
Statistics on early releases, as comparedwith the total number of releases, was not
given, not was data on the re-offending rateof early releases as compared with releases
at expiry of sentence.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
4. Ghana
Ghana has the following early releasemeasures:a) Remissionb) Pardon/Amnestya) Remission
Section 34 of the Prisons Service
Decree(NRCD 46)1972 of Ghana
authorizes the officer-in-charge of thevarious prisons to release prisoners whomeet the requirements for release on
remission. It is granted on the basis of good
conduct and study and is used to solve theproblem of overcrowding. Prisoners serving
determinate terms of imprisonment are
required to serve a minimum of two thirdof their sentence.
b) Pardon/Amnesty
Amnesty is granted to all prisoners. Lifesentenced and condemned prisoners are
required to serve 15 and 25 years
respectively before release under amnesty.
In granting amnesty, the conduct of theprisoner is taken into consideration. No
statistics were provided for the number
released and the re-offending rate during
the period of early release.
5. Hong Kong
Hong Kong has the following early
release measures:a) Remissionb) Release Under supervisiona) Remission
The officer-in-charge awards it as anincentive for good behavior. The minimum
period required to be served before early
release is 2/3rd of the sentence.
In the event of a breach of disciplinary
offences, as enumerated in the Prison Rules
and punished with forfeiture, the prisoner
may lose part or the whole of the remission.
One third of the prisoners got remission.
No figures on prisoners released onremission, or those who re-offended during

396

early release, were provided.
The pre-release employment scheme isavailable to all prisoners ( who are notserving life terms or facing deportation)
who have served terms of ten years or more
and are within six months of completing
their sentences, after deduction ofremission.
b) Release Under Supervision
The factors which are considered before
granting Release Under Supervision are:• repentance on committing the crime• less possibility of re-offending andrisk to society• type or gravity of the offence• good conduct and achievement• whether the prisoner would be able
to fend for themself• whether s/he has anyone to supportthem.
All prisoners, other than life term
prisoners, may apply for Release underSupervision after serving 20 months or halfof a 3 year sentence or more. Following
approval by the Release Under Supervision
Board, successful applicants will bedischarged within the last six months of
their sentences and required to go out towork and reside in a designated hostel
under the supervision of the Aftercare
Officers for the balance of the sentence. In
practice, prisoners are released after
serving 20 months or half of the sentence.
The percentage of those released under thisscheme, as compared with total number of
releases, is 0.26%.
Prisoners released on early releasesystem are required to comply with theconditions imposed upon them. No
statistics were produced for the reoffending rate of those released on early
release, versus those released at the expiryof their sentence in prison.
6. Indonesia
The following early release measures are

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
available in Indonesia:a) Remissionb) Parolec) Pardona) Remission
The following aspects are take into
consideration by authorities before
granting remission:i) good conduct and achievements;ii) whether the prisoner has a place ofabode after release;iii) whether the prisoner has a job or
supportive system.
Remission is granted to prisoners on thebasis of work in prison, good conduct,
educational achievement, learning a skill,
as well as helping prison management in
detection of riots or a breach of prison
discipline. Participation in religious
practices and the donation of blood are also
recognized. Statistics for the minimum
period required to serve before being
released on remission, for those who
benefitted under this scheme, were notavailable.
d) Parole
The following aspects are take into
consideration by authorities before
granting parole:i) good conduct and achievements;ii) whether the prisoner has a place ofabode after release;iii) whether the prisoner has a job or
supportive system
The President of Indonesia has thepower to release any prisoner who applies
for release on parole. However, he does soon the advice of the Minister of Justice andthe Cabinet Secretary, after reviewing theprisoner’s application and recommendationfrom the prison. For a prisoner to be eligible
for release on parole, s/he must have served
2/3rd of the sentence.
e) Pardon
Pardon is given to prisoners by the

President of Indonesia on humanitarian
grounds, good conduct and old age. All theearly release measures are conditional
releases, which may be revoked in theevent of a breach. The statistical data about
percentage of early release in the total
number of prisoners, average length ofsentence that prisoners actually served
before release and re-offending rate ofprisoners released earlier than the expiry
date, were not available.
7. Japan
In Japan, the following early releasemeasures are available:a) Paroleb) Amnestya) Parole
The aims and objectives of Parole are torelease at an optimal time, an inmate who
is capable of leading a law-abiding life in
the community, if adequate supervision andassistance is provided. In order to beeligible for release on parole the prisoner
must satisfy the following requirements:i) s/he should have served one-third of
the sentence for a determinate
sentence, or 10 years for a life
sentence.
ii) s / h e e v i d e n c e s t h e s t a t e o freformation.
The average percentage of original
sentence actually served by prisoners
before being paroled is from 80 to 90%.
Warden of the Prisons can apply forparole on behalf of the prisoners. The body
responsible for granting parole is theRegional Parole Board, which consists of 3
Board members who usually have theexperience of working as Chief of Probation
Office.
The adjustment and improvement of theliving environment to which a prisoner will
return after release is conducted by theprobation office that has jurisdiction overthe prospective place of residence. Usually
the Professional Probation Officer entrusts

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
the duty of inquiry and adjustment to a
Volunteer Probation Officer (VPO) living
near the inmate’s family. The VPO must
visit the prospective home to determine thefeasibility of an inmate’s return there, andtries to eliminate any negative factors incooperation with the inmate’s family
members. Regarding the information
obtained by the VPO, the probation officeprovides a report of the home conditions to
the prison and the Regional Parole Board.
The following aspects are taken into
consideration by the authorities before
granting parole to a prisoner:i) repentance on committing crimeii) reduced possibility of re-offendingiii) good conduct and achievementsiv) whether the prisoner has residential
accommodation after releasev) whether the prisoner has a job or
support systemvi) reaction of the society on his/her
releasevii)willingness to progress
The prisoners who are released on parole
are subjected to some conditions which theprisoners are required to comply with.

in the year 1996. The re-incarceration rateof prisoners released before the expiry of
their sentence is 25.8% (within 3 years
after release). The re-incarceration rate ofprisoners who are released at the expiry of
their sentence is 46.1% (within 3 years
after release).
Positive aspects of early release are:i) The parole system has good effect on
prisoners’ reintegration into society
through the supervision after release.
ii) Re-incarceration rate of the parolees
is lower than that of those who arereleased on the expiry of sentences.
iii)Many prisoners try to keep good
conduct in the prison to be granted
parole.
iv) The environmental adjustment isconducted effectively before theirrelease.

b) Amnesty
There are two kinds of amnesty inJapan, namely, General and Individual.
General amnesty is promulgated in theform of a Cabinet Ordinance incommemoration of special occasions ofnational significance. Individual Amnesty
has far greater significance inrehabilitation, as it is granted inaccordance with individual’s merits on therecommendations of the National
Offenders Rehabilitation Commission. The
individual Amnesty, which is conferred by
the Cabinet, is attested by the Emperor.
The Amnesty granted to the prisoners is
without conditions.

a) Remission
Remission is granted on the basis ofwork and good conduct, and to solve theproblem of congestion in prison. The
minimum period of imprisonment required
to be served before release is two-thirds ofthe sentence. Statistics about the numberof prisoners released on remission was notavailable.

c) Statistical Data
The percentage of parolees as comparedwith total number of releases was 57.6%

398

8. Kenya
In Kenya, the following early releasemeasures are available:a) Remissionb) Parolec) Pardon/Clemencyb) Parole
To be eligible for release on parole, theprisoner must be sentenced to four years
and above. The average percentage oforiginal sentence actually served byprisoners before release on parole is about
90%. The prisoner themself or theCommissioner of Prisons can apply for oron behalf of a parole. The Review Board is
responsible for granting parole and it is108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
composed of the Commissioner of Prisonsand Director of Probation and After Care.
In granting early release, the following
aspects are taken into consideration:i) Victims feelings;ii) Repentance and acceptance of
blameworthiness for the crime;iii) Less possibility of re-offending;iv) Type and gravity of the offence;v) Good conduct;vi) W h e t h e r t h e p r i s o n e r h a s
accommodation after release;vii)Whether the prisoner has a job or
support system after release.

iii) good conduct and achievement;iv) reaction of the society on his/her
release.
Prisoners sentenced to 6 months andabove are eligible for release on parole. The
Parole Board has the power to release onparole and revoke parole licenses. It is
composed of 5 members: Secretary of
Cabinet who is the Chairman, a Religious
Member, Medical officer and Social worker.
The authority to apply for parole is thewarden. The percentage of parolees ascompared with total number of releases is90%.

c) Pardon or Clemency
Pardon is granted by the President of the
Republic of Kenya on the basis of ill health,age, and to petty offenders sentenced to 6
months or less. The early release awarded
under parole and pardon are withconditions while remission does not haveany conditions. Statistical data was notavailable. The positive aspect of early
release is to encourage harmony and therespect for security and management.

c) Pardon
The factors which are considered before
granting pardon are:i) victims feelings;ii) repentance on committing thecrime;
iii) less possibility of re-offending andrisk to the society;iv) type or gravity of the offence;v) good conduct and achievement;vi) reaction of the society on his/her
release.
It is awarded in commemoration of
special occasions of national importanceand significance. The President has thepower to release inmates, particularly thelong sentenced prisoners, on the advice ofCabinet. The percentage of those releasedon pardon as compared with total numberof releases is not available.
All early release measures are awarded
with conditions and the prisoner is
expected to comply with these conditions;failure to do so may result in the revocationof the release license. The statistical data
about average percentage of sentence thatis actually served before release, and there-offending rate of prisoners released
earlier than the expiry date, was notavailable.

9. Kiribati
In Kiribati, the following early releasesystem are available:a) Remissionb) Parolec) Pardona) Remission
As a means of encouraging good conduct,
all convicted prisoners sentenced to one
month and over are eligible for release after
serving 2/3rd of their term of
imprisonment. The percentage of prisoners
who get remission as compared with total
number of releases is 90%.
b) Parole
The factors which are considered before
granting parole are:i) victims feeling;ii) type or gravity of the offence;

10. Malaysia
In Malaysia, remission is the only early

399

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
release measure available. Remission is
granted to all prisoners with the exceptionof life termers and those sentenced todeath. One third of the sentence ofprisoners is set aside on the basis of good
conduct. Officers-in-charge of the prison
are the competent authority who can award
remission. Police supervision in certain
circumstances may be imposed by the
courts for a specific period of time, in
accordance with the law. Remission is used
as an incentive to reward good conduct inprison, as well as to induce compliance tolaw and order.
The statistical data about the percentage
of prisoners who get remission, the average
percentage of sentence actually served
before release and the re-offending rate ofprisoners released on early release, was notavailable.
11. Nepal
In Nepal, the following early releasemeasures are available:a) Remissionb) Pardona) Remission
Remission is granted on the basis ofwork, good conduct, learning some kind ofskill, helping prison administration onvarious accounts and involvement as ateacher for other prisoners. The minimum
period of imprisonment required to beserved before release is 50% of thesentence. It is awarded by His Majesty theKing during the Constitution day, His
M a j e s t y t h e K i n g ’s b i r t h d a y a n d
Democracy day. The average percentage ofprisoners released on remission was 8.73%
during the period from 1995-97.
b) Pardon
Pardon is granted on the basis of
prisoners’ good conduct and behavior. The
authority to award pardon is His Majesty’s
the King. The following aspects are taken
into consideration by the authorities before

400

granting remission or parole to a prisoner:i) less possibility of re-offending;ii) types or gravity of the offence;iii) good conduct and/or achievement.
Pardon is awarded with conditions whileremission is awarded without them.
Statistical data concerning the figures for
re-offending rates by both prisoners
released before expiry of sentence and at
expiry of sentence were not available.
12. Pakistan
In Pakistan, the following early releasemeasures are available:a) Remissionb) Parolec) Pardon or Clemencya) Remission
It is granted on the basis of: work, good
conduct, qualifying some educational
examination, learning some kind of skill,helping prison administration on various
accounts, performing religious practices,
blood donation, surgical sterilization,teaching other prisoners to read and write,
teaching handicrafts, and special
assistance in detecting or preventing
breaches of prison discipline or regulations.
The total remission period on various
accounts, excluding on passing an
examination, blood donation and surgicalsterilization, shall not exceed 1/3rd of an
inmates’ sentence.
b) Parole
In order to be eligible for release onparole, the prisoner must have good
conduct and be recommended by the prison
authorities. The average percentage of theoriginal sentence actually served byprisoners before being paroled was notavailable, but is estimated to be not lessthan 50%.
Prisoners can apply for parole either
directly or through a lawyer. The body
responsible for granting parole is theProvincial Government, while the Home

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs
decides the cases on behalf of the Provincial
Government. The following aspects aretaken into consideration by the authorities
before granting parole to a prisoner:i) less possibility of re-offending;ii) types or gravity of the offence;iii) good conduct.
c) Pardon
Pardon is granted usually on special
occasions. The authority to award pardon
is with the Head of State, i. e. the Presidentof Pakistan.
The early release awarded withconditions is parole, while remission andpardon/clemency are unconditional
releases. The exact figure concerning
percentage of early releases, as comparedwith total number of releases, was notavailable. The exact re-offending rate ofprisoners released before the expiry of thesentence was not available. However,generally their re-offending rate is nothigh. The exact re-offending rate ofprisoners released at expiry of the sentence
was not available. It was approximatelyfrom 20 to 30%. The positive aspects ofearly release are to provide an incentive toprisoners for acquiring education, skill andimproving good conduct and behavior inprison, which are important factors in theirrehabilitation in the society.
13. Papua New Guinea
In Papua New Guinea, the following
early release measures are available:a) Remissionb) Parolec) Pardond) E x t r a m u r a l l a b o u r o remployment
In Papua New Guinea, early releasemeasures are seen as alleviating the
problem of prison overcrowding and as anincentive for prisoners to be of good
conduct.

a) Remission
Remission is granted to prisons as anincentive for good behavior in prison, andto solve the problem of prison
overcrowding. All prisoners areautomatically granted 1/3rd of theirsentence as remission, except for those who
were sentenced for escaping from lawful
custody. Two thirds of the sentence must
be served before one can be released. In theevent of a breach of prison discipline by aprisoner, if charged and convicted before avisiting magistrate, s/he losses 10 days
remission for any offence committed withina month.
b) Parole
In awarding parole, the following aspects
are taken into consideration:i) victims feelings;ii) r e p e n t a n c e b y p r i s o n e r f o r
committing the crime;iii) compensation to the victims;iv) less possibility of re-offending andrisk to the society;v) type and gravity of the offence;vi) good conduct and achievement;vii)whether the prisoner has a job or
support system;viii)reaction of society on his/her release.
All prisoners are eligible for release onparole after having served 2/3rd of theirprison term. The Officer-in-Charge of a
prison compiles and submits a dossier of
an inmate to the Commissioner who thentransmits it to the Parole Board withrecommendations. The Parole Board iscomposed of three members: a lawyer
nominated by the Chairman of Papua New
Guinea Law Society, two other members
nominated by the Commissioner ofCorrectional Services and Chief Parole
Officer or Secretary for Justice. The
nomination has to be endorsed by the
Minister of Justice. The lawyer is the
Chairman. The average time normallyserved by prisoners is 66.6% of total
sentence.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54c) Pardon
In awarding pardon, the following
aspects are taken into consideration:i) victims feelings;ii) r e p e n t a n c e b y p r i s o n e r f o r
committing the crime;iii) compensation to the victims;iv) less possibility of re-offending andrisk to the society;v) type and gravity of the offence;vi) good conduct and achievement;vii)whether the prisoner has a job or
support system;viii)reaction of society on his/her release.
Pardon is granted on special occasion
and under special circumstances, forexample, Independence celebrations,special medical grounds, and in the eventof natural disasters such as flooding or
volcanic eruptions resulting in the prisonsbeing affected. The Governor General,
acting on the advice of the National
Executive Council, has the authority toaward pardon. Statistics on release by
pardon were not available.
14. Philippines
In Philippines, the following early
release measures are available:a) Paroleb) Pardon or Clemencya) Parole
Parole is available only to prisoners who
have been convicted of final judgement,
sentenced to an indeterminate prison
sentence of more than one year and have
served the minimum period of theirindeterminate sentence, and if the Board
finds that there is reasonable probability
that if released, the prisoner will be law
abiding and that such release will becompatible with the interests and welfare
of society.
The following can apply for parole on
behalf of a prisoner:i) prisoner himself/herself.
ii) warden or officer-in-charge of a402

prison.
The body responsible for granting paroleis Board of Pardons and Parole. It is
composed of the following:i) Chairman-Secretary of Justice.
ii) Acting Chairman-Under Secretary ofJustice.
iii) Secretary-Executive Director of
Board of Pardons and Parole.
iv) Members-Parole and Probation
Administrator, Sociologist, Educator,
Lawyer, Priest and Correction
Expert.
Statistics were not available on parole
rates.
b) Pardon
Pardon is granted under the following
circumstances:i) For commutation of sentence-theprisoner must have served at least
one-third of the minimum of theindeterminate sentence.
ii) For conditional pardon-the prisoner
must have served at least one-half of
the indeterminate sentence.
iii) For absolute pardon-10 years musthave elapsed from the date of releaseof the petitioner from confinement, or
five years from the date of the
maximum sentence.
The authority to award pardon is with
the President, through recommendation of
the Board of Pardons and Parole, and withthe assistance of the Director of
Corrections. The following aspects aretaken into consideration by the authorities
before granting Pardon:i) subject will be legitimately employedat release;ii) subject has a place where s/he canestablish residence;iii) availability of after-care services fora prisoner who is old, seriously ill, or
suffering from a physical disability.
All the early release measures areawarded with conditions. Statistics were
not available.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
Positive aspects of early release are:i) To uplift and redeem valuable humanmaterial to economic usefulness;ii) To prevent unnecessary and excessive
deprivation of personal liberty by wayof parole or the exercise of executive
clemency;iii) To solve the problems of person
congestion.
Early release reduces or cuts theexpenses of the government incurred inprisons.
15. Republic of Korea
In Korea, the following early releasemeasures are available:a) Remissionb) Parolec) Pardon or Clemencya) Remission
Remission in Korea is granted on thebasis of work, good conduct, and having
passed an educational examination or forlearning a skill. The minimum periodrequired to be served is one third of thesentence.
b) Parole
All prisoners are eligible for release onparole. Prisoners must serve one third of
the original sentence before they can beparoled. A warden may apply for a parole
on behalf of the prisoner, while the Parole
Board is responsible for granting parole.
Members of the Parole Board are the ViceMinisters of Justice and 9 others.
c) Pardon/Clemency
The Minister of Justice grants pardon
on the basis of good behavior. In granting
Parole, the following aspects are taken into
consideration:i) Repentance and acceptance of
blameworthiness for the crime;ii) Less possibility of re-offending;iii) Good conduct.
Statistics show that the re-offending rate

at expiry of sentence is 58%.
16. Solomon Islands
In Solomon Islands, the following early
release measures are available:a) Remissionb) Parolec) Pardon or Clemencya) Remission
Remission is granted almost
automatically to all prisoners who keep
good conduct and industry. The minimum
period of imprisonment required to beserved before release is 30 days. The
average percentage of original sentence
actually served by prisoners before being
released on remission is 1/3rd. The officer
in charge of prison is the competentauthority to award it. Statistics were notavailable.
b) Parole
In order to be eligible for release onparole, the prisoner must satisfy thefollowing requirements:i) A prisoner having good conduct andindustry and has been sentenced to 6
months or more. They must,
thereafter serve 6 months, in intervalsof not less than 6 months, after the
first consideration and denial ofparole.
ii) The life sentence prisoner must have
served 5 years, and in the case ofdenial, their case can be reviewed
after every 3 years.
The percentage of parolees, as comparedwith total number of releases, is about 1%
to 2%. The average percentage of original
sentence actually served by prisoners
before being paroled is about 80 or 90%.
The following can apply for parole on behalfof a prisoner:i) prisoner himself/herself;ii) warden or officer-in-charge of a prison;iii)others/relatives, doctor, any family
members).

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
The body responsible for granting parole
is Ministry of Police & National Security.
The Minister makes the decisions on theadvice of the Trial Judge or the Chief
Justice.
c) Pardon
Pardon is granted on merit, good conduct
and industry, provided the prisoner serves
5 years of their sentence. The authority toaward pardon is the Governor General, on
the recommendation of the Committee ofPrerogative of Mercy. The following aspects
are taken into consideration by theauthorities before granting pardon to a
prisoner:i) victims feelings;ii) repentance on committing crime;iii) compensation to the victims;iv) type or gravity of the offence;v) good conduct and/or achievement.
The early release awarded withconditions is Parole and Pardon on
Condition, while Remission and Free
Pardon are unconditional releases. The reoffending rate of prisoners released before
the expiry of the sentence is 1%, while there-offending rate of prisoners released at
the expiry of the sentence is 10%.
17. Thailand
In Thailand, the following early releasemeasures are available:a) Remissionb) Parolec) Pardond) Penal Settlementa) Remission
Remission is granted on the basis of:work, good conduct, qualifying someeducational examination, learning somekind of skill, helping prison administration
on various accounts, performing religious
practices, etc. His Majesty the King grants
remission on special occasions, e. g., Royalbirthday celebrations. The minimum
period of imprisonment required to be404

served before release is 6 months. In 1997,
16.5% of prisoners were released onremission.
b) Parole
In order to be eligible for release onparole, the prisoner must satisfy thefollowing requirements:i) Convicts must show good conduct andprogress in education.
ii) Serve 2/3rd of the sentence or 10
years in case of life imprisonment.
The following aspects are taken into
consideration by the authorities before
granting remission or parole to a prisoner:i) less possibility of re-offending;ii) good conduct and/or achievement;iii) whether the prisoner has residential
accommodation after release;iv) whether the prisoner has a job or
support system.
The average percentage of original
sentence actually served by prisoners
before being paroled was not specified.
The Warden or Officer-in-Charge of a
prison can apply for parole on behalf of a
prisoner. Director-General grants theparole under the suggestion of
Departmental Parole Board. This Board iscomposed of 7 officials: Deputy DirectorGeneral and other relevant officials,
Director of Probation Bureau, Director of
Parole Division and representatives from
Department of Public Health, Police, andProsecution. The percentage of parolees intotal releases is 0.9%.
c) Pardon
Pardon is granted on important events,
such as the King’s Birthday Anniversary,
Royal Marriage etc. The authority to award
pardon is with the King. In 1996, 22.5% of
releases were on pardon.
d) Penal Settlement
Prisoners are selected to practice
farming and agricultural schemes. They
are given land for living with their families

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
and allowed to live there as long as theywant. However, they can not sell the land.
To qualify for a penal settlement, theprisoner must satisfy the following
conditions:i) Good behavior;ii) Diligence;iii) Showing good result in education andwork;iv) Serve 1/4th of the sentence;v) The remaining term not less than 2
years or 7 years in case of life
sentence. The early release awarded
with conditions are remission andparole, while pardon is an
unconditional release. Percentage ofearly releases as compared with total
number of releases is 40%.
The re-offending rate of prisoners
released before expiry of the sentence was
not available. The percentage of recidivist
in newly admitted prisoners is 14%.
Positive aspects of early release are:i) To save the budget costs of runningand maintaining prisons.
ii) To reduce overcrowding in prisons.
B. Summary
After having discussed, the actual
situation of the 17 countries represented
in the 109th International Training Course
at UNAFEI, it was discovered that there
were some similarities and differences inthese countries, which are summarized
below:a) Remission
Remission is practiced in all theParticipant’s Countries except Fiji,
Philippines and Japan. The period remitted
also varies from one country to the other,ranging from one-fourth as in the case of
Bangladesh, one-third as in Botswana,
Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, Malaysia, Papua
New Guinea, Pakistan and Korea, to halfof the sentence as in Nepal. In all thesecountries, it is awarded as an incentive forgood conduct and behavior.

In the case of remission, prisoners are
assured their earliest date of release,
contrary to parole. There is no investigation
about the prisoner’s background, living
conditions, victims feelings or the need for
adjusting the environment prior to release,again, as opposed to parole. In somecountries, remission is used to solve theproblem of prison overcrowding, howeverin such situations, the factors regarding there-integration and rehabilitation ofprisoners and public safety are ignored.
There is no supervision in the case ofprisoners released under remission.
b) Parole
In countries such as Botswana, Fiji,
Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea,
Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines,
Solomon Island and Thailand, parole ishighly structured. However in the case of
Hong Kong, the terminology used for paroleis ‘Release Under Supervision’ and in Fiji
it is known as a ‘Compulsory Supervision
Order’.
There are bodies responsible for deciding
the release or revocation of parole licenses,
as well as for supervising parolees. There
are a number of factors taken into
consideration before release on parole e.g.
conduct and achievement in prison, victims
feelings, whether the prisoner will haveaccommodation and a support system after
release and most importantly, the risk of
re-offending and the safety and security of
the community.
In terms of facilitating prisoner’s reintegration and rehabilitation in thecommunity, parole is considered a goodsystem because it takes into consideration
all important factors for the rehabilitationof the prisoner and also the safety of thesociety. A prisoner released under parole
remain under supervision till the expiry of
their sentence.
However, in most of the participant’s
countries, parole is not being properly usedbecause of the process involved before

405

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
deciding release. Most countries can notafford it because it involves a lot of
investigation, and needs more manpowerboth inside the prison and in thecommunity.
c) Environmental Adjustment
Adjustment of the environment to which
the prisoner will enter after release is very
important if they are to be fully
reintegrated and rehabilitated in to society.
In order to make the right decision about
an early release, whether under theremission or parole system, the decision
making bodies have to know about where
the prisoner will go after release andwhether they will pose a danger to society.
Therefore, the environment to which they
will return is required to be adjusted before
their release. The use of community
resources e.g. Voluntary Probation Officers
as in the case of Japan, Philippines andThailand, seems to be important, as they
are from the community and can be helpful
in the rehabilitation process. The use ofcommunity members in the after care of
released prisoners is seen as the right
direction because they act as a cushion
between the prisons, the prisoners and thecommunity.
d) Pardon
Pardon is granted automatically toprisoners by the Heads of State incommemoration of national days andevents, and on humanitarian grounds suchas pardon for sick and aged prisoners.
However no consideration is taken into
account for the safety of the community,
prisoner conduct or achievement. It is a
privilege accorded to prisoners by politicalfigures or monarchs which has nothing to
do with the reintegration andrehabilitation of prisoners. Generally there
is no supervision after release. However,in case of the Solomon Islands andPhilippines, pardon is with conditions.

406e) Statistical Data
No concrete data was available foralmost all of the participants’ countries,
except Japan, regarding prisoners releaseon remission, parole and other early releasemeasures. The re-offending rate during theperiod of early release to the expiry ofsentence was also not available. The nonavailability of the statistics makes the taskof the authorities difficult when deciding
cases of early release. It is important that
prisoners are supervised as per theconditions of their release until the expiryof their sentence.
f) Decision Making Bodies
It was observed that all the early releasemeasures have a body or bodies responsible
for administration. In the case of remission,
it was found that either Officers-in-Chargeof prisoners or the Head of State orProvince is responsible for awarding it.
On the other hand, parole issues areeither handled by Parole Boards as in
Botswana, Japan, Papua New Guinea; aReview Board in Indonesia, a Board of
Pardon and Parole in the Philippines.
These boards are composed of three toseven members depending on the country,
and are drawn from the Probation Office,social workers, law and courts, police,
medical fields and members of the public.
It was also observed that some of theseboards members are political
appointments, while others are
independent of political influence and/or
the prisons or correctional bureaus.
IV. PROBLEMS IN THE EARLYRELEASE SYSTEM
A. Problems in Participants’
Countries
1. Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, the early releasemeasure that exists is Remission. The
remission period is 1/4th of the sentence,
however, this period is not considered108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
sufficient for the purpose of motivating
prisoners to improve their behavior andconduct which may be helpful in theirrehabilitation in to society. In 1980, a
commission was formed by the government
to look into the problems existing in theprison system and concerned officials
submitted their recommendations,
including the enhancement of theremission period from 1/4th to 1/3th ofsentence. This issue has not yet been given
priority for consideration and still pending
with the government.
2. Botswana
In Botswana, the following two problems
are noted in regard to parole:i) I n a d e q u a t e Tr a i n e d S t a f f f o r
Supervision: There is a problem insupervision and follow up of releases.
This deprives the Board of knowing
whether the releases re-offend or notduring the period, and whether they
practice what has been taught to them
before their release.
ii) Lengthy Procedure: The procedure
involved is lengthy and it usually takes
6 months to decide a case.
3. Fiji
There is no formal after care system inFiji. Prisoners are released based on two
early release measures: the Extra Mural
Punishment (EMP) and the Compulsory
Supervision Order. Under the Compulsory
Supervision Order, there is no supervisionand the releasee is required only to reportto the police station nearest to their placeof residence on the first week of every
month until their term expires. Because ofthis procedure of supervision, it has been
noted that those who are released do notcomply with the conditions imposed, andthe supervising police officer just reports
this and the releasees are re-arrested andsent back to prison. The purpose of
rehabilitation is not achieved.

4. Ghana
Just like Fiji, the supervision of thereleasees rest with the police, and thereleasees are required to report to thenearest police station at a specified time.
As there is no formal aftercare system on‘Release Under License’ the rehabilitation
and re-integration into society is not taken
into consideration.
Another problem is public perception.
Public perception is positive only for minor
offenders and in the case of child molesters,
sexual offenders and murderers, perception
is negative. The public wants these
dangerous offenders kept in jail andexecuted.
5. Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, there appears to be no
problems in the early release measures
because there is a good system ofmonitoring the after-release program of thereleasees. The success rate under the‘Release Under Supervision’ is 100% andsince its introduction in 1987, there were
only 25 inmates who have availed the said
privilege (to 1996).
6. Indonesia
Public perception regarding the early
release of prisoners, especially thedangerous ones, is negative because thepublic believe that prisoners should be kept
behind bars so that they may not pose a
danger/threat to the society.
Another problem is the limited numberof trained staff, which affects thesupervision of the releasees and becauseof this, the response to the need of theparolees.
7. Japani) Ineffective Supervision for Short-term
Parolees: In Japan, the problem in theparole system is that the term ofsupervision is considered too short (inthe case of a short original sentence)for the prisoner’s rehabilitation and re-407

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
integration into society. The statistics
for the year 1996 show that 3.3% ofparolees were supervised for only lessthan one month, and 45% supervisedfor a period of less than 3 months.
When the period of parole supervision
is only a month, parolees receive
guidance only twice from the Volunteer
Probation Officer in charge. This would
not allow enough opportunity for the
Volunteer Probation Officers to extend
sufficient support to effectively
rehabilitate the releasee. No special
programmes or measures are available
to deal with such short-term parolees,
however some intensive supervision
methods yielding positive results need
to be devised.
ii) Problems concerning Administration of
Parole of Arsonists and Sex Offenders:
The perception of Japanese
Rehabilitation Aid Hostel officials isharsh towards arsonists and sex
offenders, which usually results in therejection of those types of offenders as
residents. This rejection is often thereason for denial of parole to thoseprisoners. Since arsonists and sex
offenders in general pose a threat to thesociety, it is inevitable that they are
p e r c e i v e d n e g a t i v e l y. H o w e v e r
individual examination of suchoffenders reveals that not all of themdemonstrate a high risk of recidivism.
For instance, if the motive of thecommission of arson is one’s own
grudge, then by improving therelationship between parties may
reduce the chance of recidivism.
Similarly, in the case of an individual
involved in a gang rape case only due
to one’s inclination to go along with therest of the peer group, with no sexual
problems of one’s own, the possibilityof recidivism of the said individual is
not always high; provided that theundesirable association with the peer408group is discontinued, leading theoffender to lead a more independent lifeof their own. Therefore, thephycological aspect of the commissionof the crime should also be taken into
consideration, and the rehabilitation
services may consider the case on an
individual merit basis.
8. Kenya
There are several areas for reform in
Kenya. Firstly, public perception regarding
the early release of prisoners is negative,
because not all who were released haveshown reformation and sometimes cause
trouble in the community.
Secondly, The procedure involved inreviewing the cases of long-term prisoners
is lengthy: reviewed every ten years. Thus
only a limited number of cases are acceptedin each year.
Thirdly, prisoners are not screened
properly for early release, because in mostcases, the release scheme is done to solve
the problem of prison overcrowding.
Finally, because of a limited number oftrained staff, only few releasees are given
supervision and aftercare.
9. Kiribati
In Kiribati, the total prison population
during the year 1997 was 82. The prisoners
who are released on parole are supervisedby the police. In fact, this is not a proper
system of supervision, because the parolees
are only required to report to the police
after specific periods of time. Therefore, theparole system is confronted with the
problem of introducing proper supervisingmeasures.
10. Malaysia
The only system that exists is remission
and it is not confronted with any problems.
11. Nepali) Lack of Equal Opportunity: In Nepal,
all prisoners are entitled to fifty percent

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE(50%) remission on the condition thatthey must have good conduct whileserving their sentence in prison.
Remission is granted on three National
Festivals namely; Constitution day, His
Majesty’s The King Birthday and
Democracy day. These three National
Festivals occur in the months ofNovember, December and February.
With this procedure, some prisoners
who are supposed to be released onremission after completion of their 50%
imprisonment term will not bereleased, for example, if a prisoner getsa sentence of 6 months in the month ofJanuary, he will serve the total
imprisonment and will not be able toavail remission. However, if a prisoner
who gets 6 months imprisonment in themonth of September gets remission,
they will be released in the month ofDecember, i.e., on the His Majesty theKing’s birthday. This procedure is notproviding equal opportunity to all
prisoners, who are eligible for leveling
remission.
ii) Lack of Proper Screening of Inmates:
All types of prisoners are being releasedon remission without taking into
consideration the types or gravity of
their offence. Since there is no proper
screening of the inmates, dangerous
offenders are also getting the benefitof early release and thus pose a threator danger to the society.
12. Pakistan
Public perception about dangerous
offenders and their early release of isnegative. The public do not want to see
prisoners, especially hardened criminals,
move freely in the society and pose a danger
or threat to them. Because of this, the laws
regarding early release on parole andprobation are not fully utilized. The
competent authorities hesitate to decide on
early release cases because of this negative

perception.
Another problem is the procedure ofearly release is lengthy because many
offices/department are involved in thedecision making process. Because of this,the inmates cannot fully take advantageof this system. As with the others, there isalso a problem in supervision of thereleasees because of the limited number oftrained staff in Pakistan.
13. Papua New Guinea
The procedure of processing early
release on parole is very slow because there
is only one Parole Board throughout thecountry. It takes almost a year before a caseis decided by the authorities. Similarly, thesupervision of the releasees is affected
because of the limited number of trained
staff.
14. Philippines
In the Philippines, the early release ofprisoners is confronted with the following
problems;i) Youth offenders are welcomed easily,
while adult offenders are lessaccepted by communities because
they are perceived to have full
discernment of their offences andwrongdoing.
ii) Weak linkages between and among
members of corrections because of thefragmented correctional system.
iii) Indequate database and statistics on
prisoner’s recidivism.
iv) Inadequate budget for the aftercare
program of released prisoners.
15. Republic of Korea
There appears to be no problems in theearly release system.
16. Solomon Islands
In Solomon Islands, public perception
regarding the early release of prisoners isnegative because the victim’s feelings are
given importance. There is also a problem

409

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
in the supervision of releases because of
the limited number of trained staff. Someprisoners do not receive aftercare andsupervision, and therefore their chances of
re-offending increases.

all of the participants’ countries, except
Japan and Hong Kong. On the basis of theabove discussion, problems existing in thevarious early release systems inparticipant’s countries are as follows:

17. Thailand
The problems in the early release ofprisoners are as follows:i) There is negative perception about
the early release of prisoners because
they believe that the punishment
imposed on the offenders is lenient
and that a prisoners are released too
early.
ii) There is a problem in supervisionbecause of the limited number oftrained staff.

1. Improper Selection of Prisoners for
Early Release
It has been noted that in most of theparticipant’s countries there are problems
in the selection of candidates for their early
release. Important factors which are to beconsidered from the point of view of therehabilitation of the prisoners, are often
ignored. In some of the participating
countries such as Kiribati, Malaysia andPapua New Guinea, the award of remission
is automatic. In such situations, the chanceof release of high-risk prisoners increases
and the question of the safety of societyarises.

B. Summary
While discussing the problems existingin the various types of early releasesystems in the participants’ countries, it
has been observed that the most common
early release measure available isremission. Generally, remission is granted
to prisoners subject to their good conduct
and behavior in the prison, but in a few
countries, such as the Solomon Islands andPapua New Guinea, it is awarded
automatically without fully taking into
consideration the factors of conduct or
behavior, or gravity of the offence.
The other commonly used early releasemeasure is parole. However, it is observedthat while granting parole, the chance of
re-offending the prisoners is basicallytaken into consideration, but factors suchas their living conditions, employment
opportunities and family support etc. areless considered. In fact, in most of theparticipants’ countries, proper supervisionof or aftercare services for, the parolees was
not available. In the absence of suchservices, the chance of re-offending
increases. However, statistics regarding
the re-offending rate during the period ofsupervision were not available in almost

410

2. Absence of Adjustment and/or
Improvement of Living Environment
In all the participating countries except
Japan, Philippines and Thailand, thefactors of adjustment and/or improvementof the living environment to which theprisoners will return after their releasefrom prison are not considered before
granting remission or parole. In theabsence of such adjustment, the chance of
re-offending increases and therehabilitation of prisoners become difficult.
3. Improper Composition of Decision
Making Bodies
It was also noticed that in most of theparticipating countries, the composition of
the decision making body is not organizedin view of the prisoners rehabilitation. In
some cases, it is the minister in charge ofthe prison, a politician, who is thecompetent authority to decide the cases of
early release. In some other cases it is aboard composing of two, three or moremembers nominated by the Minister or theGovernment. In such situations, the108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
question arises about the independence
and competency of the decision making
body. If the decision making body is notindependent, nor professionally competent,
it may draw the wrong conclusions about
the merit of the case; which may effect therehabilitation processes as well as thesafety of the society. It was also reported
that in some of the participants’ countries,
there are complaints about the misuse of
power by the competent authorities, suchas asking for bribes for making a favorable
decision, etc.
4. Lengthy Procedure
It has been observed that in many
countries such as Botswana, Fiji, Nepal,
Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Solomon
Islands and Thailand, that there arelengthy procedures involved in deciding thecase of early release. This situation not only
delays the rehabilitation process, but may
also contribute to the overcrowding
problem.
5. Lack of Supervision and Aftercare
It has been noted that almost all of theparticipating countries are confronted withthe problem of the inadequacy of trained
staff. Because of this, the prisoners
released under parole, or other early
release systems under supervision, can not
be properly supervised which ultimately
increases the risk of re-offending.
6. Public Perception
In some countries, public perception
about the early release of prisoners isnegative. The public wants to see theoffenders, especially those who commit
serious crimes, behind bars. In suchsituations, the competent authorities show
their reluctance in issuing orders for early
release.
V. COUNTERMEASURESA thorough examination of the actual

situation and problems existing in the early
release systems in the participants
countries revealed that the following
important factors are not taken into
consideration when awarding early releaseto prisoners.
A. Selection of Prisoners for Early
ReleaseIn many countries, it has been noted thatcriteria for selecting the candidates forearly release under remission and parole
is not appropriate. In some countries,
remission is automatic, but in othercountries the only criteria is good conduct
and behavior in the prison, without taking
into consideration the risk of recidivism.
While in case of parole, apart from good
conduct and behavior, the risk of reoffending is given importance, but otherimportant factors are ignored. It istherefore suggested that the competentauthorities, before granting remission andparole or similar early release measures,
should also consider the following factors
such as:i) The criminal record.
ii) Type and gravity of the offence.
iii) Achievement in prison.
iv) The safety of society.
v) Family support.
vi) Job opportunities.
vii) Environmental adjustment.
The observance and application of theabove mentioned factors places the decision
making body in a better position to balance
the positive effect of the early release, i.e.
reintegration and rehabilitation of theprisoners in to society against the risk ofrecidivism that may pose a danger to thesociety.
After selecting the prisoners for early
release, the question arises as to when to
be released. As regards the timing of
release, it has also been observed that theminimum period required to be served in
the prison before release on remission andparole differs from country to county,

411

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
ranging from 3/4th of the sentence in thecase of Bangladesh; 2/3rd in the Botswana,
Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea, Malaysia,
Papua New Guinea and Pakistan; and 1/2
in Nepal. However, no specific period canbe fixed for any prisoners. Here theimportant factor is that the timing of early
release should be selected in such a waythat the prisoners should have completed
some portion of the sentence in prison as apunishment according to the gravity of theoffence; because it creates a deterrent effectfor the prisoner as well as for others insociety. The remaining portion may beserved in the society under supervision.
The other factor to be considered is theprospects of the prisoners’ re-integration
into society.
B. Adjustment and Improvement of
the Living Environment
It has also been observed that in all of
the participants countries, except Japan,
Philippines and Thailand, competentauthorities do not consider the adjustment
or improvement of the living environmentof the prisoners at the time of making adecision about early release.
In fact, the living environment plays avital role in the reintegration andrehabilitation of a prisoner after release.
The living environment does not only meana place of living, but also includes otherfactors such as the family, friends or
associates, financial situation etc. For
example, in the case of drug addicts, thecompany of friends or relatives in which
the addicts associate and the take drugs,
play a significant role. Such associations
encourage drug use and it becomes very
difficult for the addicts to leave their habits,
despite their willingness. If such anenvironment is changed and improved,
there is greater chance of reformation in
the release and this will ultimately help intheir reintegration and rehabilitation into
society. Therefore, it is very necessary that
before releasing a prisoner, the adjustment412

and/or improvement of the living
environment be taken into consideration.
C. Composition of the Decision
Making Body
It was observed that in many countries,
the composition of the decision making
body for granting early release is not
appropriate. In some cases, it is the
Minister of Justice or minister concernedwith the portfolio of prisons, but in othercases it is a Parole Board comprising of two,
three or more members nominated by the
Minister or the Government. In most of thecases, it is only one person who makes thedecision. In fact, the professional
competency of the members is ofparamount consideration, becauseawarding an early release to a prisoner
may have positive as well as negative
effects. It is, therefore, very important thatthe composition of the decision making
body be comprised of professionals fromrespective fields such as psychology, social
work, police or prison administration, toensure that the decision making bodymakes the right decision about early
release; keeping in view the safety ofsociety and also the rehabilitation aspectsof the prisoner. Such composition will also
ensure the independence of the body.
D. Reviewing Lengthy Procedure
It has been noted that in some countries
like Botswana, Nepal, Solomon Islands,
Papua New Guinea and Thailand, theprocedure for early release is lengthy. It issuggested that:i) The laws/rules governing early
release must be reviewed andevaluated with the intention of taking
advantage of the said privilege.
ii) There must be a specific timetable tocomplete the procedure and a speedy
review of the cases of those who are
to be released.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
E. Reinforcement and Training ofSupervising Staff
Supervision and aftercare is necessary
to ensure the rehabilitation of released
prisoner.
Therefore it is suggested that:i) There is a need to improve theprofessional skill of the probation/
parole staff engaged in the
supervision activities.
ii) The Volunteer Probation Scheme betaken into consideration by thosecountries where such schemes are notbeing used.
iii) Training of staff is necessary for thesupervision of the released prisoner.
F. Improving Public Perception
It has been noted that in most of theparticipants’ countries, the public
perception about the early release ofprisoners is negative for dangerous or
hardened criminals, but positive for minor
offenders. In fact, the early release system
which is being used with the objective of
the rehabilitation of the offenders in tosociety needs wider publicity.
In participant’s countries, the public do
not realize the importance/advantage of therehabilitation aspects of the early releasemeasures. They think that all criminals
must be kept behind the bars. Perhaps inthis way, they feel a sense of security fromthe realization that prisoners released
before the expiry of their imprisonment
may pose a danger or threat to them. It
has been observed that not every prisoner
is a threat to society. There are various
types of offenders, with different
backgrounds and offences, and thus theyshould not be considered equally. There isa need to emphasize the important aspectthat there are different types of offenders.
Only those prisoners who are dangerous
and pose a threat to society should not bereleased, in order to protect society.
However, non-custodial measures could beconsidered for low risk offenders.

The advantage of early release systems
such as remission or parole may be taken
into consideration with the sole objectiveof prisoner rehabilitation. There is also aneed for educating politicians on thissubject, so that they may extend their fullcooperation in making new laws for early
release systems, or for making
amendments of the existing laws asrequired.
Therefore, there is a need to create agreater public awareness about theadvantages of the early release system forthe purpose of the rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners in society. The
public should also be made aware of thecost of keeping and maintaining offenders
in prison. It may also be emphasized thatimprisonment separates the prisoner fromtheir family and this may have a negative
effect on their personality and behavior.
VI. CONCLUSION
In most of the participants’ countries, theprison system is confronted with risk ofrecidivism. The conclusion drawn on thebasis of the above discussions, is that thepolicy of exercising proper early releasemeasures for suitable prisoners seems tobe the correct policy. However, it isemphasized that while exercising theoption of early release, the authorities must
differentiate amongst the various types ofoffenders, the gravity of offences and therisk of recidivism, keeping in view thesafety of society and the rehabilitation
prospects of the prisoners.

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54

GROUP 3
REHABILITATION AND CORRECTIONAL PROGRAMMES IN
THE COMMUNITY TO PREVENT RECIDIVISIM BYDISCHARGED PRISONERS: THE ACTUAL SITUATION,
PROBLEMS AND COUNTERMEASURES

Chairperson
Co-Chairperson
Rapporteur
Co-Rapporteurs
Members

Advisers

Ms. Josephine Muthoni Murege
Ms. Fumi Muraoka
Mr. William Kwadwo Asiedu
Mr. Yoon, Bo-Sik
Mr. Mamoru Suzuki
Mr. Sairusi Gauna Tuisalia
Mr. Hideharu Maeki
Mr. Satoshi Nakazawa
Mr. Mamoru Takatsu
Professor Tomoko Akane
Professor Shoji Imafuki

I. INTRODUCTION
The search for effective measures for the
rehabilitation of the offender has led thecriminal justice world to look beyond thewalls of the prisons for programs in thecommunity, which are effective incomplementing the rehabilitative efforts ofthe penal institutions.
Rehabilitation, the philosophy that has
gained root in modern penology, is in itself
a very useful concept. The prisons however,are choked with cases which could havebeen best dealt with outside it; either
thorough alternative non-custodial
sentences or by preventing the re-offendingof some of the convicts through treatment
programs while they were on release fromprison. Studies and experience have shownthat the prison setting is not always ideal
for preparing the offender to reintegrate
successfully into society. They can be worseoff on release.
It has also been felt that the ultimate
aim of correctional programs is the414(Kenya)(Japan)(Ghana)(Republic of Korea)(Japan)(Fiji)(Japan)(Japan)(Japan)(UNAFEI)(UNAFEI)

rehabilitation of the convict-prisoner insociety. By keeping the prisoner away, they
are further removed from society, thus
making readjustment very difficult.
Therefore, community-based treatment
programs have been commended as having
more hope for rehabilitation than theprisons.
Accordingly, some countries have
evolved packages of community-based
treatment programs. So much importancehas been placed on non-custodial measuresthat various international forums havebeen convened to design and recommend
measures for effective treatment programsin the community.
Rather than see issues as domestic, with
the need to implement local prescriptions,
the world community has, through various
forums, treated the search for effective
measures as a global concern. The effortsof the world community have resulted in
the formulation of the Standard Minimum
Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSETokyo Rules ) drafted by UNAFEI andsubsequently adopted by the General
Assembly of the United Nations, for theguidance of all communities in thetreatment of offenders.
Since our scope of discussion is limited,
we intend to discuss community-based
programs for discharged prisoners. The
group’s plan is to conduct a comparative
study of the various types of programs in
actual use for preventing discharged
prisoners from re-offending, and for
promoting their reintegration into society.
We will also consider the categories ofdischarged prisoners who benefit from
specific programs and the roles played byformal and informal organization. An indepth study of the problems of
implementation follows. The group further
attempts to propose pragmaticcountermeasures that take the sociopolitical and economic situations of thevarious countries into consideration.
II. GENERAL ISSUES
A. Discharged Prisoners in Selected
Countries
The scope of the discussion is on earlyand full-time release of prisoners as far as
it relates to their supervision, aftercare andguidance. Whenever practicable, young
offenders serving prison terms will be
discussed in the course of the study. It will
become apparent that different
terminologies are used for systems andproblems that are essentially similar.
The discussion is based on the practiceof countries not only of group members;Fiji, Ghana, Japan, Kenya and Korea, butalso four countries with programs of which
information is available: Hong Kong,
Papua New Guinea, Philippines andThailand. These practices will be discussed
for identification of shortcomings andcountermeasures. The discussion on theearly release of prisoners focuses onfollowing systems:

(i)

(ii)

(iii)
(iv)

(v)

Parole in Japan, Korea, Papua
New Guinea, Philippines andThailand;Remission in Ghana (withlicense), Kenya (for long-term
prisoners) and Thailand;
Release Under Supervision in
Hong Kong;
Extra Mural Punishment (EMP)and Compulsory Supervision
Order (CSO) in Fuji;
Release on License in Kenya (foryoung offenders).

III. PROGRAMMES IN ACTION
A. Operation of Various Programs
for Different Categories ofDischarged Prisoners
1. Working Definition of Supervision,
Aftercare and GuidanceSupervision in the context of communitybased corrections involves the institutionof control measures to prevent theoffenders from re-offending. Aftercare
involves measures to help them to reformand reintegrate into society by meeting thematerial and immaterial needs ofdischarged prisoners. Guidance generally
involves counseling the discharged
prisoners and teaching them life skills inorder to overcome the many obstacles andfrustrations they would come across after
release.
2. Classification System
In Japan, the classification system has
been in operation since 1971. Probation
officers use Needs/Risk Assessment toclassify parolees. This system was
implemented to classify and treat
individual discharged prisoners according
to their limited resources of Professional
Probation Officers. Parolees are classified
into two groups: Groups A requires more
attention and intervention by probation
officers, and Group B does not present any

415

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
acute or serious problems. Factors inclassification to be considered are:unemployment, no fixed residence, drug or
alcohol abuse, recidivism, poor attitude
toward supervision and association withorganized criminals. Cases are reviewed
occasionally for possible re-classification.
As of December 1997, 22.3% of adultparolees throughout Japan were classified
as Group A.
Meanwhile other countries do not haveclassification systems for parole and otherforms of early release.
3. Supervision, Aftercare and Guidance
for Early Released
Conditions
Supervision is largely based on
conditions. The objectives that aresupposed be achieved include theprevention of recidivism and facilitation ofrehabilitation and reintegration.
(a) Japan
Articles 34 of the Offenders
Rehabilitation Law of Japan stipulates theconditions for granting parole as:(i)
To live at a fixed residence andengage in an honest calling:(ii)
To be of good behavior;(iii) To keep away from persons who
are of criminal or delinquenttendencies; and(iv) To ask their supervisor for
permission in advance forchanging residence or going on along journey (exceeding a week).
In addition to general conditions, theparolee is also required to abide by special
conditions such as no gambling, overindulgence in alcohol and dealings withdrugs. Special conditions vary widely as
they are designed to meet the individual
needs of each parolee.
(b) Korea
The parolees of Korea are subject to416

supervision these conditions:(i)Refrain from committing crimes;(ii)
To live at a fixed residence;(iii) Report to probation office once amonth and sometimes more if
necessary; and(iv) To be of good behavior.
(c) Papua New Guinea
In Papua New Guinea, the parolee
immediately reports to the office of the
Parole Service. The other conditions are:reporting to a Parole Officer or Voluntary
Parole Officer as and when required by theoffice of the Parole Service; keeping thepeace and being of good behavior; following
any direction or instructions given by aParole Officer; and not changing the placeof residence unless s/he has given the
Parole Officer reasonable notice of theintention to do so, as well as the reasonsfor the proposed change.
The Parole Officer must give permission
for the change of residence and the parolee
must comply with any orders given by the
Parole Officer in relation to the change ofresidence. The Parole Officer must be
notified in reasonable time of the intentionof the parolee to change their employment,
the reasons for wanting to do so and thenature and place of his /her proposed
employment.
The parolee must give reasonable noticeto the Parole Officer of any contracts, debts
or financial undertakings they propose toincur or enter into which might have asignificant effect on their income or family
situation. They shall allow a Parole Officer
or Voluntary Parole Officer to enter theirhome, during reasonable hours, in
executing their duties. The parolee inPapua New Guinea may be further orderedby the Parole Board to follow special
conditions of the Parole Order. The Board
has discretion in imposing additional
conditions. The goals of the Board areensuring compliance of the order and thegood conduct and welfare of the parolee.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
These additional conditions may include:
residing in a named place for the period ofparolee, refraining from entering a named
town, actively looking for employment orfor a legal means of supporting the parolee
and their family, undertaking alcohol
counseling, family counseling, marriage
counseling and avoiding contact with a
named person. They may also be ordered
to refrain from using alcohol or illegal
drugs, or be required to participate in otherrehabilitative programs offered in thecommunity and view videos on law andorder.
The parolee is however, exempt frompaying compensation, doing community
work or paying a fine since these arealternative punishments at the sentencing
level.
(d) Thailand
Prisoners who benefit from early releasein Thailand, either through parole orremission, are given conditions on theirearly release. They are to refraincommitting crimes, from entering areas
determined by the competent authority andare required to report in person to acompetent authority as designated by the
Director-General of the Department ofCorrections.
They are to continue with the occupation
arranged and supervised by the competenta u t h o r i t y, t o r e s u m e t h e i r f o r m e roccupation or take the occupation arranged
and supervised by close friends or relations,and to practice their religion.
(e) Fiji
The conditions or release in Fiji are: (1)the prisoner released on Compulsory
Supervision Order shall at all times
produce the order when demanded by amagistrate or police officer, (2) they shallabstain from any violation of the law, (3)they shall not habitually associate withnotoriously bad characters such as reputed
thieves, law breakers, receivers of stolen

properties and the like, (4) they shall notlead an idle or dissolute life, (5) they shallreport personally to the person named as
responsible for their supervision withinseven days after release, (6) they shall notchange their place of residence without
prior notification of such change to theirsupervisor and (7) they shall, during thefirst week of every month, report in person
to the person named as being responsible
for their supervision.
(f) Ghana
There are only three conditions forrelease on licensee in Ghana. The licensee
on their immediate release has to reportto the police with their license. Thereafter
they report to the police periodically on
their movements and change of address.
For the unexpired period of the original
sentence, and while at liberty, the licensee
must not be convicted of any criminal
offense involving fraud or dishonesty.
(g) Hong Kong
The conditions of release under
supervision in Hong Kong are: (1) the
prisoner released shall comply with theconditions of their release specified in theorder, (2) s/he shall comply with thedirections of their supervising Probation
Officer on matters concerning work
placement and rehabilitation and (3) s/heshall immediately notify their supervising
Probation Officer of any change in address.
(h) Philippines
The conditions for release in thePhilippines are: (1) the released prisoner
shall be placed under the supervision of aParole and Probation Officer so that s/hemay be guided and assisted towards
rehabilitation, (2)s/he shall report in person
to the Parole and Probation Office as
specified in the Release Document forsupervision, (3) s/he shall comply will theterms and conditions appearing in the
Release Document and (4) s/he shall not

417

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54transfer from the place of residence
designated in the Release Document
without prior written approval of theBoard.
Duration and Routine Process ofSupervision(a) Japan
In the case of a person serving lifeimprisonment in Japan, the parole period
is for the rest of their life unless s/he isparadoned in the course of the parole
period. In all other cases, the average
duration of supervision is five months.
There was no data on duration ofsupervision for most counties.
In Japan, the Probation Officer takes
into consideration all information
presented at the various interviews,
together with the data in the case records,
to assess the individual’s needs andproblems which require special attention,and to eventually work out a treatment
plan. The Professional Probation Officer
and Volunteer Probation Officer, who is
working under the supervision of theProfessional Probation Officer, work intandem according to the treatment plan.
The methods of supervision are: (1)Volunteer Probation Officer is to observe
the behavior of the parolee by maintaining
close contact with parolee. The parolee
visits the Probation Officer or the Volunteer
Probation Officer twice a month. In turnthe Probation Officer or the Volunteer
Probation Officer visits the parolee once amonth; (2) the Professional Probation
Officer and the Volunteer Probation Officer
give the parolee such instructions as are
deemed necessary and pertinent to makethem observe all the conditions given and(3) the Professional Probation Officer andthe Volunteer Probation Officer take othermeasures necessary to make the parolee a
law abiding member of society.
The Volunteer Probation Officer submitsa regular monthly progress report to the418

Probation Office. In the addition they senda report whenever an unusual incident
occurs, in relation to the parolee. Whenconsidered necessary, judging from thereport of the Volunteer Probation Officer
or information of the police or parolee’sfamily, the Probation Officer visits theparolee, sends a letter to the appear at theProbation Officer or other local offices. The
Chief of Probation Office has power tosummon and interrogate, even though s/
he has no power of arrest. The Chief ofProbation Office can have the parolee, who
is in breach of the conditions of their parole,arrested under a warrant (in advance) by
a judge.
(b) Papua New Guinea
In Papua New Guinea, supervision ofparolee is conducted by a Parole Officer
from the Attorney General’s Department.
If a parolee is going to stay far away fromthe probation centers, s/he is required toreport to a volunteer parole office in theircommunity. The Volunteer Parole Officer
will then work closely with the Parole
Officer. Supervision requires always
ascertaining that the parolee is of good
conduct and observes the conditions ofparole.
(c) Thailand
Supervision in Thailand is conducted by
the Probation Officers who belong to the
Department of Corrections of the Ministryof Interior and Volunteer Probation
Officers. They supervise the living
conditions of the early release. They pay
attention to the releasee’s relationship with
their family, neighbors and attitude
towards work. The supervisors give
guidance to the family and neighbors, aswell as the release.
(d) Hong Kong
Supervision of the early released is doneby Probation Officers of the Hong Kong
Correctional Department’s, Secretariat for108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
Security. The objectives of supervision are
to assist the early releasees to berehabilitated and reintegrated into society,as well as to protect the public from theperils of re-offending.
(e) Philippines
The Philippines operates a system where
the Probation Officer of the Department ofJustice supervise the parolees. They are
assisted by Volunteer Probation and Parole
Aides whose task is to assist in supervisingparolees, pardonees and probationers.
They are specifically tasked to supervise
their charges by devoting not less than 4hours a week. They have a maximum of 5clients and must prepare and submit to theChief of Probation and Parole Officemonthly reports on their clients.
They must keep all information about
the job in strict confidence and in close
consultation and cooperation with Chief,
perform incidental duties periodically. The
Probation and Parole Office where theparolee reports to, will issued with a copyof the release documents of the parolee. The
office must then ensure that the paroleereports within 15 working days. They mustalso ensure that the parolee complies withthe terms and conditions of the release andmake immediate report to the Board of any
breath of the conditions.
(f) Fiji
In Fiji, the early released prisoner under
EMP will undertake public work for 6hours each day, or not less than 30 hours
per week, at any identifiable government
department or provincial office near theirresidence until their term expires. They
will be under the supervision of agovernment official appointed by thegovernment department or provincial officeduring their extra mural labor.
The prisoner released on CSO is underno supervision but s/he must report to thepolice station nearest their place ofresidence during the first week of every

month, until their term expires. A life term
prisoner will be released on pardon and s/
he will be under CSO for the average
duration of 12 months. In other cases of
CSO release, the average duration ofsupervision is the unexpired portion of thesentence to the date of discharge.
(g) Ghana
A person released on license in Ghana
is supervised by the police until the termof imprisonment expires. The prisoner
reports immediately after s/he leaves theprison, with a copy of the license. The police
are sent a separate copy by the prison
authorities. The licensee must
subsequently report on their movements
to the police on fixed days. This works as acontrolling and check mechanism against
reoffending. The licensee is aware that thecommunity is monitoring him/her. The
community, knowing the offenders in aparticular crime, is reassured. Of course
there is a lot of goodwill between the policeand communities in Ghana.
(h) Korea
The parolee in Korea is supervised byprobation officers. The duration ofsupervision is the remaining days of theoriginal sentence. This system ofsupervision was introduced in 1989. The
parolees engage in community services likesnow-clearance, rubbish collection at
historical sites and palaces. They perform
library services like bookbinding and also
engage in ecological activities.
Suspension and Revocation(a) Japan
The Regional Parole Board in Japan may
suspend probationary supervision whichmeans supervision can no longer be carriedout because the Probation Office does notknow the whereabouts of the parolee. The
penal term shall cease to run and shall be
restored on withdrawal of the ruling of419

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
suspension of probationary supervision.
Revocation takes place when the Regional
Parole Board which has jurisdiction overthe parolee, upon the request of the Chiefof Probation Office, decides that the breachof conditions of the parole is serious enoughto warrant revocation. The parolee is thenrecommitted to prison.
(b) Papua New Guinea
When a parolee is in breach of theconditions of parole in Papua New Guinea,
by either committing another offence orfailing to adhere to the parole conditions,s/he is taken to court and the parole iscancelled. Subsequently s/he is made toserve the unexpired period of the original
sentence, and any new sentence that may
be imposed for the subsequent offence. The
consequence for breach of the conditions forearly release is re-arrest without warrant
and re-imprisonment for the remaining
period of the original sentence. S/he will
face additional disciplinary charges.
(c) Hong Kong
In Hong Kong a beach of supervisionconditions or a relapse with drug use(under the drug treatment programs)
would result in the parolees recall forfurther treatment for twelve months fromthe date of first admission, or four months
from the date of recall. A general breach of
the conditions for early release under
supervision, or pre-release employment,
may result in suspension of the order andrecommittal into prison for the unexpired
term of the original sentence.
(d) Fiji
In Fiji, a prisoner released on EMP, uponbreach of a condition of release, would be
returned to the prison to serve theremaining portion of the sentence; in
addition to any other punishment theCommissioner of Prisons would impose forbreaching the condition of release. In thecase of CSO, the releasee who breaches a420

condition of release, would be apprehended
after their CSO is revoked by the Ministerof Home affairs and Justice, and amagistrate issues an order ofapprehension. They would then serve theunexpired portion of the sentence from thedate of release on CSO, plus a sentence of
three months imposed by a magistrate forbreach of condition.
(e) Ghana
A person released on licensed on licensein Ghana who breaches the conditions by
being convicted of any criminal offence
i n v o l v i n g f r a u d o r d i s h o n e s t y,
automatically forfeits their license and has
to serve the unexpired period of the original
sentence, in addition to any fresh sentence
for the new case.
For failure to notify police of their
movements, change of address or failure
to report as a convict on license, the licensee
receives a twelve-months term of
imprisonment or serves the unexpired termof the original sentence.
(f) Korea and Thailand
Also in Korea and Thailand, if parolees
fail to comply with any condition, they haveto be re-imprisoned for the remaining
period of their terms of sentence.
The statistics on revocation rates areavailable in Appendix one.
Aftercare and Guidance(a) Japan
In Japan aftercare and guidance,
referred to as the method of rehabilitationaid, is effected by helping the parolee toobtain the means of education, training,accommodation and vocational guidance.
The discharged prisoner is helped to reform
and adjust to their environment and is
aided to return to a destination suitable
for rehabilitation.
Parolees are specifically assigned to108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
Volunteer Probation Officers who counsel
them in various areas of life, for instance,
their human relationship with friends,
family members and neighbors. The
Volunteer Probation Officers use theirabilities and knowledge to impart social
and living skills to the parolees. They are
actively involved with the parolees andeven assist them in finding jobs. Sometimes
the Chief of Probation Office requests
halfway houses accommodate parolees who
have need or are designated by theProbation Office.
(b) Thailand
The service providers in Thailand are
not clearly identified. Some organizations
liaise with the Department of Public
Welfare and Labor to help releasees. They
are not restricted to prisoners, but help exprisoners who call for assistance.
(c) Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s aftercare system isdelivered by experienced aftercare works
who use a dynamic, therapeutic and outreach methods to monitor the programs orwork of the releasees. During the period,
regular contact is maintained between the
supervisor and client. The aftercare agents
provide timely and appropriate guidance
and assistance. The agents are anxiousthat their success rate, which is measured
by the percentage of releasees whocomplete supervision, is always high.
(d) Philippines
The Volunteer Probation and Parole
Aides of the Philippines provide guidance,
counseling and placement assistance for
their clients. Since 1996, the Philippine’s
halfway house has been offering aftercare
monitoring of its ex-residents incooperation with the Department of Social
Welfare and Development, the Departmentof Justice and the Department of Local
Government.

(e) Fiji and Ghana
Although Fiji and Ghana have no formal
aftercare systems, there are several
attempts currently being made by the
Presbyterian Church of Ghana and a few
religious groups and district councils in Fijito provide halfway house for releasees. In
addition, in Ghana the society is so cohesivethat a released prisoner who goes home,repentent, would be taken in quickly andhelped to be financially independent. S/heis offered help in putting up a house or
preparing a farm. The chiefs, elders,pastors, schoolmasters and the public are
all agents for guidance and counseling.
When a young person misbehaves,s/he is asked if there are any elders in theircommunity to advise them. Guidance andcounseling are expected to come from theelders of the community and the wellplaced in society.
(f) Korea
Parolees in Korea receive help from theProbation Officers in terms of lodging,
vocational training and job referrals. The
Korea Rehabilitation Protection
Foundation provides accommodation, foodand commutation allowance to the parolee.
(g) Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea has no aftercare
system.
4. Supervision, Aftercare and Guidance
for Full-time Released(a) Japan
Japan has no supervision system for
prisoners who serve full time. It has
aftercare for this category for a maximum
period of six months from the date ofrelease. The Chief of the Probation Officein Japan interviews and investigates the
background of released offenders whorequest aftercare services. Decisions are
based on the urgency of the situation andthe willingness of the released person to421

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
rehabilitate themself. Aftercare services
are temporary and cover meals, clothing,travel fares, lodging and referral to public
employment of welfare services. Issues ofaccommodation are referred to halfway
houses which can provide lodging, board
and living guidance.
(b) Thailand
Thailand does not have programs forfull-times released, except the invitation tosettle in penal colony for those selected.
This system allows discharged prisoners totreat parcelled-out land as their private
property. While they are still serving timeon the penal colony, they can invite theirfamilies to live with them. This
arrangement continues after release, but
due to the problem of land sharing, thissystem has been stopped.
(c) Fiji, Ghana & Papua New Guinea
Fiji, Ghana and Papua New Guinea haveno programs of supervision or aftercare forthe full-time released.
(d) Kenya
In Kenya, in the case of a high-risk
offender, an order is sometimes made forsupervision after completion of thesentence. The Court decides the period ofsupervision. When on supervision, thereleasee is required to report to the police
station or post nearest to their home atleast once a month. The releasee’s
movement and actions are monitored
closely during this time by the police.
5. Young Offenders(a) Japan
In Japan, Article 58 of the Juvenile Law
provides that parole may be grated to ayoung offender sentenced to imprisonment(with or without labor) when s/he was ajuvenile, after the lapse of the following
periods: seven years in the case of a penalty
for life; three years in the case of a penalty

422

for a determinate term and one-third of theminimum period in the case ofindeterminate sentence.
Also the young offender must show
genuine reformation, which is judged by
the Regional Parole Boards, taking into
account the following factors: the degreeof repentance; eagerness to rehabilitate;
the likelihood of recidivism and thesociety’s willingness to accept parole.
The following general conditions, as
provided by law, are automatically imposed
upon a parolee from juvenile prisons: to liveat a fixed residence and engage in a lawful
occupation; to be of good behavior; to keepaway from persons who are of criminal ordelinquent tendencies and to ask theirsupervisor for permission, in advance, forchanging residence or going on a long
journey.
In addition to these general conditions,the parolee is also required to abide byspecial conditions which the Regional
Parole Board sets forth as a guide towards
a law-abiding life. Guides to rehabilitation
contain prohibitions, obligations andencouragement. Special conditions vary
widely as they are designed to meet theindividual needs of each parolee.
The parole board may terminate only
indeterminate sentence. Clause 1 of Article
48 of the Offenders Rehabilitation Law
provides that in case the minimum periodof the penalty which has been imposed
upon a person under the provisions of theJuvenile Law has passed while s/he is onparole from the prison, the execution of thesentence may be regarded as having been
completed by a ruling rendered by the
Regional Parole Board, at the request of
the Director of the Probation Office, if it
deems it proper in view of the merits s/he
has achieved while under probationary
supervision.
The Regional Parole Board revokes
parole upon the application of the Directorof Probation Office. The parolee may be
confined in the prison for the original

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
parole period, but s/he may be granted
parole on the revoked sentence in the
future.
(b) Kenya
Kenya has a well-designed treatment
program for young offenders who go on
release on license, either early or after
serving a full-time sentence of maximum
three years at the Borstal Institution(under prisons). In Kenya the After-Care
Committee decides on early release issues.
Probation Officers have been called upon
to provide the above services, through an
administrative arrangement, until the“Parole Bill” is enacted by Parliament.
Supervision and aftercare services areprovided by the Home District Probation
Officer. The immediate aim of the programis to resettle them back home so they reportto the Probation Officer immediately on
release. Assistance usually ranges fromtools (for various trades undertaken in theinstitution), counseling and ensuring thatthey go back to school if they are off formal
school-going age. They are also assisted to
get trade training in the local training
institutions like polytechnics. The
Probation Department has also establishedan aftercare resettlement fund thatassistant the released inmates with tools
and payment for their training, depending
upon the availability of funds. The
probation officer actually helps the exinmate and their families in order tofacilitate proper reintegration.
Kenya’s conditions of supervision andaftercare for young offenders include: beingof good behavior; being truthful; reportingto the Probation Officer at least once amonth or as required, refraining fromkeeping bad company, especially bad peers;
informing the Probation Officer of their
movement; remaining in regular
employment, school or training program;
avoiding intoxicating liquor or drugs; andobserving any other condition laid down by
Probation Officer.

On failure to observe any of theconditions, the Probation Officer would
first issue a warning. That failing, thereleasee would be recalled by theCorrections Commissioner to the Borstal
Institute where s/he would be detained fora period not exceeding three months. After
this s/he would remain on suspension forthe period s/he was originally committed
to serve.
6. Specialized Programs for Solving
Specific Rehabilitative Needs(a) Hong Kong
Drug addiction treatment centers areused in Hong Kong to commit a minor
offender who is found to be a drug user. S/
he is committed for a period of not morethan twelve months, with discharge
depending on progress. The program aims
at detoxifying and restoring the health ofthe offender, by attacking the basis of theirdrug use and re-integrating them into
society. Treatment involves counseling,
work and vocational training.
On release, such an offender is placed
under a year’s mandatory aftercare andsupervision, aimed at assisting social
reintegration. The correctional staff visit
the offender’s and work place to check on
possible drug use. The Hong Kong
Correctional Services Department requires
the released prisoner to submit to urine
tests and notify their supervisor on changeof residence. On violation of the conditions,the Commissioner of Corrections, if
satisfied, would issue a recall order. The
prisoner would be recalled and required toserve the remaining sentence or serve fourmonths imprisonment, whichever is longer.
(b) Japan
Referred to as categorized treatment inJapan, the Regional Parole Board classifies
parolees with special situations into six
groups; thinner sniffing, stimulant drug
abusers, gang members, sex offenders,

423

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
mentally disturbed and long termers.
Probation officers re-classify them during
the supervision process.
(c) Thailand
Chemical substance abuse programs
exist in Thailand’s prison, but they havenot been extended to the community tobenefit discharged prisoners specifically.
Non-governmental organizations run
similar programs for the general public,
although not discharged prisoners inparticular.
(d) Other Countries
There are no drug or substance abuse
treatment programs in the other countries.
In the countries which have some form oftreatment, the information gathered was
not enough to warrant fuller discussion.
7. Halfway Houses
Halfway houses can be defined ascommunity-based centers where offenders
can obtain basic necessities like food,clothing and shelter. They generally caterfor probationers, parolees and discharged
prisoners.
(a) Japan
In Japan, all halfway houses are run bya private association(Juridical Person for
Offenders Rehabilitation Services).
Halfway houses accommodate nearly aquarter of parolees lacking a suitable place
to live.
Japan has 99 halfway houses which are
under the authority of the Ministry ofJustice. The capacity of each facility ranges
from 10 to 110. Currently their total
capacity is 2,267. During 1996, the numberof adult parolees who received assistancefrom halfway houses was 4,595. The
number of full-time discharged prisoners
who received assistance was 3139.
Residents comprised 61.4 percent ofauthorized capacity of all halfway houses,

424

countrywide. Average term of stay inhalfway house is about 3-4 months.
Resident’s of halfway houses are spoken to
and treated by staff in a homelike
atmosphere. When the staff notice anyslight change in the mood of the residents,
the staff take it upon themselves to resolve
the problem. Halfway houses offer
vocational guidance to discharged
prisoners and help them to find suitable
employment. Most residents work outside
the halfway house on a daily basis.
Employment offers them financial
independence and builds in them goodwork ethics. Guidance on life skills is alsooffered at the halfway house.
The Japanese system has a nationwide
special type of supervision and aftercare
for discharged prisoners whose sentences
are eight years and above, including life
sentenced prisoners. They areaccommodated for the first month after
release on parole and receive intensive
group counseling, as assistance andguidance to help them cope with social life.
The halfway house in Japan has
historically been operated by private
people.
(b) Korea
In Korea, if the discharged prisoners
have no family or house, the Korea
Rehabilitation Protection Foundation
provides accommodation, money, food aswell as training and job referrals for thedischarged prisoners. There are 72 halfway
houses in Korea. In 1995, the total numberof discharged prisoners who received somekind of services mentioned above was
18,537 (capacity for the accommodation
was not available).
(c) Thailand
In Thailand, there is only one halfway
house run by the Rehabilitation Bureau.
Referred to as “Baan Sawaddee” whichmeans Greeting House in English, theHalfway house is available to all releasees.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
The assistance includes the offering ofaccommodation, meals, job placement andcounseling services. This system has juststarted, so no assessment has yet been
made of it.
(d) Philippines
1996 saw the operation of a real halfway
house for adults in the Philippines. The
Philippines-Japan Halfway House aims at
providing residential facilities for released
and pre-released prisoners. The occupantsreceive home life and group living
experience. They acquire vocational andeconomic skills and are subsequently
placed in jobs.A multi-disciplinary
approach by social workers, psychologists,
educators and people in allied occupations,create the opportunity for emotional,
mental, physical and spiritual growth,
They would require these ingredients intheir eventual reintegration into the family
and community.
(e) Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, accommodated in the
halfway house as a condition of their
Supervision Orders are those: released
from prisons under the Pre-release
Employment Scheme; young offenders
identified as having special needs ondischarge from training centers or
detention centers; and those in need of
temporary accommodation support
immediately after release from drug
addiction treatment centers. They are
required to go out to work or attend fulltime school during the day and return inthe evening.
B. THE ROLE OF FORMAL AND
INFORMAL ORGANIZATIONS
1. Public Institutions
While public institutions play a majorrole in community-based supervision andaftercare for discharged prisoners, different
departments may be tasked with jobs

aimed at either controlling andincapacitating the offender, or providing fortheir needs after serving the term of
imprisonment.
In Japan, the Rehabilitation Bureau of
the Ministry of Justice has been performing
such role and the Probation Service is partof the Bureau. Supervision is provided by
Probation Officers and Volunteer Probation
Officers working for the Probation Service.
Probation Officers offer aftercare andguidance as well. The government gives not
only financial support to the halfway house
but also supervision, so that it can provide
appropriate services.
In the Philippines, the Department ofSocial Welfare and Development plays avery important role in the area ofcommunity-based treatment of offenders.
The Department was instrumental increating the halfway house for adults.
In Ghana, the police have the mandate
to supervise the discharged prisoners. In
Fiji, public authorities supervise prisoners
on EMP while the police supervise
prisoners released on CSO. The particularinstitutions liaise with the prison
authorities in this respect. In the samemanner, breaches of the conditions arereported back to the prison authorities. In
Korea, the Ministry of Justice controls thecorrectional service as well as the agency
which governs parole and probation.
2. Private Institutions
The Cooperative Employers of Japan
play an important role by employing
released offenders in the construction,
manufacturing, service, wholesale andretail sectors. This is a very important stepin assuring reintegration, for with
employment comes confidence and selfdignity. Thereby the discharged prisoner
is able to meet their material needs, pay
bills and live up to responsibilities. They
can also have the means to makereparation to their victims.
In Papua New Guinea, it is the church

425

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54that plays a role in this regard byaccommodating selected discharged
prisoners whom they had been in contact
within the prison. The church provides
basic necessities like food and clothing. The
discharged prisoners are given counselingand guidance, and after grounding in
doctrine, they participate in anti-crime
campaigns and sometimes take up the
mantle of leadership in the churches.
3. The Community and Families ofVictims and Discharged Prisoners
Before parole is granted, the probation
officer conduct investigations into thefamilies of the victims, the families of theprisoners and in the community. They canprovide probation officers with relevant
information for the rehabilitation plan.
Victim’s acceptance of a releasee backinto the community leads to theunderstanding and reintegration of thereleasees. Compensation is a method used
to facilitate victim’s understanding andacceptance of releasees. If releasees
recognize that the victim has suffered both
physical and mental damage, they willrecognize the seriousness of their crime.
The family of the offender, in developing
countries like Kenya and Ghana, normallywelcome the offender back, offer them theirold accommodation in the family house or
help to build a new one. Members of thefamily help to prepare a farm or start abusiness venture and generally to begin a
new life. So long as the discharged prisoner
goes back to their roots, there is enoughgoodwill for them to build on inrehabilitation. The chiefs and elders offer
guidance and counseling together with thehead teacher, the post-master and the local
priest. With such tremendous support, thedischarged prisoner has a great chance of
reintegrating into society.
In addition, interchange between thefamilies of the victims and the offender who
is now discharged, can only happen insmall communities where they are

426

expected to live together; in the urban
sector the situation is different. It is often
seen in small and traditional communities
that the community leaders bring the twoparties together, and peace is made after
the offender and his or her family.
At the same time as s/he lives among thecommunity, the released offender ismonitored as they are known by everyone.
S/he is thus inhibited and this serves as acheck on the tendency to re-offend. At thecommunity level, the policeman is regarded
as kin and the community cooperates withthe police in checking the movements of thedischarged prisoner. Supervision, thus, isknown as quite effective.
4. Volunteer Probation Officers and Other
Volunteers
Japan utilizes the services of volunteers
in an extensive manner. With 50,000
Volunteer Probation Officers, supporting
700 Probation Officers, who are directly
working with parolees in the field, it isobvious that volunteers perform the bulkof the work in controlling and monitoring
the discharged prisoners, as well as in
assisting the family through counselingand guidance.
Voluntary Probation Officers in Japanpromote crime prevention programs, aswell as educate individuals and the generalpublic on rehabilitative measures and theneeds of the discharged prisoners. They
also promote cooperative efforts toeradicate environmental conditions whichlead to crime.
Another feature of the voluntary spiritof the Japanese is the existence andactivities of the Women’s Association for
Rehabilitation Aid. With a membership of
194,000 nationwide, the Association isconcerned about matters of crime,delinquency, and the problems and welfare
of offenders and their families. They
provide financial, material and moral
support to Volunteer Probation Officers,
halfway houses and also help the public to108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
understand the rehabilitative ideas andefforts through discussions at meetings.
Their activities are supported by Probation
Officers in the neighborhood.
With the introduction of the parole
system in 1991, Papua New Guinea has
been using Volunteer Probation Officers toassist the regular Probation Officers insupervising the parolees. Until then,Volunteer Probation Officers were assistingin looking after probationers. They receive
training in counseling and interviewing
skills and are very effective in their roles.
Coming from the same community as theparolee, the Volunteer Probation Officer
has good rapport with their client. By 1986,
there were 300 active Volunteer Probation
Officers. Through their activities, they help
in getting the community to support theparolee in ways which facilitate
rehabilitation.
Thailand’s Volunteer Probation Officers
who number 14,000 work with Probation
Officers of the Department of Correctionsof the Ministry of Interior. They are drawn
from among local people who have stablejobs and fixed addresses and no criminal
record.1 The parolees who are supervisedby the Volunteer Probation Officers are
subject to observation of the conditions
attached to their release. Although, mostof the countries studied have no Volunteer
Probation Officers who substitute forregular Probation Officers, it should be
noted that volunteers in many countries
implement informal supplementary
programs.

1

They are distinguished from the Volunteer
Probation Officers who work for the Departmentof Probation. While the former supervise parolees,
the latter takes care of probationers.

IV. PROBLEMS OF
IMPLEMENTATION AND
SOLUTIONSIn the implementation of communitybased programs for the treatment ofoffenders we considered whether the needsof discharged persons and the needs of thecommunity have been met by the
programs. We further considered if the
problems are the result of flaws in thedesign of the programs or that the
programs are not suitable for the needs
they seek to address.
A. Inadequacy of Personnel
The issue of inadequate staff to carry out
community-based programs wasrecognized as common to all the countries
studied. Japan for instance, was cited ashaving only 700 Probation Officers directly
working with parolees throughout thenation. Supported by 50,000 Volunteer
Probation Officers, the number is still notenough to offer top level service for,parolees especially, those with high risk/needs such as drug offenders, mentallydisordered offenders, sex offenders andviolent offenders who require special
treatment programs.
This problem extends to all otheragencies involved in community correctionsin the nine countries represented, andconceivably all over the world. Many
probation officers are young andinexperienced. Combined with otherproblems such as lack of good supervisorysystems, shortage of staff and poor training
opportunities, the quality, of fieldwork andcasework suffer. Specialization is missing,
especially in relevant fields like psychology
and sociology. Administration of probation
services, generally suffers from lack ofmanagerial and supervisory skills on thepart of some administrators. At the root of
the problems of treatment staff is the lackof adequate compensation, incentive andgood conditions of service.

427

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
B. Lack of Aftercare Programs
Many countries are obsessed withsecurity at the cost of developing treatment
programs for the reintegration of theoffender. The countries studied gave theimpression that the needs and concerns of
the discharged prisoner are less important.
For instance, a common phenomenon
throughout the countries we studied
reveals the crippling disadvantage thedischarged prisoner faces in the job market.
A bedrock of rehabilitation, employment
enables the discharged prisoner to meettheir responsibilities, yet, the lack of skills
and the stigma of imprisonment play
negative roles in ready absorption into thejob market; as most prisoners are in thefirst place unskilled and do not receive
adequate training in the prisons.
Programs like vocational training andjob placement are limited. It is very difficult
to fully implement and develop resources
for programs of such kind. Thisphenomenon is attributable mainly to thevalues of the society. Kenya, for instance,
has focused on protecting society from theactivities of the criminal. Aftercare services
are hampered by lack of funding for
programs. Many useful programs have had
to be shelved because of this problem.
It is perceived by the group thatdevelopment of aftercare programs in thecommunity may require the modificationof administrative organizations. For
instance, further involvement of social
welfare agencies or the rehabilitation of
released offenders is necessary. With
probation officers as service providers, they
are not always oriented towards
rehabilitation and aftercare, instead focus
is towards control and monitoring.
C. Inadequacy of Supervision
Supervision tends to create loopholes forthe released offender bent on committing
another offense. The releasee is only
controlled and monitored for a short partof the day and in cases like Fiji, Ghana and428

Kenya, reports on average once a month.
Releasees are virtually on their own.
Particularly, more effective and intensive
ways to supervise offenders posing highrisk to the society should be explored
including adequate conditions.
It is very easy for parolees and others
under supervision to run away. So many
parts or these countries are virtuallyinaccessible and record-keeping is very
poor. It is difficult to track them. In theabsence of citizen registration or
identification systems, chances of rearresting an escapee are bleak.
Some participants expressed the viewthat increasingly complex cases saddle
supervisors with heavy workloads. Thoughstatistics are not readily available, it isobvious that they find it impossible to pay
the necessary attention to detail. With
logistical support not forthcoming,
especially vehicles and monitoring devices,
the supervisors are crippled in their work.
D. Lack of Programs for Specific
Rehabilitative Needs
Countries do not seem to pay muchattention to programs which address the
specific rehabilitative needs of theoffenders, outside the prison. Though there
are many categories of offenders who
require specific treatment, like psychiatriccases, sexual offenders, violent offenders
and alcoholics, we could only identify drug
and substance abuse programs in thecommunities of three countries; Hong
Kong, Japan and Thailand.
The programs do not address the specificrehabilitative needs of the offender who isin the community for treatment which
would complement their progress toeventual social reintegration. Although
there appears to be no need for suchprograms, it is our view that the lack oftreatment for specific types of offenders is
attributable to some forms of ignorance.
Several factors, such as limited awarenessof the seriousness of the harm done by

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
those offenders due to non-availability of
data, and limited faith in criminal justiceadministration, can contribute to theignorance about special treatment
measures.
Even though the necessity for thesetreatment measures is acknowledged bypractitioners and policy-makers,
considerations such as the following, deter
them from implementing these treatment
measures:(i)
Absence of established andeffective treatment programs.
(ii) Prohibitive cost of programs.
(iii) Lack of community support for the
implementation of such programs.
E. Absence of Inter-Departmental
Cooperation and Support
Various organizations are involved in therunning of community-based correctional
programs. Since they have similar
objectives, they are expected to cooperatewith each other. While state and private
institutions are likely to cooperate witheach other, for instance, the prisons andthe churches, the same cannot be said
about governmental bodies, particularly
probation and prison officials.
The exchange of information between
the two is not smooth; yet the two bodies
could complement the work of each other;
the prison officer letting the probation
official know about the nature andpeculiarities of the offender before release,and the probation officer letting the prison
authorities know in advance thepeculiarities of the convicted person as they
are being brought in to serve theirsentence. The interchange of information
would help both bodies plan theirtreatment measures in respect to theoffender. Many countries reported thisproblem of lack of inter-departmental
cooperation and mutual support.
It was observed that the prisons are
reluctant to offer information about theattitudes, health situation and otherdetails the probation officers need, to workout case plans. Several reasons for thissituation were pointed out. In somecountries, restrictions are legally placed on
the giving of information and prison
officials have to be careful.
Though it is desirable that programs
instituted in the prisons for the
rehabilitation of prisoners should be
carried through to the community, there isa lack of cooperation between thecorrectional and probation agencies on the
program design. Many countries pointed
out the lack of coordination amongsupervisory agencies, social welfare andsocial development services engaged insimilar rehabilitation efforts.
F. Unfulfilled Expectations
1. Victims and Families
Victims and their families cannot accept
discharged prisoners easily. Inadequate
compensation is a major source of thevictims and their families’ inability totolerate the releasee. Generally speaking,discharged prisoners lack funds and the
support systems for them are insufficient.
Although some countries such as Hong
Kong, Japan and the Philippines havesome official compensation systems for thevictim and the family, other countries likeFiji, Ghana and Kenya do not have clearlystructured compensatory systems forvictims of criminal activities.
The victim needs to see the offender pay
for the crime, and observing them comeback in the community without having paid
for their criminality dose not satisfy thepsychological craving of the victim. The
urge is for the victim and their family tovisit retribution on the offender. The victim
and their family are appeased when they
see the offender making restitution
through their earnings in the prison, or
during the period s/he is on the community
correctional program. Post-releaseprograms in the community however, do

429

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
not address the psychological needs of thevictim. The victim is also not protected fromre-victimization by the offender. The
programs fail to impose conditions which
would restrict the offender from coming
into contact with the victim.
2. Community
The community’s first need is to beprotected from re-offending by the released
prisoner. The recidivism rates all over showthat this need is not satisfied by thetreatment of the discharged prisoner in thecommunity. The need to appreciate change
and reformation in the discharged prisoner
is of great importance to the community. If
the community-based programs do notaddress this need and released offenders
are held in trepidation and fear by thecommunity, it would be impossible fordischarged prisoners to reintegrate into thecommunity.
Society also expects the discharged
prisoner to find employment and contribute
their quota to the efforts to improve thecommunity. Without the requisite skills to
obtain jobs, the discharged prisoner
becomes a burden on the community. Thisis the case all over. Stigmatization is adifficult tag to cope with. Many discharged
prisoners cannot cope and prefer hanging
at the fringes of society, afraid to come inand be rehabilitated.
To carry out successful community-based
schemes, the community is expected tosupport materially and non-materially, but
all the countries represented complained
about the absence of such community help.
G. Lack of Social Assistance for
Discharged Prisoners
1. Volunteer
Volunteerism in Japan is traditionallyhigh. Apart from the Volunteer Probation
Officers, the Juridical Person for Offenders
Rehabilitation Services and Women’s
Association for Rehabilitation Aid have430

been supporting the operation of thehalfway house system. Declining fortunes
have created financial problems for theseassociations and their support has suffered
as a result. Membership of the WARA has
declined as younger people are notinterested in rehabilitation goals.
Mobilizing public interest is not easy andrequires resources which are not available.
There is a lot of potential in the informal
sector and such resources must be tappedfor community support of the programs.
2. Private Institutions
The problem of lack of skills of thedischarged prisoner is endemic. Most
prisoners have no skills before
incarceration. They acquire no skills in theprisons nor in the rehabilitation programsin the community. Coupled with the stigma
of imprisonment, they are heavily
disadvantaged.
Business establishments in thecommunity are unwilling to offer jobs toreleased offenders because they lack therequisite skills and face antagonism of the
public towards discharged prisoners. The
economic slump has worsened the situationin many countries. Private institutions
which give job opportunities to discharged
prisoners are scarce in many countries.
V. RECOMMENDATIONS
Our recommendations are divided into
two parts. The first part consists ofprogram design for general and specialized
packages for rehabilitation of the early
released offender. The halfway house is also
considered in this part. Some of theprescriptions are suitable as programs forfull-time releasees. The second part
touches on prescriptions for
implementation of programs, stressing
personnel, inter-departmental cooperationand community involvement.

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE
A. Program Design
1. General Program• It is desirable that programs aredesigned in such a way as to have thefunctions of supervision, aftercare
and guidance.
• As much as possible, programs are to
be based on research. It is necessarythat they have clear objectives ofoffender rehabilitation andreintegration.
• In designing programs, factors sucha s c o n s i s t e n c y, a d a p t a b i l i t y,f e a s i b i l i t y, s u i t a b i l i t y a n daffordability ought to be given prime
attention.
• Management information systems
may have to be improved to keep andmaintain up to date records ofreleasees. As far as practicable,
computers should be utilized.
• Citizen identification systems could
be improved by taking advantage of
tried and tested methods like social
security numbers and national
identification cards, so that the
chance of re-offending can be reduced.
• It is important that program
designers recognize that employment
is the key to rehabilitation for the
released offender. With the prisons
having failed to equip the prisoners
with employable skills, it isincumbent up on the communitybased programs to focus on skills
training to increase the chance of thereleased prisoner in getting a job.
• At various stages of implementation,
programs ought to be evaluated andadapted to suit the objective
conditions.
2. Specialized Program• Policy makers would have to explore
the special needs of the community
which require solution-including
types of offences/offenders,prevalence of these offences andseriousness of harm done by themthrough the collection of data.
• Practitioners have to contribute to
identification of the problems by
expressing their views andexperiences to policy makers, as they
are in the front line and know therealities of these problems.
• Programs should be planned toaddress the criminogenic needs ofparticular offenders. The subjects,
approaches, duration and providersof services should be elaborated on in
the programs.
11.Priority would have to be placed onprograms for the high risk/need
offenders in order to reduce thechances of reoffending and effectively
utilize limited resources.
12.Government organizations involvedin forensic science, health and social
welfare services, particularly thosespecializing in the treatment ofoffenders with multi-faceted andserious psycho-social problems, could
further exchange information andcollaborate with each other in
implementing treatment programsfor special categories of offenters.
3. Halfway House
13.Countries which have halfway houses
are to utilize them extensively.
Countries which do not have these
are invited to consider introducing
them.
14.Halfway houses in addition toproviding boarding and lodging, may
offer mental care, living skill
guidance and job placement services
to the discharged prisoner.
B. Program Implementation
1. Personnel
15.To raise the level of efficiency, theconditions of service of personnel

431

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
involved in community-based
programs, for example probation andparole officers, may have to be
improved to motivate them and also
to attract highly qualified personnel.
16.T r a i n i n g f a c i l i t i e s r e q u i r e
improvement to offer Probation/
Parole workers access to newtechniques in carrying out theirtasks. The staff would have access toinstitutions where they can acquire
higher knowledge and qualifications.
Incidentally, the various clauses ofarticle 16 of the Tokyo Rules 1
advocate making training part of theconditions of service to attract and toretain staff for the demanding
requirements of the job, and offering
opportunities for improving theirprofessional competency.
• To reduce the burden on Probation/
Parole Officers, countries which do
not have the Volunteer Probation
Officer system may consider its
introduction.
• To complement the staff strength,
capable Volunteer Probation Officers
may be appointed permanent
Probation Officers. Incentives to
1 16. Staff training

16.1 The objective of training shall be to make clear
to staff their responsibilities with regard torehabilitating the offender, ensuring the offender’srights and protecting society. Training should also
give staff an understanding of the need to cooperateand coordinate activities with the agencies
concerned.
16.2 Before entering on duty, staff shall be given
training that includes instruction on the nature of
non-custodial measures, the purposes ofsupervision and the various modalities of theapplication of non-custodial measures.
16.3 After entering on duty, staff shall maintain andinprove their knowledge and professional capacity
by attending in-service training and refresher
courses. Adequate facilities shall be made available
for that purpose.

432

Volunteer Probation Officers must be
substantive, even if non-material.
• Efforts have to be made to seek the
involvement of volunteers with
relevant specialization to implement
specialized programs at minimum
cost.
• To achieve greater efficiency, it isimportant to maintain a close
relationship between Volunteer
Probation Officers and Professional
Probation Officers.
2. Inter-departmental Cooperation• To r e s o l v e t h e i s s u e o f n o n cooperation and lack of interdepartmental support, top
management of correctional andprobational departments may have torecognize the necessity forc o o p e r a t i o n w i t h e a c h o t h e r,
particularly when they belong to thesame parent organization. Thisrequires having continuous dialogue
and regular meetings.
• It is necessary that personnel
engaged in the delivery of programs,
exchange information with eachother.
• Private institutions could beapproached to contribute towards
offenders’ rehabilitation by offering
vocational training and employment
to discharged prisoners.
• The government may want tomotivate private institutions byoffering incentives like tax breaks.
3. Community Involvement• In the designing of programs, public
relations outfits may be incorporated
to tap the informal resources in thecommunity. The public relations
units have to survey the communityand network with groupings andorganizations, that can be asked tocontribute to the rehabilitation
efforts and which can mobilize

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSE

•

•

•

•

community support, especially insmall communities where programs
are sited.
It is desirable that responsible stateagencies respect informal activities
done in the community in pursuit ofoffender rehabilitation, give publicrecognition and where necessary,
recommend improvements.
It is important that the victim isfirstly compensated by the offenderby means of public or private
assistance. Then the victim andoffender can be reconciled, to prevent
retaliation by the victim or society.
This would make the offenderrecognize their antisocial behavior
and assume responsibility for thedamage they have caused the victim.
It is important to avoid revictimization through effective
supervision. It is equally important
to offer adequate psychological careand counseling to help the victim
overcome the trauma of
victimization.
Reduce stigmatization from thesociety by involving the offenders invarious local community activities
like sports and cultural events.

to reintegrate these releasees througheffective programs. Emphasis should be on
effective and efficient aftercare programs
if the goal has to be achieved. The essential
question to ask ourselves is how we can
improve the existing supervision andaftercare methods applicable today. Thereis need for international cooperation andmore research on these issues.

VI. CONCLUSION
The goal of the group was to discuss
effective rehabilitative programs for the
released prisoners for their proper
reintegration into society. It must berecognized that the kind of rehabilitation
treatment given to offenders differs fromcountry to country. The group has realizedthat there are no well-structured programs
in most countries, as discussed in the paper.
Emphasis is mainly placed on observanceof conditions of parole or license, rather
than on specialized treatment for thedifferent categories of releases. There is,therefore, the need to come up withcomprehensive plans and strategies on how

433

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54
APPENDIX 1
TABLE I
BREACHES OF CONDITIONS OF EARLY RELEASE IN FIJI

Year

EMP

Breach of
EMP

Percent ofbreachCSO

Breach of
CSO

Percent ofbreach

1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996

508
637
456
460
424
358
349
296
211
204
387

122
91
47
86
60
41
30
31
10
5
23

24.0
14.3
10.3
18.7
14.2
11.5
8.6
10.5
4.7
2.5
5.9

40
42
6
88
25
55
39
45
13
11
12

2
0
0
2
2
8
2
1
1
0
1

5.0
0.0
0.0
2.3
8.0
14.5
5.1
2.2
7.7
0.0
8.3

Source: Reseach in Planing Section, Prison Headquaters, Fiji

TABLE IINUMBER OF PAROLES IN JAPANYear

Terminationof Parole

Expiration

Percent of
Expiration

Revocation

Percent of
Revocation

1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996

17,396
17,262
16,427
15,393
14,272
13,09812,745
12,556
12,312
12,202

15,783
15,60715,017
14,11913,118
11,995
11,655
11,485
11,244
11,223

90.7
90.4
91.4
91.7
91.9
91.6
91.4
91.5
91.3
92.0

1,438
1,489
1,207
1,109
979
891
908
915
891
846

8.3
8.6
7.3
7.2
6.9
6.8
7.1
7.3
7.2
6.9

Source: Annual Report of Statistics Rehabilitation, Ministry of Justice, Japan

434

108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARREPORTS OF THE COURSETABLE IIINUMBER OF EARLY RELEASEES AND BREACHES OF CONDITIONS IN
THAILANDYear

Sentence
remission
grantedParolegrantedBreach ofcondition

Percent ofbreachconditions

1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997

11,49010,871
9,721
10,392
9,363
11,321
12,02014,003
17,46017,543
19,824

2,778
787
1,220
1,768
956
945
1,282
2,088
2,114
805
1,114

88
20
48
43
44
54
50
86
88
62
42

0.6
0.2
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2

Source: Department of Corrections, Ministry of Interior, Thailand, 1998

435

APPENDIXCOMMEMORATIVE PHOTOGRAPHS• 108th International Seminar• 109th International Training Course

UNAFEI

THE 108th International Seminar

Left to Right:
4th Row:
Khiem(Viet Nam), Boza Guerrero(Nicaragua), Kataka(P. N.G.), Sharma(India),
Matsuda(Staff)
3rd Row:
Kai(Staff), Mitsui(Staff), Tezuka(Staff), Sudo(Chef), Suenaga(Staff),
Kaneda(Coordinator), Saito(Staff), Umemura(Japan), Fifita(Tonga), Harada(Japan),Yang(R. O. K.), Lai(Malaysia), Surasakdi(Thailand), Enkhtsogt(Mongolia),
Marin Taborda(Venezuela), Todaka(Staff), Okada(Staff), Okeya(Staff), Tatsumi(Staff)
2nd Row:
Komatsu(Staff), Miyamoto(Staff), Abe(Staff), Kusunoki(Japan),
Al-Shihry(Saudi Arabia), Nagashima(Japan), Hokin(Japan), Özgül(Turkey),
Watanabe(Japan), Osawa(Japan), Cheung(Hong Kong), Barclay Arce(Mexico),Ranjatoson(Madagascar), González(Colombia), Shrestha(Nepal),Sarkar(Bangladesh), Gounder(Fiji), Pasha(Pakistan), Olario(Philippines)
1st Row:
Takayama(Chief of Secretariat), Kurosawa(Professor), Yoshida(Professor),
Akane(Professor), Tauchi(Deputy Director), Dr. Gaña, Gaña(Expert for ACPF Working
Group), Lau(V. E.), Marine(V. E.), Fujiwara(Director), Savona(V. E.), Vlassis(V. E.),
Sharma(V. E.), Huq(Course Counseller), Takahashi(Professor), Yamashita(Professor),
Konagai(Professor), Imafuku(Professor), Vander Woude(Linguistic Adviser)

THE 109th International Training Course

Left to Right:
Above:
Laine(V. E.), Andrews(V. E.)
5th Row:
Okeya(Staff),Tezuka(Staff), Komatsu(Staff), Ueta(Staff),
Todaka(Staff),Matsuda(Staff),Suzuki M.(Japan), Takatsu(Japan), Ono(Coordinator)
4th Row:
Takagi(Chef), Gohda(Staff), Ishizuna(Japan), Kiyono(Japan),
Maeki(Japan), Nakazawa(Japan), Szetu(Solomon Islands), Kagawa(Japan)
3rd Row:
Miyamoto(Staff), Imai(Staff), Saito(Staff), Shibata(Japan), Yoon(Republic of Korea),
Aranas(Philippines), Fujioka(Japan), Masire(Botswana), Murakami(Japan),
Yossawan(Thailand), Suzuki A. (Japan), Matsushita(Staff), Mitsui(Staff)
2nd Row:
Tewaniti(Kiribati), Nakamura(Japan), Yamanda(Japan), Osman(Malaysia),
Frandono(Indonesia), Asiedu(Ghana), Udas(Nepal), Waipo(Papua New Guinea),
Hemayet(Bangladesh), Yamin(Pakistan), Chung(Hong Kong), Murege(Kenya),
Tuisalia(Fiji), Tatsumi(Staff)
1st Row:
Ito(Chief of Secretariat), Watanabe(Professor), Sato(Ptofessor), Konagai(Professor),
Tauchi(Deputy Director), Benitez(Course Counsellor), Adams, Dr. Adams(V. E.),
Fujiwara(Director), Yew(V. E.), Yangco(V. E.), Iitsuka(Professor), Akane(Professor),
Kurosawa(Professor), Imafuku(Professor), Vander Woude(Linguistic Adviser)