Asset forfeiture as a means of combating organized crime

• In Event: WG Organized Crime and Criminal Networks Panel 3. Preventing and policing organized crime

Abstract

Organized crime is a serious concern for the international community and poses a major challenge to the security and stability of States, as reflected in the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo, 2000). This Convention highlights the serious economic repercussions of this phenomenon. At a global level, it is estimated that organized crime generates between 1.6 and 2.2 trillion dollars per year, exceeding in Europe 110 billion euros per year.

Based on the conviction that the confiscation of profits can be an important incentive for the abandonment of these activities, various regulatory provisions have given a significant role to the confiscation of the proceeds of criminal activities. This explains the important reforms in this area that the Spanish Criminal Code underwent in 2010 and 2015 and the no less novel creation also in 2015 of the Office for the Recovery and Management of Assets (ORGA), attached to the Ministry of Justice.

In the current proposed study, having analyzed the legal framework, our aim is to conduct an empirical study that analyzes the effectiveness of these instruments after nearly 10 years of evolution, since the National Strategy against Organized Crime and Serious Crime (2019-2023), "Security is a common project", pointed out the need to neutralize the criminal economy after recognizing that only 0.2 % of the profits from this illegal practice are seized

Authors

• Andrea Planchadell-Gargallo, University Jaume I

• Catalina Vidales Rodríguez, University of Valencia