Roundtable: Inspire. Change. Together. Criminology in the New Era: Confronting Injustice and Inequalities Role of Firearms in the New Criminal Context

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract/Description

Criminal justice responses to terrorism and organized crime often disregard the link to firearms and place secondary importance on tracing and investigating the illicit trafficking flows. However, previous studies have shown there is a direct link to the afore-mentioned crimes and many of these crimes cannot be perpetrated in absence of firearms available to criminals. In the context of globalization, the illicit transfers of firearms are benefiting from new communication and transfer technologies, making them available to all categories of criminal groups. Firearms play a role in obtaining and perpetrating power at social and territorial levels, encouraging domination of force and violence instead of the rule of law. An environment plagued by illicit firearms trafficking, and in the absence of rule of law, exacerbates injustice and inequalities between those who hold the power and those who don’t.
The proposed round table will illustrate how the UN and academia around the world can use collaborative partnerships in raising the awareness of the role that firearms play in perpetrating crime, violence and injustice. Education creates the possibilities of further initiatives and solutions in preventing and countering the phenomenon of illicit firearms trafficking as a source of violence, injustice and inequalities.

Sub Unit

• Area XI. Roundtables

Chair

• Paul Ianovici, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Discussants

• Philippe Assale, University of Abidjan

• Helen Poole, University of Northampton