Crime, International Response To

Various institutions in the international community respond to crime, because criminal activities or their consequences sometimes spill across national jurisdictional borders. The international dimensions of certain crimes, such as organized crime, the drug trade, and terrorism, are the motivation for responses by a plurality of institutions in politics, law, and law enforcement at the international level. Although the current era presents an unprecedented high degree of internationalization in many areas of social life, international responses to crime have a long history.

The international control of crime has historically taken shape since at least the nineteenth century, when the governments of large national states sought to consolidate political power. The earliest efforts to coordinate crime control on an international level targeted, in particular, the political opponents of ...