Global Crime Issues
Margaret Locklear
CJA/394
Dave Sicilian
June 15, 2015

Global Crime Issues Crime exists in all walks of life, and all over the world. Some crimes only affect the country in which they are committed. However, many crimes make an impact on the criminal justice system on a global level. When a crime can harm every country, it can be harder to combat. It takes the unity of each country to slow down or put an end to global criminal issues. Examples of crimes that disturb the criminal justice system on a global level are drug and weapon trafficking. One crime in particular that has been brought to light in recent years that affects the world is human trafficking. One way that human trafficking is becoming a worldwide issue is through the use of the internet. Perpetrators or organized crime groups can go on the internet and find people they want to “buy.” Most of the websites are considered “underground or black market” sites and access is available through memberships. The pages to follow will address what human trafficking is and how the worldwide criminal justice systems are combatting the issue. There will be a summary of a news story covering a cybercrime that had a worldwide impact. Following the story, will be a discussion on how the worldwide criminal justice systems handle the incident. Lastly, an opinion on the effectiveness of the systems’ response to the issue and suggestions for future responses to combat or prevent cyber crimes will be provided.
Defining human trafficking The words, human trafficking, sum up their meaning. One can define this crime as slavery of the modern age (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2015). For professional and academic reasons, human trafficking is the recruitment, transfer, or receipt of a person. Humans can be trafficked using a threat, force, abduction, fraud, and coercion (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2015). Trafficking humans consists of three main elements. Those elements are the action, the means, and the purpose. The action of trafficking involves the transport and receipt of humans. The means of trafficking includes the threat, force, and abuse of power. The purpose of such a heinous usually is exploitation. Exploitation involves sexually forced labor, slavery, and even the removal of organs (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2015). Human trafficking is one crime that is felt around the world. Every country has had its battle with the criminal issue. It is sad to say that human trafficking is estimated to be a $32 billion a year global business with sex as its top seller. Data suggests that 79% of victims of human trafficking are used for sexual exploitation. The other 18% is said to be used for forced labor. A crime such as this knows no gender or age. Any person can become a victim. The multi-billion dollar illegal business is said to have trapped around 21 million women, children, and men into forced labor and sex. However, woman victims are higher in numbers due to sexual exploitation (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2015). Data collected from 132 countries in 2012 cited one-third of victims between 2007 and 2010 were persons under the age of 18 (United Nations News Centre. 2013).
The world’s response to human trafficking The United Nations, (UN), has made a large attempt at combatting the issue of human Trafficking. In 2010, the UN adopted the Global Plan of action to put an end to the crime. The main purpose of the plan is to urge governments to take coordinated and consistent measures to defeat the issue. With the plan came the voluntary trust fund. All countries are asked to make donations. The donations are used for victims of this crime to aid in rehabilitation. Victims’ who escape or make it out alive by other means and work with officials can benefit from the fund (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2015). One goal is to integrate the fight against human trafficking into the United Nations’ broader program to boost development and to strengthen security in the world (United Nations News Centre. 2013). America has also implemented laws and acts in regards to putting an end to human trafficking. In 2000, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act was signed into effect. The Act was the first in US federal law used to protect victims and to enforce the prosecution of their traffickers (Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. 2014). Victims protected under the Act are U.S. citizens and not U.S. citizens. Victims travel from all over the world by force; they do not end up in a certain country on their will. Non-U.S. citizens who are rescued on U.S grounds must be provided the same treatment as legal U.S citizens (Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. 2014). In 2007, the Department of Justice’ Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office investigated 182 human trafficking cases, and 89 persons were charged. In the end, there were 103 convictions and the average prison time was 9.4 years. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, in 2007, saved 270 adults and 33 minors. From 2000 to 2007, 1,379 victims were identified (Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. 2014). America also has the Blue Campaign. The campaign is used as a voice for the Department of Homeland Security, (DHS), and victims of the crime. DHS works with law enforcement agencies on all levels, the federal government, non-government agencies, and private organizations to protect those who are exploited and bring their offender(s) to justice. The Blue Campaign raises public awareness of human trafficking and provides the education on recognizing someone who may be a victim (The Department of Homeland Security. 2015).
Latest Cybercrime headlines Early June 2015, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was breached. OPM is like the human resource office for all government employees. Information that was taken during the breach relates to around 4 million government employees (Gewirtz, D. 2015). Those affected could be present, former, and retired. After the OPM was investigating the breach, it was determined that there could have been even more information stolen. Apparently, the breach could have been going on for up to a year. OPM is breaking the breach down to two different cyber-attacks. Both attacks combined could bring the number of persons affected to 14 million or more (Gewirtz, D. 2015). The United States government is pointing the finger at China. The U.S. has yet to give reasons as to why they are assuming China was behind the cyber-attack.
Actions to be taken As of right now, the investigation into the cyber-attack is still ongoing. Since there is no real idea of who conducted the attack, there is no one to punish. The U.S government is saying that China could be behind the breach. If it is found that China is behind the attacks, President Obama said he will consider sanctions against the country (Gewirtz, D. 2015). If the U.S. considers sanctions against China, it means that trade, investments, and other commercial activity can be restricted (Kolodkin, B. 2014). Enforcing sanctions on China can be extremely hard for both sides. During the ongoing investigation, OPM has stated that they are doing the best they can to improve the security of their system (Gewirtz, D. 2015).
Opinion of effectiveness The investigation into the attacks on the Office of Personnel Management is ongoing. Since the investigation is not complete, it would be unfair to judge if the response were effective or not. Being a government employee, one would hope that something is done to fix or resolve the issue. If it if found that China is behind the attack, inflicting punishment could be dangerous for both countries. Punishment in a country like China could mean another war. Another war is the last thing that our men and women need at this moment. However, maybe the cyber-attack on OPM was a way to bring about a war. America is in debt to China for a lot of money. It could be hard to wage war against someone who has this country by the pockets. Even though this attack was on U.S information and systems, it does not mean that the effect will not be felt elsewhere. The information that was stolen was that of security background checks. When an employee attempts to obtain a government position or a security clearance, he or she must list the names and information of people who are close to them. Some of the people trying to get the job or a security clearance have worked with other countries and some very important people from other countries. If the enemy finds out who is working in private with the U.S, the enemy may attack them as well. It does not seem as though other countries realize this part of the situation as of yet since it is fairly new. Once the word gets out that information of foreign allies has been stolen, that is when other countries will begin to step in. The delay in informing the public, and most importantly government employees, was not unsatisfactory. Many news articles covering the breach have determined that OPM has known about the attack for some time. The attack could have been ongoing for a year. It is scary to know that one is working for someone who would keep such a secret. Why would the government keep a security breach of personnel’s private information a secret? People work hard to obtain government positions and to find out information like this can be heartbreaking. In the future, OPM, and the government as a whole must find better ways to protect our countries systems. Not just the systems that hold government employees information, but every system. The lack of protection has left our country and its people vulnerable to more harm.
Conclusion
There are many crimes that are committed that affect more than one country. However, one crime that seems to cause the most damage is human trafficking. From reading the previous paragraphs, one can see that human trafficking can reach anyone. The crime is not racist and does not care the color of a person’s skin. Anyone can become a victim and end up on any part of the world since this crime is committed in every country. If human trafficking is not horrific enough for some, then surely cyber-attacks would be scary. As mentioned above, the Office of Personnel Management was recently breached. The information stolen in the breach was that of employees past and present. Information such as addresses, social security numbers, and background investigations were stolen. The enemy now has in its hands sensitive information on just about every government employee since the 1980’s. They could go door to door and harm these people in search of information. Is that scary enough? It is scary enough for someone who personally is affected by it that is for sure. The previous pages addressed what human trafficking is and how the worldwide criminal justice systems are combatting the issue. There was a summary of news stories covering a cybercrime that had a worldwide impact. Following the story, was a discussion on how the criminal justice systems handled the incident. Lastly, an opinion on the effectiveness of the systems’ response to the issue and suggestions for future responses to combat or prevent cyber crimes was provided.

References
Gewirtz, D. (2015). After OPM breach, Snowden and Manning are just the beginning. Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com/article/after-opm-snowden-and-manning-are-just-the-beginning/
Kolodkin, B. (2014). What Are Sanctions? Types and Examples. Retrieved from http://usforeignpolicy.about.com/od/introtoforeignpolicy/a/what-are-sanctions.htm
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. (2014). What is the United States doing to Fight Human Trafficking?. Retrieved from http://misacor-usa.org/index.php/what-is-the-united-states-doing-to-combat-human-trafficking
The Department of Homeland Security. (2015). Blue Campaign. Retrieved from http://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign
United Nations News Centre. (2013). UN Member States appraise Global Action Plan to combat human trafficking. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44885#.VX2LShHD9fw
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2015). Human Trafficking FAQs. Retrieved from http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/faqs.html#What_is_human_trafficking
United Nations office on Drugs and Crime. (2015). United Nations launches global plan of action against human trafficking. Retrieved from http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2010/September/un-launches-global-plan-of-action-against-human-trafficking.html