Euroshore

Abstract

The aim of the research reported here was to foster the development of the promising path of 'organised crime prevention' that the European Union has undertaken with its Action Plan and the Forum Towards a European Strategy to Prevent Organised Crimee held in the Hague on 4-5 November 1999. Its rationale is that there is a broad area of regulatory measures that could be used to hamper the growth of organised crime. This action, if properly pursued, would be less costly and more effective In' terms of reducing the amount of organised crime than crime control action alone, with which, however, it should be combined. Acting on the regulation of the markets in' filtrated and exploited by organised crime requires understanding and explanation of why and how the demand of organised crime is matched by opportunities which facilitate its development. The policy implications of this understanding should be a re-regulation of the mechanisms that produce such opportunities.