Government has no overall coherent strategy for confiscation orders and this fundamentally undermines the process for confiscating assets. In 2012-13, 673,000 offenders were convicted of a crime, many of which had a financial element, yet only 6,400 confiscation orders were set. The annual amount of fraud perpetrated by criminals in England and Wales has been estimated by the National Fraud Authority as some £52 billion. On this basis, it has been further estimated that, out of every £100 generated by the criminal economy, £99.65 was kept by the perpetrators. Without the government knowing what constitutes the overall success of its policy, the bodies involved have no way of knowing which criminals or court cases should be prioritized for confiscation activity. Action was not taken early enough in many cases and this, together with out-of-date ICT systems, data errors and poor joint working, hampers the efficiency and effectiveness of enforcing confiscation orders. Throughout the criminal justice system, there is insufficient awareness of the proceeds of crime and its potential impact. Confiscation orders have a low profile within law enforcement agencies, with low awareness of financial legislation outside specialist teams. This results in many cases not being considered for confiscation. Owing to a lack of data and agreed success criteria, it is impossible to make meaningful cost-benefit assessments of the enforcement of different orders. Where confiscation orders are made and not paid, the main sanctions do not work. The Courts and Tribunals Service found that in 2012, only two per cent of offenders paid in full once the sentence was imposed.

This book provides a normative analysis of the justifications and limits of asset confiscation as a crime control measure in a comparative perspective. More specifically, it deals with what in this context is referred to as extended appropriation, that is, confiscation in cases where the causal link between the property (the proceeds of crime) in question and the predicate offence(s) is less obvious. Particular focus is placed on extended criminal confiscation and civil recovery. These forms of confiscation give rise to a number of complex legal issues. The overarching purpose of the book is to provide an analysis of the nature of extended appropriation within the criminal justice system and to discuss a normative framework that may assist in assessing the legitimacy of such confiscation schemes. It also seeks to explore what a fair and reasonable balance between the interests of the state and those of the individual in this field might look like. The analysis starts from an acknowledgement not only of the need for having effective confiscation regimes in place, but also of the need for protecting the interests of the individual. It is hoped that the book will stimulate further discussion on the legitimacy of asset recovery as a crime control measure.

The fallout from the financial crisis of 2007-8, HSBC Suisse in 2015, and the Panama Papers in 2016 has generated calls for far more vigorous and punitive responses to tax evasion and greater international co-operation against mechanisms for giving anonymity to the ownership of property. One mechanism to ensure compliance is the use of the criminal justice system. The announcement in 2013 by the then Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, of a policy of increasing rates of prosecution for tax evasion raised squarely the issue of whether increased involvement of criminal law and criminal justice in tax evasion would be justifiable or not. The relationship between tax evasion and the proceeds of crime is taking on increasing importance: treating the 'proceeds of criminal tax evasion' as falling within the 'proceeds of crime' regime inevitably expands the scope of both. In this book, Peter Alldridge considers the development of the offences and the relationship between tax evasion offences and other criminal offences; the relevant rules of evidence; prosecution structures, decision-making processes, and alternatives to prosecution. Specific topics include offshore evasion and the relationship of tax evasion with other crimes and aspects of the criminal justice system. A topical and lively discussion of a heated debate.

Organised crime, corruption, and terrorism are considered to pose significant and unrelenting threats to the integrity, security, and stability of contemporary societies. Alongside traditional criminal enforcement responses, strategies focused on following the money trail of such crimes have become increasingly prevalent. These strategies include anti-money laundering measures to prevent ‘dirty money’ from infiltrating the legitimate economy, proceeds of crime powers to target the accumulated assets derived from crime, and counter-terrorist financing measures to prevent ‘clean’ money from being used for terrorist purposes. This collection brings together 17 emerging researchers in the fields of anti-money laundering, proceeds of crime, counter-terrorist financing and corruption to offer critical analyses of contemporary anti-assets strategies and state responses to a range of financial crimes. The chapters focus on innovative anti-financial crime measures and assemblages of governance that have become a feature of late modernity and on the ways in which individual nation states have responded to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing requirements in light of their specific social, political, and economic contexts. This collection draws on perspectives from law, criminology, sociology, politics, and other disciplines. It adopts a much-needed international approach, focusing not only on expected jurisdictions, such as the United States and United Kingdom, but also on analysis from countries such as Qatar, Kuwait, Iran, and Nigeria. The authors stand out for their fresh and original research, which places them at the cutting edge of the subject. This book provides a comprehensive, insightful, and original study of an important and developing field for academics, students, practitioners, and policymakers in multiple jurisdictions.

The Palgrave Handbook of Criminal and Terrorism Financing Law focuses on how criminal and terrorist assets pose significant and unrelenting threats to the integrity, security, and stability of contemporary societies. In response to the funds generated by or for organised crime and transnational terrorism, strategies have been elaborated at national, regional, and international levels for laws, organisations and procedures, and economic systems. Reflecting on these strands, this handbook brings together leading experts from different jurisdictions across Europe, America, Asia, and Africa and from different disciplines, including law, criminology, political science, international studies, and business. The authors examine the institutional and legal responses, set within the context of both policy and practice, with a view to critiquing these actions on the grounds of effective delivery and compliance with legality and rights. In addition, the book draws upon the experiences of the many senior practitioners and policy-makers who participated in the research project which was funded by a major Arts and Humanities Research Council grant. This comprehensive collection is a must-read for academics and practitioners alike with an interest in money laundering, terrorism financing, security, and international relations.

This book surveys the development of laws surrounding the crime of money laundering and the associated changes in the anti-money laundering (AML) industry. The policy of attempting to deal with crime by attacking its financial products started in the arena of drugs, but quickly moved to organised crime, terrorism, corruption and tax. Now the focus has shifted once again to organised crime and to immigration. In the wake of the failure of the ‘war on drugs' a huge amount of money is now being spent on a global surveillance and reporting system, and we do not know whether the system works or not. What Went Wrong With Money Laundering Law? documents the events which, taken independently, could each be seen as rational responses to specific problems and as incremental adjustments to the focus of the law. Taken together, however, it is demonstrated that they have led to significant changes in the law and to the current situation. Underlying the entire AML industry is the crime of money laundering, which, having been devised more to provide a trigger for the reporting machinery than to describe and condemn a particular category of harmful behaviour, is now being used in a far wider range of cases than is appropriate. This book will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners of criminal and financial law, socio-legal studies and criminology.

The fields of tort and crime have much in common in practice, particularly in how they both try to respond to wrongs and regulate future behaviour. Despite this commonality in fact, fascinating difficulties have hitherto not been resolved about how legal systems co-ordinate (or leave wild) the border between tort and crime. What is the purpose of tort law and criminal law, and how do you tell the difference between them? Do criminal lawyers and civil lawyers reason and argue in the same way? Are the rules on capacity, consent, fault, causation, secondary liability or defences the same in tort as in crime? How do the rules of procedure operate for each area? Are there points of overlap? When, how and why do tort and crime interact? This volume systematically answers these and other questions for eight legal systems: England, France, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Scotland, the Netherlands and Australia.

This is a new strategy to deal with the challenges we face from serious and organised crime. It is published to coincide with the launch of the new National Crime Agency (NCA) and reflects changes to the threats faced and the lessons learned from previous work. Organised crime includes drug trafficking, human trafficking, and organised illegal immigration, high value fraud and other financial crimes, counterfeiting, organised acquisitive crime and cyber crime. The aim of the strategy is to substantially reduce the level of serious and organised crime affecting the UK and its interests. The strategy uses the framework developed for our counter-terrorist work and has four components: prosecuting and disrupting people engaged in serious and organised crime (Pursue); preventing people from engaging in this activity (Prevent); increasing protection against serious and organised crime (Protect); and reducing the impact of this criminality where it takes place (Prepare). The strategy lists strategic objectives under each of the four areas of work. Tactical operational objectives (e.g. priority crime groups) will be set by the NCA with law enforcement agency counterparts. Our immediate priority is the work set out under Pursue to prosecute and relentlessly disrupt organised criminals and reduce the threat they pose. Like other threats to our national security, serious and organised crime requires a response across the whole of government, and close collaboration with the public, the private sector and with many other countries

Despite the improvement in the public finances, this year's Autumn statement is fiscally neutral and locks in lower spending by reducing departmental budgets for 2014-15 and 2015-16 by 1.1% but excluding local government, Security & Intelligence Agencies and HMRC. The Government will: cap the Retail Prices Index in business rates to 2% in 2014-15 and extend the doubling of Small Business Rate Relief to April 2014; will provide a business rate discount of £1,000 in 2014-15 and 2014-16 for retail properties with a rateable value of up to £50,000 and a 50% discount from business rates for new occupants of previously empty retail premises for 18 months; abolish National Insurance Contributions for under 21 year olds on earnings up £813 per week; remove cap on higher education student numbers; announce further reforms to make the most of the UK's science base; introduce a new tax relief for shale gas, and increase support for employee ownership and the creative industries; improve the UK's infrastructure with the National Infrastructure Plan 2013; and take further action to increase housing supply and support home ownership. Fuel prices will be frozen and the impact of policies on energy bills will be reduced. The average increase in rail fares will capped. Married couples & civil partners will be allowed to transfer £1,000 of their income tax personal allowance to their spouse where neither is a higher rate taxpayer.