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van der Wilt, Harmen --- "Legal responses to transnational and international crimes: towards an integrative approach?" [2017] ELECD 1492; in Van der Wilt, Harmen; Paulussen, Christophe (eds), "Legal Responses to Transnational and International Crimes" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 3

Book Title: Legal Responses to Transnational and International Crimes

Editor(s): Van der Wilt, Harmen; Paulussen, Christophe

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781786433985

Section: Chapter 1

Section Title: Legal responses to transnational and international crimes: towards an integrative approach?

Author(s): van der Wilt, Harmen

Number of pages: 24

Abstract/Description:

In international criminal law doctrine, a distinction is usually made between international crimes stricto sensu and transnational crimes. The first mentioned category covers the most heinous crimes and suspects can be exposed to the jurisdiction of international criminal courts and tribunals. Transnational crimes concern harmful activities, whose volatile nature constitutes a nuisance for national law enforcement. They are the subject of so-called ‘suppression conventions’ that instruct states to engage in closer cooperation in criminal matters. However, neither the dichotomy between the two categories, nor the choice for the most appropriate level of law enforcement is cast in stone. After an investigation into the relationship between the taxonomy of crimes and criminal law enforcement, the chapter concludes that the choice of the most adequate forum need not necessarily be defined by the nature of the crime – transnational or international.