In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organized crime, Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen spoke to Dr Tetiana Melnychuk, Associate Professor at Ukraine’s National University Odesa Law Academy and visiting researcher at the Center for European and International Criminal Law Studies at the Universität Osnabrück, about the ‘blurred edges’ of organized crime, preventing criminals infiltrating government and legal agencies, and the need to prepare for the restoration of law and order after the war in Ukraine.
❝The relevance of the Center’s activities was caused by the considerable impact of organised crime on Ukrainian society, politics and mass media since the state gained independence in 1991 after the break-up of Soviet Union.❞
❝Organized crime in today’s world is increasingly moving from rigidly structured entities to decentralization with unclear, blurred edges and a hybrid structure.❞
❝Despite the uncertainty of the timing and outcome of the war’s end, it is clear that preparations for the restoration of law and order after the war need to be made now, including assessing the criminogenic risks and criminal trends in the short- and long-term.❞
❝The key to success is a political will to catch a ‘big fish’ resulting in real sentences for considerable persons of criminal community, real punishments and confiscation of assets.❞
❝Despite the fact that organised crime prefers stable jurisdictions with weak institutions and widespread corruption, it often receive benefits from chaos and transitive crisis.❞
❝The most interesting fact is that the head of the government, the owner of a big business and the leader of organised crime could all be one person. This could sound exaggeratedly, but many states have the testimony to the symbiosis of the criminal, business and political worlds.❞