Patrimonial strategies of crime control : an enquiry into the general evolution and human rights implications of international and European criminal law initiatives regarding the financing of terrorism, money, laundering, confiscation, asset freezing, and associated detection mechanisms

Abstract

As the saying goes, money is power. This being so, then an efficient way to deter and repress activities declared unlawful by international or national legislators, such as terrorist acts or organized crime activities, could be through the detection, seizure and confiscation of financial assets held by the persons or entities involved in such unlawful activities — whether the assets are intended to finance future crimes or have been gained through the perpetration of past crimes. This patrimonial outlook is the basis for various legal régimes of crime control designed to: disrupt the financing of crime (especially ‘terrorise/'); prevent and punish the ‘laundering- of proceeds of crime; provide for the detection, seizure and subsequent confiscation of such assets; and to enable international legal assistance and police co-operation for achieving these goals. These areas of the law form a comprehensive international and European global prohibition régimes designed to fight criminality through the financial — or, more broadly, patrimonial — flank. We refer globally to these various law enforcement policies and approaches as patrimonial strategies of crime control.