Introduction
Globalization can be viewed as the process where the world’s markets and business become more connected and interdependent. Through globalization, various parts of the world have become closely connected through economic activities. For instance, various countries are engaged in trading activities with each other. This process has been fuelled by the advancement in technology and the removal of trade barriers between different countries. Advancement in technology has facilitated the movement of people from one region to another. It has also led to reduction in communication costs, which has improved the profitability of the trade across different countries. In the contemporary world, there has been a drastic improvement in infrastructure and telecommunications. These are some of the improvements that have significantly triggered the process of globalization. The rise of the internet has also played a pivotal role in globalization. Through internet, people from different parts of the world can easily communicate more easily than before.
The globalization process has a significant impact on the criminal justice. This is because people have become more and more connected in different activities. This affects various definitions in criminal justice. In other words, the process of globalization has affected the practices which are directed towards crime mitigation through sanctioning or rehabilitating those who break the law.
Discussion
As already noted, the process of globalization has a significant impact on criminal justice. As a result of globalization, the world has become one global village. This has been characterized by increased rate of interaction in business or trading activities. This has significantly affected the approach to the criminal justice. Globalization has led to an increase in business crimes, increased antiforeigner sentiments and increased cases of corruption. There is also a major concern on whether it still makes sense in distinguishing of different nations. Globalization also has a significant impact on how borders and space are conceptualized. The process of globalization has also significantly affected the creation of exceptions and norms (Business Wire 2011). “The nature of exploitation has changed from an imperialistic domination based on economic and military power, to a global hegemony of finance and technology grounded in mass consumption and mass culture” (Weiss 2000).
The process of globalization has provided a room for crime. For instance, through international trade, some people take the advantage to trafficking drugs which have become a very common practice in international trade scene (The International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy. 2011). This has increased the need to have strict trade regulation measures in order to solve the problem.
According to Weiss (2000), globalization has led to proliferation of social stresses, social fragmentation and increase in the level of insecurity around the world. As the process of globalization intensifies, many states are now unable to affect both their economic and social outcomes in their respective jurisdictions. For instance, the states face the threat of being isolated economically in case it attempts to put its own measures to control the process of globalization. Therefore, there is need to have a universal measure which will help in mitigating crimes related to globalization.
Through globalization, there is increased capital mobility which has been facilitated by digital technology and financial deregulation (Findlay 2008). This has increased the threat of withdrawal or withholding of the money in the areas which may be considered to be having unfavourable investment climate.
Globalization has also led to labour migration. According to Weiss (2000), labour migration has a significant impact on the criminal justice. As a result of economic reorganizations, political instability, danced technology and the attractiveness of the industrialized countries, many people have resorted to moving from their own countries in search of jobs. For instance, employees from more industrialized countries are paid better than those from less unindustrialized countries (Gilbert and Russell 2010). This is one of the factors that have led to increase in the rate of immigration from one country to another.
Immigrant workers are more likely to be exploited because they can easily accept low wages and exploitation (Weiss 2000). Therefore, immigration is more likely to lead to decrease in the level of living standards of the low-income workers living in the urban areas in developing and developed countries. This situation leads to hostilities, political tensions, and attempts to criminalize outsiders (Bohlander 2010).
Increased labour migration has also led to increase in cases of illegal immigrants. Increased incentives in the industrial advanced countries have attracted citizens from less industrialized countries where labour is relatively cheaper. As a result, cases of illegal immigrants have significantly increased. For instance, illegal immigrants comprises of increasingly large proportion of the European prisoners (Weiss 2000).
Globalization has also increased the rate of rural-urban migration. Most of the people tend to move from the rural areas to the urban areas where there is concentration of opportunities. For instance, China has clearly destructive effect of unrestricted capital market forces on established citizenship (Weiss 2000). A significant number of people in China have been caught by the regulation for unofficially moving from rural areas to cities in search of opportunities. In most cases, the outsiders tend to be faced by discrimination from the conception that they threaten the shares of the goods of the city people.
Increased social mobility because of globalization has undermined the social control structures. The floating population also increases the rate of crimes. Because of globalization, differences between the people have led to increased riots because of tensions (Weiss 2000). There is also an increase in the rate of the drug trade, prostitution, gunrunning and other forms of crimes. Several countries have come up with different measures to curb this problem. For instance, the Chinese authorities have attempted to apply commoditization in order to solve some of these problems resulting from the process of globalization.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this discussion has clearly shown that the globalization process has a significant impact on the criminal justice. Globalization has led to increased interdependence among various economies. It has also intensified the interaction between different parts of the world through trade and business activities. There is increase in labour migration, which has raised several concerns. Increased interdependence among states has led to the need to have a unified jurisdiction in order solve crimes that cannot be effectively handled at the national jurisdiction. Therefore, there is a need to revise these regulations accordingly in order to handle the problem effectively.
Reference List
Bohlander, M. 2010. Globalization of Criminal Justice. U.K., Ashgate.
Business Wire. 2011. Research and Markets: Comparative Criminal Justice and Globalization. Web.
Findlay, M. 2008. Governing Through Globalised Crime: Futures for International Criminal Justice. U.S.A., Willan.
Gilbert, M. and Russell, R. 2010. Globalization of Criminal Justice in the Corporate Context. 2010. Volume 38, Number 3, 211-238.
The International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy. 2011. Globalization of Crime – Criminal Justice Responses. Web.
Weiss, M. 2000. Introduction to “Criminal Justice and Globalization at the New Millennium”. A Journal of Crime, Conflict & World Order. Social Justice 27, No. 2 (2000).