Generolo Jono Žemaičio Lietuvos karo akademija

Globalization as a modern process is accelerating in the whole world, and this process contributes to both -progress and various negative phenomena in society. One of these negative phenomena is transnational criminality, which is increasingly impacting also Latvia. For that reason, this problem is investigated in this paper, in order to understand how the Latvian state may take advantage of the potential of globalization to reduce the consequences of this globalization, which become apparent in the form of transnational criminality. This paper analyses a number of concepts related to the research area, such as „globalization”, „transnational crime/ criminality” and others. The discussion about the impact of globalization on immigration and how it affects the transnational criminality is also one of the issues of his paper. The purpose of this paper is also to investigate the impact of globalization on drug-related crimes, as well as the issues of prevention of these crimes in relation to the Republic of Latvia under the influence of modern globalization. The paper explores the potential for international cooperation in the fight against transnational criminality, as well as deals with ways of further improvement of this transnational cooperation to make it more effective in reducing of transnational criminality. The above mentioned paper could serve as a theoretical insight into various problems, which the law enforcement bodies have in practice, when they have to deal with different aspects of transnational criminality. This paper also explores the problems that may arise when the officers of these institutions have to cooperate internationally in detecting transnational organized crimes and, thereby, to learn from this cooperation, so that this international cooperation between the law enforcement institutions of Latvia and other countries will ensure more better results in the future.

The concepts of security and weapons are closely related, which equally applies to both public security and national security. In order to ensure their national security, countries are trying to purchase the most effective weapons. In order to achieve the necessary level of public security, the country arms law enforcement personnel. Such armament is legitimate and contributes to the strengthening of general security. At the same time, the purchase of weapons by the population for individual security purposes is not so unambiguous. On the one hand, law-abiding citizens have the right to protect their lives and health from criminal threats. On the other hand, a free turnover of a large number of weapons increases their accessibility and the possibility of getting hold by individuals who are able to use them for criminal purposes. The question arises: which weapons can be available to the population and which not. After all, weapons can be different. A special position in the category of weapons is occupied by cold weapons, the criminal liability for the possession of which is provided for in some countries. Moreover, the question of what should be considered a cold weapon is sufficiently disputable. All these issues are to be studied in the framework of this article.

In the epoch when terrorism and other serious crimes are cross-border problem, both the European Union and its Member States are responsible to their citizens for full ensuring of area of their internal security. Criminal offences against property or property crimes endanger the property of individuals and legal entities, as well as jeopardize their property interests. Consequently, the property rights, which are jeopardized by the crimes, are guaranteed by the State and are ensured by the Law Enforcement Authorities. Quantitatively, the largest group of criminal offences is composed by the crimes that can only be done on purpose of greediness, and most of them express themselves as the unlawful expropriation of the unfamiliar property from the lawful possession, in order to deal with that asset as their own. Such crimes are theft, robbery, extortion, fraud, and they together form more than half of all offences committed. For their research, the authors of the article have chosen the crimes with high public hazard degree from the offences against property. These offences are most of all affected by the globalization processes in the world, and they are: crimes related to a transport vehicle as a threat object; thefts from cultural objects where the objects of danger are churches or religious articles; modern frauds, when during their realization modern technical tools and new technologies are used. During the research, the co-author of the article – Prof. Dr. Jānis Ivančiks, has deceased suddenly. However, the years of joint work, discussions and scientific disputes, that accompanied the writing of this article and other written works allow co-authors to maintain the position and scientific views of this outstanding scientist in the field of forensic investigations and operational activities of special divisions. The authors show in this work the creative activity in the field of legal norms which affect personal property of individuals and their feeling, when the lawmakers eliminate the unnecessary rules, create new or improve existing ones in accordance with the country’s political, economic situation and globalization processes.

The concept of safety is closely related to the activities of law enforcement agencies and, above all, the police. In this regard, the individual qualities of police officers and their influence on the effectiveness of the State Police in ensuring individual safety of citizens are of great importance. One of the most pressing problems in modern society is to protect women from sexual and physical violence, which is required by the main provisions of the Istanbul Convention. The article presents the results of the research on the representations of Latvian police officers about victims of sexual violence in connection with individual representations of justice through a study of belief in a just world. The topicality of this topic is based on numerous researches of the stereotypical view on victims of sexual violence and the negative impact of these stereotypes on the further investigation of crimes and provision of assistance to victims, which leads to frequent concealment of rape cases and distrust to law enforcement agencies in the professional context of making a fair decision. The aim of this research was to determine how the belief in a just world among police officers (N = 170) affects their attitude towards women who have been sexually abused and their ability to objectively assess the situation. The research was conducted based on the results of 4 used methods: “Personal belief in a just world”; “General belief in a just world”; Attitudes toward Rape Victims Scale; Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale followed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the LSD Post Hoc test method to identify statistically significant differences between groups.

Global crises of the end of the XX – beginning of the XXI century have additionally contributed to the search for new market opportunities and made it obvious that on the modern market efforts of one particular company are not enough to do business efficiently. Thus, companies choose a survival strategy in times of growing uncertainty and together with small-scale and medium-scale companies form unified structures which allow competing successfully with large companies. These structures also reveal and enhance their advantages which lie in flexibility and adaptability to the market demands. The article examines basic models of the intercompany networks which meet the requirements of transition to sustainable economic growth in the cross-border region (Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus).

The article is dedicated to the research and assessment of trust and partnership impact throughout the main authors of innovation cooperation - universities, business and state. This impact is put on the innovative cooperation’s development of the border region (Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus) and production of innovative products and services in that region. The research region is consisting of the regions of Latvia (Latgale region), Lithuania (Vilnius region, Alytus region, Utena region, Panevezys region, Kaunas region), Belarus (Vitebsk, Grodno region, Minsk region, Mogilev region). Lack of attention to the above issues, related with border region, stresses the importance of the article. Innovations are key factor in long-term economic development of the region. The main condition for development is a purposeful formation and effective functioning of the territorial innovation system, in which one of the factors of its successful development is trust between participants of the system. The information base of the research is survey of 620 entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized enterprises in the border region.

Violent crimes by the degree of public danger and the severity of the caused damage far exceed other criminal manifestations. Rapers disseminate the stereotype of aggressively-violent behaviour in the domestic and leisure microenvironment. These criminal offences are mostly condemned from the point of view of the general human morality. The aim of the present article is to examine the impact of socio-economic development level of a country on the level of violent crimes which are committed in that country. Successful prevention of a violent crime, which infringes on such important values as a human’s life and health, demands scrutinizing of its causes. Any crime, the violent one in particular, is not as a rule the result of one cause but is a combination of external and internal factors. The qualitative analysis conducted within the research has proved the conclusion that there is a definite connection between the socioeconomic development level of a country and the trend of the proportion of particular crime types that dominate in it. In less developed countries the proportion of violent crimes is much higher than in the developed ones, where thefts and other crimes against property prevail.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union the control over the production and sales of narcotic substances in Latvia and Lithuanian decreased significantly. In 1992 the law that stipulated compulsory treatment for drug addiction was abolished. At about the same time relationships among drug addicts underwent a drastic change. In the 70’s and the 80’s drug addicts acquired and produced narcotics themselves but in the 90’s with the start of economic growth, organised crime started to flood the market of our countries with cocaine, Ecstasy, LSD and amphetamines which took over the traditional homemade narcotic substances.

The concept of national security is defined as purposeful action, which is subdued to the interests of state wellbeing and inner order. State agencies and organizations are granted the rights to fulfill such kind of activities. At the same time the definition of national safety does not involve quality of life of state’s inhabitants, environment protection interests and stability of political processes in the state. The idea of national security is overlooked only from the military force alert’s view not taking into account such social phenomena as crime level in the country. The concept of national safety of Latvia is researched through the economic and demographic processes making final conclusions based on statistics.