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.

Information today is becoming increasingly important, especially in the era of progressive computerization and advancements in the area of computer technology. At the same time, there are also increasingly more threats to this category, of which the most important are criminal offenses against information protection. These are enforced by competent state authorities whose activity is necessary to maintain the proper level of security. The article deals mainly with the phenomenon of crime involving infringement of information, and its scale, using for this purpose the statistical data collected by the Polish National Police Headquarters.

In this article the current trends of development of crime of the terrorist character and extremist orientation are investigated. On the basis of data of official statistics the state and structure of crime of terrorist character and extremist orientation are reflected. The tendency of steady growth of relative indicators of crimes of the terrorist character and extremist orientation is noted. Stimulation of activity of the terrorist and extremist organizations in the Russian Federation naturally inspired the further development of criminal and legal measures of counteraction of crime. Novelization of the criminal law has caused extension of the list of crimes of the terrorist character and extremist orientation. The restructuring of standards of the criminal law directed to the strengthening of measures of counteraction to encroachments of the terrorist character and extremist orientation is followed during the modern period mainly by criminalization and penalization of acts. The outlined tendency of growth of the criminal tension interfaced to development of the terrorist and extremist activity is reflected on the types and amount of the sentences imposed by the courts for the specified crimes. Special attention is paid to the measures of counteraction to the crimes of terrorist character and extremist orientation interfaced to an improvement of legal regulation of their prevention, stimulation of the state mechanism of counteraction of activity of the terrorist and extremist organizations, expansion of the international cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism.

The authors deal with the history of formation of operational and investigative psychology as a field of knowledge influencing the national security. The article discloses in details some psychological essentials of the application of this knowledge in everyday activities of employees of special forces units, police, prosecutor’s office, courts, punishment execution system and other law enforcement institutions. The authors also notes as important that during operational activities, in the process of determination of the truth, officers have not only to help in the reproduction of the facts, but also to try to achieve the truthfulness of the evidence. Because of applying, psychological techniques of operational investigative psychology create conditions for acquisition of correct and complete information about facts, particular events being of interest to law enforcement institutions ensuring necessary impact on persons who intentionally want to hide the truth and often forward false information. Therefore, the acquisition of psychological knowledge in the operational and investigative activities is a necessity for law enforcement institutions.

In the modern world it is hard to imagine any field that would not depend to some extent on electric energy resources; however, the use of electricity is not always legal and general information shows that criminal offences in electricity networks are widespread in the world. Instability in the electricity market is a serious threat to energy supply security in every country and it influences economical, social and political welfare. In order to determine solutions to prevent the above mentioned cases, it is useful to study the experience of legal systems and case-law close to Latvia in relation to the above mentioned criminal offences, as well as to examine the existing problems and particularities of the situation. Taking into account foreign experience in developing legislative acts on prevention of criminal offences related to unlawful use of electricity and their application in practice, this research provides an insight into national legislation and caselaw in this field in several countries – the Russian Federation, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Poland, and the Republic of Lithuania. Analysing the results of the research and the real situation, conclusions on the peculiarities of electricity thefts, foreign practice and possible solutions to improve the situation in Latvia can be drawn.

The basis of this paper is the study of legislative acts of such counties as Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Ukrainie and Russia, related to national security, public order and interests of state prosperity in order to prevent disorders or crimes, to protect health and morality, to safeguard rights and freedoms. The objective of the paper is to assess whether the national legislation meets in this field contemporary requirements, and what are differences in comparison with the legislation of other countries. Our results show that the laws of above mentioned countries are supplemented in due time as much as possible taking into account needs and financial resources of corresponding state. The laws have also similar objectives and tasks. There are some distinctions in application of legal provisions, which, after discussion, would be usefully to introduce into normative regulations of the Republic of Latvia. The norms of law must be clearly defined; the commensurate restrictions must be appropriate for achievement of particular objective, as well as socially necessary. Moreover, the authors of the paper offer concrete proposals taking into account human rights, contemporary situation on the international scene, as well as potential of respective state institution.

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.