NationStates Jolt Archive

Here is my current revision for this proposal. Any comments appreciated. I plan to resubmit it this weekend.

Title: International Crimes Prevention (was Crime Prevention Network)

Category: International Security

Strength: Mild

RECOGNIZING that international crime is a major problem facing the world today,

DEEPLY CONCERNED BY the negative economic and social impacts of organized criminal activities, and convinced of the urgent need to strengthen cooperation to prevent such activities more effectively at the national, regional and international levels,

STRONGLY CONVINCED that the denying of safe havens to international organized criminals is an effective and necessary tool,

RECOMMENDS the following:

I. Scope of Resolution

This Resolution shall apply to all serious crimes (ie, offence would garner a 4+ year prison term or equivalent) and crimes that are in direct violation of UN resolutions, when such offenses are international in nature.

II. Specific actions recommended

A. Each UN member shall establish a national clearinghouse for information pertaining to organized crime
1. This functionary shall coordinate and store information and requests for information from legal bodies within the member nation.
2. This functionary shall be responsible for processing requests from other member nations pertaining to crimes covered under the scope of this resolution.
3. Information requests include (but are not limited to) processing of evidence or statements from witnesses, examination of crime scenes, etc.

B. Exceptions - Member nations may decline specific requests for one of the following reasons
1. Request would violate standing domestic law in that nation
2. Request involves an offense not considered a serious crime under that nation's standing domestic law AND not a direct violation of existing UN resolutions.

Member nations may decline specific requests for one the following reasons....2. Request involves an offense not considered a serious crime under that nation's standing domestic law AND is not a direct violation of existing UN resolutions.

If I'm going to be picky, this actually means: "Member nations may decline specific requests if the request involves an offense not considered a serious crime under that nation's standing domestic law AND the request is not a direct violation of existing UN resolutions." It's because of the "is" after the capitalised "and".

2 should read as follows:
"Request involves an offense not considered a serious crime under that nation's standing domestic law AND not a direct violation of existing UN resolutions."

There's an "of" missing after the "one" in the line beginning "B -Exceptions..."

Aren't there problems with the "equivalent" in I? Who's to determine how big a fine is equivalent to 4 years in prison? etc

Otherwise, I think this is probably good unless someone points out something I didn't notice.

I've edited the original post to correct the language mistakes, thanks!

Aren't there problems with the "equivalent" in I? Who's to determine how big a fine is equivalent to 4 years in prison? etc

This is a very good question. There didn't seem to be a good way to cover all the bases that wouldn't get excessively wordy. Barring any other solution, the nation who received the request would have to decide if the crime in question was of the appropriate category.

Given that several people have talked with me about the "serious crimes" portion of this proposal and how difficult it would be to establish equivalence across member nations, I'm considering the following change in the language of the resolution:

I. Scope of Resolution

This Resolution shall apply to all crimes, especially offenses that are in direct violation of UN resolutions, when such offenses are international in nature.

II. Specific actions recommended

A. Each UN member shall establish a national clearinghouse for information pertaining to organized crime

1. This functionary shall coordinate and store information and requests for information from legal bodies within the member nation.
2. This functionary shall be responsible for processing requests from other member nations pertaining to crimes covered under the scope of this resolution.
3. Each clearinghouse shall establish the categories of crimes for which that clearinghouse shall maintain a database. UN resolution violations must be included in clearinghouse records.

B. Exceptions - Member nations may decline specific requests for one of the following reasons

1. Request would violate standing domestic law in that nation
2. Request involves an offense considered a misdemeanor (or less) under that nation's standing domestic law AND the offense not a direct violation of existing UN resolutions.

Another option on that last point is to change "considered a misdemeanor" to "not considered a crime" and leaving out the bit about UN resolution violations (since a resolution violation should be a crime under a member nation's domestic law).

Is misdemeanor/felony a purely American/British concept? The only definitions I can find are either "a misdemeanor is a crime that is not a felony" or a definition that pertains to old English law.

Is misdemeanor/felony a purely American/British concept? The only definitions I can find are either "a misdemeanor is a crime that is not a felony" or a definition that pertains to old English law.
In US law, a misdemeanor is a crime that exposes the defendant to jail time not to exceed a maximum of one year. (Offenses with only fines and no possibility of jail time are infractions or violations.) A felony exposes the defendant to more than a year in jail. The one-year maximum sentence seems like a decent break-point between 'petty' and 'serious' offenses, but there are some offenses that pose no risk to the life, limb or property of others that still put one over the one-year threshold.