Forming a Group for the Purpose of Committing Criminal Offences as a Contemporary Threat to Democratic Societies – New Challenges in the Process of Accession of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union

Abstract

The views of the contemporary criminal law doctrine have been emphasizing the importance of finding adequate criminal legal instruments of state response to organized crime for more than a decade, primarily bearing in mind the danger this form of crime poses to the contemporary, democratic society. The adequacy of the state response to organized crime requires a number of instruments that should be effective in the strategic field, in the field of ratified international documents, amended legal texts, which in the future would contribute to an even more effective fight in the field of detecting, proving and conducting proceedings for organized criminal offences. Taking into account the degree of danger of organized crime to modern society, including the criminal offence of forming a group for the purpose of committing crimes, it is necessary to react in all the fields mentioned above, especially with regard to the process of accession to the European Union.The authors analyse the legal characteristics of the criminal offence of forming a group for the purpose of committing criminal offences, which is one of the basic types of criminalisation associated with organized crime. The authors also analyse the normative and practical measures that are a prerequisite for a more effective fight against organized crime and an important stepping stone on Serbia’s path to the European Union.

Suppression of organized crime and Serbia's accession to the European Union

“…The principles that stand out when it comes to effective financial investigations are independent and specialized bodies for the prosecution and conduct of financial investigations of criminal offences of organized crime, which act urgently, whereas the information obtained by the financial investigation is confidential and represents classified information determined accordingly with the law that deals with the confidentiality of data 9 . These principles can best be implemented through the following recommendations made by the European Commission in the AC 23: 1. implement measures to strengthen the independence of all investigative and judicial bodies involved in financial investigations, in order to be more effectively protected from political pressure, 10 2. provide adequate resources (budget, personnel and through specialist training) for all bodies in the fields of investigation which are in a charge of corruption, organized crime, 3. improve cooperation and exchange of information between bodies that are in charge of the fight against organized crime through better interconnection of the database, respecting the rules on personal data protection and through the establishment of a secure platform for communication (point 2.3.2 of the AC 23).Adding to this the principle of more efficient action of the bodies responsible for combating this form of crime, the European Commission, through its recommendation, emphasizes the need for full implementation of the new standards of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 11 ,enabling To be able to more effectively implement above recommendation of the European Commission, it is necessary to analyse how state bodies are organized and what their powers are in relation to the fight against this forme of crime (point 2.3.2.1 of the AC). Strengthening independence of institutions responsible for combating organized crime and corruption requires that the police and prosecutors are constantly trained to conduct financial investigations, monitor cash flows, and act proactively as well as special investigative techniques (point 2.3.2.8 of the AC23).…”