Mainstreaming Methodology for Estimating Costs of Crime
Current developments across the EU with an important cost of crime dimension include:
Trans-national crime
Criminal organisations with international spread are a challenge to domestic national state criminal justice agencies. Effective responses to activities such as the trafficking of people, drugs, art treasures and stolen cars or commercial vehicles across national boundaries require a high degree of coordination by police and other agencies in all member states who are involved. Likewise activities such as money laundering or tax evasion may even deliberately exploit any weaknesses in trans-national cooperation.
Measuring the costs of these sorts of offences is difficult. In cases such as tax evasion it is straightforward to identify the victims (domestic taxpayers). It is less easy in the context of the disposal of stolen property. The victim suffers probably a reduction in the chance of recovering the stolen vehicle, but this kind of loss will eventually show up through higher car insurance premiums that affect all car owners.
