Thousands of crimes – from bootlegging to murder – were committed under the reign of US organised crime boss Al Capone.
Famously, Al Capone was never prosecuted for any of the crimes he masterminded, a handful of tax evasion charges triggering his downfall.
Targeting the crime, not the criminal
This is an analogy Andreas Schloenhardt, a Professor of Criminal Law at The University of Queensland (UQ) Law School, uses to emphasise the need for a broader approach to tackling organised crime.
“Developing a legal model and an international framework to pursue not only each crime but also the organisations, masterminds and financiers behind them is a real challenge for our traditional criminal law,” Professor Schloenhardt said.
Today, the insidious spread of organised crime is evident across the likes of trafficking in persons, wildlife smuggling, money laundering and the illicit drug trade – crimes that UQ’s legal researchers are targeting by shaping national and international laws.
For more than 20 years, Professor Schloenhardt has worked closely with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to improve the laws combatting organised crime.
Copyright Andreas Schloenhardt.
This includes drafting the Legislative Guide for the Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and its Protocols.
“Over the years, many new treaties against new crime types have emerged, most recently the UN Convention against Cybercrime adopted in December 2024,” he said.
“This means we have new tools to hold people accountable whereas years ago, we could not.”
Another pivotal player is the Law School’s Associate Professor Radha Ivory, who studies how countries translate international conventions into national law and develop international legal frameworks to guide domestic policy-makers.
“There are periodic moves to make it easier for governments to enforce certain crime types within its borders. For example, a recent change in Australia means it’s now possible for companies to be prosecuted for failing to prevent foreign bribery,” Dr Ivory said.
The link between crime and corruption
Associate Professor Ivory’s latest research calls on academics and policy-makers to focus on international law reform.
“Corporate crimes like corruption and money laundering were traditionally seen as marginal, victimless crimes but that perception has shifted,” Dr Ivory explained.
International anti-corruption law has encountered a new challenge, of late, in the form of shifting US attitudes towards international institutions and foreign bribery enforcement under President Donald Trump.
“A powerful actor, like President Trump, can try to undermine this new perception by cutting internationally focused programs and priorities. But the international anti-corruption movement does not rest on US power alone, nor is the US just President Trump.”
“The shift of US priorities may also be an opportunity for domestic and international anti-corruption actors to further incorporate local approaches and priorities,” she added.
Australia is moving to remedy the issue by establishing the independent National Anti-Corruption Commission in July 2024 to detect and prevent corrupt conduct involving Commonwealth officials.
In the private sector, money laundering and cybercrime are under increased scrutiny, including Crown Casinos Melbourne and Perth being fined $450M for money laundering and Operation Kraken taking down the masterminds behind an encrypted communications platform used by the criminal underworld.
Collaboration is the key
Professor Schloenhardt convenes the Transnational Organised Crime programme, which brings together scholars from UQ, the University of Vienna, the University of Zurich, the University of Cologne and the University of Ferrara to research detailed areas of organised crime.
In 2025, that focus is on trafficking in cultural artefacts and antiquities.
Professor Schloenhardt and Dr Ivory agree that collaboration at an academic level is as vital to combatting transnational crime as collaboration among foreign agencies and governments.
“It’s important to branch out to see what’s happening in the rest of the world and ask: What does it mean to us? How does it shape our law, and what can we contribute to the conversations overseas?” he said.
“Globally, we need to speak the same language to effect change, and UQ is definitely part of this conversation.”
Professor Schloenhardt and Associate Professor Ivory contribute to UQ Law's Transnational and Organised Crime research theme.
Partner with our legal academics to continue tackling organised crime
