THE PARADIGM SHIFT IN THE GLOBAL RISK SOCIETY: FROM CRIMINAL LAW TO GLOBAL SECURITY LAW – AN ANALYSIS OF THE CHANGING LIMITS OF CRIME CONTROL

Abstract

Cases of international terrorism, organized crime, economic crime, and other forms of complex crime illustrate the significant impact of crime and the importance of crime control to society as a whole. Not only do these cases dominate public discussions, the media, and political discourse. They are also causing a fundamental paradigm shift in criminal policy in general and in the architecture of security law in particular – a development that goes largely unnoticed by the general public. This paradigm shift is based, on the one hand, on objective changes such as the emergence of new threats and new types of complex crime, for example, terrorism, organized crime, and cybercrime. On the other hand, it is due also to changes in people’s subjective levels of well-being: objective changes lead to greater fear of crime. In many countries, these feelings of insecurity and the resulting demands for stricter laws are embraced by populist politicians seeking (re-)election. Their policy of “governing through fear of crime” is reflected in the rise of extremist parties calling for protection against migrants and strangers and for increased security against crime.