This Thesis proposes and propounds the Crime Facilitating Crime Theory otherwise also called the Crime on crime facilitation Theory. The theory propounds that some crimes like wildlife crime are facilitated by other crimes in order for their execution to be completed. After analysing the results and assessing the findings in this research study, it was apparent that wildlife crime cannot be viewed as stand-alone crime. It requires to be facilitated by other penal crimes like arms trafficking, corruption, conflict and many other penal crimes for its eventual commissioning to occur whether successful or not. Being facilitated by other crimes is an essential ingredient for wildlife crime to be executed.
The findings in this research clearly demonstrated that there are crimes that facilitate the commissioning of other crimes. These types of crimes are named and referred to in this research as facilitating or facilitator crimes. A facilitator crime is a crime that is necessary for the effective execution or commissioning of another crime. It is a crime that is committed solely for the commissioning of another crime. It can also be described as a secondary crime committed in the process of committing another crime called the facilitated crime. A facilitated crime is one that requires the initial commissioning of other crimes in order for it to be committed. There is a third type of crime in the commissioning of crime process which this research aptly calls and refers to as the stand-alone crime which is a crime that does not require to be facilitated by other crimes for it to be effected.
This theory proposes that crime be looked at beyond its definition and be studied with a view of understanding its commissioning process for law enforcement purposes as opposed to crime definition and punishment process that currently exists within all legal jurisdictions globally.
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Researching and understanding a crime commissioning process by distinguishing the crime on whether it is a facilitated crime or facilitator crime is very important when combating crime including wildlife crime. Sometimes a facilitator crime may even be more lethal and carry a higher penal sentence then the crime it is facilitating. This theory seeks to understand the crime commissioning process for each crime and charting it out for the purpose of law enforcement.
This theory also observed and expounds this observation that there are crimes that facilitate the commissioning of other crimes which may not be related in their substance to the crime that they are facilitating or committing. They may even be totally unrelated in their actualization but are facilitating execution of another crime. What they only carry in common is ‘mens rea’ or guilty intention to commit the offence.
An example relevant is wildlife crime. In wildlife crime, a person charged with being in possession of an illegal trophy like rhino horn is an accomplice to poaching, probably possession of an illegal firearm, encroachment or trespass into a park, poaching, handling and trafficking of illegal wildlife trophies depending on where he eventually ceases to be possession of the illegal wildlife trophy either through arrest or sale in the source or consumer markets. Therefore possession of illegal game trophy should not legally be viewed solely as standalone crime. The law presumes that buying or being in possession of an illegal product whether knowingly or not makes one an accomplice to the crime process that was committed in the illegal process of acquiring that product. Game trophies are items any one knows are either illegal to possess or require a permit to keep. Therefore anyone in possession of a wildlife trophy is illegally in possession of the trophy and an accomplice of all the facilitating offences that were committed in the process of acquiring the illegal product unless he has a permit to be in possession.
Facilitating crimes and facilitated crimes can be said to be crimes with tentacles hinged to other crimes. The facilitated crime will be dependent on the facilitator crime for its commissioning. Therefore while the facilitator crime perhaps can stand alone depending on the crime, the facilitated crime can never standalone. A facilitated crime is therefore a crime that requires commissioning of other crimes for it to be finally and effectively executed or commissioned.
Significance of this theory
Identifying and singling out each crime by the role it plays in the commissioning process of a crime is very important for the effectiveness of combating crime by law enforcement and criminal justice system (CJS). Focusing on a facilitator crime as commonly happens and ignoring the final or
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facilitated crime leads to wastage of resources, time and man power. The test to prove this is to determine whether even if a facilitator crime is effectively eliminated by law enforcement agencies or CJS, there is every possibility that the criminals will device and engage in a new facilitator crime in order to achieve the final targeted which is the facilitated crime. Therefore combating the facilitator crime without also eliminating the facilitated crime would be a waste of resource, manpower and time and leads to law enforcement fatigue.
Another example is in the case of narcotic drugs offences. The cause of this other run away crime is high consumer demand in consumer markets hinged on addiction to the narcotics drugs. A lot of resources time and manpower has been expended in combating this crime. International anti- narcotics law enforcement agencies have waged relentless battles against ruthless drug cartels in places like Columbia and Mexico and even in Asia. Yet the drug trade continues to flourish unabated and is a real challenge to law enforcements and criminal justice systems in all countries globally.
The illegal narcotic drug trade is very similar in many ways to illegal wildlife trade and crime. While narcotics trade destroys human lives, illegal wildlife trade destroys wildlife lives. Both are associated with many other spill over crimes like murder, illegal arms trade, counterfeit products, human rights abuse, human trafficking and slavery. Narcotics crime like wildlife crime is facilitated by other crimes in order for it to be commissioned. Narcotics crimes are facilitated by illegal substance production, possession of narcotics drugs, trafficking narcotics drugs, sale and trading in narcotic drugs and even corruption and conflict just like in the case of wildlife crime.
Both wildlife crime and narcotics crimes are crimes that ultimately end with the consumer and the consumer demand. In the case of narcotics crime the final facilitated crime is illegal consumption of the narcotic substance by the end user consumer and the cause of the consumer demand and consumption is addiction. All these other crimes in the narcotic drug trade are committed to facilitate the sale and illegal consumption of the narcotic drugs substance by the consumer.
To effectively combat narcotics crime, law enforcement must target and deal with the facilitated crime which is possession and consumption of the illegal substance by the end user consumer and that facilitated crime is the driving force and cause of all those other facilitating crimes being committed. If the facilitated crime is curbed all these other facilitating crime will also end.
Similarly, fighting wildlife crime in the source markets and at the trafficking stage may be short term strategy but curbing the consumer demand would be the long term and most effective strategy to
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eliminate illegal wildlife trade. Dealing with the end user consumer and ending the demand using strategies and tactics like those proposed in this thesis as the 3Cs will be the only sure way of ending wildlife crime
However in the case of narcotics crime, unfortunately, currently the tackling of the facilitated crime in this lethal narcotics crime process which is possession and consumption of the narcotic substance by the end users consumer that is driven by narcotic drug addiction, has been left to the individual consumer, perhaps his family if any and to society in form of the community he or she lives in and re-habilitation hospitals.. Law enforcement concentrate in battling with the dealers and traffickers but without much success as the consumer craves and seeks more narcotic drugs for consumption. Law enforcement will only intervene if the individual consuming the drug commits another offence, or is arrested when buying the substance or in possession of it or becomes a nuisance to community or becomes uncontrollable due to consumption of the drug. Yet it is exactly this consumption of the illegal narcotics substance whether within the home or elsewhere, that is fueling this lethal and illegal narcotics drugs crime and trade.
The solution for narcotics drugs will be solved by scientists discovering a method of beating drug addiction in narcotics drug trade otherwise the war on narcotics drug will never be won. More effort and resources should be placed to discovering a break through against narcotic drug addiction. The results of this research and further analysis of this Theory of facilitator crime shows that any effort made to curb other facilitator crimes to a main crime only enhance the growth of another facilitator crime and will not therefore stop the main crime. The main crime like wildlife crime can only be fought through identifying the true driving cause and dealing with it directly.
This Research thesis through this theory of crime facilitate crime theory proposes that the best way of combating crime is to fast categorize it as to whether it is a standalone crime, a facilitating crime or a facilitated crime. A research approach of identifying the facilitating and facilitated crimes is recommended. Law enforcement agencies like the local police must employ the services of researchers and work closely with local universities to carry out research on crimes it faces and device methods through which the agencies can use to combat those particular crime by understanding what role that crime plays in the crime process and the stages it evolves in.
This is what the crime facilitating crime theory propounds through this research.
This theory of crime facilitating crime theory expounded in this thesis seeks to explore a new concept in combating crime by proposing that although the law defines a crime and proposes its punishment
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as a way to combat and curb the crime, some crimes cannot be curbed or deterred by punishment and sentencing. To combat some crimes may even require the input of institutions away from ordinary law enforcement like science, medicine and medical research or business management and marketing to develop new approaches to curb the crime.
This research therefore recommends a research based approach to combating crime by law enforcement agencies as opposed to a baton and arrest approach. This theory further proposes that a research-based methodology for fighting crime through identifying the role of each crime in the crime commissioning process should be the modern way of combating crime.
(4) THE FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION OF THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK