Transnational Criminal Law

Course Number
LAW 3980
Course Description

This course will introduce students to transnational criminal law, including the substantive and procedural law that applies to crimes which may or do have trans-border impacts. In this course, we will consider issues which apply to all transnational crimes including: jurisdiction, extradition and mutual legal assistance. We will also consider the substantive law underpinning some specific transnational crimes and explore the features of the “suppression treaties”, that is, the treaties which require States to criminalize certain conduct in their domestic law and cooperate in suppressing that conduct. Potential topics include: trafficking in persons and migrant smuggling, corruption, transnational organized crime and terrorism. We will critically engage with issues which can arise from these acts, their criminalization and international cooperation to suppress crimes. This course will be of particular value to students interested in criminal law: transnational criminal law fills the space between purely domestic crimes and international crimes. In learning about transnational law, we will also gain an understanding of its relationship to international criminal law and domestic criminal law.

Please see Course Syllabus here.

Teaching Method

Seminar course comprised of written work (research paper).

Assessment

Reading presentation 10%
Paper presentation 10%
Critical Comment 10%
Major paper outline 10%
Major paper 60%

Course Materials

Required textbook – Neil Boister & Robert Currie, Routledge Handbook of Transnational Criminal Law (Routledge: London, 2015) *
Supplementary readings – Supplemental readings including relevant treaties, Canadian legislation and case law and some scholarly articles will be provided through UM Learn.
Recommended readings: – Neil Boister, An Introduction to Transnational Criminal Law, 2d ed (Oxford: Oxford, 2018)
Robert J Currie & Dr Joseph Rikhof, International & Transnational Criminal Law, 3d ed (Irwin, 2020)
* Please note that the required text is subject to change. Students will be advised of any change. All Supplemental readings will be available through UM Learn before the first scheduled class.