ABSTRACT
Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) is commonly associated with offenders who freely roam a globalized world. This chapter provides an alternative view; one which assumes that political borders as well as legal, cultural and language barriers continue to pose substantial challenges for criminals. Transnational crime appears in a different light when considering the obstacles transnational offenders may face when crossing borders and operating in an unfamiliar and potentially hostile environment. It has been argued that offenders are generally limited to opportunities within their respective ‘awareness space,’ shaped in time and physical space by past activities. An offender ‘commits crime in the areas he knows’. Foraging across borders poses some of the same challenges as the actual execution of transnational crime. But the risks attached to foraging behaviour will tend to be comparatively low given that laws are not necessarily violated at this preparatory stage of a criminal venture.
