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9 Trinity C.L. Rev. 119 (2006)
Buried Truth: A Criminological Analysis of the Illicit Antiquities Trade

handle is hein.journals/trinclr9 and id is 129 raw text is: BURIED TRUTH: A CRIMINOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ILLICIT ANTIQUITIES TRADE MICHELLE CASEY* The international trade in illicit antiquities is worth billions of dollars every year,' with countries such as Turkey identifying antiquities smuggling as the fourth largest source of illicit income after arms, drug smuggling and fraud.2 A prominent and problematic feature of this trade is the blurred line between illicit and licit markets; the corollary of a disparity between the laws of countries where such goods are originally stolen and those in which they ultimately reside. For the purposes of this article 'illicit' refers to all antiquities circulating in the market which have in the past breached a legal provision, regardless of the position taken by market states regarding entry and purchase within their jurisdiction. ' A further difficulty for criminologists seeking to understand this trade lies in both the international framework of the market and the tripartite trading hierarchy: original looters, the smugglers, and at the top, the collectors, dealers and museum curators. The consequences of allowing this criminal enterprise to flourish includes loss of historical context, the destruction by looters of objects perceived to be of lesser value, damage to the reputations of legitimate dealers, violence, corruption, and the strengthening and growth of transnational criminal organisations.' Despite the ostensible impenetrability of the market, its pernicious consequences render the search for solutions a matter of urgency. This article seeks to examine each of the three rungs on the criminal ladder from a criminological perspective, and consider the responses posited by experts in order to determine the best possible means of curbing the trade in illicit antiquities. Senior Sophister LLB Candidate, Trinity College Dublin. 'Aloisi, Met Could Return Antiquities to Italy The Irish Times, 3 December 2005. 2 Brodie, Doole and Watson, Stealing History: The Illicit Trade in Cultural Material <http://www.mcdonald.cam.ac.uk/IARC/iarc/illicit-trade.pdf> ( visited 4 January 2006) 3 Mackenzie, Dig a Bit Deeper; Law, Regulation and the Illicit Antiquities Market (2005) 45(3) Brit J Crim 249, at 252. 4 Brodie, Illicit Antiquities: The Situation in South-East Asia, at para. 3, <http://www.aic.gov.au/conferences/artcrime/brodie.html> (visited 4 January 2006). © 2006 Michelle Casey and Dublin University Law Society

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