Extract
Art Crime.
John E. Conlin, Art Crime (Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, 1994) 322 pp.
Art crime is big business. It is estimated that thieves steal over $1 billion worth of art each year.(1) Combining these losses with additional losses from other types of art crime, such as fraud, forgery, vandalism, and lost productivity in the workplace due to violence arising in connection with art crime, makes art crime the second largest international criminal endeavor--only drug smuggling involves more money.(2) John Conklin's Art Crime attempts to bring a framework to the study of art crime. Professor Conklin defines "art" as those types of objects typically displayed in a museum of fine arts.(3) Obviously, this narrow definition ignores a number of types of art that are also subject to criminal behavior.(4) "Art crimes" are defined as "criminally punishable acts that involve works of art."(5) However, Professor Conklin frequently strays from this strict definition by giving examples of various types of behavior that, although not criminal, some would argue should be criminal.(6) This book is at its best when describing how the art world works, the various types of art crimes, as well as specific art crimes that have been committed. Overall, Conklin's numerous anecdotes and insights into the art world make Art Crime an enjoyable book that is sure to educate all but the most knowledgeable members of that mysterious world. Unfortunately, the depth of analysis in Conklin's book is inherently limited by the paucity of research on this subject. This lack of research forces the author to rely on news articles and other reports about particular art crimes in lieu of studies about the subject as a whole.(7) The result is a compendium of anecdotes regarding behavior in the art world and types of art crimes. Professor Conklin concedes that he has not prepared a cohesive theory of art crime, in part due to lack of available data and in part due to the variety of art crimes.(8) However, he hopes that drawing attention to the scope and types of art crime will stimulate further research.(9) The weaknesses of this book are its lack of statistical information, which precludes a meaningful understanding of art crime as a whole (and of particular types of art crime); and the superficial treatment of the applicable legal standards, which leaves the reader with a sense of hopelessness as to what can be done to combat the sociological forces causing the proliferation of art crimes. In fact, many of Conklin's suggestions for curbing art crime seem unrealistically naive after reading the rest of the book. The first weakness is not the fault of the author, given the lack of information available in this area of inquiry.(10) In fact, he frequently notes the need for additional data and study in this area and acknowledges the difficulties presented by a lack of meaningful statistics.(11) The second weakness may be nothing more than the author's choice as to what the book should focus on, but various legal scholars have addressed the flaws in current laws pertaining to art crime and have suggested ways in which these laws can be improved.(12) If Conklin had chosen to examine these laws more closely, he might have found not only better potential solutions for curbing art crime but also a better understanding of the sociological structure of art crime. A final problem with Art Crime is that Conklin, as a sociologist, tends to focus on organizational structures, which, when coupled with the lack of data in this area, leads to a simpli...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
