Art, Crime and Criminals: Painting Fresh Pictures of Art Theft, Fraud and Plunder

直到最近，艺术犯罪一直是学术界和实践者关注的一个相对被忽视的话题。戏剧性的艺术盗窃、巧妙的艺术伪造和类似的犯罪活动一直是印刷和银幕小说作品的常见来源。然而，无论是学术界还是实践者，都对这类犯罪行为的详细分析和回应保持着一定程度的冷漠。然而，在目前定价达到创纪录水平、投机性销售和投资达到前所未有水平的国际艺术品市场，此类犯罪的诱因从未像现在这样高。一些评论甚至估计，艺术品犯罪是仅次于毒品和武器贩运的第三种最严重的跨国犯罪形式。打击艺术品犯罪的主要问题是涉及的不同行为者种类繁多，需要大量的专门知识。买家需要意识到一幅画是被盗还是伪造；拍卖行必须查明艺术品是否被洗劫，警察和海关必须识别被盗或伪造的物品。要侦破艺术品犯罪，需要艺术品市场上存在的高水平专业知识，但不一定是执法机构内部的专业知识。今天，艺术品犯罪的很大一部分也涉及多个司法管辖区，然而，大多数国家警察部队很少或根本没有分配给这一领域的特殊资源，与其他司法管辖区和私营部门合作困难。了解艺术品犯罪至少涉及犯罪学、艺术史、艺术品贸易、考古学、艺术法、警察和安全研究、人类学、社会学、博物馆研究和保险法等方面。这一领域是跨学科视角中的卓越领域之一。然而，学术界和专业人士都有一种倾向，即对走出他们的专业领域犹豫不决，这使得人们很难全面了解这类犯罪的流行程度、犯罪者、动机和影响。因此，将不同学术领域和从业人员的代表聚集在一起，就预防、侦查、调查和起诉艺术品犯罪交流知识和经验，对于成功打击艺术品犯罪至关重要。联网活动将集中在三个广泛和主要的主题领域-艺术品盗窃和破坏、艺术品欺诈和伪造，以及掠夺、抢劫和破坏古董。它将把政策制定者、实践者和研究人员聚集在一起，探讨核心问题，包括：1.艺术品犯罪的流行度是多少？谁是这一活动的主要参与者？这一活动的经济驱动力是什么？2.主要市场设在哪里，被盗、伪造和掠夺的物品是如何放在市场上的？3.现有的安全措施是否能够防止艺术品被盗，伪造和抢劫？4.现有的监管机制在多大程度上有效，艺术品市场的自律是前进的方向吗？5.可以采取哪些科学措施来更好地保护艺术品市场？6.应如何处理已查明的欺诈/被盗艺术品？7.如何减轻鉴定艺术品的法律和金融风险？8.艺术品犯罪与有组织犯罪、洗钱、腐败和资助恐怖主义？9.收复和遣返的主要障碍是什么？10.可以采用哪些现有的公共教育模式来改变人们的态度？该网络将借鉴不同司法管辖区的经验，包括美国、澳大拉西亚、中国、德国和意大利。国际行为者(如世界海关组织、国际刑警组织、国际博物馆理事会)将进一步通报讨论情况。该网络将使不同的学术学科(法律、考古学、犯罪学、艺术史、艺术保护科学和心理学)和政策和实践中的主要利益攸关方参与进来。

Until quite recently art crime has been a relatively neglected topic of scholarly and practitioner attention. Dramatic art heists, clever art forgeries and like criminal activities have been the frequent grist for works of fiction in print and on screen. However, academics and practitioners alike have remained somewhat aloof from any detailed analysis of and response to this type of criminal behaviour. In an international art market that is currently reaching record levels of pricing and unprecedented levels of speculative sales and investment the incentives for this type of crime have, however, never been higher. Some commentators even estimate that art crime represents the third most serious form of transnational crime after drug and arms trafficking. The main problem in tackling art crime is the variety of different actors involved and the significant expertise required. Buyers need to realise whether a painting is stolen or forged; auction houses have to find out whether an artifact has been looted and police and customs have to identify stolen or forged objects. To detect art crime a high level of expertise is required that is present in the art market, but not necessarily within law enforcement agencies. A substantial proportion of art crime today also involves multiple jurisdictions, however, most national police forces have little or no special resources allocated to this area and cooperation is difficult both with other jurisdictions and with the private sector.Understanding art crime involves at minimum aspects of criminology, art history, the art trade, archaeology, art law, police and security studies, anthropology, sociology, museum studies, and insurance law. This area is par excellence one of interdisciplinary perspectives. However, there is a tendency both for academics and professionals to be hesitant about stepping outside their area of specialisation making it difficult to create a complete picture of the prevalence, offenders, motives and impacts of this type of crime. Bringing the different representatives of academic disciplines and practitioners together to exchange knowledge and experience on the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of art crime is therefore crucial to tackle art crime successfully.The networking activity will focus on three broad and principal subject areas - art theft and vandalism, art fraud and forgery, and the plunder, looting and destruction of antiquities. It will bring together policymakers, practitioners and researcher to explore central issues, including:1. What is the prevalence of art crime? Who are the principal participants and what are the economic drivers of this activity?2. Where are the principle markets based and how are stolen, forged and looted objects placed on the market?3. Are existing security measures able to protect against art theft, forgeries and looting?4. To what extent are existing regulatory mechanisms effective and is self-regulation of the art market the way forward?5. What scientific measures can be taken to better protect the art market?6. How should identified fraudulent/stolen works of art be dealt with?7. How can the legal and financial risks in authenticating works of art be mitigated?8. How is art crime related to organised crime, money-laundering, corruption and the funding of terrorism?9. What are the principle barriers that exist to recovery and repatriation?10. What existing public education models to change attitudes might be adopted?The network will draw upon experiences from different jurisdictions, including the United States, Australasia, China, Germany and Italy. International actors (eg World Customs Organisation, Interpol, International Council of Museums) will further inform discussion. The network will engage different academic disciplines (law, archaeology, criminology, art history, art conservation sciences and psychology) and key stakeholders from policy and practice.