Exploitation of criminal acts

The expression ‘exploitation of criminal activities’ should be understood as the exploitation of a person to commit, inter alia, pick-pocketing, shop-lifting, drug trafficking and other similar activities which are subject to penalties and imply financial gain. [1]   

German criminal law criminalises both the recruitment, transport, accommodation, etc. for the purpose of exploiting criminal activities (StGB §232, (1)d) and the exploitation of these activities (StGB §233, (1) 3 (exploitation of labour) as punishable offences.   

With the aim of exploiting criminal activities, perpetrators specifically seek out individuals who can be coerced into committing crimes such as theft, drug trafficking or credit card fraud. The perpetrators' aim is to gain financial profit from the crime without committing the act themselves. The advantage for the traffickers is that the victims are making themselves liable to prosecution and can therefore be blackmailed. The perpetrators threaten the victims with police and prison.   

Perpetrators often start by forcing victims to commit minor offences. Once victims have been ‘trained’ to commit crimes without getting caught, perpetrators force them to commit more serious crimes.   

In order to prevent victims of human trafficking from being punished for crimes committed under duress, the EU Directive signed by Germany provides for ‘waiver of prosecution or immunity from punishment for victims’ in accordance with Article 8.   

Source:

[1] (Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA PDF)