Organ Transplantation and Transnational Organised Crime

Advancement in medical knowledge and lifestyle changes in contemporary society have led to an increasing demand for organs for transplantations, which supply cannot meet. This creates a new space for criminal activity in the illicit procurement and transplantation of human organs. Frank G Madsen surveys the many – ultimately unsuccessful – attempts to address the criminal trade in organs, and shows how current international and municipal legal frameworks fall short of providing an adequate way to conceptualise and eventually solve what is likely to be an increasingly pressing problem.