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

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.

Academic impact of the new knowledge generated in this unique, innovative inter-disciplinary collaboration that will create traditional academic research outputs encompasses the disciplines of criminology, art history, the art trade, archaeology, art law, police and security studies, anthropology, sociology, museum studies, and insurance law.

Practical knowledge and guidelines for policy makers and practitioners to respond to, and help to prevent, reduce and react to the changing and growing global threat of art crime which is estimated to be worth £8 billion pounds per annum globally and £300 million pounds per annum in the UK will also be developed. This network will be of interest to policymakers and practitioners working in the area of art and heritage crimes, financial crimes, money laundering, corruption and terrorist financing. These stakeholders include: the Home Office, Metropolitan Police Service, the English Heritage, the National Police Chiefs Association, to name but a few. Leading practitioners in private practice will also be interested in the work of this network.

Beyond the UK, key stakeholders include Interpol, Europol, the World Customs Organisation, the International Council of Museums, UNESCO, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. These institutions are driving art crime legislation, prevention and investigations and respond more generally to the transnational phenomena of art crime.

Outputs impacting on both the academic, policy and practitioner environments include:
1. Three workshops exploring key issues of art crime.
2. Briefing document following these workshops which will inform future research and policy-discourse.
3. Podcasts of the workshops will also be made available online.
4. Dedicated panels on art crime will be convened at leading academic conferences and practitioner-focused conferences.
5. There will also be publications in international peer-reviewed and non peer-reviewed outlets as well as an edited collection.

The listed outputs offer potential to develop and improve approaches to training and professional development of those responsible for preventing art crime across the world, as well as university level taught courses in law, criminology and art.

AHRC support for this network will facilitate an effective collaboration, potentially of global significance, which will be a powerful case study of the impact and effectiveness of the application of AHRC funded research in countering the growing phenomena of art crime.

This network will focus on a number of under-explored issues - which have been identified in consultation with stakeholders from, inter alia, the Metropolitan Police Service, Tate Gallery, The Art Management Group, the Museum Security Network and CS Consulting. Discussion will focus on:

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 of looted and stolen objects?
10. What existing public education models to change attitudes might be adopted?