National Conference on Organized Crime - Statutory Techniques, Part 2

• NCJ Number: 81688
• Author(s): J Simon
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 0 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Georgia Dept of Offender Rehabilitation; National College of District Attorneys
• Publication Format: Film
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Videotape, 22 minutes, color, 1 inch - Part of the National Conference on Organized Crime held in Washington, DC on October 1-4, 1975.

Annotation

An attorney discusses the efficacy of Federal provisions for special grand juries, immunity grants to witnesses, and electronic surveillance in combating organized crime. Special emphasis is placed on civil injunctions as a rarely used strategy especially effective against gambling operations.

Abstract

Despite Federal enactment and implementation of the above statutory tools, State enactment of similar statutes has been more difficult to obtain. The longer grand jury life, scheduling problems, and complications with transporting and lodging witnesses, all of which compound the costs, justify legislators' concerns. Local jurisdictions balk at losing their authority, despite the fact that organized crime activity often crosses many local and county jurisdictions. Objections to granting witness immunity involve a distrust of such testimony, the prosecutor's dilemma in deciding who is to be immunized or prosecuted, and conflicts between State and Federal interests in prosecuting cases. Moreover, increased costs are incurred with relocating immune witnesses and their families. Problems with the interception of oral and wiretap communication concern the safeguards that must be implemented and the confidence legislators and the public have in them, together with the trust that no improper intrusion is made. Moreover, the cost and requirements of intercepting wire communications are great and seem far in excess of their worth, considering the light sentences often imposed by courts. An alternative to criminal prosecution may be the use of civil injunctions. The issuance of a civil injunction mandates divestiture of any interest in illegal enterprises and the dissolution or reorganization of enterprises used to carry out the proscribed activity. Civil procedures require a lesser burden of proof and allow wide-ranging discovery techniques by which an entire ring of participants in a gambling enterprise may be identified and enjoined from further gambling activity or indicted. For the final workshop, see NCJ 81691.