NCJ Number
146386
Date Published
1993
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article provides an international criminological perspective on organized crime.
Abstract
The most recent definition of organized crime distinguishes among three components: (1) the criminal groups, connected through racial, linguistic, ethnic, or other ties; (2) the protectors, who safeguard a group's interests; and (3) the support from society and specialists who perform voluntary services on an ad-hoc basis to maximize the group's gain. There are ten aspects characteristic of organized crime: (1) It satisfies public demand for illegal goods or services; (2) It conducts its criminal activities in the fields of lowest risk of punishment and arrest, the lowest initial effort and financial input, and the highest possible gain in the shortest possible time; (3) It is core criminality, around which more criminality develops; (4) The criminal group is a society based on common interests, is interdependent and has come together for mutual profit and help; (5) Within each criminal group, strategic and tactical planning and task sharing prevails; (6) The criminal group follows subcultural norms; (7) Violence or the threat of violence, against its own members or outsiders, is used to control and protect the group and expand its power; (8) By means of a net of illegal and legal activities, organized crime camouflages illegal dealings and takes advantage of an economical "grey zone"; (9) Aides, protectors, and supporters inside the police, justice, politics, and the economy form a buffer around the criminal group without which that group could not exist; and (10) Organized crime is internationally oriented and supraregionally active, with great mobility. There is a section on the causes of organized crime and sections on aspects of organized crime in the United States and in the Federal Republic of Germany. 54 footnotes and approximately 60 references