NCJ Number
109192
Journal
Columbia Law Review Volume: 87 Issue: 5 Dated: (June 1987) Pages: 920-984
Date Published
1987
Length
65 pages
Annotation
Although the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) has enabled Federal prosecutors to avoid some serious gaps in the Federal penal code, the statute is overbroad and imprecise in attempting to criminalize membership in a criminal organization.
Abstract
As a result, the principal use of RICO has not been to deal with infiltration by organized crime into legitimate enterprises. Instead, prosecutors have used the statute to attack organized criminal groups themselves for their illegal activities. Many prosecutors use the RICO statute in criminal enterprise cases because it enables them to obtain heavy financial penalties. A careful analysis of the RICO statute shows that it could be replaced by a more limited statute prohibiting membership in a criminal organization. In addition, modest adjustments to the current statute's Federal jurisdiction and sentencing provisions would accomplish what RICO has accomplished without the vagueness and weakness of the existing statute. Federal prosecutors have used RICO because it avoids specific problems of jurisdiction, penalty structures, and procedure that are not likely to exist in States. States should resist the enactment of RICO statutes that are replicas of the Federal statute. 226 footnotes.