Controlling Organized Crime Essay

Combating organized crime can be an intricate task. Various laws exist in the fight against organized crime, and some have been successful in prosecuting several members of organized crime groups. However, without the refinement of such laws, organized crime groups will just find ways to get around such laws. Law enforcement efforts to combat organized crime can run into limitations as far as what law enforcement can and cannot do. Laws need to be changed to avoid such limitations. Without the changing of such laws, law enforcement efforts to combat organized crime will be almost wasted. Organized crime has become a growing problem over the last several years. Organized crime can exist in any community and strikes fear into the individuals which live in the communities in which an organized crime group has set up base. An organized crime group will come into a community where the government is weak, or nearly non-existent. Setting up base in these types of communities makes it easier for the organized crime group to perform their illegal activities. Organized crime groups have their hands in many illegal activities meant to make money. Illegal activities such as loan sharking, prostitution, illegal gambling, drug trafficking and human trafficking are just some examples of the activities organized crime groups are involved in. The problem with stopping these activities is that there can be a great number of people from one group committing these crimes, and getting to the â€Å"big fish† is almost impossible. Even if the small players are taken out of the game, those people likely will not tell who they are working for, making it almost impossible to take down the entire group. With organized crime reaching across state and country boundaries, combating organized crime can run into legal limitations. Each state’s and country’s jurisdictional requirements are going to vary. Different jurisdictional requirements make it almost impossible for law enforcement from one jurisdiction to apprehend criminals in anothe r jurisdiction. Organized crime groups are aware of these problems with jurisdictions and will use this knowledge to their advantage when committing criminal acts (Limbaugh, 2010). A major federal law intended to combat the growing problem of organized crime is the 1965 /1967 Mafia-membership (law proposed by Senator John McClellan) Senate Bill 2187, 89th Congress, Senate Bill 678, 90th Congress. This law states that any person who knowingly and willfully becomes, or remains a member of the mafia, or any other organized crime group, in which the group operates illegal activities such as gambling, extortion, blackmail, narcotics, prostitution, or labor racketeering, and the member has prior knowledge of such activities committed by the organized crime group, is subject to a punishment of no less than five years but no more than 20 years in prison and fines up to $20,000.00 (â€Å"Organized Crime And Federal Legislation†, n.d.). This particular piece of legislation appears that it would be very effective in combating organized crime. Taking out the small players in an organized crime group could lead law enforcement to the top of the chain-of-command, ther efore effectively taking down the group as a whole. Another federal law intended to combat organized crime is the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Statute. The RICO Statute provides penalties for persons involved in racketeering activities. Racketeering includes criminal acts committed such as any act or threat involving murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, dealing in an obscene manner, or dealing in a controlled substance. I think this law would also be very effective in combating organized crime as organized crime groups are likely to be involved in some form of racketeering. Having laws such as the RICO Statute can bring down an entire organized crime group, as each member will likely be involved in some form of racketeering. Laws such as this one may not completely stop an organized crime group from committing such criminal acts, but this law may make an organized crime group think twice about committing such criminal acts. The continual refining of such laws intended to combat organized crime would create better efforts for the law enforcement fight against organized crime. As times change, organized crime groups are becoming smarter, and using new technology in the commission of criminal acts. Operating an online store to sell counterfeit clothing overseas would be one such example of use of new technology. Laws need to be refined to keep up with the changing criminal world. Laws written prior to the introduction of the internet did not take into account the changes that would come over time, so such laws have to be re-written to accommodate technology such as the internet. The fight against organized crime will be a never-ending effort. As long as there is public demand for prostitution, illegal drugs, and other services provided by organized crime groups, there will be organized crime. Taking down organized crime groups will have to be a joint effort amongst all law enforcement agencies, federal and state. By combining resources of state and federal law enforcement, a better handle can be gotten on the fight against organized crime. References Limbaugh, S. (2010). Controlling Organized Crime. Retrieved from http://voices.yahoo.com/controlling-organized-crime-6835298.html Organized Crime and Federal Legislation. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.organized- crime.de/OCLAWS.htm