Social Institutions in Organized Crime

Social Institutions in Organized Crime

Rose Stevens

CJA/384

June, 8, 2015

Jack Tandy

Social Institutions in Organized Crime

In order for society to be functional, there has to be order. There are law, morals, and mores that keep order for the law abiding citizens. There are social institutions for every part of society.  One way to describe a social institution is “a complex of positions, roles, norms and values lodged in particular types of social structures and organising relatively stable patterns of human activity with respect to fundamental problems in producing life-sustaining resources, in reproducing individuals, and in sustaining viable societal structures within a given environment” (Miller, 2014). One may not think that criminals would care to have positions, roles, norms and values. They are criminals after all. Organized crime is a kind of system in society. There are ways to describe organized crime in order to understand the difference between the average crime and organized crime. There is a complex system that is used to keep it organized and there are theories that help us to understand the possible reason for people participating in organized crime.

Description of Organized Crime

Organized crime is described by having certain criteria. There is a difference between somebody just planning to commit a crime and organized crime.

Criteria

In order for something to be considered organized crime, the group must contain at least three people. The crime committed by the group is continuous. There is motivation for money and power in an organized crime group and the group commits serious criminal offenses. (Lyman & Potter, 2007, Chapter 1).

Behaviors

The behavior of criminals involved in organized crime is complex. The criminals in organized crime offer illicit services. Usually these services are services that legitimate, law abiding businesses cannot offer (Lyman & Potter, 2007, Chapter 1). Illicit goods are offered to society by organized crime organizations. Examples are drugs, pornography, and unregistered goods like guns. Organized criminals have a conspiracy to commit crimes. They work together to commit crimes. A crime is not committed without approval of the head of the criminal organization. Another behavior of organized crime is to have a legitimate business in order to hide their criminal activity. Having a legitimate business makes it more difficult for the authorities to find those involved. It gives the criminals something to hide behind.  Extortion is a form of theft used by the criminals. Criminals who use extortion use force or violence to get what they want. (Lyman & Potter, 2007, Chapter 1). Finally, corruption is another behavior of organized crime. Corruption in organized crime usually involves political figures, bankers, law enforcement and public figures.