PSC 405 Spring 2017: Some Forms of Organized Crime

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Organized Crime
Across the globe, every other country is struggling with some form of organized crime. To understand organized crime, it is crucial to consider predatory crimes as well as the distribution and sale of goods and services that are highly prohibited such as child pornography, highly taxed, such as cigars and cigarettes along with what is considerably highly regulated such as marijuana, coke and meth among others (Lampe, Klaus von). In some of the cases there are services such as prostitution and human trafficking among others which are illegal in some parts of the world. These are all products and services that are prohibited by the government in one way or the other. As such, persons that find ways to bring them to the clients in the society are considered criminals. There are quite a number of moving parts that form organized crime groups as they have to get the raw materials, manufacture, smuggling, move and distribute their products right under the watchful eyes of the law enforcement agencies such as the local police and the specialized units such as the Drugs Enforcement Agency. What is illegal in one country may be legal in another, as different countries use different standards when it comes to assessing and enforcing drug regulations. At the same time, most of the laws on illegality of products and services tend to change over time. What is considered illegal today, such as cocaine, may be considered legal tomorrow (Lampe, Klaus von). A good case of the evolution that in the drug laws, there is a reference to alcohol. In the prohibition era of the 1920s and the 30s, alcohol was considered illegal. In the 40s and the 70s, gambling was actually considered organized crime. Today, citizens can buy lottery tickets from state-run lotteries. Alcohol is no longer an illegal product and as such is regulated by the government. Gambling is one of the largest business in the united states, casinos raking in billions every year(Lampe, Klaus von). This is also the case when it comes to prostitution. In some parts of the world, prostitution is legal. In the recent past, most of the states now allow the use of medical marijuana, a drug that was considered illegal in the past. As such, some of the products that are considered illegal today are likely to change in the near future as new information emerges and new trends come in. With government regulations, some of the products that are illegal today may be state run in the future. It is the success or failure of the government regulations that shape the war against drugs and the illegal markets(Lampe, Klaus von).
The other aspect that has to be considered is with reference to the predatory crimes. These are crimes such robbery, fraud and theft. History indicates that the first time that the term organized crime were used was in India in the mid-1800s, which referred to criminal gangs that would waylay their victims along the highways. This is also close to the use of the phrase in the United States as it referred to robbery and theft in 1920s, more than it referred to the sale of alcohol or even gambling (Lampe, Klaus von). Whether the crime involves harming innocent victims or supplying willing customers with illegal products or servi...