Social Organized Crime Perspective

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Social Organized Crime Perspective Social institution is a group of people organized to achieve their goals. A social institution perspective is one who views communities as a collection of these social institutions and views the residents of the community as their members (Carlie, 2002). Social institutions are applied to organized crime in several ways. Warren (1973) defines community as “that combination of social units and systems which perform the major social functions having locality relevance.” The community’s organization is recognized by the social activities, rather than geographic or legal boundaries (Lyman & Potter, 2007). Organized crime represents a continuing, profit-motivated, criminal enterprise that employs the use of fear, violence, intimidation, and public corruption to achieve organizational goals and remain immune to law enforcement (Lyman & Potter, 2007). Organized crime will find a way to obtain large profits and power no matter what is decriminalized, made illegal, or legalized (Mallory, 2007). This paper will discuss and explain the term social institution as it applies to organized crime, and the empirical and speculative theories most applicable to the perspective as it applies to organized crime and overall criminal behavior. Alien Conspiracy Theory The alien conspiracy theory blames outsiders and outside influences for the prevalence of organized crime in United States society (Lyman & Potter, 2007). The alien conspiracy theory states that organized crime, such as the Mafia and La Cosa Nostra, gained prominence during the 1860s in Sicily, and that Sicilian immigrants are responsible for the foundations of United States organized crime (Lyman & Potter, 2007). The Sicilian Mafia transplanted their culture when they migrated to the United States (Mallory, 2007). Criminal activities such as drug trafficking, gambling, extortion and
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