Personal Perception Of Organized Crime

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Running Head: Personal Perception of Organized Crime Personal Perception of Organized Crime CJA/384 February 13, 2012 Personal Perception of Organized Crime Organized crime can be described as something that shaped the way the United States is today in many respects it is true because without those experiences this country would not have the laws in place that it does today. In the following it, will be discussed this authors personal perception of organized crime, identifying any assumptions on which this is based. Also how this I would describe or define organized crime, how the perception compares to the definitions in the readings and what characteristics are associated with the organized criminal behavior. When one thinks of organized crime one usually thinks of movies such as the Untouchables and Scarface. However, the organized crime families in American began long before this. “Piracy was the result of the British rulers employing a number of seafaring buccaneers to attack and disrupt Spanish shipping to defend the American Colonies. The pirates, who were referred to as privateer soon began to attack ships other than Spanish and form alliances with corrupt governors of the colonies” (Mallory, 2007 p. 16). One does not usually see the connection between pirates and organized crime unless one studies the characteristics of organized crime. Some of the following are a few examples of the characteristics of organized crime according to Mallory (2007), Governed by rules and codes of secrecy, Has an organized hierarchy, Uses force and intimidation, Restricts membership, and Provides illegal goods and services as demanded by the public.” These are
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