Week 1 Forum – Zach Parshall
Zachary Parshall
Good morning class,
The eight attributes of Organized Crime (OC) are a particular form of continuity, the threat or actual use of violence, corruption, illegal activities, a lack of ideology, structure, penetration of legitimate business and a restricted membership (Langhorn, 2021). When breaking down these select elements of Organized Crime, the difficulty one runs into is insulating the decisive traits due to the properties being profoundly interconnected (Mulholland & Cole, 2021). The question then becomes is it possible to separate the requirements for continuity from the potential risks of illegal activity. This question a lone, along with the remaining attributes being connected, makes it increasingly challenging to determine which characteristics are more of a necessity to Organized Crime. For the purpose of this week’s forum, I will select lack of an ideology and illegal activities for OC being the most successful. Terrorist organizations motives, rather for personal gain, organizational gain, both of which include profit, are there own set of ideas and beliefs held by that particular group (Lentini, 2008). It is vital to remember, these set of ideologies have the ability to change drastically when dealing with different organizations and has the ability to shift once certain goals are obtained. For the second attribute, I selected illegal activities as a main source of fueling organized crime due to it being the main source for criminal organizations to supply their good and render services based on the demand of their following (Lentini, 2008).
The distinguishing difference between terrorism and organized crime is terrorism as an act itself is routinely accompanied with a political objective. Organized crime on the other hand, is aimed towards meeting an objective of material value such as a financial gain. When referring to organized crime, aspects of power and control can be viewed as secondary objects. OC is notoriously associated with violence with the main objective being some form of profit. From a terrorism standpoint, a key distinguishment is its reliance on fear, deliberately targeting a set group of people or locations, such as military personnel or state officials residing in designated areas (Mullins & Wither, 2016). There are five crucial components that make up terrorism: target audience, creation of fear, political goals and motives, an involvement of an act of violence (Lentini, 2008). These aspects are factored into the decision-making process, when and where an attack is potentially going to occur. The factors of terrorist’s acts are included but not limited to human rights, oppression, religious and ethnic discrimination, and occupations (Lentini, 2008). These aspects can contribute directly how Organized Crime and terrorism overlap. Organizations associated with terrorist activities can put into play OG approaches and maneuvers such as using financial gain from various forms of trafficking to illicit other types of trade to support their activities.
Both topics pose a significant threat to national and international security, with growing implications for economic stability. Law enforcement leaders from all realms must continue to direct efforts to utilize innovative tactics to stay proactive in battling both Organized Crime and terrorism and the threats that come with both.
References:
Lentini, P. (2008). Understanding and combating terrorism: Definitions, origins and strategies. Australian Journal of Political Science, 43(1), 133–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/10361140701842615
Mark Langhorn. (2021). Understanding victimological factors when analyzing organized crime characteristics: A human trafficking perspective. Salus Journal, 9(1), 51–65.
Mulholland, P., & Cole, T. (2021). A Comparison of Attribute-Focused and Harm-Focused Methods for Assessing the Risk of Organized Crime Groups: Are They in Agreement? Policing : A Journal of Policy and Practice, 15(2), 1367–1383. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paaa046
Mullins, S., & Wither, J. K. (2016). Terrorism and Organized Crime. Connections. The Quarterly Journal (English Ed.), 15(3), 65–82. https://doi.org/10.11610/Connections.15.3.06
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