Topic: Organized Crime
Dear delegates,
My name is Samantha Codd an I will be your vice chair. I am currently a
senior here at Mission Viejo high school and have been in the MUN program for all
four years.
Organized crime, and often criminal organizations are a group of terms
which categorize transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized
enterprises run by criminals, who intend to engage in illegal activity, most
commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist
organizations, are politically motivated. Sometimes criminal organizations force
people to do business with them, as when a gang extorts money from shopkeepers
for so-called "protection". Gangs may become disciplined enough to be considered
organized. An organized gang or criminal set can also be referred to as a mob.
Other organizations like, States, the Army, Police, Governments and
Corporations may sometimes use organized crime methods to conduct their
business, but their powers derive from their status as formal social institutions.
There is a tendency to distinguish organized crime from other forms of crimes, such
as, white-collar crime, financial crimes, political crimes, war crime, state crimes and
treason. This distinction is not always apparent and the academic debate is ongoing.
For example, in failed states that can no longer perform basic functions such as
education, security, or governance, usually due to fractious violence or extreme
poverty, organized crime, governance and war are often complimentary to each
other. The term Parliamentary Mafiocracy is often attributed to democratic
countries whose political, social and economic institutions are under the control of
few families and business oligarchs.
In the United States, the Organized Crime Control Act (1970) defines organized
crime as "The unlawful activities of a highly organized, disciplined association".
Criminal activity as a structured group is referred to as racketeering and such crime
is commonly referred to as the work of the Mob. In the UK, police estimate
organized crime involves up to 38,000 people operating in 6,000 various groups. In
addition, due to the escalating violence of Mexico's drug war, the Mexican drug
cartels are considered the "greatest organized crime threat to the United States"
according to a report issued by the United States Department of Justice.
UN Involvement: United Nations Crime Prevention Congresses has met every
five years since 1955 to discuss the different types of organized crime and how to
prevent it from taking place. Many resolutions have unfolded in these meetings
when they established the criminal justice system as a central pillar in the law,
noticed the change in the role of the criminal justice system, emphasized the need
for a broad approach to criminal justice system rebuild to strengthen the abilities of
the criminal justice systems in dealing with crime, identified emerging forms of
crime that pose a threat to many countries and explored ways to prevent and
control them. The UN has a team of experts to fight organized crime, but the number
is less than a dozen. They have been able to set up websites that train policemen to
fight organized crime so that there is a broader force fighting organized crime.
Possible Solutions: Areas for solutions to cover would be how to stopping
smuggling, the best strategies for apprehending criminals in these organizations,
what punishments the criminals will experience, the different rewards for halting
organized crime, and how to prevent further attempts at creating organized crime in
the future. Do not rely on these basic concepts, however. Search for deeper and
more creative solutions to the many areas of organized crime.