Organised Crime and Its Policing

Introduction

This chapter examines organised crime social construction and the policing behind it as a social problem. The definition of crime is often not clear. For instance, if a police service decides to arrest a gang member caught scrawling their postcode initial on a wall in a region of rivalry, they may be arraigned in court with the act of vandalism. They might then commence their journey into the system of criminal justice, in the long run, they may be declared criminals. Ironically, if they were to draw a police parody on the same wall, they could end up into the world of fame and fortune (Isaacs et al., 2014). What then is organised crime? Organised crime is rather less intricate in its construction. It is more visible and morally dubious. According to the home office (2004), organised crime is a group of individuals working together in continuous activities of crime for the purpose of making a substantial profit, anywhere across the globe. In this chapter, Silverstone, an expert in drug dealing and use, explore the social construction of organised crime. He achieves this through enquiry of issues pertaining to the social construction of crime, including trafficking and the moral panic occurring around the syndicates of international crime. He comprehensively looks at how strategies of policing frequently ignore poverty and grave issues in an attempt to come up with a lasting solution. This chapter reviews and examines the magnitude of the UK organised crime menace. Additionally, it scrutinizes the institutions that are actively involved in their policing and construction.

Harm measurement from organised crime

The magnitude of the harm caused by organised crime and its measurement is quite complex owing to the fact that is the primary key to the social construction of this challenge. One of the major ways the government uses to measure crime is by placing crime losses into financial terms, the big figures are then applied by in constructing organised crime as a substantial and growing problem. Many UK migrants work in the jobs sector with low pay which is of great importance to the economy of the UK. When the cost to the UK economy is being calculated, some politicians may pose arguments that illegitimate migrants do not pay taxes yet they actively use public services thus creating economic drain (Isaacs et al., 2014). This argument can, however, be punched back since individuals in labour of low cost can still use their wages locally without involving the industries. If this happens, the businesses they work for would collapse thereby making thousands unemployment and in return contributing to further financial deficit to the country.

British organised crime social construction

In this chapter, the author disputes the global conspiracies notion and rather embraces the idea that there is a large group of a criminal organisation that operates globally. They outsource the risk portion of their business and make billions in profit. Research done in the past denotes that criminal enterprises are strategies of intentional individuals grouping themselves to seize various opportunities in different regions globally, however empirical illustrations supporting such statement have not been found. There is a wider gap between an established social construction threat coming from a criminal group and the available evidence that support such claims. The threat from global organised crime is in fact exaggerated (Isaacs et al., 2014). Research shows that there is no link between migration and crime yet these two variables are often mistaken to be dependent. In this chapter, there is the opposition of the perception that organised crime is made up of an enormous mobile group of people. He presents his argument that organised crime in the UK is characterized as a disorganised criminal group. He argues that criminal activities are chaotic and composed of contingent groups. The localization of drugs market is a supporting evidence of these sentiments, where a group of people are in stiff competition to control most parts of the drug market but in the long run, no single group manages to maintain the market monopoly. Suppose the drug supply originated from one source then it is much easier for law enforcement to close down the main source (Isaacs et al., 2014).

Trafficking

Children and women trafficking into the UK for labour or sexual exploitation is a concern that represents the ongoing debate concerning the issue of organised crime social construction. Trafficking greatly differs from smuggling. Smuggling is the illegal transportation of willing migrants to the UK without being coerced. Trafficking involves illegitimate transportation of migrants through the use of threats, force and other forms of fraud. Trafficking continues to be a growing menace in the UK. A report provided by a scholar in the report provides a summary of statistical evidence that exemplifies the magnitude of the problem. In research undertaken in 1998, Davies cites that approximately 1400 women might have been trafficked for constrained prostitution purposes. Additional figure from home office also suggests that a total of 4000 girls and women could have been trafficked into coerced prostitution in the UK (Isaacs et al., 2014). In 2007, Parliament provided its own figures estimated to be 24000 slaves of commercial sex. The perpetrators and victims of trafficking, the enormous amount of revenue generated, have consistently pointed fingers against the organised criminal group. Attention has been specifically put on the vulnerable migrants who work in prostitution and cannabis factories. The alleged persons facilitating crime are suspected to be an organised criminal group from South-East Asia and Eastern Europe. This has resulted in national police operation succession. This ideology has pervasively contaminated sex writing industry than any other area of social science (Isaacs et al., 2014). Criminologist argues that the fact that conceiving may prove difficult, people still continue to volunteer work in the sex industry. A debate over trafficking prevalence is an evolving academic and political issue that can result in opposed policy decisions. However, if a general acceptance of trafficking can be made then resources should be dispatched to the trafficked victims in order to make their lives better. It is also worth arguing that if thousands of people are being subjected to trafficking by the organised criminal group, then the government needs to boost response to law enforcement otherwise tragedy would occur. Continue your journey with our comprehensive guide to Maximizing Profitability in the Fitness Industry Post Pandemic.

Organised crime policing

The governments have extended the budget and powers of the individuals mandated with a responsibility of policing crime, this is due to the increase in threat perception. A sociologist from Marcust argues that the rise in power of the state has little to do with objective menace and instead the state is trying to reassert itself in an attempt to control the marginalized communities. The current punitive measure tends to exaggerate the menace posed by organised crime. Through this, the state is able to stretch its legitimacy while reducing other areas of social spending such as welfare (Isaacs et al., 2014). The successive governments argue that organised crime is a real menace to the state. State reasserts its powers in various ways that make critics find it unnecessary. For instance, the head of NCA has been given powers to give direction to the police force in Wales and England. Individuals accused of a crime are supposed to prove to the court their innocence. In any event, the accused is unable to prove their innocence in a court of law; they automatically lose the accrued profit from crime. The government has also introduced a pre-emptive criminalization policy whose aim is to anticipate conduct of crime rather than investigating its occurrence (Isaacs et al., 2014).

Discussion and conclusion

In this chapter, it is evident that organised crime is presented by successive governments of the political persuasion as a threatening and ever-growing social problem. This menace has various dimensions which include social order threats, massive financial losses and exploitation of the vulnerable group in the society. This chapter denotes that deconstruction of the social construction of organised crime is quite complex and therefore rigorous and careful scrutiny is necessary. The criminal threat facing the UK tends to change as priorities are also changing. Advancement in technologies continues to offer great avenues that assist in battling this menace. The second section of this chapter argues that measuring the magnitude of the harm caused by organised crime is a complex process (Isaacs et al., 2014). In case academics fail to generate large amount of reliable data, economists and policymakers would be liable to resort to harm fiscal estimate. However, the fiscal estimate is suggested to be treated with careful caution. The proceeding part of this chapter provides detailed information on the general structure of organised crime. It is argued that there is a long-standing tendency meant to exaggerate the potency and structure of the organised crime group and later claim their existence on the new migrants. The trafficking section illustrates the recent debate on organised crime. It denies the growing trafficking menace in the UK that is being triggered by the group of organised crime. Ironically, empirical evidence shows that available evidence supporting the growing trafficking is very weak thereby raising questions. The chapter ends with the policing of organised crime. In this section, the threat from organised crime is employed in the justification of punitive transformations within the system of criminal justice. All these changes have given extensive powers to the state and enforcement of the law. This continues to cause a discriminatory effect on persons without economic powers.

Reference

Isaacs, S., Blundell, D., Foley, A., Ginsburg, N., McDonough, B., Silverstone, D., & Young, T.

(2014). Social Problems in the UK: An Introduction. Routledge.