Criminology

Organized crime is a major issue of concern in the society which encompasses any kind of unlawful act committed by a highly organized group of criminals. Organized crime can be executed by a single group of individuals or a well coordinated cooperation of organized crime groups. There crimes include drug, firearm, and human trafficking. Money laundering, murder, theft, hijacking, terrorism and migrant smuggling as well as internet crimes are also forms of organized crimes. 

They are usually structured with a hierarchical leadership structure. The groups have well defined rules which dictate their operations including recruiting of new members. Organized crimes affect both social and economic aspects of the community. Despite this, the groups are strongly rooted in the government, a factor which compromises efforts to eliminate them. This is further complicated by the support they gain from the local community particularly when governments are weak of citizens lack confidence in them.

Technological advancements have significantly led to development of new organized crime practices such as internet crime and transnational organized crime. In a bid to mitigate this transnational form of organized crime, the UN adopted the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime in 2000. This convention has two protocols for preventing human trafficking and smuggling of immigrants.

Eliminating organized crime is a big challenge. This requires implementation of stiff rules on organized crime as well as engaging efforts in identifying the characteristics and operations of the various organized crime groups. This calls for involvement of the local community in the process. Given that such a process is not quite possible, the fairest solution is to have policies for compensating those affected by organized crime activities.