Reflections on organized crime and finding community-level resolutions - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Particularly in the past several decades, organized crime has been evolving and taking on an increasingly transnational nature” (p.1). Because of the effects and growing nature of organized crime, the society and the government must invest more time and energy in understanding and fighting it. This course allowed this student to study and comprehend the major topics that address the various aspects of organized criminal gangs. This paper presents reflections and recommendations. Reflecting on these topics reinforces learning and pushes critical thinking on the side of the students. A closer examination of community responses to organized crime will also be conducted. Thus, this paper offers a closer analysis of organized crime in the United States. It also provides recommendations on how the community can be empowered to help fight organized crime. Part One: Reflection The Nature and Extent of Organized Crime Organized crime is like a human being because it is flexible, responsive, and adaptive to its changing environment. It is not a surprise then that organized crime has evolved and improved, since it started from the pirates of the colonial period (Mallory, 2012, p.17). Organized crime is like any organization; it is made of people who can and will evolve, depending on their needs and the opportunities and threats in the environment. I am concerned of this humanity, or more like inhumanity, behind organized crime. It suggests that organized crime will always exist. This is based on the assumption that human beings do not always choose to be good, and that there are sociological factors that contribute to the development of organized crime. It shows the challenges of battling organized crime at individual and diverse levels of society. Does this mean that the government and communities are wasting their efforts in fighting organized crime? I do not have this pessimistic point of view. I may think that some people are evil, in such a way that they find it hard, or even wrong to act morally. In general, however, people are good. Many of them are tainted, nevertheless, because of their family backgrounds and social environments that influenced or trained them to fraternize with criminal elements. I truly believe that numerous of these people can still be “turned around.” However, they must acknowledge and accept internal changes. They must be willing to change themselves. Otherwise, they will remain criminals because of their deviant attitudes and behaviors. Hence, the extent of organized crime ends with the capacity of criminals to change and the capacity of people to avoid and reject organized crime as an alternative way of life. Explaining Organized Crime Explaining organized crime as a phenomenon and as a process involves analyzing its multifaceted nature. As a phenomenon, it means that organized crime has elements that are similar to formal and legal organizations. Organized crime tends to have the following features: structure, ...Download file to see next pagesRead More