Abstract
The FBI has presented an argument that the problems associated with addressing organized crime are primarily because of the narrow view of their scope and impact. It is a reality that the conventional and contemporary views of organized crime have relegated the scope and impact on the Italian mafia. Hence, there has been an unfamiliarity of the fact that organized crime has been evolving and changing, particularly with the openness of the national borders resulting from globalization. To have effective measures, it is necessary for the definition, scope, and impact of organized crime to change.
Scope and Impact of Organized Crime
Introduction
There is no doubt that when one spoke about organized crime in the past what came to mind was the Italian mafia. They were the real definition of organized crime in the United States. As a result, in the event where the analysis of the scope and impact of organized crime was to be made, the result ended up with the Italian mafia. Therefore, the view has hindered the effectiveness of measures assumed to deal with organized crime by the FBI in the country. The FBI’s statement is true to a large extent. The reality is that even on researching the topic of organized crime, the majority of the text written on the topic speaks about the Italian mafia (Abadinsky, 2017). In fact, it is not possible to speak about the concept of organized crime without referring to the Italian mafia. The reality disregards the fact that with globalization, organized crime has taken new shapes and has expanded in scope. Relegating organized crime to the Italian mafia makes it challenging for the modern law enforcement to deal with this form of crime effectively.
Organized crime has been revealed to have greatly assumed a more transnational character. With the opening of the national borders and the development of the information communications technologies, organized crime has become highly effective placing the United States in danger from within and without. The threat to the United States is emerging from numerous organized criminal organizations from different parts of the world, including Italy, Russia, Middle East, and Africa among others. The groups are working on their own while others are getting the support of the state to perpetrate extensive threats (Abadinsky, 2017). In the event that a database is available for the criminal organizations that are causing a threat to the United States, it would be so vast in scope. The same applies to the impact this form of crime has on the country and the general international community.
The problem in dealing with organized crime by the law enforcement in the United States, including the FBI, is primarily because of a lack of a modern definition and view of organized crime. Evidently, the policies in place for dealing with the challenge are founded on the conventional view of organized crime (Abadinsky, 2017). Hence, it could be the reason the current remedies for the problem has not achieved a high level of effectiveness in dealing with organized crime. Also, it is time for the policy makers to challenge the devices and resources they have in place to address the problem of organized crime. The evolving nature of the crime might demand a change in the tools available for law enforcement.
Conclusion
There are limitations in the efforts to deal with the modern nature of organized crime. The FBI assigns the responsibility to the limitation in the scope and impact of the crime regardless the reality of its evolving nature. The scope of the crime is no longer what it was historically, neither its impact the same as it was when the Italian mafia was the only organized criminal groups. It is the high time to recognize that most things have changed, including the motivation and ideology. The initial stage to make law enforcement successful in addressing organized crime is to change its definition and implement measures along the evolving nature of the crime.