Poverty as a recruitment factor in organized crime groups

Deductive Logic and Theory Building

Theory

Poverty is often a significant element influencing individuals to take on a life of crime, taking into account that organized crime leaders tend to recruit their subordinates from underprivileged environments. Poor persons have lesser options in comparison to others and gradually come to consider that committing criminal acts is the only solution they have in order to survive. From the perspective of organized crime leaders poor areas are thus perfect recruitment spots. There is a complex relationship between poverty and organized crime and by analyzing a series of organized crime communities from around the world one is likely to observe that many tend to focus on recruiting underprivileged individuals.

What the theory will address

When considering the idea of organized crime, one needs to gain a better understanding of why people resort to joining such groups in order to understand their dynamics. Many organized crime communities in the U.S. comprise large numbers of individuals who were poor (some still are) and who reached the conclusion that it is important for them to get actively involved in criminal activities in order to improve their condition. This theory is meant to focus on whether or not poverty actually plays an important role in getting people to join organized crime groups.

3. Phenomena the theory applies to The U.S. is a place where poverty and wealth interact directly and thus influences some to acknowledge that the legal actions they need to perform in order to become wealthy are too much for them and that they thus need to search for alternatives. "For African-American and Hispanic ghetto dwellers, one of their most important problems, one that confronted white ethnic immigrants decades earlier, was how to escape poverty through socially approved means when these means were virtually closed." (Kelly, Chin, & Schatzberg, 1994, p. 199) To a certain degree, these people solved their financial problems by committing criminal acts.

Poor individuals tend to have a different perspective with regard to a person who becomes a criminal because he has no other method to earn a living. Some of these people are likely to believe that their condition forces them to become criminals and do not consider that certain criminal acts are morally evil. "Poverty provides the moral climate for organized crime in the ghetto." (Kelly, Chin, & Schatzberg, 1994, p. 199)

Mexico is a good environment for one to observe the relationship between poverty and organized crime. The country's organized crime groups are rapidly expanding as a consequence of poverty levels increasing. What is even more disturbing is that the authorities fail to acknowledge the gravity of the issue and direct most of their funds to fighting crime directly rather than to address reasons why people resort to becoming criminals. The case of sixteen-year-old Maria Celeste Mendoza is especially intriguing, considering that the young girl came to consider living a criminal life because she was pressured by the financial condition she was in. Celeste was recruited by the Zetas organized crime group, one of the most dangerous groups in Mexico and in the world, and spent two months training with the purpose of becoming a hit woman. "Celeste and the five other adolescents who attended the camp (four of whom are women) were paid 12,000 pesos a month, an amount which is more than three times as much as most Mexicans make in the same period." (Ramsey, 2011)

Mexico's organized crime groups take advantage of the wide range of individuals they can recruit and are unhesitant about targeting some of the most vulnerable. The fact that these groups observe young girls and that they are exposed to the criminal environment in the country makes it possible for them to concentrate on influencing them to accept living criminal lives. Organized crime groups practically provide underprivileged young people with the chance to understand how joining their ranks is going to significantly upgrade their position in society.

4. Proposition -- Individuals join criminal organizations because they want to be famous

Hypothesis - Poverty is the primary reason why people engage in criminal activities on behalf of criminal organizations

5. The dependent variable represents the number of individuals belonging to organized crime groups who claim that they joined because of their financial difficulties. The independent variable would be the ability to identify these people and their backgrounds.

INDUCTIVE LOGIC AND THEORY BUILDING

1. Empiric generalization

The Mara Salvatrucha criminal organization has expanded throughout the American continent and it appears that borders are not necessarily an impediment when considering its presence in countries other than its home. It is currently present in a series of areas and on several continents, as it appears that the principles it promotes have influenced a great deal of individuals to express interest in joining the gang. While the organized crime group has initially been present in Los Angeles only, a number of deportations involving high-ranking officers and the fact that these respective individuals have taken the gang's name further made it possible for them to recruit individuals in a series of other areas. Many organized crime groups spreading across the world are directly tied to terrorist groups.

3. Theory

Actions such as deporting criminal leaders to Latin American countries have only managed to make matters worse as these individuals made criminal organizations stronger by recruiting individuals in these respective areas. Furthermore, the general aspect of organized crime has changed as people involved in it came from more diverse backgrounds and even had different goals. Many new recruits were more determined as a result of the fact that, in contrast to those living in the U.S., they were pressured by their financial condition and by the fact that they had lesser options when it came to earning a living. These people contributed to making criminal organizations better connected and to having them function as a single body both in and outside of the U.S. (Congress, p. 1403)

While many are inclined to look at criminal organizations like the Mara Salvatrucha and terrorist organizations as being distinct bodies, the reality is that the criminal group has been involved in a series of activities that can be categorized as being terrorist in character. The Los Zetas criminal group has been found to develop ties with terrorist organizations like the Lebanese Hezbollah. This certainly aggravates the situation and makes it possible for someone to understand that seemingly local criminal organizations have connections throughout the world and that their power can often be underestimated.

Even with the fact that many criminal organizations have strong connections and allies and thus seem to express little to no interest in making even more 'friends', many organized crime groups turn to communicating with their peers in other countries. The fact that money is one of the principal motives behind these organizations means that their leaders are unhesitant about cooperating with terrorists, as they are willing to do everything they can in order to increase their profits.

Works cited:

Bruneau, T., Dammert, L., and Skinner, E. (2011). Maras: Gang Violence and Security in Central America. University of Texas Press.

Kelly, R.J., Chin, K., & Schatzberg, R. (1994). Handbook of Organized Crime in the United States. Greenwood Publishing Group.

Ramsey, G. Poverty a Recruitment Tool for Mexico's Criminal Gangs. Retrieved September 8, 2013, from http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/poverty-a-recruitment-tool-for-mexicos-criminal-gangs

Rosenthal, T. "LOS ZETAS AND HEZBOLLAH, A DEADLY ALLIANCE OF TERROR AND VICE," Retrieved September 8, 2013, from http://www.theamericasreport.com/2013/07/08/los-zetas-and-hezbollah-a-deadly-alliance-of-terror-and-vice/

Congress, Congressional Record, Volume 151, Part 8, May 19, 2005 to June 6, 2005