Organized Crime and Crime

Social Disorganization and Organized Crime Developed by the Chicago School, social disorganization theory refers to the relationship between crime and ecology. Essentially, social disorganization describes how the ecological characteristics of a neighborhood or community will impact the levels of crime rates that occur there (Bursik, 1988).

An extension of social disorganization theory is Broken Windows Theory, which holds that minor acts of vandalism and abandonment will lead to large acts of crime as it becomes clear to people that small, petty crime is tolerated so why not push the envelope and try to get away with more (Wilson, Kelling, 1982). The idea is that by fixing up and addressing vandalism, graffiti, broken windows, signs of abandonment, etc., communities can prevent crime from taking hold in a neighborhood.

The more disorganized a neighborhood is, on the other hand, the more likely crime is to take root because there is no evident force or care on the part of the community to protect itself or prevent it from happening. The external, in other words, shows what is internal -- and people know that and respond accordingly.

Social disorganization relates to organized crime and its evolution in the sense that the more disorganized a community is, the more open it makes itself to organized crime coming in and having its way within the community. Some members of a socially disorganized neighborhood may even see organized crime as a positive influence in the neighborhood because it brings order and some wealth: "The organized crime groups are seen as a savior in the poverty stricken neighborhoods.

The organized crime groups will create jobs and offer businesses protection from outside threats. The organized crime groups monopolize the social disorganized neighborhood. The social disorganized neighborhood creates wealth and power for the organized crime groups. The politicians may play a role in the success of organized crime too" (Social Disorganization, 2016). The end result is that disorganization in society leads to the possibility of organized groups whose actions are unethical to take advantage of the breakdown in order and impose their own system of ethics.

For an ethical society to thrive it must be organized because organization and order act as borders and boundaries -- like walls or protective gear -- around a neighborhood or community. When that protection goes, host parasites and predators can creep in. Once it creeps it, it begins to take over by setting up shops, getting involved in dirty politics, infiltrating external sectors of law, order, society, etc., in order to infiltrate and impose its own orientation.

Social disorganization meets the criteria for organized crime very well because it basically acts as a vacuum -- and since nature abhors a vacuum, organized crime can fill the vacuum quite easily, offering to those in need (low income, poverty class) a way to make money that would otherwise not be possible because the class of people are outside the respectable classes and unwelcome in a system that is geared towards ignoring them.

They see organized crime as the only way out -- so it is a mutually benefitting condition for both organized crime and the people of the neighborhood. Likewise, the lack of police control or community watch oversight adds to the attraction for organized crime and matches the other criteria, which is ability to operate and maneuver without much resistance.

The fact that there will be little pushback against its rackets and, indeed, more welcome arms than not, means that organized crime values social disorganization as an environment that is ripe for picking. The correlation of corrupt political machines and social disorganization to the development of organized crime is that corrupt political machines often exist wherever organized crime flourishes.

Social disorganization likewise can flourish but is not essentially always going to be seen or noticed, especially if organize crime has come in and taken root -- it will put up fronts and establish an order that appears legitimate even if it is not. This will give the impression that the neighborhood is organized and governed effectively when really it is run by criminals and corrupt politicians.

So the correlation between social disorganization is not always evident; however, there is typically some correlation between governmental corruption and organized crime, as the two are not really that separate at all. Government is given a gloss or a veneer of respectability because the individuals who run for office are deemed to be moral, upstanding, and respectable people. However, as history shows, these people can act in the same manner as fronts of shops act for organized crime in the streets: they are fronts in government.

Thus, government can really be an extension.