The study of organized crime United States of America vs. Afghanistan Essay

The study of organized crime United States of America vs. Afghanistan - Essay Example Towards the end of 2005, the Convention Against Corruption entered into force and its' goal inter alia is to prevent organized crime. The World Bank estimated in 2005 that over $1 trillion is paid in bribes each year to corrupt government officials. The impact is significant. Initially, corruption facilitates drug trafficking, organized crime, money laundering and illicit international money transfers, which can be used to support mechanisms for international terrorists. But the toll on an impoverished nation is even more devastating and real. Against that backdrop, this paper will attempt to define organized crime in the United States, explore its' genesis and discuss the impact of organized crime in the United States. Next this paper will discuss the origins of organized crime in Afghanistan and the Middle East, define the parameters and establish the nexus of organized crime between the United States and the Middle East.Definition of Organized Crime: The American Heritage Dictiona ry defines organized crime. "1. Widespread criminal activities, such as prostitution, interstate theft, or illegal gambling, that occur within centrally controlled formal structure. 2. The people and the groups involved in such criminal activities."Kelly (1994) states "Organized crime" is more than a specific type of "crime," much like a "violent crime" is a subset of all crimes. For example, one can talk about a violent crime and describe a particular incident to others; if the incident's description fits the legal definition of the crime and includes violent acts as a part of its commission, then we understand the incident to be a violent crime. But one cannot talk about "an organized crime" in the same manner, because society and the law does not conceive of "an organized crime" as a similar subset of all crimes; rather, American law has labeled a crime fitting into the category "organized crime" by virtue of other factors, such as inter alia, whether the person committing the cr ime is affiliated with a criminal enterprise and the description of the circumstances surrounding the crime. Kelly, R (1994). Handbook of Organized Crime In the United States. Philadelphia, PA.: Greenwood Press. 5 Organized Crime USA vs. Afghanistan History and Historiography of Organized Crime in USA: Murry Kempton criticized people, whom he called good citizens, for always insisting that [organized] crime is 'un-American' activity, as the Mafia was also taken as un-American concept. (The New York Reviews of Books; 9 April 1992). 'The orthodox model states that organized crime's crucial history is the rise of Italian American organized crime.'. This paper also tries to establish that organized crime, notwithstanding the fact of multicultural facets of it, has indigenous roots too. Alan A. Block