Organized Crime

Social Organized Crime Perspective Paper

John Kostelnik

CJA/ 384

February 11, 2014

James Roberts, M.A.

Social Organized Crime Perspective

In this paper, with relation to organized crime this student will complete the following: First, this student will discuss and explain the term social institution. Second, this student will explain which empirical and speculative theories are most applicable to organized crime and criminal behavior.

Victimization

The centerpiece of the process of the criminal justice system focuses around victims of crimes. The text defines a victim as, “Any individual against whom an offense has been committed, or for certain procedural purposes, a parent or legal guardian if the victim is below the age of eighteen years or incompetent or one or more family members or relatives designated by the court if the victim is deceased or incapacitated” (Schmalleger, 2014, p. 424). The victim being the centerpiece is the one the criminal justice system looks to provide a sort of restitution for, as to make the victim whole again. Victims, who have rights that must be adhered to, which will be discussed in detail later, are granted the rights after the crime to prevent them from further incident.

This brings us to the criminal who in retrospect creates the victim in their actions of violating the law. All crimes have a victim, whether it is an individual or general group of people. Within victimization, the criminal is the one who is liable for their actions and must face the criminal justice system which will provide restitution to the victim of the crime by many options such as placing the criminal into a prison sentence.

The victim and criminal have been discussed, and the major players of the roles in criminal justice system which provides the goals of prosecution and defense are the attorneys for both sides of the crime. The prosecutor plays the role of providing the case against the defendant which they will try to persuade a...