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Organized crime and Street Crime

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Organized crime and Street Crime

A crime can be defined as an act constituting a misdemeanor chargeable and punishable

by law. According to studies, criminal activities can be grouped into two classes; Organized

crime and Street crime. The organized crime involves unlawful activities deliberated and

controlled by immense and high potential and powerful clutches. The criminal activities for

organized crimes are most cases launched on large-scale attacks. Good examples of such crime

groups include the Al-Qaida, Al-Shabaab, Islamic Guard Corps, and the Bokoharamu terrorist

groups.

On the other hand, the Street crime involves less powerful criminal activities and is mostly

conducted in public places. Instances of street crimes include; mugging, thefts, pickpocketing,

soliciting, open illegal trading of drugs, and vandalism. Victims of street crime get snatched of

their property without being necessarily assaulted.

Organized crime differs from street crime in several ways; organized crimes are

organized and carried out majorly on large institutions and focus on material gain. The terrorist

attacks are mainly organized on large governmental or private institutions, and the leading

interest for the terrorists is to gain control and power of resources or particular cities (Abadinsky,

2012). Organized crimes are conducted to overthrow the ruling party of specific wealthy

resources. On the other hand, street crimes are majorly characterized by disjointed gang deeds
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since every gang carries out his activities in his ways. Street gangs operate individually or in

small groups of few members and carry minor crimes along the streets, such as robbery and

pickpocketing activities.

Organized crimes more often have a hierarchical leadership structure. Large terrorist

groups have many members, and they have a hierarchy in their leadership for the sound

management of their activities. Authority and command flow from the top towards the bottom of

the structure, promoting good execution of their planned activities. For organized crimes to meet

their objectives, good leadership, power, and direction must necessitate their large scale

operations. On the other hand, street crimes are more devolved with leadership help in the hands

of personal dealings as every person seeks to get an opportunity to gain something through the

criminal dealings. Street crimes are associated with minor criminal offenses such as

pickpocketing people along the streets of urban places, and the effort of a gang determines his

gain.

Often, street crime gangs have limited access to firepower with less financial stability,

and therefore, less violence is associated with them (Hallsworth, 2013). Due to individualism,

street gangs cannot afford more violent fire tools, and thus, their activities are low violent.

However, organized crimes require the associated “narco” group to be financially firm for

facilitating acquiring more powerful firepower. Organized crime groups aim to gain control over

specific wealthy resources or big cities and therefore need to have powerful terrorist tools that

help achieve their goals. As a result of heavy firepower, many organized crimes have resulted in

more violence, resulting in the death of many lives (Mallory, 2011). Organized crimes cover

activities over a wide or large area, and thus, adequate funds are needed to facilitate their terrorist

activates.
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Conclusively, organized and street crimes are all offenses illegal according to the law

despite their differing levels. Organized crimes, especially those conducted by "narcos," carry

out deadly attacks facilitated by their violent firepower. Organized crimes take longer to plan for

and launch, unlike street crimes where a person can be attacked anytime. Organized crimes

involve the attacks being performed by many criminals with the same goal. Members of

organized crimes do not prefer street gangs near their operation areas, although they can

sometimes hire them to perform some tasks.

References

Abadinsky, H. (2012). Organized crime. Cengage Learning.

Hallsworth, S. (2013). Street crime. Routledge.

Mallory, S. L. (2011). Understanding organized crime. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.