Other elements of organized criminal groups

a) Aims of Organized crime

These translate into the aims of the organized criminal group(s) and can be glimpsed
from the definition of an organized criminal group in the UN Convention Against
Transnational Organized Crime. Article 2(a) defines an organized criminal group to
mean a structured group of three or more persons, existing for a period of time and
acting in concert with the aim of committing one or more serious crimes or offences
in order to obtain directly or indirectly a financial or other material benefits.

The primary aim of an organized criminal group is that of committing one or

more serious crimes or offences. Article 2(b) of the Convention defines a serious
crime to mean conduct constituting an offence which is punishable by a maximum
deprivation of liberty of at least four years or a more serious penalty. The Crown
Prosecution Service in the U.K has defined serious crime to include drug trafficking,
slavery, human trafficking, firearms offences, prostitution and child sex, armed
robbery, money laundering, fraud and counterfeiting. All these are committed with
the aim of obtaining a financial or other material benefit, either directly or indirectly.

Article 5 of the Convention provides for the criminalization of participation in

organized criminal group which involves agreeing with one or more persons to
commit a serious crime for purpose relating directly or indirectly to obtaining
of a financial or other material benefit. The Interpretive Notes on the Convention
provide that this should be understood broadly to include for example crimes in
which the predominant motivation maybe sexual gratification such as the receipt or
trade of materials by members of child pornography rings, the trading of children by
pedophile rings. The main aim of such groups is to make profits from their criminal
activity and organized crime is viewed as an economic criminal enterprise. According
to Albanese, the activities of such groups are shaped by criminal and local market
forces for example the drug market that is largely competitive and participants enter
to transact their deals and shift from one type of activity to another responding to the
demands of the market.

Case Study of the Protocol to the Convention against the Smuggling of Migrants.
Migrant Smuggling is defined ad procurement, in order to obtain directly or indirectly,
a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party
of which that person is not a national or permanent resident.

The Additional Interpretive Note on this definition provides that reference to a

financial or other material benefit as an element to the definition of migrant struggling
was included in order to emphasize that the intention was to include the activities
of organized criminal groups acting for profit but to exclude the activities of those
who provide support to migrants for humanitarian reasons or on the basis of close
family ties. The protocol is not intended to criminalize activities of family members or
support i.e., NGOs. The reference is meant to exclude groups with purely political or
social reasons or charitable or altruistic reasons for example smuggling of asylum
seekers.

Identifying the aims of organized crime helps distinguish it from other

organizational criminal groups to which the Convention does not apply. An example
is white collar crime which occurs as a deviation from legitimate business while
organized crime occurs as a continuing criminal enterprise that exists to profit
primarily from illicit activity.

Another is terrorism which is committed with the objective of intimidating a population

or compelling a government with a view to achieving political or social objectives or
religious ideologies for example hostage taking to ensure freedom of those viewed
as imprisoned unjustly or acts of violence done in retribution for perceived past
injustices. While organized crime always seeks to obtain a financial or other material
benefit. Power and control remain secondary objectives or motives and these are
only sought to maintain the criminal business enterprises or the organized criminal
groups i.e. control of business territory including the use of violence or coercion. This
can be through corruption of political figures.