Social Organized Crime Perspective
In some communities organized crime is as much of a social institution as other legitimate functions. Often, the impact of organized crime can be hidden and not readily apparent to community members. In other cases the community may come to accept the organized criminal group for the benefits they provide. Understanding how organized crime meshes into the social fabric of a community is important to understanding how to fight against it. Just as important to understanding the social implications is understanding theories as to why individuals become involved in criminal activities and how criminal organizations function.
Social Institution as it Relates to Organized Crime
The first thing that must be understood when discussing how organized crime relates to social institutions is to define what a social institution is. In general a social institution can be described as a group of people joined together to achieve a goal. Communities are bound together by different kinds of social institutions like schools, banks, religious centers, law enforcement, businesses, etc. (Carlie, M. 2002). Communities are not bound together by strict lines on a map, but through social activities. Social institutions within the community provide the necessary support for daily living. When a social institution fails to fill a particular social need the door is opened for another institution to step in. Sometimes these voids are left open for a legitimate business opportunity within the community. Often, however, there are voids in the social community left open in illegal goods and services. These needs are then filled with organized criminal groups. “The failure of the production-distribution-consumption function is the key element for organized crime’s existence” (Lyman & Potter, 2007).
When this occurs the organized crime group fulfills a need within the community and may actually be accepted as a part of the community social network. Organized crime group’s further entrench themselves into the community by establishing legitimate business interests. These legitimate enterprises provide the organized crime group an opportunity to mask their true operations and offer covert means to launder money or hide illegal activities from detection. The criminal group can become imbedded within the community and provide further opportunities. Organized criminal groups can generate additional business for legitimate community institutions, jobs, income, and services. This can become so valuable to a community that the citizens actually accept the criminal organization and look the other way. A major reason organized crime is so successful within communities are the corrupt ties these groups form with political and social leaders often as a result of bribery or other favors. Organized criminal organizations become part of the social fabric of a community. Many individuals who consume illegal services provided by these groups do not view themselves as criminals, yet they directly support the group’s criminal activities (Lyman & Potter, 2007). Understanding how organized crime becomes part of a community’s social structure is valuable, but an examination of theories of organized crime is important to provide a deeper understanding.
Applicable Theories
There are two parts to understanding the reasons for the emergence of organized crime. First it is important to understand the structure and operations of the criminal group. The second is to consider why people are drawn to participate in criminal groups when others are not. No discussion concerning why people choose a life of crime can be made without bringing up the Rational Choice Theory. This theory introduced by Cesare Lombroso states individuals exercise free will over their decisions and make choices based on the pain-pleasure principle. Each individual carefully weighs the odds of reward and punishment prior to making a decision. If the reward outweighs the risk of punishment the scales will tilt in that direction. This theory has some merit, but often falls short to offer a full explanation. There have also been attempts to explain criminal behavior by biological stereotyping. This also has been discredited over time. One of the more pronounced psychological theories to explain criminal behavior centers on the anti-social personality disorder (Mallory, 2007). People diagnosed with this disorder tend to display common characteristics to include lack of empathy, untruthfulness, lack of remorse, and no emotion, to name a few. It may be true that many criminals exhibit these traits, but it cannot be said that all people who have these tendencies turn to crime (Lyman & Potter, 2007).
It is important then to examine an empirical study of organized crime as well. Organizational Theory is based on a study of how criminal organizations operate, their structure, and business operations. Through this examination it is revealed that criminal organizations are structured loosely, flexible and extremely adaptable to the environment. Organized crime also operates much like legitimate business with some variances. Because organized crime operates illegal business the group is structured in smaller segments to minimize exposure to law enforcement detection. Further, they tend to limit their geographic scope. Relationships within organized crime are built on partnerships or client-based. The conclusions drawn from this theory suggest that law enforcement efforts should be focused on breaking down or disrupting the market forces responsible for organized crimes existence rather than jailing supposed masterminds (Lyman & Potter, 2007). Organized crime is an institution that changes with the environment it operates in. Law enforcement efforts will have to be just as flexible in fighting organized crime. Much of this effort focuses on chipping away at organized criminal groups through a war of attrition (Williams, 2012). None of these theories totally explain the reasons for organized crime and perhaps no single theory will ever offer a full explanation. Each theory offers a different piece to a very complex puzzle.
Conclusion
Social institutions are those parts of the community that help bring the community together and provide what is needed for the community to thrive. Organized crime capitalizes on a communities need to acquire goods and services that are illegal. Corruption and greed allow organized criminal groups to flourish. Often criminal organizations become social institutions within the community themselves. Many theories have been developed to explain the existence of organized crime, but to date no single theory has been developed that fully explains the reason organized crime is able to thrive. It is because of this a good overall understanding of multiple theories is necessary for the criminal justice professional to combat organized crime.

References
Carlie, M. (2012). Into the abyss: a personal journey into the world of street gangs. Retrieved from http://people.missouristate.edu/michaelcarlie/orientation/perspective.htm
Lyman, M.D. & Potter, G.W. (2007). Organized crime (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Mallory, S.L. (2007). Understanding organized crime. Sudbury, M.A. Jones and Bartlett.
Willaims, G. (2012, Fall). Policy implications of different theoretical approaches to organised crime. Journal of Financial Crime, 19(4), 400-409. Retrieved from
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/1359-0790.htm