Controlling Organized Crime: Looking for Evidence-Based Approaches

Abstract

Serious policy-relevant research on organized crime has been thwarted by ideological views, the failure to generate systematic data, and a single-minded law enforcement approach to its control. Correspondingly, there has been a failure to generate needed data for analysis and evaluation of anti–organized crime initiatives. This article summarizes the current situation, evaluates emerging work which is challenging past assumptions, and describes a data and research approach to develop more useful policy-relevant research on organized crime, based on evidence rather than ideology.

Keywords:

• organized crime
• criminal justice policy
• ideology
• evaluation
• crime prevention