Searching for the determinants of OC: Some preliminary reflections

Given the public concern about organized crime, it is important to identify the determinants of organized crime. Without a better understanding of these determinants, linking them to the different forms of organized crime, policy interventions risk selecting unrealistic goals or even obtaining counterproductive results. It is argued that criminal repression is a necessary reaction to the most serious forms of organized crime, such as a mafia-type organization challenging government authority. Nonetheless, governments should always aim at reducing the total harms associated with organized crime and not lose sight of the fact that they also carry responsibility for these harms.