Organized crime and local businesses
| Published date | 01 November 2008 |
| Date | 01 November 2008 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1748895808096469 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
443
Organized crime and local businesses
NICK TILLEY AND MATT HOPKINS
Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science, University College London,
UK and Matrix Knowledge Group
Abstract
Victimization surveys have found that small local businesses
experience far higher rates of crime than individuals and house-
holds. Previous research also suggests some of the crimes suffered
may be organized. Furthermore, local businesses may also be invited
to play a part in organized crime, for example through receiving
and reselling stolen, counterfeit or contraband goods, though this
has been subject to little research to date. A victimization survey was
conducted in three high crime neighbourhoods in English cities that
aimed to establish patterns of organized crime victimization and the
extent to which businesses were invited to participate in organized
crime. Local police and community representatives were also
interviewed to gauge their views on organized crime and local
businesses. The evidence collected suggests that the nature of
organized crime in relation to business varies widely between high
crime neighbourhoods, that invitations to participate in organized
crime are very widespread and that the police tend to perceive
higher levels of crime organization affecting businesses than those
revealed through surveys.
Key Words
crime against businesses • crime impact • commercial high crime
neighbourhoods • organized crime • survey victimization
Criminology & Criminal Justice
© 2008 SAGE Publications
(Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore)
and the British Society of Criminology.
www.sagepublications.com
ISSN 1748–8958; Vol: 8(4): 443–459
DOI: 10.1177/1748895808096469
ARTICLES
The problem
Though a growing body of work has considered the extent of victimization
against businesses1, little is known about the level and distribution of
organized crimes.2The dearth of knowledge in relation to the business
experience of organized crime matters for both theoretical and practical
reasons. Without any relevant data it is not possible to identify patterns or
explain them. Informed decisions about how many and in what direction to
allocate resources to deal with organized crime require an assessment of its
volume, distribution and impact. Therefore, decisions about what to do
about organized crime would be better made on the basis of a good under-
standing of how patterns of it are produced.
This article reports the findings of a study commissioned by the British
Home Office, which begins to address the current gap in knowledge. The
research piloted survey methods to estimate levels of organized crime
against businesses in high crime residential neighbourhoods. The survey
instrument also asked some questions about invitations to businesses to
take part in crime that may have been organized. In addition, to comple-
ment the survey results, police intelligence and local community beliefs
about local organized crime were canvassed.
Method
The main aim of the research was to measure the extent of organized crime
against businesses across three high crime areas in England. Before the field-
work began, a number of issues had to be resolved. These primarily related
to how we define organized crime, how we can begin to measure organized
crime accurately and how we can get businesses to talk about organized
crime3. These three issues are considered below.
First, the term ‘organized crime’ is loose and ambiguous4.
Criminologists, governments and law enforcement bodies do not have an
agreed definition5(for a summary, see Levi, 2007). Both academics and pol-
icy makers have alluded to a number of common characteristics that help
to distinguish ‘organized crime’ from more opportunistic offences. For
example, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and the European
Union have definitions that suggest ‘organized’ crimes tend to be commit-
ted for the purpose of profit or power, some sort of structure will be in place
to aid the commission of the offence(s) and offences are routinely and
repeatedly committed against victims (see SOCA, 2006; Europol and the
European Commission, 2001). However, practical measurement difficulties
also arise when determining what types of crime to classify as ‘organized’,
what types of networks and planning have to be behind the commission of
offences to count as ‘organized’, and how serious an offence has to be
before it might be deemed eligible for consideration as part of ‘organized’
offending. Even if a common agreed ‘official’ definition did exist, this
Criminology & Criminal Justice 8(4)444
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