Organized Crime Contradicts Catholic Social Teachings

Organized crime contradicts Catholic Social Teachings in every way. The Catholic Social Teaching principle of “Call to Family, Community, and Participation” connects to organized crime due to its heavy involvement in our communities and livelihoods. Catholic Social Teaching says that our Call to Family, Community, and Participation should be one in which members of society organize society in economics, values, and politics that directly affects the common good and the capacity of individuals to develop their full potential. Organized crime violates this Catholic Social teaching in every way due to the fact that organized crime involves murder, extortion, drugs, and high felonies. Organized crime ruins society and poisons the youth; solutions

“The FBI defines organized crime as any group having some manner of a formalized structure and whose primary objective is to obtain money through illegal activities” (FBI.gov). People join organized crime for many reasons, most especially because they want to acquire respect and power so badly, and don't know any other way to get it. This leads to new members joining crime groups, even in good finical and personal times. A great example of this was Henry Hill and his famous statement “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster. To me being a gangster was better than being president of the United States” (Nicholas Pileggi, Wiseguy). These ideals affect not only today’s society, but also future generations to come. “Gang members cannot achieve an identity in their environment, so they gain it in the gang culture. They often visualize themselves as warriors against the outside world, protecting their neighborhood” (Thomas Piketty, Out of the

Organized crime is often associated with murder, drugs, and other horrid acts. Organized crime has many potential consequences such as emotional and mental stress for both the victim and the defendant, the consequence of being murdered if a member does something out of line with their “bosses” orders, and incarceration. Possible solutions to organized crime can be longer prison terms for incarcerated members to deter new members, a no tolerance policy for organized crime such as the one used by Singapore for drug abuse, and lastly a stronger police force with a larger budget to tackle organized crime. If we lower and stop the high organized crime rate then society can return to the Call to Family, Community, and Participation that the Catholic Social Teaching wants for