The legislative recreation of RICO: reinforcing the "myth" of organized crime

This paper uses historical content analysis to examine the implementation ofthe Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). It is argued thatthe historical events leading to the definition of organized crime as an alienconspiracy still affect RICO's use some 30 years after its passag...

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Autor principal: Geary, William R. (Autor)
Tipo de documento: Electrónico Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2002
En: Crime, law and social change
Año: 2002, Volumen: 38, Número: 4, Páginas: 311-356
Acceso en línea: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Sumario:This paper uses historical content analysis to examine the implementation ofthe Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). It is argued thatthe historical events leading to the definition of organized crime as an alienconspiracy still affect RICO's use some 30 years after its passage. This paper applies state-centered theory to the theoretical frameworks of sociology of knowledge and innovation diffusion. This approach is used to relate the current implementation and controversy of RICO to the alien conspiracy view. Thought of in this context, legal implementation is the result of a knowledge creation and diffusion process. This paper demonstrates how one knowledge diffusionprocess (the acceptance of organized crime as a national conspiracy in 1970) leads to a new knowledge diffusion process (the use of RICO).
Notas:Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 355-356
ISSN:1573-0751
DOI:10.1023/A:1021139531808