![]() Paoli 2008 and Lampe 2016 provide critical assessments of the suggested theoretical approaches and conceptualizations of extortion as organized crime. Extortion as organized crime in the different countries is discussed in greater detail in the section Manifestations of Extortion Racketeering around the World. The theory was subsequently applied to a number of different national and historical contexts. Perhaps the most influential was the seminal work Gambetta 1996, on the Sicilian Mafia, which puts forward the widely recognized property rights theory of extortion perpetrated as organized crime. ![]() The major contributions to the conceptualization of the genesis and nature of extortion happened during the 1990s. The definitions of extortion are presented in greater detail in the section Definitions. Best 1982 is among the pioneering works in the application of this theory to the extortion phenomenon. Another influential economic theory, which is widely applied in conceptualizing and analyzing extortion, is game theory. Schelling 1971 and Reuter 1987 were some of the first works to analyze the underpinnings of extortion from an economic point of view, drawing on the rational choice theory (see the separate Oxford Bibliographies in Criminology article “ Rational Choice Theories)” and to point out its true nature as provision of extralegal protection. The first important contributions in the definition and distinction of extortion from other crimes came from the economic theory. Although in theory the two crimes can be distinguished by the degree of coercion involved in the crime and the role (or modus operandi) of public officials in the bribery and extortive scheme, it appears that in practice it is usually not possible to establish a difference.ĭuring the last fifty years extortion has attracted the attention of many scholars from various areas of social sciences-criminology, economics, law, political sciences, and sociology. However, the biggest challenge in conceptualizing and studying extortion perpetrated by public officials remains its distinction from bribery. Some scholars have also focused on “extortion under the color of office,” or, in other words, extortion perpetrated by public servants or politicians in their official capacity. ![]() ![]() While one of the influential theories contends that racketeering is an economic activity-provision of (extralegal) protection services-others postulate that it is rather an imposition of illegal taxation by quasi-political groups. The scholarly debate on the genesis and nature of Mafia extortion practices continues to this date. Such well-rooted extortion practices over a certain territory have long been associated with Mafia-type organizations and denoted as protection racketeering. Systematic extortion is usually perpetrated by organized crime groups that exact payments from multiple victims. Simplest forms are related to episodic incidents, where a single offender receives a one-time benefit from one victim. Extortion practices have been classified according to their degree of complexity and the professional occupation of the perpetrator. Extortion is a predatory crime similar to other practices such as blackmail, bribery, coercion, and robbery.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |