ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with forms of crime originating with or enabled by the organisational and professional frameworks and status that perpetrators can draw upon. It identifies and discusses different areas or worlds of activity, motives and consequences– although it should become apparent that there is blurring and overlap between these categories. The chapter covers crime in the world of illegal enterprise – crime as an illegal profession and crime as a process – the nature of trafficking, smuggling and organisational forms of crime. The study of organised crime, therefore, is multidimensional, often country- and culture- specific, and certainly linked to highly charged concepts such as power, wealth and enterprise. The chapter considers the transnational nature of organised crimes and networks as evidence of the further complexity of forms of organised crime. It focuses on the entrepreneurial character of crime in the UK, through reference to the professionalization of crime and the diversification of criminal activities.
