Theorizing about criminal organizations: A comprehensive and flexible conceptual model.

The goal of this paper is to put forth a conceptual model of a criminal organization that incorporates both mandatory and discretionary characteristics. This comprehensive and flexible model attempts to overcome the limitations of static definitions and existing underdeveloped theoretical frameworks that do not fully capture the traits, diversity, and complexity of organized criminal conspiracies. In total, 25 characteristics are incorporated into this model and divided into four categories: organizational, institutional, commercial, and behavioural. To constitute a criminal organization, a conspiracy among offenders must satisfy at least twelve of the 25 traits, six of which are deemed to be universal to any criminal organization. This conceptual model not only fills a void in the theoretical literature on organized crime. It has also been developed for applied purposes: to facilitate legal efforts to determine, in a scientific and rigorous fashion, whether a particular conspiracy among offenders in Canada constitutes a "criminal organization" as defined by Section 467.1(1) of the Criminal Code. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]