Labeling theory explains how the behavior of particular individuals is defined by the classification terms used to describe them. Often associated with the stereotyping theory, labeling focuses on how negative labels on a person can influence their behavior and lead them to crime. The labels result from a person's non-conformity to morals and community standards (Thornberry, 2018). It is this defiance of societal norms that influence some individual to enter into crime as a way to get back at the community for excluding them. State laws and the court's interpretation of these laws are the determinants of the definition of a crime. Deviance, therefore, is the interaction of deviants and non-deviants in a criminal context. On the other hand, organized crimes groups are associations of persons whose operations aim at obtaining money, power or influence. Organized crime encompasses the multiple communications methods that enable the conduction of criminal activities such as violence, corruption, drug trafficking and money laundering (Von Lampe, 2015). The main aim of individuals who engage in organized crime is the generation of profits; that is why they engage in illegal schemes like firearm trafficking, extortion, illegal gambling, counterfeit products, and property smuggling. (Von Lampe, 2015). Nowadays these criminals have diversified to cyber crimes like unlawful auctions, and phishing and most of the cartels have offshore accounts where they channel their profits and earnings to avoid suspicion. Technology allows them to expand their activities to global levels. While most may conduct their activities in secret, the results of such operations are often visible, and this threatens national and international peace and security. For instance, counterfeit drugs and trafficking endanger human health. Economic stability and safety of the people are also affected.
Acts of terrorism are activities which are motivated by a social, political or religious agenda to cause harm to civilians. Most of the time, these acts are perpetrated by groups who have different ethnic and religious backgrounds. Terror groups are formed based on motivation, environment, and relationship with the country (European Commission, 2019). There are several causes of terrorism like culture clashes, religion as well as political reasons such as dissatisfaction with the government. Intentional acts of terrorism result in severe damage to a state or a global organization and are aimed at causing public intimidation. In addition, they destabilize the economic, social and political structure of a country or organization. Some of these acts include killing, taking hostage of individual and demanding ransoms, interfering with the supply of basic amenities like power and water as well as releasing chemical substances that cause explosion and floods thus endangering human life (Jenkins, 2015). Moreover, the terrorists go as far as bombing government facilities and destroying infrastructure and transport system which affects the mobility of thousands of people. Manufacture, transport, acquisition, and use of explosives and firearms are also some of the activities that the criminals engage in. The effects of terrorism are often felt even a year after the acts took place. Many lives are lost especially in a bombing and gun-related violence. In case a chemical explosive was used, there are adverse effects such as children being born with abnormalities and paralysis as well as corrosion o the land. Similarly, destroying infrastructure cripples the movement of resources and other factors of production resulting in huge losses. Furthermore, after a government facility is destroyed, the government uses a lot of resources to rebuild it, and this leads to economic retardation since most of the government finances are spent on reconstruction instead of development projects.
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Since the era of the French Revolution, terrorism has advanced, and social media and the internet is the reason for this advancement. The internet gives these criminals an extensive online presence which facilitates radicalization and recruitment especially of younger people who are mostly online. The extremist groups reach out to these individuals on social media, and because access is unlimited, they can convince the young individuals to carry out attacks within their locality. Another use of the internet is propaganda dissemination in the form of justifications, instructions, ideologies, and promotions that are mostly spread by terrorists or sympathizers (Jenkins, 2015). Some of these forms are exemplified by messages, audios, magazines, and videos developed mainly by the criminals or captives. Since the international law states that every human is entitled to freedom of expression, the distribution of the videos and audios is usually easy despite the content being objected by various human rights groups. The material such as video shows footage of acts of violence and video games give the simulation of engaging in terrorism like killing or bombing. Technological advancement gives people a chance to download, edit and redistribute videos online. For this reason, terrorists use the internet to make videos glorifying and inciting people to engage in terrorist acts. It is this editing feature that they use to make instruction manuals and tutorial on how to create and use guns and explosives and post them online after which they recruit individuals who have learned and are willing to join the extremist groups. Besides engaging in propaganda, these terror groups source their funding through the internet. For example, they exploit online payment facilities through identity theft, stock, wire, credit card, and auction fraud as well as intellectual property theft (Jenkins, 2015). Alternatively, they can directly solicit money from donors through websites and chat rooms Social media platforms have turned into a hub where terrorist conduct their activities and spreading their evil agendas which is why everyone should be vigilant especially when making new friends and making payments online.
References
European Commission. (2019, March 4). Acts of terrorism . Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/content/acts-terrorism_en
Jenkins, B. M. (2015). International terrorism: A new mode of conflict. In International terrorism and world security (pp. 23-59). Routledge.
Thornberry, T. (2018). Developmental theories of crime and delinquency . Routledge.
Von Lampe, K. (2015). Organized crime: analyzing illegal activities, criminal structures, and extra-legal governance . Sage Publications.
