RICO: The genesis of an idea

In 1970, the Congress enacted the Organized Crime Control Act. Title IX of the 1970 Act is the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organization Act or RICO. This Act had its origins in legislation going back as far as 1934, but coming forward to 1961. The 1970 Act borrowed ideas from this earlier legislation, principally “enterprise,” but also the use predicate statutes to define “racketeering activity.” The ideas are not new, but their combination affects how prosecutors and law enforcement agents investigate, try, and sanction violations of the Act. RICO’s drafting also reflects organizational theory and economic analysis. The investigation and prosecution of a single crime committed by an individual on a single day and in a single place maybe done using one set of procedural and evidentiary rules. Nevertheless, the investigation and prosecution of patterns of diverse offenses committed by, through, and against licit and illicit enterprises require sophisticated procedures, evidentiary rules, and criminal sanctions. In addition, antisocial conduct is more than a challenge to the administration of criminal justice; it also requires the full panoply of civil sanctions, including public injunctions as well private enforcement of injunctive relief and treble damages. RICO has had a profound effect on the prosecution of organized crime, white-collar crime, and other forms of similar criminal behavior. William J. & Dorothy K. O’Neill Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School; A.B. 1957, University of Notre Dame; J.D. 1960, Notre Dame Law School. Professor Blakey was the Chief Counsel of the Subcommittee on Criminal Laws and Procedures of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary in 1969-70 when the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, Pub. L. No. 91-542, 84 Stat. 922 (1970) was processed, Title IX of which is the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organization Act or RICO. For a general treatment of the statute from a variety of perceptive, see the collection of law review literature in G. Robert Blakey & Kevin Roddy, “Reflections on Reves v. Ernst & Young: Its Meaning an Impact on Substantive, Accessory, Aiding, Abetting and Conspiracy Liability under RICO,” 33 Amer. Crim. L. Rev. 1345, 1348 n. 3(1996).     

The creation of RICO: Law as a knowledge diffusion process

This paper uses historical content analysis to examine the developmentof the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). It is argued that certain historical events led to the definition of organized crime as an alien conspiracy and helped shape the RICO law. The theoreticalframeworks of sociology of knowledge and innovation diffusion are used to relate the development of RICO to the alien conspiracy view. Thoughtof in this context, law is the result of a knowledge creation and diffusion process. This paper demonstrates how one knowledge diffusion process (the acceptance of organized crime as a national conspiracy)affected a new knowledge creation process culminating in the RICO law.     

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 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).     

从《宪法》在我国立法中的适用看我国现行《宪法》实施的状况

评价宪法实施状况必须要建立在科学合理的评估机制基础之上,而对宪法实施性质的正确把握以及对宪法实施作宏观和微观两个方面的考察都是正确认识宪法实施状况的有效手段。宪法实施状况主要在于考察宪法实施的监督、宪法适用以及违宪审查的状况,但是,在我国目前的法治状况下,只有宪法适用状况较为容易评估,特别是全国人大及其常委会制定的法律,因为有具体的法律文本可以进行实证性的评估。目前现行《宪法》文本中存在着结构性的实施状况不平衡问题。《宪法》序言、总纲和公民的基本权利部分相对于国家机构和国家象征部分实施状况要差一些。要全面改进我国《宪法》实施的总体状况关键是要树立"依宪治国"、"依宪执政"的法律意识,让政府和社会公众都来主动关注《宪法》作为根本法的应有权威和对人们行为的约束作用。