The Virginia State Crime Commission was created by the 1966 General Assembly of Virginia for the purpose of studying matters relating to crime and its prevention. Recognizing the need for further study of various aspects of the criminal justice system in the Commonwealth, the existence of the Commission was continued by the 1968 General Assembly and the 1970 General Assembly. Copies of the legislation establishing and continuing the Commission are attached as Appendices I, II, and III. The Commission has submitted three reports to the Governor and the General Assembly describing its activities.(*1)

The 1970 General Assembly in continuing the work of the Virginia State Crime Commission instructed it specifically to study and report on the activities of organized crime in the State. Pursuant to those instructions, the Commission in March 1971 established an Organized Crime Detection Task Force and hired a director. The Task Force was given the responsibility to conduct the study and, in addition, to report on its findings and make recommendations as to the needs of law enforcement.

The Task Force members agreed that the objectives of the study would be as follows:

1. Determine the extent of organized crime activities in the State.

2. Identify problem crime patterns.

3. Evaluate the State law enforcement system as it relates to organized crime.

4. Make recommendations as to what law enforcement needs to control organized crime.

The Organized Crime Detection Task Force recognized the need for defining organized crime. They noted the definition contained in a report by the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice which reads as follows:

"Organized Crime is a society that seeks to operate outside the control of the American people and their governments. It involves thousands of criminals, working within structures as complex as those of any large corporation, subject to laws more rigidly enforced than those of legitimate governments. Its actions are not impulsive but rather the result of intricate conspiracies, carried on over many years and aimed at gaining control over whole fields of activity in order to amass huge profits.

"The core of organized crime activity is the supplying of illegal goods and services-gambling, loan sharking, narcotics, and other forms of vice-to countless numbers of citizen customers. But organized crime is also extensively and deeply involved in legitimate business and in labor unions. Here it employs illegitimate methods -- monopolization, terrorism, extortion, tax evasion -- to drive out or control lawful ownership and leadership and to exact illegal profits from the public. And to carry on its many activities secure from governmental interference, organized crime corrupts public officials."(*2)

The Task Force felt that the following definition of organized crime was simpler and more appropriate for the study that was to be conducted. "Organized crime is criminal activity that has such organization in depth within a community, and in breadth over a region or the nation, as to justify deep concern on the part of all citizens."(*3)
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(*1) Report of the Virginia State Crime Commission "Toward the Control and Reduction of Crime" (1967); Report of the Virginia State Crime Commission "Crime in Virginia" (1970); Interim report of the Virginia State Crime Crime Commission (1971).
(*2) "The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society;" Report by the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, February 1967, p.187.
(*3) Journal of Public Law, Emory University Law School, Volume 20, Number 1, 1971, p. 33.