A World Without Crime—How?
THE fight against organized crime is on worldwide. “There has been remarkable progress against the Mafia in a very short time,” declared U.S.News & World Report, “due largely to one law, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO.” It allows for conviction of criminal organizations on the basis of a pattern of racketeering activity, not just individual acts. This together with information gained through wiretaps and from informant gang members seeking leniency has played a part in the success of the battle against the Mafia in the United States.
In Italy too the authorities are coming down hard on gangs. In areas such as Sicily, Sardinia, and Calabria, where organized crime is strong, army units have been dispatched to patrol public buildings and important areas to prevent attacks by criminal elements. The government views this as being much like a civil war. With notorious heads of criminal syndicates in prison and a former prime minister indicted for his alleged Mafia connections, Italy is seeing some results.
In Japan the government clamped down on the yakuza when it put into effect the Anti-Organized Crime Law on March 1, 1992. Under this law, once a gangster organization is designated as such, it is prohibited from 11 acts of violent coercion, including the demanding of hush money, participation in protection rackets, and intervention in settling disputes for a fee. By enforcing this law, the government aims to stem all sources of mob income. The law has hit criminal organizations hard. Some groups have disbanded, and a crime boss committed suicide—apparently because of strict enforcement of the law.
Indeed, governments and law-enforcement agencies are putting up a hard fight against organized crime. Still, the Mainichi Daily News, when reporting on a conference of judges and police officials from around the world that was held in 1994, said: “Organized crime grows stronger and richer in virtually every part of the world, amassing as much as 1 trillion dollars a year in revenue.” Regrettably, human efforts at eradicating criminal syndicates from the face of the earth are limited. One reason for this is that in many cases justice is not swift and sure. To many people, laws often seem to be weighted in favor of the criminal, not the victim. The Bible stated some 3,000 years ago: “Because sentence against a bad work has not been executed speedily, that is why the heart of the sons of men has become fully set in them to do bad.”—Ecclesiastes 8:11.
Getting Out of Criminal Organizations
In addition to cracking down on organized crime from the outside, governments have attempted to help those on the inside get out of crime syndicates. Such a move is not easy. According to an old saying, “the only way to leave the Mafia is in a coffin.” For a mobster to quit a yakuza organization, he is required to pay a large sum of money or have his little finger or part of it cut off. To add to the fear involved in breaking ties with the underworld, a former gangster has to face the reality of living a straight life. His job applications will often be rejected. In some countries, however, there are police hot lines to help gangsters who are trying to break free and are having a hard time finding decent jobs.
To face pressures from the gang family and the prejudice of society, a mobster needs strong motivation to go straight. What could move him? It could be love for his family, a longing for a peaceful life, or a desire to do what is right. The strongest motivation, however, is illustrated well by the story of Yasuo Kataoka in the following article.
Yasuo Kataoka is typical of hundreds who have completely changed their lives. Beastlike qualities they previously displayed have been replaced by the new personality “created according to God’s will in true righteousness and loyalty.” (Ephesians 4:24) Now, people who were like wolves are residing peacefully among mild-tempered, lamblike citizens, and they are even helping others!—Isaiah 11:6.
Break Free From the Spirit of the World
As mentioned in the preceding article, not only are all criminal syndicates under the one invisible authority of Satan the Devil but the whole world is. People do not even realize it, but Satan has organized the world to serve his criminal ends. Just as the crime syndicates provide wealth and pseudo family systems, he plays the role of a benevolent master by providing people with riches, pleasures, and a feeling of togetherness. Although you may not realize it, you may have been taken in by his evil schemes. (Romans 1:28-32) The Bible tells us that “friendship with the world is enmity with God.” (James 4:4) It is not safe to cozy up to this world, which is under satanic influence. The Creator of the universe has an army of angels under Jesus Christ ready to round up Satan and his demons in order to cleanse the world of their wicked influence.—Revelation 11:18; 16:14, 16; 20:1-3.
How then can you come out from under the influence of Satan’s world? Not by living the life of a recluse but by breaking free from attitudes and thinking patterns that dominate the world today. To do so, you will have to fight Satan’s scare tactics and resist the incentives he offers to keep people in his grip. (Ephesians 6:11, 12) This will involve sacrifices, but you can break free just as others have if you are determined and if you avail yourself of the help Jehovah’s Witnesses offer.
What will follow God’s act of cleansing this chaotic world of crime? “As for the offspring of the wicked ones, they will indeed be cut off,” says the Bible, and it continues: “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.” (Psalm 37:28, 29) Then, there will be no reason to tremble at those who had beastlike qualities, for they will have been transformed by “the knowledge of Jehovah,” which will fill the earth.—Isaiah 11:9; Ezekiel 34:28.
Today such transformation has already become a reality, as the following life story of a former yakuza member in Japan shows.
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In God’s new world, all will enjoy the work of their hands