SYSTEMIC CORRUPTION AND ORGANIZED CRIME: INSTITUTIONAL FAILURES IN PROTECTING WOMEN AND CHILDREN

AUTHOR – KAMALABHARATHI S* & V. SREE LEKHA**

* STUDENT AT VELS INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & ADVANCED STUDIES (VISTAS)

** ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AT SCHOOL OF LAW, VELS INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ADVANCED STUDIES (VISTAS)

BEST CITATION – KAMALABHARATHI S & V. SREE LEKHA, SYSTEMIC CORRUPTION AND ORGANIZED CRIME: INSTITUTIONAL FAILURES IN PROTECTING WOMEN AND CHILDREN, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (7) OF 2026, PG. 304-314, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

ABSTRACT

The problem of organized crime, especially when it comes to exploiting women and children, isn’t just because laws are inadequate. It’s also because institutions are failing in a big way, and this is made worse by corruption that’s deeply ingrained in the system. To understand this better, let’s look at how laws work in different countries like India, the US, and Italy, and examine cases like what happened in Muzaffarpur and Deoria, as well as the Jeffrey Epstein case. When we do this, we can see some patterns that keep happening. First, institutions don’t work properly, and this isn’t just an accident – it’s how they’re set up. When power is concentrated in a few hands, it can distort how laws are applied. Also, when laws are fragmented, it’s hard to enforce them, which makes it easier for organized crime to thrive. The way things are set up can also make victims more vulnerable. Instead of stopping crimes before they happen, we usually only react after they’ve occurred. And when institutions don’t work well, people start to lose trust in them. To really fix these problems, we need to rethink how our institutions are designed. This means creating laws that apply everywhere in the country to deal with organized crime, making sure there’s independent oversight to keep an eye on things, having special teams to enforce laws, and protecting victims and witnesses better. Just making more laws won’t solve the problem – we need to change how things work from the ground up.

Keywords: Systemic Corruption · Organized Crime · Institutional Failure · Elite Capture · Comparative Law · POCSO Act · RICO · Women and Children