Between April 20th 2010 and July 15th 2010, BP's drilling rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico was the biggest oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. Eleven people died. # of days later and $ in fines, BP stopped the spilling of oil into the ocean. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) reported on September 17th, “in terms of land animals, at least 3000 have died, tens of thousands of others have been affected [including] millions of sea organisms [although] there is no accurate count”. Conversely, it is unlikely that other than those that have been directly affected can recall the amphetamine weight loss drug scandals between the 1960’s to 1990. For that matter, likely few are motivated enough to look up the history of insurance industry fraud or state corporate crime. The reason that people do not think to combat corporate crimes more severely is that they do not the extent to which it affects our society. The public is far removed from governmental processes, and does not have an understanding of context of corporate crime nor how it is punishable by law. Media coverage on corporate crime has also failed to inform the public what really goes on in the world around them, but incidentally plays such a large role in moulding the public opinion about crime. The media responds to the demand of the public and unsurprisingly, it appeals to the public to read about violent street crimes and crimes against the individual. However, people do not realize the likeliness of being affected by corporate crime and that it often can be violent. The problematic public perceptions and misconceptions of the public opinion on corporate crime will be explored in conjunction with how the media has constructed their vie...
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...usion. What it does instead is; regulate and reap benefits from it. Undoubtedly, complex contractual affiliations and relationships are intertwined within the fabric of the elite. Therefore, one cannot trust that all regulators are maintaining their integrity and doing what they have to put an end to corporate crime. The role that media plays is as a key source of information for formulating public opinion is not lost on the government. It is utilized and biased heavily in their favour. In this case, the public is easily convinced that street crime is serious while corporate crime, much more harmful, is not even discussed. In the meantime, the legislature, in a state of powerlessness, has transformed the penal system into a business where corporations can pay off their crimes without any problems through things like non prosecution agreements, deferrals and fines.
The main topic that we get from this idea is popular punitivism. Popular punitivism is a process that is used all over the world to try and control crime. It is a concept that balances coercion and consent that uses movements that are with the popular opinion “to engage in vote buying and power maintenance” (Makin). The idea of this is that officials focus crimes that the public is seeing more often than usually. Looking at Cohen’s deviancy amplification process can help explain this better. The process shows that when the media begins to talk more about a certain crime then the public thinks that that particular crime rate is rising and the clear up rate is falling. After this the fear of crime increasing and there begins to be a mass panic. The officials see this panic and focus their attention on the punishment of that crime. New legislations are created that impose more severe punishments so that the officials can show the community that they see what is going on and they are trying to fix it. Citizens believe that if the officials are tough on the crime than the problem will go away. However, we know that the problem does not just go away and now that we have harsher penalties there are more people being thrown into
“Ask why.” This was the slogan for the company Enron—a company riddled with corporate crime. The documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room describes the corrupt practices of this once seventh-largest company in the United States. Examining this film allowed me to “ask why” this company engaged in these criminal practices, and why corporate crime exists, in general. Currently, there is no real theory attempting to explain white collar crime, so instead, in this essay I will be looking at 5 different factors that I believe are helpful for understanding corporate crime including: corporate culture, the drive for profit, the structure of organizations, socialization and learning, as well as a motivated and persuasive leader.
The increase in the use of the drug and violent crimes associated with abusing it impacted the rise of violent crimes. News coverage of the increase in crime associated with drugs led to hysteria throughout the country. Panic ensued over a public misunderstanding of violent crime and drug use. The media’s constant coverage added to the problem. “The attention to televised crime news leads to increased fear and concern, rather than that the already more fearful and concerned become more attentive” (Chiricos, Padgett, & Gertz, 2000,
An Explanation of Corporate Crime This analytical source review will analyse and detail the views and opinions of four different sources including: The sociology of corporate crime: an obituary, Corporate Crime, Corporate Crime at the tip of the iceberg and White Collar and Corporate Crime. The topic this review will be primarily concerned with is corporate crime, the topic will be examined and the notion of ignorance towards the subject will be addressed. However in order to research and provide a review on the subject in hand a brief definition of corporate crime is required. White collar crime and corporate crime are referred to as the same subject however, Gary and Slapper argue that the term white collar crime should be restricted to the study of crimes by the individually rich or powerful which are committed in the furtherance of their own interests, often against corporations for which they are working.
The social construction of myths of crime and criminal justice seems to follow a series of recurrent patterns. These patterns allow for an unprecedented amount of social attention to be focused upon a few isolated criminal events or issues. This attention is promoted by intense, but often brief, mass media coverage of a select problem. Intense social concern of an issue is achieved by a variety of means from the mass media, government, law enforcement officials, interpersonal communications, and the interests of reform groups whom all play major roles in focusing the publics attention on select so...
Today, worldwide, there are several thousands of crimes being committed. Some don’t necessarily require a lethal weapon but are associated with various types of sophisticated fraud, this also known as a white-collar crime. These crimes involve a few different methods that take place within a business setting. While ethical business practices add money to the bottom line, unethical practices are ultimately leading to business failure and impacting the U.S. financially.
Why does white collar and corporate crime tend to go undetected, or if detected not prosecuted? White collar and corporate crimes are crimes that many people do not associate with criminal activity. Yet the cost to the country due to corporate and white collar crime far exceeds that of “street” crime and benefit fraud. White collar and corporate crimes refer to crimes that take place within a business or institution and include everything from tax fraud to health and safety breaches. Corporate crime is extremely difficult to detect for many reasons.
This article focuses on how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the media, and criminologists use the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) as a statistical report in order to interpret the crime rate in the United States. During May of 2011, the UCR showed that crime had significantly decreased to the point that it was the lowest in 40 years despite the fact that the economy was suffering. The article states that criminologists would have wanted the FBI to include white-collar crimes such as insider trading, antitrust violations, and hedge fund conspiracies that happened multiple times during the economic crisis. It also argues that criminologists and the media need to work together when relying on ...
The media, both in the mainstream and alternative sources, determine how the community views crime and how it represents the victims of crime, criminals and law enforcement officials. Media organisations have arguably become the main source of news, entertainment, recreation, and product information in society. For many people, media outlets such as newspapers, magazines, social media and television broadcasts inform viewers about events that affect their everyday lives. This essay will explore the many variations of how crime is misrepresented in society through mass media organisations. Over the years, research has shown an increase in crime is largely over-represented in media coverage, compared to actual crime rates in society.
Enron started about 18 years ago in July of 1985. Huston Natural Gas merged with InterNorth, a natural gas company. After their merge they decided to come up with a new name, Enron. Enron grew in that 18-year span to be one of America's largest companies. A man named Kenneth Lay who was an energy economist became the CEO of Enron. He was an optimistic man and was very eager to do things a new way. He built Enron into an enormous corporation and in just 9 years Enron became the largest marketer of electricity in the United States. Just 6 years after that, in the summer of 2000 the stock was at a tremendous all time high and sold for more than 80 dollars a share. Enron was doing great and everything you could see was perfect, but that was the problem, it was what you couldn't see that was about to get Enron to the record books.
...o be intense for arrests for white collar crime than for predatory violence or drug dealing. Indeed, political pressure is more likely to be exerted in blocking or derailing white collar crime investigations than in conventional crime cases, and the police can operate effectively against white collar crime only to the extent that they are relatively free of political influence” (2010:278). Until political influence and the powers of corporations are subdued little can be done to battle this type of crime. People who commit this type of crime have the power to avoid prosecution primarily due the powerful corporations they work for or the institution they are a part of.
Research also suggests that the media is a major decider in what crime cases get chosen to air on the news. While it was previously thought that what went on the news was arbitrarily picked or based on the most interesting cases, it turns out that it is not quite the case. J...
Throughout society there are both individuals and groups of people with a wide range of perceptions about crime and justice. These perceptions are influenced by the media and what the media presents. Media presents crime stories in ways that selectively distort and manipulate public perception, thus creating a false picture of crime. Therefore the media provides us with perceptions and social constructions about our world. Firstly I will be discussing the role of the media in constructing knowledge about crime. I will begin by explaining why the media is important, and go further to explain that media representations construct knowledge of crime and since knowledge about crime is constructed it does not necessarily capture reality in fact crime stories are often sensationalised. I will then link this to my central argument that the media shapes people’s perceptions of crime and how this is important as it can lead to changes in the law. I will then explain what it is that the public or society needs to be aware of when reading and watching media reports about crime. We need to be aware of bias and moral panics that are created by the media and how the media shapes or influence’s public perception through this, it is important for us to be aware of misleading or false crime stories so that we are not swayed by the media in believing what they want us to believe.
Organized Crime Organized Crime is non ideological. It perpetuates itself and is typified by the motivation to use illegal violence and inducement. It is focused in the division of labor, is monopolistic and directed by precise rules and regulations. The study of organized crime is a multidisciplinary attempt. Organized crime, from a political scientist’s viewpoint, can be an interesting object of study in a variety of respects. First of all, organized crime is a construct that characterizes and legitimizes criminal policy. Secondly, organized crime may be conceptualized as an aspect of politics where crime networks and power elites overlap or where organized criminality turns out to be an instrument of politics. Thirdly, organized crime in the sense of criminal milieu as well as criminal subcultures can be interpreted as primitive states in their own right. Organized crime is a methodical criminal activity for money and power and applies this definition meticulously to the rich and powerful. The conventional perceptive of organized crime, which centers on gangsters and Mafia-type organizations that penetrate and corrupt the national and even international economic and political systems, is inadequate. Organized criminal activity was never a severe danger to create or developing economic and political power structures in the United States however more often a fluid, variable, and open-ended phenomenon that complemented those structures. Thus we can say that politics, money and power are important in the study of organized crime. William Chambliss defines the importance of politics, money and power in the study of organized crime on his book “On the Take” and “Power, Politics and Crime”. On the Take illustrates the level and intri...
In society today the media’s has an extensive influence on the public by mediums such as the internet, television news, newspapers and radio. In addition, crime is often considered both a source of news and entertainment with such programs as CSI, NCIS and Criminal Minds being some amongst many others that also influence public perception on crime (Hayes & Levett, 2013). Evidence shows that the medias portrayal of crime can indeed affect the public’s perception although evidence will demonstrates that crime perception can be unique to each individual. Evidence shows that media reports have the potential to strongly influence people’s daily activities (Weatherburn and Indermaur, 2004). When the media reports on a crime it triggers an effect