Value-Belief-Norm Theory
The aim of this research paper will be to depict the difference between criminals who engage in money laundering and tax evasion. In this regard, the theory of Value-Belief-Norm can be taken into concern. According to this theory, actions of an individual are directly influenced by his/her moral and personal values that impose considerable impact upon the behavioral attitudes (Boersema & Reijnders, 2008). Hence, these psychological aspects further forms as a difference between a normal individual and a criminal.
Money Laundering
Money can often be duly considered as one of the prime reasons for which most of the criminal activities happen in this world. In this regard, one of the commonly identified crimes associated with money is the aspect of money laundering. Money-laundering is regarded as the process through which criminals of all sorts cover the origin of
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E.g. 18 USC § 1956 of law depicts that any person who is involved in laundering of monetary instruments through any means can be penalized with a fine of $ 5, 00,000 or twice the value of the money laundered. The reason that influences people towards money laundering is quite clear from the above analysis. However, certain psychological theory is deemed to be associated with such behavior of people. The Value-Belief-Norm theory explains this particular aspect in a better form. The theory illustrates that actions of individuals are completely correlated with their personal values and norms that influences them to behave in a certain way. This depicts that it is the personal values of people that encourages them to involve in crimes like money laundering which they think to be ethical based on their individual norms (Stern, Dietz, Abel, Guagnano, & Kalof, 1999; [2] Legal Information Institute,
An example is that governement have sufficent social programs implemtned that were not enact during the last recession that prevent society’s members to turn to crimes as a last resort. Past economical experience have prepared people for another economic downturn if it were ever to arise such as savings, investing properties that retain its value like gold. An indivudal’s ethics and morals can affects one’soutlook on situations that prevent from doing crime because they might have altered goals that are different from the ones that society have. There are so many factors as to way there has shown to different relationship between crime and the recession.
An experiment by Gerhard Blickle, and Alexander Schlegel attempted to recreate results of Collins and Schmidt’s study about psychological influences on white-collar crime. The experiment involved personality tests on 150 managers currently working in German corporations and 76 white-collar criminals. They compared the personality results of the criminals to the non-criminals, much like Collins and Schmidt’s experiment in the United States of America. Blickle and Schlegel found that white-collar crime offenders were more hedonistic (Blickle et al., 2006). Hedonistic individuals are those who engage in the pursuit of pleasure. According to the Rational Choice Theory, individuals commit crimes when they perceive the reward is greater than the punishment. For those who tend to pleasure seek, crime would seem the most rational choice. The crime’s reward is worth the possible punishment to these individuals. Blickle and Schlegal also found that narcissistic tendencies were more common in white-collar criminals (Blickle, et al., 2006). Narcissism is described as having overindulgent self interest and care for one’s appearance. These traits can add to the temptations of criminal activity. Caring for only oneself would allow illegally soliciting money from
Terrorist and criminal organization have internal problems that can be exploited by law enforcement and policy makers. Form author Nikos Passas we understand that terrorist organization have a lot of different methods of funding, including crime and charities. According to Passas the best way to combat this is to increase transparency and traceability in economic transactions, which was also concluded by author Jonas R. Want in his article discussing the regulation of Hawala. By doing this globally we can combat the financing of terrorist and criminal groups by having better knowledge of the movement of their money. According to author William Phil’s two thousand and seven peace, following the money is the most powerful tool in combating illegal financial transactions. The argument is supported by an Bichler, Bushes, and Malm’s article that states that understanding the market system in which criminal organizations operate is necessary when identifying the key players and mechanisms used. Overall, strengthening financial transaction transparency will help law enforcement combat both terrorist and criminal organization which will have great affects on both organizations
E.). There are various costs of white-collar crime, although an accurate measurement is not easy, they are hard to asses as well as very complex. There are enormous financial losses, sometimes physical damage as a result of negligence, as well as social costs: weakened trust in a free economy, confidence loss in political organizations, and destruction of public morality. “White collar crime could also set an example of disobedience for the general public, with citizens who rarely see white-collar offenders prosecuted and sent to prison becoming cynical about the criminal justice system” (Conklin, J. E.). White-collar crime is undeniably a crime and often encompasses elaborate
For instance, any financial crime can leave individuals without shelter, money, or any reasonable quality of life due to the white collar offense. Therefore, white collar crime may not involve force, they still may affect people physically. As a matter of fact, white collar crime may result in a greater impact than street crimes. Nevertheless, we continue to operate on a dichotomy of beliefs regarding violent and non-violent crimes. In this paper, we will explore white collar crime as a non-violent crime. Those crimes under discussion are blackmail, bribery, embezzlement, and forgery. In addition, we will discuss violent crimes such as first degree, second degree, and manslaughter (Verstein,
Crime comes in different ways, shapes, and forms. From corruption to murder, the seriousness and blameworthiness varies from crime to crime. The most common factor of all crime is that it is illegal. The problem with prosecution is that some crimes can find loopholes around the rigidity of the laws created. This is the hardest for white collar crimes. With so many types of white collar crimes, it is hard to understand where it belongs on the scale on seriousness and blameworthiness and how to prosecute. With white collar crimes, they are most commonly seen as “victimless” or “paper” crimes, since they do not involve physical harm to the people included. With so many types available to analyze, the purpose of this paper is to focus on bribery, perjury, and fraud. When it comes to white collar crimes, or any crime for that matter, we do not only need to focus on what causes it and society’s reaction to it. We need to look into prevention of it and being able to stop it before it even starts.
The classical school is not concerned with why criminals are criminals, but seeks to reduce crime by using punishment as a means of deterrent, on the basis that individuals will choose to exercise their own free will and will employ rational decision making. By contrast, Ceasare Lombrosso (1835 – 1909) and the positivist school dismissed such ideas and theorised that criminality is a personality trait that one is born with and can be diagnosed by certain physical appearances, and is thus a more scientific method of establishing the reasons for criminal behaviour. However, this essay will concentrate on the strengths and weaknesses of the classical school.
Money laundering is when illegal gains are made into profits legally. The process of money laundering has three steps and they are placement, layering, and integration. Placement is where criminal money is put in the financial system. An example of this is showing money as a profit. Layering is the second process of money laundering and this is where one repeatedly launders the money the hide where it came from. Lastly, is integration. This is where people present illegal money in the economic system as if it were legally obtained monetary. It is hard to trace laundered money when people use informal transfers and/or underground networks.
Theoretical perspective of Crime and Deviance Crime and deviance are two social phenomena’s which require the utilization of various theoretical perspectives to interpret. The explanation of criminal and deviant behavior is unable to be explained without the application of theory since there is no concrete evidence. Criminological theory is also used to identify deviant behavior prior to its manifestation into crime. Criminal and deviant behavior are two separate components for analysis, however, functionalism and conflict theory provide a precise explanation of the occurrence of both. Throughout the essay, the construction of crime and deviance will be interpreted using the functionalist and conflict theory approach.
In 1953, Donald Cressey conducted an experiment on convicted embezzlers (Friedrichs, 2010). Through this study, Cressey assigned particular importance to the rationalization of the offenders. Cressey proposed that there were three necessary conditions for embezzlement to occur; “A non-sharable financial problem must exist, individuals and groups must have knowledge necessary to commit the embezzlement, and suitable rationalizations for such behaviors must be available to the actors” (Leclair, 2015). However, Cressey stated the last condition was the most important (Schlegel & Weisburd, 1992; Friedrich, 2010; Leclair, 2015). Rationalization is the way that individuals negate standards that condemn criminal behavior
Crime and deviance are acts that will elicit dissent from society. They take various forms and involve various concepts and theories. It will be the aim of this paper to explore those that are considered to be functional for society. It was Emile Durkheim who first clearly established the logic behind the functional approach to the study of crime and deviance[1] when he wrote The Rules of Sociological Method and The Division of Labour[2].
Crime have existed over many centuries, different eras affect the flow of crime and within those eras. Furthermore amongst individuals, there was different way of thinking into how to reduce and eliminate occurred. The act of crime cannot be eliminated, as different individuals have different perspectives of crime and for theses reasons, have different methods of advocating and eliminating crime. This essay will firstly explore the views of Classical Theory, by looking at Cesane Beccaria, the father of Classical theory and Jeremy Bentham, the founder of Utilitarian and explore how there influences are incorporated into laws and regulations, around the world. Secondly, Positivism theory explores the biological, psychological and environment understanding of what causes the crime, thus having a different understand and method into solving and eliminating crime. By looking at these overarching theories, we can come to understand how they both are beneficial and incorporated into the laws within our society, however does now have the power to rid it of crime.
Throughout the years, there has been an ongoing debate on whether criminal law should be used to enforce moral values. Some are of the view that, it is not the function of the law to intervene in the private lives of citizens or to seek to enforce any particular pattern of behaviour while others believe that the law and the courts have not only the power but the duty to preserve the moral fabric of the society. In addition, in order to find out the validity of these arguments, one must evaluate the works done and cases tried on the subject of Criminal law and morality. Furthermore, criminal law can be defined as that body of the law that deals with conduct considered so harmful to society as a whole that it is prohibited by statute, prosecuted
Offshore banking is the action of having a bank account outside of the country of residence. Since its start, offshore banking has become a considerably lucrative business. Many of those who take part in offshore banking are looking for a secure location to place their income or seize the opportunity of having lower taxes. However, there are those who misuse the privilege of a foreign bank and use the business ventures for illegal actions rather than the original purpose of the dealings. Offshore banks seem to have an impartial acceptance of quite a few clients within the bank that create a lower standard of ethics in contrast to the ethics meant to be held—this includes those of a political position. Furthermore, this has the potential to be detrimental to the economy.
Money laundering is the routing of illegal profits from bank to bank to disguise its existence. The illegal profits are usually made through activities such as drug trafficking, prostitution rings, illegal arms sales, and various other things. Unfortunately money laundering is a serious crime that is still prevalent in the United States and other countries. The Russian mafia, the Triad or Chinese mafia, and the Columbian drug cartel are just a few of the groups that partake in money laundering. No one knows exactly how much money is laundered yearly but it is estimated to be about $100 billion in the United States. The United States is not the only country affected by these numbers. The estimated amount of laundering is 2% - 5% of the world’s GDP, between $600 billion and $1.5 trillion dollars annually. Although there are hundreds of ways in which to launder money, some are more lucrative than others. For example, the Black Market Peso exchange, gold, and digital cash are some of the more common ways to launder money. Making it harder to crack down on money laundering is the fact that many countries do not have money-laundering laws in place like the United States does. These other countries make it possible for this illegal activity to carry on, and are only hurting themselves because money laundering creates a direct negative effect on their economy. If these nations want to fight money laundering they will need to implement laws against it. Banks could be one of the most useful tools in stopping the laundering of money.