Jack Abramoff was the central figure in has become the biggest congressional corruption scandal in United States history. In 2006, he pled guilty to fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion for his efforts to cheat Indian casino gambling interests out of roughly $85 million in fees. A couple of months later, he was sentenced to 70 months in prison for using a fake wire transfer in order to qualify for a $60 million loan in the purchase of SunCruz Casinos, a deal which resulted in the murder of former owner Konstantinos “Gus” Boulis. Most notably, then-Republican Ohio Representative Bob Ney was sentenced to a prison term for accepting bribes from Abramoff, helping the Democrats in their effort to gain a majority in Congress during the 2006 midterm elections. Abramoff offered jobs and other favors to well-placed congressional staffers and executive branch officials. He also pushed his own associates for government positions so they could help him later. He treated politicians and their staffers to lavish trips, meals, sporting events, and persuaded tribes to donate millions of dollars to political candidates and parties. Part of the deal under which Abramoff pleaded guilty required him to co-operate in a Department of Justice investigation into his dealings with members of Congress. This separate case is believed to be focusing on as many as 20 lawmakers and their aides. This is a white collar crime and it’s one of the reasons why we should not have lobbyist in our government. Abramoff swindled money from one interest group took that money for his own personal gain as well as bribing elected government officials. In my opinion, I think that all of the elected officials in government are taking bribes because they all need money t... ... middle of paper ... ...s in jail. If you steal millions from people in white collar crimes and destroy their lives and never repay the money, you will probably get 2 to 5 years with a good lawyer. Now don’t forget that white collar criminals go to minimum security federal prisons while blue collar criminals go to state ran maximum security prisons where they have to fight for their life while they are there and sometimes even are killed in these prisons. As Americans I think that we have to stand up and demand that laws should be changed that white collar criminals are prosecuted with more prison time in tougher prison facilities. If this is done, there would be an incentive for these people to do the right thing and not break the law as they do so often. If this were to be done I think that the white collar crime rate would drop because of fear of the consequences of their actions.
of corrupting government officials, taxivision, and fraud. Many lobbyist today are doing a lot of the same things Abramoff did but in a legal ways due to loopholes in the proposal. The government has invested into the use of watchdogs but are they really effective hence their are so many loopholes to get around all the prohibited ideas. The United States needs to tighten lobbying restrictions to help better where all the wasted bribing money could
1. Reiman explains that the idea that white collar crime is taken less seriously is because it protects the elite classes. For example, if the public believes they should fear the poor more than the rich, the rich can commit more crimes and go unnoticed because the population is focused on the poor Reiman explains that that the way crime is explained does not exactly fit what we think crime is. He explains that the notion that white-collar crime being harmless is based on the idea that white collar crimes do not end in injury or death is false because more people’s lives are put at risk than “lower class” crimes. Reinman thinks it is necessary to re- educate the public on white-collar crimes for economic
Professor and Director of the Distance Learning Masters Program at The University of Cincinnati, Michael L. Benson has his Ph. D. in Sociology and is the author of "Denying the Guilty Mind: Accounting for Involvement in White-Collar Crime." In a classic study based on interviews with 30 convicted white-collar offenders all men, Benson examines the excuses and justifications used by White-Collar criminals to not only explain their involvement in the crime but also claim their innocence. It focuses mainly on the techniques that are used to deny they did anything wrong in categories separated by antitrust violators, tax violators, violations of financial trust and those committing fraud. Antitrust Violators focused on the everyday character and historical continuity of their offenses. They claimed to be following es...
Throughout history there have been many white collar crimes. These crimes are defined as non-violent and financial-based crimes that are full ranges of fraud committed by business and government professionals. These crimes are not victimless nor unnoticed. A single scandal can destroy a company and can lose investors millions of dollars. Today, fraud schemes are more sophisticated than ever, and through studying: Enron, LIBOR, Albert Wiggan and Chase National Bank, Lehman Brothers and Madoff, we find how the culprits started there deception, the aftermath of the scandal and what our country has done to prevent future scandals.
Saint Augustine once said, “In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?” The criminal justice system in America has been documented time and time again as being a legal system that borders on the surreal. We as Americans live in a country where the Justice Department has failed to collect on $7 billion in fines and restitutions from thirty-seven thousand corporations and individuals convicted of white collar crime. That same Justice Department while instead spending more than 350% since 1980 on total incarceration expenditures totaling $80 billion dollars. America has become a place where a 71-year-old man will get 150 years in prison for stealing $68 billion dollars from nearly everyone in the country and a five-time petty offender in Dallas was sentenced to one thousand years in prison for stealing $73.
The criminal laws of the United States are more intent on protecting the rights of criminals than penalizing them. Today’s inmates live better off than most American citizens who are often working two jobs just to meet paying their taxes. A criminal can literally get away with murder because of a technicality, police can barely interrogate suspects without the suspects’ lawyers stating some legal issues that prevent further investigations. It almost seems that the very people who do not respect the law are above it.
...f these factors influence why white-collar criminals tend to get away with more than street criminals. However, there are ways to reduce white-collar crime. A good start would be to have the media report more on white-collar crime as it does on street crime. Since money plays a huge factor in a corporations ability to buy excellent attorneys, pay harsh fines, etc., it is important to make white-collar punishments harsher than they currently are (Barkan, 2012). With all these changes, society has a better chance of deterring white-collar crime.
The forms of bribery and embezzlement have been around longer than dirt. The earliest white-collar crime, that was documented, dates back to the 15th century in England. The law was forced upon society in 1473 in response to embezzlement, or also recognized as the Carrier’s Case. In this situation, a wool representative gave a man his trust in transporting. Unfortunately, the man ended up attempting to steal some of the wool for himself. Although, these terms were known around this time, the concept of the crime wasn’t well understood until around the 20th century ("History of White-Collar Crime”).
White collar crime is a term created by Edwin Sutherland in 1939 that refers to crimes committed by people of higher social status, companies, and the government according to the book “White-Collar Crime in a Nutshell” by Ellen Podgor and Jerold Israel. White collar crimes are usually non-violent crimes committed in order to have a financial-gain (Podgor and Israel 3). A very well known white collar crime that has even been taught in many history classes is the Watergate scandal. This is a white collar crime that was committed by government authorities. Watergate was a crime that shocked the nation.
White collar crime is viewed as non-violent and treated differently than other types of crimes; some that are even violent in nature. In general, personal and public perception can vary from one individual to another. “A recent survey conducted by the National White Collar Crime Center (NWCCC) confirm that the public considers certain white collar crimes as more serious than some street crimes, according to Drs. Marilyn Price and Donna Norris” (Perri, J.D., CFE, CPA, 2011, p. 23). Even though white collar crimes do not seem a violent as someone that commits murder; there is still major damage done. For example, a fraud victim goes through a lot of hardship. They can be harassed, have their identity stolen and lose everything. This in many cases can be looked at as a severe crime. Valuables taken during a burglary can be replaced easily, but someone’s identity and livelihood cannot be given back. Most white...
“To steal from a brother or sister is evil. To not steal from the institutions that are the pillars of the Pig Empire is equally immoral”, Abbie Hoffman said this. But what if the ‘Pig Empire’ that we steal from has a ripple effect on the rest of us and transforms something that should be ‘moral’ into an act of what is unquestionably wrong. In the 21st Century the number one rising crime have been white collar crimes. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, better known as the FBI, describe white- collar crimes as, “ illegal acts [involving] deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and which are not dependent upon the application or threat of physical force” (Wand 19). These crimes include embezzlement, tax evasion, credit card fraud, and bribery. These picture in the family of white- collar offenses and can dictate the future of business, investors, and individual citizens. The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates that the United States of America loses $300 billion annually due to white- collar crimes. These are all targets of white- collar crimes. White collar crimes are the hardest cases to solve. White- collar crimes can take several years to solve and can take even more years to figure out that something is wrong but when they are captured the punishments can be costly. Punishments include: fines, home detention, and community confinement, paying the cost of prosecution, forfeitures, restitution, supervised release, and imprisonment. Although white- collar crimes do not display physical damage to our bodies, they neglect the law and showcase that even the most unsuspecting people can be selfish and commit the white- collar crime.
White collar crimes do not garner as much media attention as that of violent crimes (Trahan, Marquart, & Mullings 2005). This is an odd fact because white collar crimes cost society much more than violent crimes do (Messner & Rosenfeld 2007). While there are many different definitions for white collar crime, Schoepfer and Piquero describe it as a nonphysical crime that is used to either obtain goods or to prevent goods from being taken (2006). People who commit these crimes are looking for personal or some sort of organizational gain and are being pressured to be economically successful from the idea of the American dream. The authors suggest that there are two types of people who commit crimes, those who have an immense desire for control and those who fear losing all they have worked hard for (Schopfer & Piquero 2006). Both groups have different reasons for turning to crime, but both groups commit the crime to benefit themselves. It was found that higher levels of high school drop outs were directly correlated to levels of embezzlement in white collar crime (2006). Because they are drop outs, they are less likely to be successful legitimately and turn to crime more often than their graduate
This case illustrated that there were real consequences to white collar crime. In addition to paying the fifty million dollar fine, he relinquished another fifty million dollars of his illegal trading profits. (He still had millions remaining, however, from his illegal gains.) His actual prison sentence was three years, yet he served only twenty-two months in the federal prison at Lompoc, California, which was known to have a “country-club” atmosphere.
Bribery poses difficulties on moral grounds because it is incompatible with the principal of human equality and the fundamental right for individuals to be treated with equal respect and concern. For an institution to adhere to this principle, they must operate with fairness and impartiality: nobody should have access to influence that is not accessible to all. Bribery operates as part of a mechanism by which influence is only available ...
In the twentieth century, White Collar and Organized Crimes have attracted the attention of the U.S. Criminal Justice System due to the greater cost to society than most normal street crime. Even with the new attention by the Criminal Justice System, both are still pretty unknown to the general public. Although we know it occurs, due to the lack of coverage and information, society does not realize the extent of these crimes or the impact. White Collar and Organized is generally crime committed by someone that is considered respectable and has a high social status. The crimes committed usually consist of fraud, insider trading, bribery, embezzlement, money laundering, identity theft or forgery. One person would not normally commit all of these but likely one or the other.