No description available.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the concept of corporate criminal liability in Britain and elsewhere when comparison is needed. The concept of holding a corporation criminally liable is not new, it has been known for a long time, but the development in the last century and especially in the last quarter of this century is the main reason to turn and focus the public's attention towards blaming corporations for a quite wide range of society's ills. As a result of decisions by corporate executives or managers, and because corporation's negligence and pursuit of profits at any cost, may cause harm and inflicted risks on workers, consumers and the general public. It can be shown that many accidents indicate willful violations of health, safety and environmental regulations. Despite the fact that violations may cause serious harm to the entire communities (eg cases of toxic chemical dumps, and radioactive water leaking from improperly maintained nuclear reactors), nonetheless prosecution of corporation is not always successful. Moreover, while corporations are accused of polluting the environment, and are blamed for destroying the economic structure of a community, at the same time they may be praised for community service projects, and be credited with providing jobs. The concept of the separate legal personality of corporations has posed many questions when dealing with corporations or their executives and managers. Even with the development of the criminal law regarding the concept of crime and the various attempts to bring corporations under the umbrella of criminal law the problem have not fully resolved. Practical problems occur when considering whether corporations are capable of acting themselves. This thesis is an attempt to follow the development of corporate criminal liability, discuss the present state of the law and ask what is the best view which should be taken to achieve the goal of criminal law to control all kinds of behaviour that are appropriate to be controlled by the criminal law whether of individuals or corporations and other forms of organizations. The views of those who argue that companies cannot be subjected to criminal punishment because they do not have the requisite mens rea to commit crimes, and because of the difficulty of imposing certain penalties such as imprisonment or the death penalty on corporations, are incorrect. Changes in public attitudes towards wrongful conduct by corporations and their increasing role in every aspect of daily life, bringing with it increasing number of accidents and disasters has led to a corpus of literature which is prepared to attribute blame to corporations for their misbehaviour.

Following a period of resurgence in academic interest in the subject over the last 30-40 years, white-collar crime has found greater prominence within criminology. Efforts over this period have however failed to produce a single satisfactory and agreed-upon definition, a consistent and coherent body of research, and a single theory which can account for all forms of white-collar crime. This thesis aims to address certain shortcomings in the current state of white-collar crime theory and understanding. Part 1) addresses the issues of both conceptual definition of white-collar crime and specific behaviours as proscribed within the Legislation. Part 2) examines current criminological theory and research on individual differences (arguably the biggest gap in current knowledge in the area of white-collar crime); it examines the origins and current state of offender profiling in crime prevention, before Part 3) presents original research on establishing offence-specific white-collar criminal profiles based on demographic, sociological, psychological, organisational and motivational factors. Part 4) examines why certain individuals may perpetrate certain crimes in certain situations, beginning with a review of those few white-collar crime specific theories that do exist, before reviewing traditional sociological theories and attempting to apply them to white-collar crime; finally in Part 5) a new conceptual framework for white-collar crime is presented, which is referred to as the theory of ‘Differential Assimilation’. I bring together each of these chapters and situate the thesis within current research and literature, summarising how it engages and contributes to the field of white-collar crime. I include suggestions for the practical application of certain white-collar crime prevention techniques within organisations.

Abstract The government, in assisting Taiwanese enterprises to compete in increasing globalization environment, imitated the European and American countries in establishing stock market, helped corporate bond issuance to finance capital projects, and in the 80¡¦s, allowed foreign investments to enter Taiwanese economy and gradually relaxing regulation to allow greater flexibilities. Because of this policy, Taiwanese Stock Market began to grow exponentially. The number of corporate IPOs mushroomed in great numbers. After 1997 Asian financial and economic crash severely damaged the market and economy. The idea of ¡§Get Rich Quick¡¨ from the West began to invade Taiwan. Many corporate upper management, especially the second generation owners of family enterprises with higher education in international financial operations, broke away from their core business operations and traditional values and began to focus on high risk investment products and speculative investment vehicles. They even use cross-shareholding of stocks, stock speculations, illegal loans and profit sharing, misleading and fraudulent financial reporting to expand their businesses. As the result of their negligence of risk management and miscalculations of economic conditions, corporations experienced severe cash crunch from investment losses and were unable to cover the cash shortage through over-leveraged assets and illegal corporate financial schemes. Many corporations crumpled, causing wide spread lay-off and significant losses by investing public. It also affects many upper, middle, and lower stream merchants, vendors, and financial institutions. The resulting chain reactions from corporate bankruptcies, reorganizations, and stock de-listings caused major ramifications in Taiwan¡¦s social, political, economic, and financial systemsDuring the more than ten years of past criminal investigations of illegal activities in public companies, the media, financial, legal and accounting experts all provided their suggestions in how to prevent these cases. However, other than providing some tabloid news on newspapers, it regrettably has not helped in assisting the investigations or in preventing new cases. This thesis summarizes the major financial and money laundering activities preventive measures, and criminal investigations in Taiwan. It will compare and analyze the various case backgrounds, methods of operations, ramifications, and legal consequences in order to find similar characteristics of these cases from past investigative experiences, evidence gatherings, money trail tracings, and legal procedures. From these analyses, the thesis will make conclusions and suggestions in hope of shortening the investigative process in future cases, so that the investigation can start on the right track immediately to prevent the domino effects on the stock market and economy and minimize damage on economic conditions, and to reach the goal of ¡§To Detect is to Prevent¡¨.

Surveillance has long been used as an enforcement tool to detect conventional crimes and identify and punish offenders. However, its watchful gaze has been strategically directed away from the area of corporate crime. Corporate crime has long been under-studied and under-researched, despite the fact that the damages it causes amount to millions, even billions, of dollars. Its omission from the surveillant gaze, however, has been no accident. Because corporate offenders hold higher positions in society and possess greater political and economic resources than conventional street criminals, corporate offenders have often been able to resist the regulatory attempts against them. This thesis explores the underuse of surveillance as an enforcement tool in corporate crime, but also examines the regulatory climate that perpetuates this. It explores the main tools for addressing criminal and regulatory violations that are used by law enforcement agencies charged with enforcing corporate crime. This thesis identifies and examines five barriers—cultural, political, economic, legal, and technological—that have acted to limit and even prevent surveillance as a tool of regulation against corporate crime. Through an analysis of academic literature and public sources, this thesis assesses the small number of initiatives where surveillance strategies have been attempted in the field of corporate crime and investigates the reasons the attempts have been limited in number, scope and effect. The aim of this thesis is to draw attention to underuse of surveillance in corporate crime and question the current regulatory framework. / Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2011-04-26 14:38:11.581

A growing body of research has revealed that the financial cost and physical harmfulness of elite deviance overshadow the impact of street crime on society (Knowlton et al., 2011; Landrigan et al., 2002; Leigh, 2011; Lynch & Michalowski, 2006; Herbert & Landrigan, 2000; Rebovich & Jiandani, 2000; Reiman & Leighton, 2010). However, despite such discrepancies, crimes of the poor continue to outshine white-collar offenses in the news media (Barak, 1994; Barlow & Barlow, 2010; Ericson et al., 1991; Lynch & Michalowski, 2006; Lynch, Nalla & Miller, 1989; Lynch, Stretesky & Hammond, 2000), the criminal justice system (Calavita, Tillman, & Pontell, 1997; Maddan et al., 2011; Payne, Dabney, & Ekhomu, 2011; Tillman & Pontell, 1992) and even academia (Lynch, McGurrin & Fenwick, 2004; McGurrin, Jarrell, Jahn & Cochrane, 2013). Surprisingly, scholarly efforts that have investigated societal response to crimes of the powerful have limited their field of inquiry to public opinions about white-collar crime (e.g., Huff, Desilets, & Kane, 2010; Kane & Wall, 2006; Rebovich et al., 2000; Schoepfer, Carmichael & Piquero, 2007, etc.). While these studies have provided valuable empirical evidence of a growing concern among Americans regarding the danger posed by elite offenses, their failure to include a valid measure of lay knowledge about white-collar crime significantly limits our ability to infer the extent to which the public is familiar with the scope and magnitude of this social issue. The present study seeks to address such limitation by providing the first measure of public knowledge about elite deviance. Four hundred and eight participants completed an online questionnaire that comprised measures of respondents' knowledge and sentiments (i.e., perceived seriousness and punitiveness) about white-collar crime. Results of statistical analyses revealed that participants were not sufficiently informed about elite deviance and suggest the existence of popular "myths" about white-collar crime; more specifically, a substantial number of subjects were not inclined to acknowledge hard-earned empirical evidence such as the greater physical harmfulness of elite deviance over street crime and to recognize that some elite offenses - which they admit are common in underdeveloped nations (e.g., human trafficking) - can be committed in the United States with little to no legal repercussion for the perpetrators. Further, less knowledgeable subjects and "myth" adherers (including men, those with higher income levels, more politically conservative subjects, Republicans, conservative Protestants, and those who believed that white-collar offenders see no wrong in their actions) were often more lenient in their attitudes towards elite deviance, both in terms of perceived seriousness and punitiveness, compared with street crime. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are thoroughly discussed.

This thesis employs a qualitative content analysis of media sources to investigate the erosion of controls on elite actors under the Trump administration. Findings demonstrate the emergence of an aggressive new trend of deregulatory politics, involving the wholesale disarming of a wide range of regulatory bodies and regulators, removal of protective policies and safety nets for consumers, minority populations, and the environmental sphere. Concerningly, much of the rhetoric through which such actions are justified opposes rational modes of governance and further polarizes U.S. racial divides while undermining the media, courts and legal structures, and the scientific community as external regulators. This populist bent belies the extent to which neoliberal continuities are maintained and expanded. These aggressive changes foreshadow increasing opportunities for white-collar crime and elite deviance, as elite actors are left to self-regulate and navigate a fast-changing and nebulous regulatory landscape with lacking oversight and accountability. The implications of these findings are significant to the field of white-collar crime, suggesting a widening arena of opportunity for elite deviance and warranting a renewed challenge to crimes of the powerful. / Graduate

Criminological aspects of corruption Abstract This master thesis focuses on several selected criminological aspects of corruption, aiming to explore them from the criminological point of view. This master thesis, however, does not necessarily aim to provide practical solutions for control of corruption. The first part is focused on the criminology as a science, since it is the basis of this master thesis. The main topics of this part are the crimonology as a term, its subject and its brief history. Next, the attention is pointed towards definition of the term of corruption, given its disunited approaches to its definition, and compares the numerous takes on the definition from the literature and various institutions. The master thesis also brings forward various types and kinds of corruption, including petty corruption, grand corruption or state capture, as well as distinguishing between the types of corruption based on various factors. Given that the corruption may manifest in multiple forms or degrees of institutionalization, variants and syndromes of corruption according to Johnston are not omitted. Corruption is an important social phenomenon causing far-reaching consequences that may, however, not necessarily be easily seen, or they may even be overlooked. In order to understand this pathological...

No description available.

White collar crime is pervasive with a larger financial impact to society than violent or street crime, yet it has been understudied. Violent and street offender research has moved beyond the examination of motive and opportunity to study personality, demographics, sociological influences, and psychological influences on development and criminal behavior; however, the bulk of white collar offender research has focused on greed as a motivator and organizational opportunity. Legislative efforts have attempted to curtail white collar crime, but incidents of crime continue to rise, resulting in a continued need to understand white collar offenders and the influences on offender behavior. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the multivariate difference between white collar offenders (n = 62) and business professionals (n = 121). Theoretically guided by the biopsychosocial model and prior empirical findings, 36 variables were univariately tested for group differences; 10 were significant and used in discriminant function analysis. White collar offenders tended to be female, have high neuroticism and alcohol abuse scores, and have low scores on narcissism and attribution. Drug use was positively correlated with the white collar offender profile, while income, openness, hostility, and anger were inversely related. The profile and correlates provide a deeper understanding of those who choose to cross legal and ethical lines. Positive social change could be realized through targeted collegiate business training programs to address risk characteristics and promote protective factors of ethics, integrity, and leadership.