Paradigmatic White Collar Crime

Two major cases that have had a major impact on our individual lives or society in terms of criminology, our cases of Enron, graffiti and fraternity crime in Bloomington Indiana. These cases have similarities along with differences that ‘’mirror’’ each other respectively, they challenge the structure of the criminal justice system by showing the public its strengths and weaknesses. First, “In Enron case, the company would build an asset, such as a power plant, and immediately claim the projected profit on its books, even though it hadn 't made one dime from it. If the revenue from the power plant was less than the projected amount, instead of taking the loss, the company would then transfer these assets to an off-the-books corporation, where

“Legislation in 1995 was passed shielding companies and accountants from investor lawsuits, and in 2000 regulators were forced to dilute proposed restrictions on accountants” (David Friedrichs, Paradigmatic White Collar Crime Cases For The New Century, Critical Criminology, Pg 117, Para 2). First of two another notable cases was WorldCom, which topped over 11 billion dollars resulting in the company to file for bankruptcy in July 2002, the scandal is now referred to as the biggest accounting scam ever. The second case was Global Crossings, which was accused of falsifying financial reports to hide their losses. The founder, Gary Winnick was not prosecuted for company indiscretions for causing Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio and the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio in losing 110 million in 2002. All of these cases represent how political society creates the “atmosphere” where these companies believe they can be above the structural level of laws, because create networks where they thrive sometimes illegal. Network and Interlocks are mutually beneficially to private companies along with politicians, because they form ties that help both of them rise in the social ladder. Private companies

Each case deals with the privilege through corporations or individuals. Media was willing to overlook their transactions in order to keep certain appearances in the newspapers. Males were central figures in both cases and each were primarily white dominated either being at the center of the story or influencing the laws through connections. Violations were largely downplayed in order to keep the communities happy or organizations from drawing attention to themselves. Universities play a huge component by providing students with resources to exceed by being introduce to influential individuals. Individuals felt above the law and had a substantial amount of influence to manipulate the court systems. Furthermore, each case pushing the envelope on research methods and analysis American criminal justice system