“The Higher You Fly,the Further You Fall”: White-Collar Criminals, “Special Sensitivity” and the Impact of Conviction in the United Kingdom

The resilience of some high-profile white-collar criminals in the media gaze after prison may lead some to conclude, particularly as some research also supports this notion, that this group of offenders generally manages well after conviction. Research in this area is, however, small and largely American. The authors seek to add to this small body of research by offering findings on the impact of conviction on 17 UK convicted white-collar criminals after completion of their sentence. It provides a unique insight into the consequences of conviction, showing that although there were some offenders who did experience limited impact and coped well, there was also a significant group who suffered a decline in status, financial losses, negative media coverage, and relationship and mental health problems, to name some. The authors argue more research is needed on this group and their needs as they are often neglected by the criminal justice system.     

Ensuring regulatory compliance in banking and finance through effective controls: The principle of duality in the segregation of duties

Today the segregation of duties is commonly used to ensure regulatory compliance in various industries. This article considers the organizational requirements for the effective implementation of this principle, through an examination of a duality‐based segregation‐of‐duties type control system and its fundamental characteristics. Cases from the Swedish banking and finance sector are discussed to show how breakdowns in duality‐based systems have compromised compliance and even encouraged crime, and how crimes could be carried out in practice. Particular attention is paid to the critical role that gullibility, loyalty, and dependency relations among employees played in these cases, in leading control persons to neglect their responsibility to review and approve their colleagues’ work, while bringing no consequences for their ability to carry on performing their work tasks. The argument is made that an effective duality‐based segregation‐of‐duties type control system presupposes social relations characterized by relative autonomy and third‐party dependence, along with work task interdependence.     

EDITORS LETTER

Identity theft has become one of the most ubiquitous crimes in the USA with estimates of the number of households being victimized annually ranging between 5% and 25%, resulting in direct losses totaling hundreds of billions of dollars over the past few years. Government efforts to combat identity theft have included legislation criminalizing and increasing penalties as well as regulatory efforts designed to protect individual identifying information held by financial and other business organizations. At the same time, individuals are taking their own preventive actions and purchasing private protection such as credit monitoring and identity theft insurance services. We use data from a large sample of residents from four states (Illinois, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Washington) in order to assess the public's willingness to pay (WTP) for a government program designed to reduce identify theft under two separate conditions, one promising a 25% reduction in identity theft and the other promising a 75% reduction in identity theft. Results indicate that: (1) between 40% and 66% of the public is willing to pay an additional tax for identity theft prevention, more so when the promise of a reduction is highest (75% compared to 25%) with an average WTP of $87, and (2) WTP is highest among individuals who carry many credit cards, who subscribe to an identity theft protection service, and who take active steps in preventing fraud by shredding bills and paying with cash, but is lowest among individuals who believe that taxes are too high. Converted into a “per crime” cost and combined with the portion of identity theft costs that are borne directly by business, we estimate the average cost per identity theft to range from approximately $2,800 to $5,100.     

关于一起荒诞案件的法律思考

在以股票为媒介的现代金融业出现以后 ,它给人类的生活方式和财富观念带来巨大冲击。它在短时间内给少数幸运儿带来巨大财富。这种“不劳而获”、“一夜致富”效应极大地冲击着人们的价值观念。金融行业的极少数“白领”自认为占据“发财致富”的“天时”、“地利” ,在金钱的蒙蔽之下 ,被投机心理所驱使 ,从而丧失理智 ,铤而走险 ,将手伸向国家银库。金融行业白领犯罪案件已成为经济犯罪案件中的一个重要方面 ,从法律、制度、管理机制上探讨遏制此类案件的方法 ,十分必要。     

Meeting the enemy: American exceptionalism and international law

Howard Zinn has been classified in a number of ways for his many social contributions. However, despite the breadth of his work, he has never been considered a criminologist. It is likely that this is the result of the inaccurate perceptions many Americans have about crime being a predominantly street‐level social problem. Zinn maintains that the social harms caused by those in positions of political and economic power are in fact crimes against humanity that are far more destructive and violent than the actions our legal system has historically deemed criminal. He also points to the ways our criminal justice system is unjust and ineffective, and has demonstrated how social inequality ensures that the disadvantaged will be further subordinated by the criminal justice system. Zinn’s critical contributions about the most significant sources of social harm, the unjust nature of the American justice system, and the influence of social inequality offer an unorthodox criminological perspective that deserves special consideration. His unconventional criminology calls for increasing social justice by means of political dissent, social resistance, and civil disobedience.     

Gender,Identity, and Accounts: How White Collar Offenders Do Gender When Making Sense of Their Crimes

When offenders are asked to explain their crimes, they typically portray themselves as decent people despite their wrongdoings. To be effective at managing the stigma of crime, motivational accounts must be believable to the social audience. Thus, variation in patterns of accounts is likely due to the social position of the actors. Here we examine whether gender constrains the way individuals describe their crimes by analyzing the motivational accounts of male and female white collar offenders. Results show that while men and women both elicit justifications when discussing their crimes, they do differ in the frequency with which they call forth specific accounts and in the rhetorical nature of these accounts. When accounting for their crime, white collar offenders draw on gendered themes to align their actions with cultural expectations of masculinity and femininity. These findings suggest that gender does constrain the accounts that are available to white collar offenders.     

对法律蓝领培养模式的思考

为实现办好高等职业教育的目标法律高职院校要首先转变办学理念,找准定位,明确培养目标;转变教育教学理念,解放思想,大胆创新培养模式;要不断调整和改进教学方法,坚持实践教学与课堂教学并重。