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A Professor of White Collar Crime Reviews USA's 'White Collar' series

A standard critique of media portrayals of crime includes an over-emphasis on street crime compared to white collar crime. Yes, the law also emphasizes street crime over white collar crime -- the the summary of Ch 2 of The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison -- but the media goes even further. When was the last time COPS, Law & Order, CSi, etc dealt with a white collar crime? Sometimes rich people end up on the show, but usually for committing a homicide or other street crime, not for corporate acts that harm workers, consumers, the environment and/or... continue reading »

Inactivity Online, 3 books finished offline

It's been a while since I posted here because I have been working hard on some book projects that required my attention and had deadlines. Some authors seem to do well posting bits of their book online, and that's a skill I obviously have not developed. That's also partly because of the time crunch and hassles as multiple books work through the process and come back with questions, permission hassles, length issues, etc. But here's the rundown:1. The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, 9th ed.  I've been working with Jeff Reiman on this since the 4th edition... continue reading »

Memo to Presidential Candidates on the Financial Crisis

Both candidates did a lousy job in last night's debate discussing the current financial crisis. From having talked about it here for the last few weeks, I have a modest suggestion on how to talk about it to the American people in a way that may instill confidence. 1. Recognize how important this is - if the financial crisis doesn't get resolved favorably, then it will be impossible to do anything. Health care reform and use of our military will be much harder if we're in a Depression. 2. You need to make sure that $700 billion is well spent. Priority... continue reading »

White Collar Crime Review - Oct 1

"Wall St Incompetence Tax", Continued Last week, the proposed bailout was the big news and the bare bones, 3 page plan for a $700 billion bailout package was being fleshed out. One commentator quoted a Wall St Journal story that Treasury Secretary "Paulson cautioned lawmakers against letting the plan get bogged down in a debate over unnecessary additions." The commentator adds: "'Unnecessary additions' - things like accountability, transparency, making sure that the crisis does not happen again, and making sure that it solves the underlying problem."The revised plan grew to 110 pages and started to include a few items to... continue reading »

White Collar Crime Review - Sept 24

$700 Billion Bailout / "Wall St Incompetence Tax" for TaxpayersThe big news this week is the proposed $700 billion agency, funded by taxpayer $, to buy troubled debt and rescue the financial system.  The NY Times has the text of the original bill, which is worth considering even though Congress is likely to demand changes. (Hat tip to the Big Picture for the "incompetence tax" phrase.) Some of the key provisions and criticisms include:$700 billionThe proposed text:Sec. 6. Maximum Amount of Authorized Purchases.The Secretary’s authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any... continue reading »

White Collar Crime Review - Sept 17

Last week I started a White Collar Crime review as part of a class on white collar crime I am teaching, and here's an update on elite deviance, abuses of power, etc that's happened in the last week. Before the review, a quick example of what Friedrich's Trusted Criminals book means by 'normal accident.' Remember that this is how human responsibility for the failure of complex systems becomes erased, so failures seem like 'normal accidents' (no one to blame here, move along). I mentioned the current financial crisis and Barry Ritholtz, who was chief investment strategist  for an investment firm... continue reading »

White Collar Crime Review - Sept 10

Now that I'm teaching a class on white collar crime, I hope to periodically post collections of links about white collar crime, elite deviance and abuses of power. Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac BailoutThe government announced the takeover of these two institutions, which own or guarantee between $5 and $6 billion in mortgages. They were GSEs - government sponsored entities - so they already had some government involvement, but now it is total. (Everything you might want to know is collected in the links here.) This raises questions about free markets and whether how much this will cost taxpayers, which... continue reading »

Getting Tough on Corporate Crime? Paul's Talk on YouTube (plus some comments on subprime wrongdoing)

Back in 2004, I had the opportunity to write a piece with Jeffrey Reiman, A Tale of Two Criminals: We’re Tougher on Corporate Criminals, But They Still Don’t Get What They Deserve. It grew out of several invited lectures I gave, including a  Distinguished Visiting Faculty Lecture at Eastern Kentucky University. The folks there recorded the lecture and have just posted it on YouTube. If the embedded player doesn't work, here's the link for the playlist (six parts of about 10 minutes each). And just to make sure it's accessible - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part... continue reading »

Corrections Corporation of America Votes Down Transparency on Political Donations

As part of work for a new project (more details to come soon), I've been reviewing the Securities and Exchange Commission filings of the Corrections Corporation of America, which is the largest private prison company in the US. Each year, companies traded ont he stock exchange have annual meetings where shareholders get to vote on issues related to governance, which are reported in form 14A (definitive proxy). For 2007, the following proposal by a group of activist shareholder nuns caught my eye. What's in the box below is the exact writeup from CCA's 2007 14A (see p 29-31):  PROPOSAL 5... continue reading »

U.K. Corporate Manslaughter Statute

The U.S. tends to believe it can only teach the rest of the world and is slow to realize we may be able to learn something. I'm thinking specifically here about the Corporte Manslaughter Act passed by the English Parliament over the summer - something not even mentioned in the American press (Apparently not part of 'all the news fit to print'...)According to one write-up that has a good Q & A:The current law links a company's guilt to the gross negligence of an individual who is said to be the embodiment of the company. It has proved very difficult... continue reading »

Corrections Corporation of America (CXW): Hot Stock or High-Debt Timebomb?

Last fall, I continued by studies of private prisons by reading through some of the Securities and Exchange Commission filings for the Corrections Corporation of America (ticker: CXW). I was interested in looking at the overhead costs to get a better sense of why private prisons don't save much money over state run prisons. (For those wanting the quick answe, check out the Why Private prisons Don't Save Money page I made.)What's interesting is looking at the chart of their stock price, especially in light of discussion on various websites about how they're a hot stock and gaining rapidly. I... continue reading »

TicketBastards (TicketMaster Sucks)

While reading the Big Picture Blog's Linkfest, I saw a headline "Concert Giant Sees Cutting prices as Ticket to Success" (LA Times, 9/26/2006).Right on. (Well, maybe; it doesn't look quite as good as you keep reading) The article notes that average concert prices are now $57 per ticket, and some people feel this is causing people to attend fewer concerts or skip them all together. LiveNation, Inc CEO Rapino wants to lower prices and is battling TicketMaster to do that.  But to make good on his promise, Rapino must wrest power from Ticketmaster, a near-monopoly that built its empire locking... continue reading »

Ebbers' 25 Year Sentence for Worldcom Fraud Upheld. Good.

I'll confess to being a little frusted that after finishing page proofs on Class, Race, Gender and Crime, important events happen. But a function of this blog is to fill in the gaps between books and editions, as well as to have a conversation about the excellent questions raised by the White Collar Crime Prof Blog as well as the Second Circuit Sentencing Blog. Much of the attention around corporate fraud has been centered on Enron, which declared the largest corporate bankruptcy in history because of an orgy of multifaceted fraud. When "Worldcon" declared bankruptcy a month or so later,... continue reading »

Scam scam scam scam

Back when I was in grad school at American University, I ended up working with Jeff Reiman on what would become the 4th edition of his book, The Rich Get Richer & the Poor Get Prison. That turned into work on the 5th, 6th, 7th and the 8th edition (which will be out later this month o in August). Obviously there's something to the book and the thesis. Being involved in the book has given me an appreciation for scams, especially by those who are powerful and wealthy. There are a few items I've collected recently on this topic. Not... continue reading »