A company's code of ethics is very important to establishing the expectations and quality of its brand. The code of ethics are concrete expectations for employee behavior, accountability and communicates the ethical policy of a company to its partners and clients. A good business practice is to have sound ethics. Having good ethical practice is knowing the difference between right and wrong and choosing what the right thing is. Though good ethical behavior is something that should be done automatically, a company needs to have a set of rules in place that holds everyone accountable. Over the last twenty years, the country has been bombarded with company scandals and unethical behavior; though morally wrong, the punishment does not fit the crime. The punishments have been overkill. A murderer, rapist, or child molester commits violent crimes and potentially is out of jail in 10 - 20 years. The CEO’s that commit white collar crime receive 25 years to life; this paper will discuss how this punishment for committing nonviolent crimes, such as breaching a company’s code of ethics, are disproportionate to violent crimes that plague the country today. White Collar Penalties are Too Harsh for the Crimes In the aftermath of Enron, Washington Mutual Bank, TYCO, and World Comm these companies went against the grain of what good ethical behavior is and what their respective company’s code of ethics were. The criminal justice system has made it clear that it will not allow companies and their executives to get away with the misuse of public trust by allowing them to make themselves rich at the expense of the employee. Where these crimes are both ethically and morally wrong, the CEO’s of major corporations are being punished by a ... ... middle of paper ... ...the non-violent offender should be afforded the same opportunity. References .(2007, March 8). Retrieved from Yahoo voices: http://voices.yahoo.com/worldcom-scandal-look-back-one-biggest-225686.html?cat=3 Dash, E. (2008). $5 Billion Said to Be Near for WaMu. New York: The New york Times. Haag, E. V. (1982). Commenting on Challegeing just Desserts: Punishing White Collar Criminals. journal of ciminolgy and law, 764. Harrison, K. (2010). Dangerous offenders, indeterminate sentencing, and the rehabilitation revolution. Journal Of Social Welfare & Family Law , 423-432. Mclean, B., & Elkind, P. (2003). The smartest guys in the room. New York: Portfolio . Podgor, E. S. (2007). The challenge of white collar sentencing. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Weissmann, A. B. (2007). White-collar defendants and white-collar crimes. The Yale Law Journal Pocket Part.
The news article that I decided to do my assignment on is about a bank manager, Debra Anne Chapin, that embezzled 2 million dollars from a bank. The news article’s title is, “Former manager jailed for cheating bank out of $2M; Woman used cash to pay bills, gamble and feed her cocaine habit.” The crime took place in Calgary between June 1, 2006 and June, 30 2008. This embezzlement is a classic case of white collar crime and demonstrates numerous criminological theories.
Schanzenbach, Max; Yaeger, Michael L., (2006). Prison time, fines, and federal white-collar criminals: The anatomy of a racial disparity. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 96(2), p757-793. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
As we lose ourselves and our values, worth, and identity as people in the corporate culture, the objectives of monetary profit, status within a company, and machine-like work ethics replace our ethical judgement and our values as people. Perhaps there is nothing we can do about it; after all Skilling and Fastow did not realize what they were doing is immoral and illegal until they were sentenced or even released from their sentence. We are all too absorbed in this capitalistic corporate world we live in. Just like the ancient Chinese philosopher Fu Xuan said, “He who is close to the ink will be stained black,” (Fu, “Prince Shao Fu Xuan”), We have been too used to the immorality and unethical practices of corporate culture that we’re not only numb to the wrongdoings of others within this capitalist society, but we also replace our values as people and our ambitions to do good with objectives of the corporate world. Prebbles posed us the question that after centuries of capitalism’s existence in our society, will our ambitions to do good prevail against our monetary desires and the corporate norm of only profit-driven decisions?
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...
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White-collar crime is the financially motivated illegal acts that are committed by the middle and upper class through their legitimate business or government activities. This form of crime was first coined by Edwin Sutherland in 1939 as “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.” (Linden, 2016). Crime has often been associated with the lower class due to economic reasons. However, Sutherland stressed that the Criminal Justice System needed to acknowledge illegal business activity as crime due to the repercussions they caused and the damage they can cause to society (Linden, 2016). Crime was prevalently thought to only be
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Crime comes in different ways, shapes, and forms. From corruption to murder, the seriousness and blameworthiness varies from crime to crime. The most common factor of all crime is that it is illegal. The problem with prosecution is that some crimes can find loopholes around the rigidity of the laws created. This is the hardest for white collar crimes. With so many types of white collar crimes, it is hard to understand where it belongs on the scale on seriousness and blameworthiness and how to prosecute. With white collar crimes, they are most commonly seen as “victimless” or “paper” crimes, since they do not involve physical harm to the people included. With so many types available to analyze, the purpose of this paper is to focus on bribery, perjury, and fraud. When it comes to white collar crimes, or any crime for that matter, we do not only need to focus on what causes it and society’s reaction to it. We need to look into prevention of it and being able to stop it before it even starts.
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Placed in proper perspective, had Enron considered doing the right thing because it was the right thing to do, regardless of outcome, the company may still be in business today (Gilbert, 2012, p. 57). Obviously, in hindsight, doing the right thing may have changed the culture to one more conducive to moral values, which in turn, may have resulted in earlier reports of financial shortcomings. In reality, the company may have prevented its own demise with honest forthcoming reports that could have prevented market panic; thus, preventing the downward spiral that enviable destroyed the company. Point of fact, Enron openly espoused its affection for ethical policies but, in fact, it did not practice ethical behavior. Truly, had the company followed any ethical approach, it may have staved off its preordained destiny. A culture that rewards breaking rules is destine for failure. Though an ethical program may appear to be the solution; however, a moral culture is truly the key to winning the battle of ethics. Moreover, others have suggested that ethical programs may stifle creativity and thus prevent the free exercise of one’s values and moral judgment (Stansbury & Barry, 2007, p. 239). While a program by itself will never be successfully, leadership from the top is instrumental to victory; managers must be known for possessing core values such as honesty and integrity (Nel, Nel, & du Plessis, 2011, p. 59). Albeit, despite the best policies, the proclivities of most subordinates will always drift towards follow the examples of leadership (Mayer, Kuenzi, & Greenbaum, 2010, p. 13). Thus, like the saying goes, an ounce of example is worth a thousand words! The prevention of such needless tragedy lies not in policy or programs but rather in leadership by example. If society truly demands moral behavior within its institutions, then it must expect the same standard from its leaders. Society must demand
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