The Criminal Justice System: Arthur Andersen's Collapse

The social control process that is the criminal justice system, can be divided into two basic structures: guardianship and enforcement (LeClair, 2016). Guardianship sets behavioral rules, while enforcement creates consequences when those rules are broken (LeClair, 2016). White collar crime has become infamous for being difficult to regulate against and even harder to investigate and prosecute (Friedrichs, 2010). It may be of no surprise that the enforcement and prosecution of white collar crimes is lower than that of street crime; white collar crimes are even less likely to be reported, further complicating enforcement (Friedrichs, 2010). Two recent white collar crimes, the Arthur Andersen accounting scandal and the Catholic Church child sex

Andersen was the auditing firm responsible for overseeing the legitimacy of Enron’s accounting and business practices (Oppel & Eichenwald, 2002). This means that as Enron entered into riskier and riskier investments and made profitable deals with fake shell companies, Arthur Andersen continued to sign off and approve these actions as financially sound (Oppel & Eichenwald, 2002). Only once significant wrongdoing and criminal acts had already occurred did the government—in the form of the SEC—step in to conduct an investigation into the white collar crime that had been perpetrated (Oppel & Eichenwald,

Self-regulation is an internal process by which a company monitors behaviors and modifies its actions accordingly (Friedrichs, 2010). The Catholic Church is one such organization that employs an internal system of self-regulation. The Pope, who acts as the head of the church, oversees operations and relies upon a series of other officials within the church, like Archbishops (Stille, 2016). Typically, the Pope, or other church officials acting under his guidance, set the standards for behavior in the church; this is the guardianship element of the social process. Within a self-regulating environment, the same structures that put the standards in place also act as the enforcement element of the process, making sure that standards are met and followed (Schlegel & Weisburd, 1992). Thus, the Pope and his underlings are responsible for ensuring compliance with church policy and