Paul's Justice Blog

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Required Readings (All four bookstores receive the book order for this class)

David O. Friedrichs. 2009. Trusted Criminals: White Collar Crime in Contemporary Society, 4^th edition. Belmont: Thomson-Wadsworth. NOTE that we are using the fourth edition; earlier editions are cheaper because they are out of date and you will be responsible for the content in this edition.  (The link goes to amazon.com for easy purchasing. The publisher also rents the book and sells eBooks.) You can read the first chapter online for free if you are a little delayed in getting a book. 

Jeffrey Reiman and Paul Leighton. 2010. The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, 9th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. NOTE that we are using the ninth edition; earlier editions are cheaper because they are out of date and you will be responsible for the content in this edition. (Link goes to amazon.com for easy ordering; the publisher also sells a eBook version)

• How to Find Cheaper College Textbooks (NY Times)

• If you have problems keeping the right files with you, check out SugarSync, which makes your documents available from any computer by keeping them on a secure website - no more thumb drives or emailing yourself documents. There is also a 'magic briefcase' option that keeps all the documents in that folder synced across multiple computers (work on  a file at home and it will update the file on your laptop automatically). 

• The Study Hacks blog teaches students how to do (very) well without burning out. It preaches the idea that you should: do less; do better; and know why.

Recommended Reading 

Reiman and Leighton, The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: A Reader. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 0205661793

Barry Ritholtz. Bailout Nation: How Greed and Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street. New York: Wiley. 0470520388

Ronald Burns, Michael Lynch and Paul Stretesky. 2008. Environmental Law, Crime and Justice. New York: LFB Scholarly Publishing. 9781593322762

Moses Naim. 2006. Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy. New York: Anchor/Doubleday. 1400078849.

Penny Green and Tony Ward. 2004. State Crime: Governments, Violence and Corruption. London: Pluto Press. 0745317847.

Neal Shover and John Wright. 2001. Crimes of Privilege. New York: Oxford U Press. 0195136217.

David Simon.. Elite Deviance, 9^th ed. Boston: Pearson. 0205571956

James Coleman. 2005. The Criminal Elite. Worth Publishers. 0716787342

Stephen Rusoff, Henry Pontell and Robert Tillman. Profit Without Honor: White Collar Crime and the Looting of America, 4th ed. Prentice Hall. 0131722328.

Financial blogs that sometimes post on business wrongdoing include Naked Capitalism (investment banker); the Big Picture (market researcher); Foreclosure Fraud (Save My Home Law group); Footnoted (problematic issues from companies' SEC filings); and Calculated Risk (housing and mortgage issues by people in the mortgage business). White Collar Crime Blog (by law professor)

Date

Required Reading

Click here for syllabus (.pdf) | Career & Job Info

I would recommend bookmarking this page for further reference. You may need to hit the Reload/Refresh button to get the latest version. 

Subprime Primer - very funny, direct, sometimes crude but helpful short explanation (stick figures in 45 powerpoint slides). [For those interested: Animated explanation of how a CDO works (Portfolio.com); a brief overview of fraud in real estate, mortgages and homebuilders (with a follow up on non-feasance); and the mortgage fraud blog. 

I want my bailout money (YouTube, mp3, ringtone)

Mark Fiore: Wall Street Air (animation)

(If you don't have your book yet, you can read the first chapter online for free)

Clip from The Corporation: Investigative journalism and corporate power [Monsanto and milk] (10 min YouTube.com). For more, see the milk info from preventcancer.org and organic valley (they produce organic milk, so do have an interest, but they cite many of the original medical studies). The bovine growth hormone was made by Monsanto, which is the subject of a devastating expose; it notes that: "Another former Monsanto scientist said that after company scientists conducted safety studies on bovine growth hormone, all three refused to drink any more milk, unless it was organic and therefore not treated with the drug." 

ProPublica - nonprofit, award-winning investigative journalism

Public Citizen - even if you're skeptical about Nader for President, the organization does some great work. 

The Talking Heads' David Byrne talks about the harm of payola. There's a brief history of payola and a Salon.com report on "pay for play" ("Why does radio suck? Because most stations play only the songs the record companies pay them to.)

The Project on Government Accountability

Whistlebower.org

Daily Show on the identity of Watergate whistleblower 'Deep Throat.'

A Force to Be Reckoned With (Fraud Magazine).

PBS Frontline Video: "A Dangerous Business" Revisited. The New York Times also has a collection of stories on McWane (part of their Workplace Safety investigations)

PBS Frontline Video: Tax Me If You Can ("because the government is not collecting all that is owed -- the biggest piece of which is illegitimate tax shelters -- everyone else is paying 15 percent more than they should" - from the summary ~ Many firms didn't pay taxes (Washington Post) 

The Birth of the Corp from The Corporation DVD (via You Tube - [see complete playlist])

Peanut Processor Ignored Salmonella Tests~ Recalls.gov ~ Center for Food Safety ~ If you eat salmon, check out the Findlaw.com column on the disclosures about additives to color the fish (the SalmonFan is used to help pick the desired color). There's much worse on BarfBlog (food safety blog). 

“In Settlement, A Warning to Drugmakers.” ~ a good discussion of "predatory pharma" (check out the many links) and an overview of the many recent legal settlements involving pharmaceutical companies ~ prescription project  

IN CLASS QUIZ #1: read “Blast at BP Texas Refinery in ’05 Foreshadowed Gulf Disaster.” Your quiz will ask: 1) How many people died in the blast – and how many more have died and been sent to the hospital since then 2) In 2002, Parus requested a safety audit. What did it find and what did the 2003 and 2004 safety audits find 3) The report by the Telos Group surveyed 1,000 employees and found what, and 4) How big were the fines from OSHA? From the Justice Dept? How big was the 2009 OSHA fine and why was it imposed? [8 points]

Remember – the in class quizzes are to be completed in class. You prepare answers and study before class, then I will give you a sheet with these questions on it and you will write out the answers during the part of class where we do the quiz. You need to be in class when the quiz is distributed to take it.

Multinational Monitor site 

Bureau of Labor Stats - workplace injuries (why the real numbers are higher than reported)

'Pre-crime' come to your job: A company called Social Intelligence systematically trolls social networks for evidence of bad character using automation software that slogs through Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, LinkedIn, blogs, and "thousands of other sources." The company develops a report on the "real you" -- not the carefully crafted you in your resume. The reports feature a visual snapshot of what kind of person you are, evaluating you in categories like "Poor Judgment," "Gangs," "Drugs and Drug Lingo" and "Demonstrating Potentially Violent Behavior." The company mines for rich nuggets of raw sewage in the form of racy photos, unguarded commentary about drugs and alcohol and much more. The company also offers a separate Social Intelligence Monitoring service to watch the personal activity of existing employees on an ongoing basis. The service provides real-time notification alerts, so presumably the moment your old college buddy tags an old photo of you naked, drunk and armed on Facebook, the boss gets a text message with a link.

IN CLASS QUIZ #2: Read the information on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Your quiz will ask: 1) this act was passed in response to what, and what does it attempt to do, 2) telephone calls at “unreasonable times” are defined as before what time and after what time (be sure to include AM and PM), 3) what can you do if you don’t want the collection agency to contact you – and does this resolve the debt or stop them from filing a lawsuit 4) you can report violations by an in-state collection agency to where – and by an out of state collection agency to where (name, not address). [6 points]

PBS Frontline Video: Spying On America

COINTELPRO - FBI program against black activists - 9 minute provocative YouTube video or 54 minute Google video. There are also some explanations of the program at The Public Eye

FBI Files on well known people (Beatles, Einstein, MLK, etc)

See Crash Course: Fuzzy Numbers for govt manipulation of inflation data. 

Peanut Processor Knowingly Sold Tainted Products

Judge Removed from Indian Trust Case for Saying Dept of Interior Is Racist.

Interview (59 minutes) with Barry Ritholtz, author of Bailout Nation 

Interview with the director of the documentary of Food, Inc. (24 min video) 

Deviant Globalization (video)

Looting Main Street, Matt Taibbi (Rolling Stone); also by Taibbi in Rolling Stone: Wall Street's Bailout Hustle. Read an excerpt of his book Griftopia. 

PBS Frontline Video: Bigger Than Enron

The 'Getting Tough on Corporate Crime' piece I did with Reiman was part of an invited lecture I gave that is available on YouTube, via my blog. 

Fortune magazine: What's Wrong with Wall St and How to Fix It. 

EPA says life is worth less (agency calculates value of life for cost-benefit analysis and recently lowered the value of life - thus creating fewer benefits for life saving regulation) [Washington Post, 18 July 2008, A1]

Defending Science.org (Project of Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy) works to correct the distortions in knowledge introduced by industry in law making. See also the Center for Science in the Public Interest and The Pump Handle public health blog. 

Chocolate's Bittersweet Economy: Seven years after the industry agreed to abolish child labor, little progress has been made (Fortune.com, Feb 08)

Ticketmaster-Live Nation: A Sour Note ~ $13.50 'ticket fee' + the actual ticket price ~ NJ Congressman requests FTC investigation of Ticketmaster and reseller Tickets.now. ~ Ticketbastards

TEST 1 - remember to be on time because no one will be admitted to take the final after the first person has left

Quick overview of botnets and eFraud. The Information Warfare Monitor has more and the American Federation of Scientists has a good resource page. There's also a blog about the Russian Business Network, which were heavily involved in cybercrime and may or may not have been disbanded. 

IN CLASS QUIZ #3: Read the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse page on Social Networking Privacy and click on the link for General Tips for Using Social Networks. Your quiz will ask: 1) what are tips #2, 9 and 15 – and what was one additional tip you found important. Be sure to know both the general phrase for the tip and 1-2 sentences about why it is important. If you don’t get the problem with GEOtagging, click the link on the webpage. [4 points]

IN CLASS QUIZ #4: Read “Identifying Psychopathic Fraudsters.” Your quiz will ask: (1) What do psychopaths want? What are their motivations?; (2) In business situations, do psychopaths target particular individuals? If so, what kinds of persons?; (3) are organizations more “psychopath friendly” now – why or why not; (4) can a psychopath be rehabilitated – why or why not? [6 points]

Selling “fair trade coffee,” as Starbucks does to those customers willing to pay a premium for it, is not corporate philanthropy. It’s just supplying a product at the profit-maximizing price to a person who is an altruist. Business is happy to sell to altruists, just as it is happy to sell to selfish people. Selling “fair trade coffee” is no different, from the corporation’s standpoint, from selling leather clothes to sadomasochists. Likewise with Nike’s efforts to improve working conditions in its foreign plants: it is an example not of corporate philanthrophy but of a corporate response to consumers’ demand for a different production method. From "Against Creative Capitalism" on the Creative Capitalism blog overseen by Bill Gates. 

Feb 27 – Mar 2 NO CLASSES: WINTER RECESS

Is Google a monopoly? (interesting graphic with many historical comparisons)

“Fair Mortgage Collaborative?” criticism of self-regulation 

How Business Crooks Cut Their Jail Time.

ch 11 Connecticut's suit against Countrywide Financial (pdf of complaint); California's suit against Countrywide financial (pdf of complaint) 

TEST 2 - remember to be on time because no one will be admitted to take the final after the first person has left

In 1980, the last year of Jimmy Carter's administration, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) commissioned a series of three 30-minute films about worker safety.  In 1981, Reagan appointed a construction executive, Thorne G. Auchter, who proceeded to systematically dismantle the agency.  Evidently, the 3 films disturbed Thorne greatly, because OSHA issued a recall, threatening to withhold OSHA funds from any organization that did not return their copies of the films, which were promptly destroyed. But, a few union officials defied the ban and "stole" copies, which are now available on the internet (longer description and embedded YouTube video). Or see archive.org: The Story of OSHA; Worker to Worker; and Can't Take No More.

NY Times article, When Workers Die: U.S. Rarely Seeks Charges for Deaths in Workplace. 

Legal Drugs Kill Far More Than Illegal, Florida Says.

Recommended: Appendix 2 (Why Criminology Needs Philosophy)

Companion website for the Rich Get Richer has chapter summaries and links for Ch 2

Popcorn lung coming to your kitchen? and EPA microwave popcorn emissions study finally published. If you are interested in more information about this issue, the pump Handle blog has a popcorn lung category for all their posts on that topic, and Defending Science has a case study on the topic. The author of The Pump Handle articles is David Michaels, who has written a book called Doubt Is Their Product which is excerpted at Hazards magazine. 

Companion website for the Rich Get Richer has chapter summaries and links for Ch 2

Companion website for the Rich Get Richer has chapter summaries and links for Ch 3

Companion website for the Rich Get Richer has chapter summaries and links for Ch 3

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

PLEASE NOTE: Professors do not have regular office hours after the last class. Make sure to get in touch before classes end if you have an important issues to resolve. All back work should be turned in before the end of the last class. The late penalty escalates sharply at this point; papers turned in after the last day of class will be worth a maximum of 1 point. Work turned in at the final exam will only be counted if you have made prior arrangements with me. 

IN CLASS QUIZ #5: Go to the class webpage and follow the link for Building a better America 9pdf). Your quiz will ask: (1) how many respondents completed the survey (N=??) (2) when asked what distribution of wealth they would like to put in, [a] people chose the distribution of what country and [b] what percent chose the unlabeled distribution of the US (3) when asked what percent of the wealth the top quintile (20%) should have, people said what (4) the actual wealth held by the top quintile in the US is what [5 points] 

remember to be on time because no one will be admitted to take the final after the first person has left

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