Introduction

In this growing age of richer Americans, America is beginning to see the emergence of a new type of criminal. The term “white-collar crime” was introduced in 1939 during a speech given by Edwin Sutherland to the American Sociological Society. A pioneering figure in the field of criminology, Sutherland coined the term to describe a “crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status during the course of his occupation.” While much debate has surrounded what exactly constitutes a “white-collar crime,” the term regularly refers to any non-violent crime that is carried out in a commercial environment for financial gain. Cases of white-collar crime have become more prominent in the public eye, the most infamous and recent example of this trend is the criminal investigation of successful entrepreneur Martha Stewart. Stewart’s supporters consider the criminal action taken against her as petty, seeing her conviciton as nothing more than an appeasement of those who are envious of her success. Nonetheless, those who endorse her guilty verdict maintain that it is fair and contend that is an effective response to curb the influx of white-collar crime. For Martha Stewart, did the punishment fit the crime?

We will investigate the causes of this problem and assess its consequences, moreover we will analyze the political solutions that are carried out to solve this problem.

Task

You will be part of a public advocacy group calling for stiffer punishment for people committing white-collar crimes. Your group will conduct research so that you can present your findings to demand better legislation.

Your research will focus on the following areas: causes and types of white-collar crime, present legislation, statistics for the year 2000 to 2004 on convictions, profile information, attitude of judges to convict these criminals and attitude of the public in regards to these crimes.

Your findings will be presented graphically in a five minute oral presentation to the class.

Process

o You will be divided to work in a group of three people.

o You will work cooperatively on assigned tasks.

o Your group will gather evidence for the problem by accessing statistics and conducting a survey within the building.

You and your group will be required to present to the class a five minute oral presentation of your findings which will include statistical measures for your survey on public opinion, a bar graph showing the comparison of crimes committed and convictions in 2000 and 2004 and a circle graph depicting the different types of white collar crime based on these convictions.

Then you will give your personal suggestions on how to improve the existing public policies. To accomplish your goal, you will have to use the six-step public policy approach to give your report.

1. Identify and define the problem of white-collar crime in America as it exists today:

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet1.html

2. Gather evidence of white-collar crime in America and complete worksheet:

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet2.html

Using websites from the resource section below and other relevant ones, you will retrieve information for the problem. A survey is recommended here.

3. Identify the causes for society’s tolerance of white-collar crime using worksheet:

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet3.html

4. Describe and evaluate existing policies using worksheet:

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet4.html

5. Develop solutions/policies to correct the problem using worksheet:

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/solutions.html

6. Select the best policy for correcting the problem:

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet6.html

From the alternative policies you created using worksheet six, rate them according to feasibility and effectiveness. Then choose the best one.

Resources

Tips-PPA http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/ppa/intro.html

Resources & Tutorial http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/tips/tutorials.html

Discoveryschool.com http://school.discovery.com

Develop own online survey http://www.opinionpower.com/index.html

White-Collar Crime http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/white_collar.html

US Department of Justice http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/

Types of White-Collar Crime http://www.ckfraud.org/whitecollar.html

Penalties for Corporate Criminals

http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa011603a.htm?terms=white+collar+crime

Anti-Trust http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/antitrust.html

White-Collar Crime Statistics http://www.nw3c.org/downloads/statistics.pdf

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/whitecollarforweb.pdf

Women & White-Collar Crime http://www.nw3c.org/downloads/women_wcc1.pdf

Federal Judges: Measuring Their Sentencing Patterns http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/judge/judge_medtimeG.html

Sentencing and Enforcement of White Collar Crimes

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Crime/Test061902.cfm

White-Collar Crime Sentencing Goes Overboard?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4796446/

Martha Stewart http://crime.about.com/od/current/a/stewart040716.htm

The Martha Stewart Case

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/marthastewart/frame_main.html

Enron: Crouching Profits, Hidden Debt

http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa011402a.htm

Enron Guilty Plea

http://management.about.com/b/a/2004_01_14.htm?terms=white+collar+crime

US v. Microsoft http://www.wired.com/news/antitrust/0,1551,35212,00.html

The Evaluation

The evaluation of your project will be done in two parts, the first part will be on your oral presentation. You and your group will present your project to the rest of the class and your instructor will submit a rubric based on your group’s presentation. The second part of your evaluation will be your graphic representations of the information collected. The instructor will submit a rubric based on the representations also. These two rubrics will be combined to determine your final score.

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Content	Shows a full understanding of the topic.	Shows a good understanding of the topic.	Shows a good understanding of parts of the topic.	Does not seem to understand the topic very well.
Stays on Topic	Stays on topic all (100%) of the time.	Stays on topic most (99-90%) of the time.	Stays on topic some (89%-75%) of the time.	It was hard to tell what the topic was.
Preparedness	Student is completely prepared and has obviously rehearsed.	Student seems pretty prepared but might have needed a couple more rehearsals.	The student is somewhat prepared, but it is clear that rehearsal was lacking.	Student does not seem at all prepared to present.
Comprehension	Student is able to accurately answer almost all questions posed by classmates about the topic.	Student is able to accurately answer most questions posed by classmates about the topic.	Student is able to accurately answer a few questions posed by classmates about the topic.	Student is unable to accurately answer questions posed by classmates about the topic.
Vocabulary	Uses vocabulary appropriate for the audience. Extends audience vocabulary by defining words that might be new to most of the audience.	Uses vocabulary appropriate for the audience. Includes 1-2 words that might be new to most of the audience, but does not define them.	Uses vocabulary appropriate for the audience. Does not include any vocabulary that might be new to the audience.	Uses several (5 or more) words or phrases that are not understood by the audience.

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Accuracy of Plot	All points are plotted correctly and are easy to see. A ruler is used to neatly connect the points or make the bars, if not using a computerized graphing program.	All points are plotted correctly and are easy to see.	All points are plotted correctly.	Points are not plotted correctly OR extra points were included.
Type of Graph Chosen	Graph fits the data well and makes it easy to interpret.	Graph is adequate and does not distort the data, but interpretation of the data is somewhat difficult.	Graph distorts the data somewhat and interpretation of the data is somewhat difficult.	Graph seriously distorts the data making interpretation almost impossible.
Neatness and Attractiveness	Exceptionally well designed, neat, and attractive. Colors that go well together are used to make the graph more readable. A ruler and graph paper (or graphing computer program) are used.	Neat and relatively attractive. A ruler and graph paper (or graphing computer program) are used to make the graph more readable.	Lines are neatly drawn but the graph appears quite plain.	Appears messy and "thrown together" in a hurry. Lines are visibly crooked.
Labeling of X axis	The X axis has a clear, neat label that describes the units used for the independent variable (e.g, days, months, participants' names).	The X axis has a clear label that describes the units used for the independent variable.	The X axis has a label.	The X axis is not labeled.
Labeling of Y axis	The Y axis has a clear, neat label that describes the units and the dependent variable (e.g, % of dogfood eaten; degree of satisfaction).	The Y axis has a clear label that describes the units and the dependent variable (e.g, % of dogfood eaten; degree of satisfaction).	The Y axis has a label.	The Y axis is not labeled.

Conclusion

Based upon the research related to white-collar crime, students will utilize TIPS Public Analyst Policy to analyze causes for the problem of white-collar crime and be able to come up with a policy that might help prevent or minimize the number of people committing these crimes. In addition, students will have met the following:

Performance standards:

English

Standard I: Students will read, write, listen and speak for information and understanding.

Social Studies

Standard IV: Economics

Mathematics

Standard I: Number Concepts and Operations

Standard III: Statistics and Probability Concepts

Standard V: Problem Solving and Mathematical Reasoning

Standard VII: Math Communication

Standard VIII: Applying Mathematics