JoAnn Chirico
May 28, 2015
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7. Did anyone in the class have any psychological or biological theories related to why they committed crimes?
(such as mental illness or deficiency, roid rage, extra chromosome, abnormal hormonal levels)
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Severity of Crime: Public Perception (Survey)
Rate each of the following crimes from 1 – 10 based on how serious or severe you think
each crime is.
1. Jewel thieves net $20,000 in jewelry store burglaries
2. Doctor performs an unnecessary biopsy that requires surgery and
full anesthesia costing HMO $600, patients 200.
3. Terrorist groups kill hundreds worldwide in violent incidents this
year.
4. Vandals smash car windshield, $500 repair bill.
5. Burglar breaks into a house thinking no one was home. Ties a 60 year
old man up, victim dies from heart attack.
6. Deliberate air pollution violations cause thousands of early deaths
nationwide each year.
7. Pharmacist overbills Medicare $20,000
8. Thieves go on nationwide spree over a year. Losses are about $5
million.
9. Masked man threatens couple; steals $200 and $600 watch
10. Doctor knowingly performs an unnecessary surgery; patient dies
from complications
11. Woman steals supplies from her employer; $500 over the course of
a year.
12. Large hospital system commits $5 million dollars in insurance fraud
in one year.
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Severity of Crime (cont..)
Property
“Street” “White Collar”
1 Jewel thieves net $20,000 burglaries 7. Pharmacist overbills Medicare $20,000
4. Vandals smash car windshield, $500 repair
bill
11. Woman steals $500 of supplies from her
employer over the course of a year.
8. Thieves go on spree. Loss about $5 million
over a year in several towns.
12. Large hospital system pays $5 million
dollar settlement for insurance fraud
Violent
“Street” “White Collar”
9. Masked man threatens couple; steals
$200 and $600 watch
2. Doctor performs unnecessary biopsies
costing HMO $600, people $200.
5. Burglar breaks into a house thinking no one
was home. Ties a 60 year old man up, victim dies
from heart attack.
10. Doctor knowingly performs an
unnecessary surgery; person dies due to
complications.
3. Terrorist groups kill hundreds worldwide
in violent incidents this year.
6. Deliberate air pollution violations cause
thousands of early deaths nationwide each
year.
Find the crime from each pair that you rated the most seriously. Record your data below, under “my
data.” Then record the class data when it becomes available.
Street: Times rated more
severe
White Collar: Times rated more
severe
Times equal
My Data Class My Data Class My Data Class
1 7
4 11
8 12
9 2
5 10
3 6
Is there a pattern? Are the white collar and street crimes rated equally for property crimes?
For violent crimes? If not which is rated more severely?
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White Collar Crimes (Using Online Data)
There are many sources of data concerning white collar crime. Some of these crimes
appear as Part II offenses in the Uniform Crime Reports. Others may show up as civil cases.
(Some turn up in movies!) They may be prosecuted in state or federal courts, or more
often than not, it may seem, not prosecuted at all.
I. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
1. Read and listen to stories about the ongoing grain elevator disasters:
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/26/174828849/fines-slashed-in-grain-bin-entrapment-deaths
http://apps.npr.org/buried-in-grain/
Choose three of these stories and report:
• Indicate how many deaths were involved in the incidents you learned about and
how many of them were related to safety violations.
• If you were a prosecutor, judge or jury, how would you treat these cases?
• What differentiates these cases from the variety of homicide (murder and
manslaughter) cases that are usually considered as Part I offences?
2. Massey Energy: The coal mine explosion disaster at Upper Big Branch mine owned by
Massey Energy called attention to the corporate culture that valued profit over safety.
See these reports: http://www.npr.org/2011/05/19/136426906/report-blasts-massey-
for-deviance-in-safety-culture
What happened at Upper Big Branch? Could lives have been saved? Had Massey been
guilty of other violations? How would you compare these losses of life with
manslaughter or murder?
You can find more about Massey at these websites:
http://www.npr.org/series/131960177/massey-mine-investigation
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/200-million-settlement-reached-over-
massey-mine-incident-20111206#ixzz2Qr2bCZCi
2. Check out OSHA data on fatal accidents at work. Go to one or both of these:
https://www.osha.gov/Publications/fatalfacts.html
http://www.safe-workplace.com/articles/osha-fatal-facts/
•
• Indicate how many deaths were involved in each incident and how many of them
were related to safety violations.
• If you were a prosecutor, judge or jury, how would you treat these cases?
• What differentiates these cases from the variety of homicide (murder nad
manslaughter) cases that are usually considered as Part I offences?
3. Skim over “Toothless in Washington” to understand some of the enforcement issues.
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/26/174828849/fines-slashed-in-grain-bin-entrapment-deaths
http://apps.npr.org/buried-in-grain/
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/19/136426906/report-blasts-massey-for-deviance-in-safety-culture
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/19/136426906/report-blasts-massey-for-deviance-in-safety-culture
http://www.npr.org/series/131960177/massey-mine-investigation
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/200-million-settlement-reached-over-massey-mine-incident-20111206#ixzz2Qr2bCZCi
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/200-million-settlement-reached-over-massey-mine-incident-20111206#ixzz2Qr2bCZCi
https://www.osha.gov/Publications/fatalfacts.html
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/workplace/osha/
FYI: Lists of egregious cases can be found at this site
https://www.osha.gov/dep/
4. What is your impression of the loss of life and bodily harm due to worker safety
violations?
II. ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE:
1. EPA Violation data is no longer readily accessible. There is however county level
data available concerning levels of pollution and the degree that the poor and ethnic
minorities may be more subject to high pollution levels than others
First find out how your county ranks
This data may be found at
http://scorecard.goodguide.com/index.tcl
Go to “zip to your community” on the left hand side.
How does your county rank with respect to the different forms of pollutants?
4. What are the health effects of some of these pollutants? Find out at:
http://www.epa.gov/ttnatw01/hlthef/hapindex.html
http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/criminal-enforcement-overview
5. How vigorously are environmental crimes prosecuted? One set of examples can be
found on enforcement of the Clean Water Act in Pennsylvania.
http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/criminal-enforcement-overview
Skim the article and note points that are important for people to know.
What is “the loophole?”
Find the data table for PA. http://static.ewg.org/files/pennsylvania.pdf
Are there any local violators?
What fines or penalties have been applied?
To what degree are the clean water laws enforced?
6. What is your impression of the loss of life and bodily harm due to environmental crime
in comparison to “street” crimes?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/workplace/osha/
https://www.osha.gov/dep/
http://scorecard.goodguide.com/index.tcl
http://www.epa.gov/ttnatw01/hlthef/hapindex.html
http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/criminal-enforcement-overview
http://static.ewg.org/files/pennsylvania.pdf
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FYI: There is a tremendous amount of valuable info on white collar crime on the web.
Here are a few reliable sites.
An EPA website
http://www.scorecard.org
III. FINANCIAL CRIMES
1. Financial crimes run the gamut from the “Nigerian Letter” schemes to the Enron and
Madoff scandals. Browse the FBI White Collar Crime website:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/white_collar
What are the white collar crimes that they investigate?
2. Consider their Corporate Fraud Report.
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/financial-crimes-report-2010-
2011/financial-crimes-report-2010-2011#Corporate
How many cases did they handle and how much money did they recover in the most recent
year reported? What has been the trend?
3. The IRS also investigates corporate fraud. http://www.irs.gov/uac/Examples-of-
Corporate-Fraud-Investigations-Fiscal-Year-2013
What were some of their big cases in 2013?
4. CNBC also has a corporate fraud division. http://www.cnbc.com/id/10000764
Study three of their cases. What are the outstanding facts of the cases?
5. What is the record on Financial Institution Fraud?
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/financial-crimes-report-2010-
2011/financial-crimes-report-2010-2011#Financial-ins
What is your impression of the monetary losses in white collar crimes in contrast to
“street” crimes?
http://www.scorecard.org/
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/white_collar
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/financial-crimes-report-2010-2011/financial-crimes-report-2010-2011#Corporate
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/financial-crimes-report-2010-2011/financial-crimes-report-2010-2011#Corporate
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Examples-of-Corporate-Fraud-Investigations-Fiscal-Year-2013
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Examples-of-Corporate-Fraud-Investigations-Fiscal-Year-2013
http://www.cnbc.com/id/10000764
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/financial-crimes-report-2010-2011/financial-crimes-report-2010-2011#Financial-ins
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/financial-crimes-report-2010-2011/financial-crimes-report-2010-2011#Financial-ins
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Neighborhood Analysis: Zoning Maps and Criminogenic Factors (Observation)
Obtain a zoning map of the town or city where you live or are studying. If the city is large choose a zipcode or
neighborhood within it.
1. Observation:
• Using a checklist conduct an analysis of the neighborhood. What factors do you find that might
contribute to raising or lowering the crime rate of the neighborhood. Develop a code to mark where
each occurs.
• Instead of a checklist, you may walk through the neighborhood, identifying factors that you think might
contribute to raising or lowering crime. Mark them on your zoning map.
• Analyze the clusters of factors. Are there areas where you think crime woud be concentrated or would
have little reported crime? Describe those areas.
2. Crime mapping
• Try to obtain access to the police reports for the neighborhood for the past month or so, depending on
the crime rate and size of the area. Map the crimes on another copy of the zoning map.
• Do the high and low crime areas correspond to your analysis?
• What environmental influences are apparent in the high crime areas that might contribute to crime?
Which factors might inhibit it in the lower crime areas?
Identify “zones or “hot spots.” Which types of crimes are found in each? Include your coded map with the
exercise and discussion.
Zone and brief description Property Crimes Violent Crimes
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Domestic Terrorism Investigation (Using online sources)
1. Link to the FBI site on domestic terrorism:
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/september/militia_092211
You can click at the bottom of the text to find the next group.
Describe the main beliefs and cause of each group and what or whom their targets are.
Category Cause Targets
Militia
Extremism
Anarchist
Extremism
Sovereign
Citizen
Lone
Offenders
Eco and
Animal
Rights
2. Use the following two sites to find out about more types of domestic terrorism and the names
and objectives and/or beliefs of some of the groups.
There can be significant overlap between hate groups/crimes and terrorist activity.
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/september/militia_092211
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Descriptions of the hate groups performing terrorist acts can also be found at the Militia Watchdog
website. You can link from the course website.
http://archive.adl.org/mwd/longtoc.html
http://www.adl.org/main_Extremism/Sovereign_Citizen_Movement_Resurgence
Type of Group Names of some Objective(s) and/or Beliefs
White Supremacist
Militia Movement
Sovereign Citizen
Tax Protest
Anti Abortion
Animal and
Environmental
3. The Southern Poverty Law Center reports on hate groups. Study their map.
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map
How does the state in which you live or study rate on hate groups? Which are found in that state?
To learn about some of the recent activities and crimes of these groups and individuals refer to the
“Hate Watch Blog” http://www.splcenter.org/blog/ and
http://archive.adl.org/mwd/longtoc.html
http://www.adl.org/main_Extremism/Sovereign_Citizen_Movement_Resurgence
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/
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“Domestic Terrorism since 1995” http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/terror-from-
the-right
What are some of their activities?
4. Given that we are a free and prosperous country, how do you account for the presence of extremist
and hate groups in the United States?
Although the report linked below is old, it is one of the most thorough on domestic terrorism.
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/terror_99.pdf
The discussion of “Trends in Domestic Terrorism” begins on page 28.
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/terror_99.pdf
Crime Quiz (Class Exercise)
Comparing Sources of Data (Exploration of UCR and NCVS)
Severity of Crime: Public Perception (Survey)
White Collar Crimes (Using Online Data)
Neighborhood Analysis: Zoning Maps and Criminogenic Factors (Observation)
Domestic Terrorism Investigation (Using online sources) ..."
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Subject Area(s):
- Criminology/Delinquency
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Resource Type(s):
- Assignment, Class Activity
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Class Level(s):
- College 100
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Class Size(s):
- Any
- Abstract:
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This booklet of seven exercises can be completed in class or assigned as homework. Three of the exercises are "mini research" projects in which students must collect data through survey (Severity of Crime exercise), observation (Neighborhood Analysis) or interview...