...Punishment and Sentencing Brian Krail CJA/234 11/20/2011 Punishment and Sentencing Crimes against morality and individual rights have existed since the dawn of man as well as the need to punishment those crimes. Public consciousness and sentiment have evolved over time and greatly influence the goals of modern-day punishment criminals. The legal and correctional systems tend to fall in line with this morals and concepts of their respective era. While threat of prison and punishment may be deterrence to crime, the goals of punishment and sentencing can be placed into the categories of rehabilitation, retributions and incapacitation. Through the classification of crimes and prisoners, the modern-day correctional system emphasizes a hybrid mix of these objectives based on the severity of the crime and susceptibility of the criminal. Incapacitation as a goal or strategy in punishment and sentencing is best focused on those offenders who commit crimes at very high rates. By taking a large slice of out of the life of a career criminal, the punishment has prevented, in theory, the number of crimes that individual, would have been committed if that while in society. Since the 1980’s, the United States has increasingly taken a this approach which has led to increased sentences for the majority of offenders also leading to prison overcrowding. The effectiveness of this strategy is often debated although many of not most studies conclude this strategy does provide...
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...Introduction The various mixture philosophies are a great idea. The primary model should be incapacitation. There should not be any television or any activities for criminals that carry a heavy violation. Criminals that are incarcerated have too many luxuries. This paper will discuss the different punishment levels dealing with the juvenile system. These philosophies are used to express a variety of different concerns and arguments regarding the use of appropriate sentencing and treatment. Some of the main philosophies of punishment are retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation. Retribution is an idea that the people who violate the law by committing a crime, deserves to be punished. People who violate the law should be punished just because they broke the law. Most critics argue that punishment is not always the actual outcome. Deterrence is an idea that those who commit a crime must be punished to serve as an example so that people will think twice about committing a crime. Incapacitation is for an offender who is being punished will not be able to go back into society to commit more crimes. For most offenders being in prison is supposed to allow the prisoner to suffer for his criminal violations. The advantage to this philosophy is that incarceration keeps people from getting hurt, and more importantly takes the offender of the streets. Rehabilitation is seeking the reason that the crime was committed in the first place. Rehabilitation is ranged from providing...
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...but also time added on to their sentence. Deviance on the officer’s part would be considered how poorly they treat the inmates (for example in cases of health). This documentary shows one of the main goals of corrections: fair punishment and community protection. Tent city not only punishes inmates fairly (provides retribution), but also protects the community from further crime. But, the purpose of corrections is deterrence, not revenge. In Tent City the conditions are so strict because the Sheriff wants the inmates to leave learning something and correcting their behavior so they do not have to come back. There are three deterrence requirements that must be filled: severity, swiftness, and certainty. Tent City fills all these requirements by always being available to bring in more people, the sheriff said he would rather build many more tent cities than let people go early. They focus on both general and specific deterrence by proudly displaying the conditions there. General deterrence is when they prevent other individuals from committing a crime. Specific deterrence is when an individual is prevented from committing the same crime again. The sentencing process is the same there as other places, tent city is just meant as an overflow jail, so that when other local jails are full the inmates go to tent city. The only population characteristics that are proven to be true in tent city is the fact that most people in jail are men, there were no women shown there. Other than that...
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...lead to countless problems. When a person fails to fulfill a moral or legal obligation, he/she will be punished by law. However, it is very difficult to choose the effective laws to punish or deter the criminals from committing more crimes in the future. Over the years, crime control laws have been questioned because it is critical for the government to choose the right one in order to reduce crimes. While some approaches have proven to be very successful; however, some approaches have not done its job properly. In this essay, we are going to talk about two approaches to crime control: deterrence and retribution. Deterrence is the use of punishment as a threat to deter people from offending or committing crimes. We think that deterrence is very successful due to two reasons. First, it represents as a yardstick to prevent people from breaking the laws. For example, in Singapore they use deterrence in their country and we think that it is very effective. In a picture taken by Mr. Steve Bennett, “A sign present in most MRTs in Singapore, banning food/drink, flammable liquid, smoking. . . .” (Bennett, 2005). Steve’s picture tells us that you cannot smoke or bring flammable liquid when you are in Singapore’s Mass Rapid Transit system. By doing so, you will be fined ranging from $500 to $1000. Nobody wants to lose $1000 because he/she is smoking in Singapore’s MRTs. As you can see, if the deterrent laws are strongly enforced, it will prevent people from breaking the laws. Second, deterrent...
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...punishing people to punish them or to reform law-breakers? Many judges punish law-breakers because they deserve the punishment. They use retribution, vengeance, deterrence, and protection. Judges, now in days, can choose between punishment and reform. Many people think that reform is the right way to go because reform tries to change the offender’s character so that he will not break the law again. Other people think that law-breakers should be punished to a certain extent according to the crime they commit, and they also should be punished because they deserve punishment. I think the penalties for breaking the law of a society should be designed to reform law-breakers for a couple of reasons. I think that reform will help law-breakers with any problems they have. I also think that reform will keep criminals from committing g a crime again. Many would argue that the penalties for breaking the laws of a society be designed to punish law-breakers. Many say that a law-breaker should be punished because they deserve it, which is also known as retribution. There is a saying that states if you do the crime you do the time. Judges also say that the crime they commit is one hundred percent preventable. This is the reason why judges say the law-breaker should be punished because they deserve it. Many would also use deterrence as an excuse to punish law-breakers. Judges will punish a law-breaker excessively to prevent them from doing the crime again. If individual criminals were not punished...
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...Summary The “Unearthing Pharma Fraud” article discusses the case of Rew Cook who is the sales manager at Good Health Inc. (GHI). The firm distributes pharmaceutical products and medical/dental equipment to pharmacies in France. An audit by the outsourced internal audit firm Alan & Blanche revealed fraudulent activity in Cook’s sales department. Cook took advantage of the internal control weaknesses present in GHI operations and was able to make a personal gain to the tune of $200,000. Cook’s main fraud was a result of keeping pharmacies in the dark in regards to the rules associated with bonuses and promotional products from hitting targets. This way Cook could favor the pharmacy of his choice, and in return would accept kickbacks from favoring particular pharmacies. Also due to pushing high sales, without netting in sales returns, he was not only able to receive higher commissions based on inflated sales, but also create a name for himself that he could use to ignore many rules, specifically HR policies. Control Weaknesses There were many kinds of control weaknesses in the “Unearthing Pharma Fraud” Case; the first, limited controls related to the control environment. With no processes set to interview employees who left the division or the company, in order to review employee performance or management performance. No controls were set to prevent management override, as Cook hired clerks, on company payroll without HR knowledge. Another lack of control was...
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...Running header: Internal Controls LJB Company: Internal Controls Summary President of LJB Company – AMS Consultant February 9, 2014 ACCT504 Accounting & Finance: Managerial Use Analysis Table of Contents Introduction 3 Internal Control Requirements 3 LJB Company: Current Internal Controls 4 LJB Company: Recommendations for Change to existing Internal Controls 5 Conclusion 6 References 7 Introduction AMS Consultants would like to handle re-organization of LJB Company’s internal controls prior to the organization going public. There are several existing issues within the organization that will need to be address prior to making any significant changes to the existing internal controls. LJB Company has been assigned to consultant Linda Robertson whom specialize in assisting executives to getting their organization’s internal controls up to the standards of Sarbanes-Oxley Act. SOX, requires all publicly traded U.S. corporations to maintain an adequate system of internal controls. LJB Company currently have one accountant that handles all accounting and financial responsibilities; however there are several other factors that are taking place within the organization that is not essential for maintaining adequate internal controls (Kimmel, P., Weygandt, J. & Kieso, D., 2013). As the president you have to consider all three factors of fraud triangle and analyze how these play a role within LJB Company; the three factors are opportunity, financial pressure...
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...Plutonium was a Internet start-up company that was founded in 1988. Plutonium had problems with the technological systems that was needed to support the expanding user base. They connected with Gateway and created phony credit cards to test the system. Jonathan, manager of operations allowed employee (Chris) to have one cause he was trusted and preformed good work. Later, Chris was found to be abusing the credit card but was not severely punished. A few months later Chris was back at scamming the company and Jonathan took notice this time of all the items and expenses begin brought. Evaluate this case using the three elements of the fraud triangle to identify: A. Potential pressures for Chris to commit fraud. Pressure is said to cause a person to commit fraud and it can be anything dealing with bills, addiction problems, and having a fancy life style. Sometime fraud is commit out of greed alone having nothing to do with pressure. Chris pressure might have come from family or school both of which the need for money was needed. Chris falls under living the fancy life style and having to pay the bill. As, stated there could have been no pressure at all it was just Chris being greedy not content with making 15 dollars per hour, just wanting more or all. B. Potential opportunities for Chris to commit fraud. Opportunity is the ability to commit fraud and is created by weak internal controls, poor management oversight, and through use of ones position or authority. Opportunity...
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...1. Consider the fraud triangle. What opportunities and motivation exist for Nancy to commit fraud? The lacks of internal control in the office have provided opportunities for Nancy to commit fraud. For instance, she is the receptionist and office manager in the office; the doctor leaves her to handle all office duties including collecting cash receipts, billing patients, depositing checks, and the monthly bank reconciliation. This shows the office lacks segregation of duties. Her main motivation to commit fraud is the financial pressure from her family. She is the single mother of four and tries to provided her children all the finer things. She has a second job also indicates she really needs money. Lacks of internal control in the office can also be a motivation for her, since it makes her feel it’s convenient and safe to commit fraud. 2. What should be done to improve internal controls and reduce the risk of fraud as it relates to the segregation of duties? The office should apply segregation of duties, which means one employee should not have custody, authorization, recording and reconciliation functions at the same time. There should be at least four employees in the office if they want to improve the internal control and reduce the risk of fraud. One person should collecting cash receipts and billing patients. The second one should deposit checks. The third one should in charge of the monthly bank reconciliation. The fourth employee should have the authorization...
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...The term of “fraud triangle” was developed by Dr. Donald Cressey, a criminologist who studied embezzlers. The three basic elements of fraud triangle include perceived pressure, perceived opportunity, and the ability to rationalize. It explains the nature of many fraud offenders and also become a tool to assess the risk of fraud. It is important to companies to incorporate the fraud triangle theory in order to reduce the risk of fraud within their organization. From my standpoint, companies should incorporate the fraud triangle from the following aspects. First, companies should perform background investigation in order to uncover the perceived pressure. The factors that create pressure include personal financial pressure (high levels of debts and poor credit rating), addictions such as drugs, gambling, and lifestyle issues such as living beyond one's means. According to Bliss (2012), “auditors and fraud examiners generally consider pressure and rationalization to be internal qualities that can't be seen or assessed. Resources are focused on opportunity, which can be reduced with internal controls.” As a consequence, companies should focus more on risk prevention. They can uncover some undesirable personal traits in advance, when they are making hiring decision. If the management understands the motivation of an offender, several background checks could be useful in preventing fraud. For instance, “the civil records search can find information on any non-criminal litigation....
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...From the information I have gathered about the LJB Company. If the company decides to go public new internal control requirements procedures (such as control environment, Risk assessment, Control activities, Information and communication Monitoring), need to be implemented. This is done to not only protect the company from fraud and abuse but also be in accordance with the law. Upon the initial review of the LJB Company the company I have found that the company in general is doing various things well. An activity such as keeping the checks in a locked safe is a good security procedure. It limits access company funds and protects it from theft. Have pre numbered checks in my opinion company is a good procedure as well. I would recommend the purchase of the indelible ink machine used for the purpose of printing checks. Using the indelible ink machine applies to the internal control procedure of using physical control. Using that machine to print checks can undeniably help prevent fraud by someone forging someone else signature Unfortunately in my review of the company I have found activities that the company is participating in that violate standard regulated internal procedures. Giving all employees access to the petty cash is in violation of the establishment of responsibility internal control procedure. That leaves any employee the ability to use petty cash for any means. An accountant that is working for the company is currently the controller and the treasure. This activity...
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...Goodner Brothers Case 1. In most fraudulent acts three circumstances lead to such crimes being committed, and should be considered when carrying out risk assessment. These conditions are an incentive, an opportunity, as well as a rationalization; the three make up what is known as the Fraud Triangle. The three circumstances are present throughout the fraudulent acts of Woody Robinson. For instance, Woody had a rampant gambling addiction that was developed throughout college, which had led him to accumulate a debt of over $50,000, some of which was owed to his good buddy, Al Hunt. In addition he was behind on mortgage payments, had maxed out credit cards, as well as received threats from two bookies he was in debt to; all of which could serve as an incentive for Woody to steal tires from his employer, Goodner Brothers. Next an opportunity for Woody to commit fraud must be recognized.Goodner Brothers held a dominant market share due to undercut competitors' prices, as well as high volume sales stressed by upper management. This strategy yielded a much lower gross profit margin than Goodner's competitors, and drove them to undercut their own operating expenses, such as internal controls. In addition to the lack of internal controls, Goodner Brothers had no separation of powers within the company. With an overwhelmed accounting system, sales representatives were allowed to enter their sales records directly into the accounting records. Not only did the sales representatives have...
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...Kyle Welch 2/19/2015 Fraud Paper In the movie “Office Space”, three men at an Information Technology company begin to commit computer fraud. They embezzle (steal) a fraction of a penny from each of the company’s financial transactions to a separate account of their own. Because the amount of money seems so small, it seems unlikely that anybody would notice the missing money. The fraud they commit in the movie is referred to as misappropriation of assets, which is the embezzlement of company assets by directors, other fiduciaries or employees. Misappropriation of assets is the most common and widespread fraud reported by companies. Whenever an employee commits fraud it is because of three elements, either combined or individually the reason behind their crimes. The first reason somebody would commit fraud is pressure, their incentive. In the movie “Office Space”, the main character seems to feel emotional pressure to steal from the company. He maybe had strong feelings of resentment to the company or felt they were treating him unfairly. He was constantly called in to work on weekends when he was supposed to be off, and also was not receiving a salary very appealing to him. The second reason somebody would commit fraud is the opportunity, the condition or situation that allows a person or organization to commit and conceal a dishonest act and convert it to personal gain. In the movie the main character has a friend at the company who says he can put a virus into their...
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...Executive Summary This report would provide a thorough application of Accounting Information System concepts, accompanied with thorough findings on Kia Motors, South Korea’s second largest automobile manufacturer. The findings were based on mainly secondary data through research obtained from web-based sources such as online articles, analyst reports, financial reports, academic journals and academic databases. The report aims to present the detailed findings of Kia Motors and the fraud that occurred in 2002 through a Balanced Scorecard (“BSC”), Document Flowchart Diagram (“DFD”), as well as the facts and role of the accountant, Cecile Campbell in the fraud committed on Kia Motors in 2002. The report consists of mainly three components. Firstly, a BSC that was developed using Kia Motors’ mission, vision and strategies that were identified and inferred from online research and Kia Motors’ financial statements and sustainability reports. Key information that was included in the BSC were Kia Motors’ performance and risk-based goals, initiatives, measures and their performance target. Secondly, a DFD was created to reflect one of Kia Motors’ key operations. The diagram that was drawn up was based on Kia Motors’ expenditure cycle. It showcased a detailed description of the relevant source documents involved, as well as their flow throughout the business process. The report further highlighted the key internal control strengths, the risk of material misstatements they serve...
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...Loss Prevention Policies Unit 5 IP Jessica Payne Loss Prevention Policies Each year companies stand to lose at least five percent of revenues to internal fraud. This may seem like a small percentage but it adds up. That five percent can be the difference between staying afloat or filing bankruptcy. When a company spends time and money to prevent fraud it is far less than running the risk of internal fraud. The most effective way to prevent fraud is to establish a proactive fraud prevention program. It is best if a company seeks the advice from a qualified fraud expert. A successful fraud prevention program requires three elements: education, investigation, and proactive preventative techniques. Most internal frauds are brought to attention from employees, customers, or vendor tips. Employees are the most likely source to provide tips of misconducts. So implementing a company-wide education program is a crucial part of a fraud prevention program (Coenen, 2011). Fraud education should focus on fraud awareness and should be presented to all employees. Investigating fraud is important to a comprehensive fraud prevention program. Although investigations are time consuming and costly the benefits are worth it. Investigations can have deterrent effects on potential thieves. Investigations send a company-wide message that management is aware and looking for fraud. Proactive fraud prevention techniques are the biggest asset in the company’s fraud prevention plan. Proactive...
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