...What is theory? Theory concludes the explanation between two or more events or factors. There are many theories in criminal justice system that explain crime and why it is committed. There are two types of theories; making and enforcing the law and criminal behavior. The primary purpose of law and the criminal justice system is deterrence. The original theorist is Beccaria. This theory assumes that “punishment prevents crime” and the punishment must be certain, swift, and severe. In this theory it assumes that the general public has free will and a choice on the way they want to act. Deterrence theory assumes that delinquent actions are through rational choice, because they weigh up the cost with the crime. This goes back to punishment prevents...
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...The Rational Choice theory implies that individuals who commit crimes commit them after contemplating the risks of getting caught and the pending punishment, along with the rewards of accomplishing the criminal act. However, individuals who do not commit a crime decide that accomplishing the criminal act is too risky and not worth the reward. In other words, whether you are a criminal or not, rational thinking takes place, based on this theory. The Deterrence theory implies that if a punishment is severe, certain, and swift enough a would-be criminal will evaluate the gains and losses prior to participating in criminal acts. There are two elements to the Deterrence theory, general deterrence and specific deterrence. General deterrence is intended...
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...The proponents of deterrence theory, however, would critique the theory of differential association, as theorist might argue that by watching other people, we learn people’s behavior vicariously through the consequences that they endure. Therefore, people will not commit crimes because they will fear the consequences, which will dissuade people from committing crime or engaging in criminal activity. As a result, this theory would argue that interacting with people will not necessarily cause people to commit crime, but will actually deter people from engaging in criminal behavior as they will observe other’s behaviors and fear the consequences of their actions. For example, a 16 year old boy has an older cousin who is currently involved in criminal behavior. Through communication and interaction with one another as family members, the 16 year old will become exposed to his cousins behaviors, which will influence his actions as well. Their close interaction with one another will impact the 16 year old’s behavior as he will acquire his cousins beliefs and values through their close ties. Deterrence theorists will argue, however, that by observing his cousins behaviors, the 16 year old will become fearful of the penalties of crime and...
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...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 a significant suppression effect on crime (Piquero &...
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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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...The Culpability of Accounting Fraud: Auditors, Managers or Both ACC 503 – Accounting for Management Abstract The purpose of this term paper is to provide insight to the reader about accounting fraud and on whom the responsibility lays whenever there is an allegation of accounting misconduct. Based on the rash of accounting fraud by major respectable corporations in recent years, no one organization is immune to accounting fraud and it is prevalent in the Federal Government down to the smallest neighborhood business. This paper will, discuss the responsibility of managers and auditors in preventing accounting fraud, show the relationship between internal and external auditors in identifying and preventing fraud, and the responsibility for managers to have strict internal controls within their accounting processes. Introduction Enron, WorldCom, Lehman Brothers, and Waste Management were three of the biggest corporations plagued by accounting improprieties. These companies were at one time multi-billion dollar entities that seemed to have unlimited growth prospects. They also were mega companies that have been involved in some sort of accounting scandal or an instance of accounting fraud. The Journal of Finance and Accountancy lists the definition of fraud as “All multifarious means which human ingenuity can devise, and which are resorted to by one individual to get an advantage over another by false suggestions...
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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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...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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