White-Collar Crime, Capitalism, and Islaam

[maruf]

Bismillah



As-salaamu’alaykum! Here is a paper I put together on White-Collar crime and its connection to capitalism. The capitalists use various controlling agents (media, penal system, and political system) to control, turn public opinion against, and imprison the poor and weak in society while in the same sense they are above their own law which gives benefit only to the powerful and rich. Is not their point of democracy to free the people up and provide fairness? Capitalism failed again as an intellectual leadership for humanity. It supercedes any form of man made democracy which is undermined by money, power, and prejudice. Their sole objective is to make gain materially. They have no problem with deceiving; manipulating, locking up, or killing millions in order to win at this game where the people are mere collateral damage based on cost/benefit thinking. If it sounds grim, it is because it is.



Allah says:

Åöäøó ÇáúÅöäÓóÇäó áöÑóÈøöåö áóßóäõæÏñ

æóÅöäøóåõ Úóáóì Ðóáößó áóÔóåöíÏñ

æóÅöäøóåõ áöÍõÈøö ÇáúÎóíúÑö áóÔóÏöíÏñ

6. Verily! Man (disbeliever) is ungrateful to his Lord;

7. And to that fact he bears witness (by his deeds);

8. And verily, he is violent in the love of wealth. (TMQ 100:6-8)









The self proclaimed “gods” of the world will stop at nothing to turn a buck. They think that they will never be held accountable for their actions. They see no Nar at end of the road.



ÈöÓúãö Çááøåö ÇáÑøóÍúãÜóäö ÇáÑøóÍöíãö<br>
æóíúáñ áøöáúãõØóÝøöÝöíäó<br>
ÇáøóÐöíäó ÅöÐóÇ ÇßúÊóÇáõæÇú Úóáóì ÇáäøóÇÓö íóÓúÊóæúÝõæäó

æóÅöÐóÇ ßóÇáõæåõãú Ãóæ æøóÒóäõæåõãú íõÎúÓöÑõæäó

ÃóáóÇ íóÙõäøõ ÃõæáóÆößó Ãóäøóåõã ãøóÈúÚõæËõæäó

ÃóáóÇ íóÙõäøõ ÃõæáóÆößó Ãóäøóåõã ãøóÈúÚõæËõæäó

áöíóæúãò ÚóÙöíãò

íóæúãó íóÞõæãõ ÇáäøóÇÓõ áöÑóÈøö ÇáúÚóÇáóãöíäó<br>










In the Name of Allah, the Most
Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

1. Woe to Al-Mutaffifin [those who give less in measure and weight (decrease the rights of others)],

2. Those who, when they have to receive by measure from men, demand full measure,

3. And when they have to give by measure or weight to men, give less than due.

4. Think they not that they will be resurrected (for reckoning),

5. On a Great Day,

6. The Day when (all) mankind will stand before the Lord of the 'Alamîn (mankind, jinns and all that exists)?

7. Nay! Truly, the Record (writing of the deeds) of the Fujjâr (disbelievers, sinners, evil-doers and wicked) is (preserved) in Sijjîn.











æóáÇó ÊóÃúßõáõæÇú ÃóãúæóÇáóßõã Èóíúäóßõã ÈöÇáúÈóÇØöáö æóÊõÏúáõæÇú ÈöåóÇ Åöáóì

ÇáúÍõßøóÇãö áöÊóÃúßõáõæÇú ÝóÑöíÞðÇ ãøöäú ÃóãúæóÇáö ÇáäøóÇÓö ÈöÇáÅöËúãö æóÃóäÊõãú<br>
ÊóÚúáóãõæäó



“And eat up not one another’s property unjustly (in any illegal way, e.g. stealing, robbing, or deceiving)”<br>
[Al-Baqarah TMQ 2:188]





Islaam is the only alternative that Ummah and the world needs as a solution to this tyranny. Islaam in the form of the Islaamic State is the only hope to provide just leadership, business practices, and individuals of taqwah, principle, just dealings with fellow humankind.



If Allah is not leading man, then shaytan takes the place. May Allah protect us, give us strength, punish the evil ones amongst us, and give us victory in this life and the next!











White-Collar Crime











Thesis Statement: White-Collar Crime is a result of the Capitalistic System with its profit motive without a moral standard, its institutions of influence (largely media), and its Law makers’ blindness to effectively control and punish it.





Introduction





The phrase White-Collar Crime was first coined in 1939 by Edwin Sutherland during a presidential address at an American Sociological Society meeting. Sutherland defined the term as "crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation." The statement below gives us a boarder current definition by Cornell Law School:



Although there has been some debate as to what qualifies as a white-collar crime, the term today generally encompasses a variety of nonviolent crimes usually committed in commercial situations for financial gain. Many white-collar crimes are especially difficult to prosecute because the perpetrators are sophisticated criminals who have attempted to conceal their activities through a series of complex transactions. The most common white-collar offenses include: antitrust violations, computer/internet fraud, credit card fraud, phone/telemarketing fraud, bankruptcy fraud, healthcare fraud, environmental law violations, insurance fraud, mail fraud, government fraud, tax evasion, financial fraud, securities fraud, insider trading, bribery, kickbacks, counterfeiting, public corruption, money laundering, embezzlement, economic espionage, and trade secret theft (see definitions at bottom). According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, white-collar crime is estimated to cost the United States more than $300 billion annually. (“White-collar crime: an overview” www.law.cornell.edu/topics/defn_a1#defn_a1 )



Crime is a constructed reality. What is crime, who is a criminal, and how long should they be punished are subjective in democratic societies. The Criminal justice system’s ineffectual treatment of White-Collar Crime as a “true crime” and the profit motive of capitalism promote the corporate rich to due whatever it takes in the name of greed and wealth. Because crime is a constructed thing for social control, the emphasis has been put on controlling the lower class of society, often poor and often non-white in nature. One major difference between White-Collar criminals and street criminals and their respective persecutions and punishments, is that one is mostly elite and white while the other is mostly poor and black. It is my theory that this emphasis on the poor versus the elite shifts the focus towards street crime, which is racial in nature (Blacks and Latinos are the perpetrators and whites are the victims) and as a result keeps people divided along racial lines. People fail to see that the real criminals of society are the Corporations who will do anything to anyone for a dollar. The idea of the victim is never spoken of in the media when it comes to the elite’s corporate crime. We never hear the stories in the media of the little old grandmother whose retirement money was stolen by the big white corporations, but we will hear about the young white girl’s horrific story of being gang raped in New York by minorities. A moral panic, to be defined later, is never created against the white-collar criminals despite its magnitude. It makes sense that those with power would have more privilege in a system run by money designed to benefit those with money. Therefore, despite that fact that the American and British societies have gotten more punitive towards the poor, minority, the welfare recipients, and helpless, it has turned the other cheek, sort to speak, when it comes to dealing with the elite.





Capitalism’s influence on White-Collar Crime





“…Simon locates the root of the problem in capitalism itself, which promotes anything-goes, profit-obsessed mentality that functions to trivialize violations that occur during the course of making money. Regulation is not the answer, we are told by capitalist, because it promotes huge, ill-conceived, and inefficient government bureaucracies. Besides, they add, the system itself depends on wealth accumulation, so too much regulation can stifle the innovation and growth that fuels it. Although often effective, such arguments are merely ploys to entice audiences to believe that the capitalist system is the only one that works and that deviance—even serious organizational deviance—must be accepted as a necessary evil.” (Jacobs 2002:.313)



I include the above quote because its profoundness and relationship to my thesis statement. David R. Simon argues in his article Corporate Deviance that Capitalism’s idea of profit at all cost creates Corporate Deviance, but it is seldom viewed in the same way as street crime because of its hidden nature and ties to governmental agencies who fail to police it. Nonetheless the harm is just as great. Simon convincingly points out the many ill effects corporations inflict on the average America citizen in the course of a business day in the name of profit. Some of these ills are, not reducing work hazards, the sale of adulterated meat products (historically meats spoiled meats with rat and dung or flies mixed inside), the extensive use of chemical additives in our food, the pollution of the air we breath from toxins, the increase use of sugar and fats, the enticing of children with unhealthy sweets, all this is done to make a quick buck disregarding health of your average consumer. Corporations like McDonalds have begun to admit that their menus are full of fat; have started to offer alternative foods like salads. Some have even said that the corporate elite dictate American foreign policy and subvert democracy itself, but that goes beyond the focus of this paper. Jim Hightower, in his article “Crime in the Suites” indicates that around 56,000 Americans die each year at work due to black lung, asbestosis, poisonings, product defects, or accidents. This figure is more than double those murdered each year in America, 19,000, but the two are treated quited differently. (Hightower 2000). For the corporations that commit these white-collar crimes, we are just pawns in the great game of profit or collateral damage in the fevor of insane competion to gain and maitain their weath. They see executive buissness decisions, we see something quite diferent.

[maruf]

Part II

The Criminal Justice System’s lack of policing of White-Collar Crime

The criminal justice system has failed to criminalize corporate sins such as bribery, insider trading, insurance fraud, embezzlement, or environmental law violations, in the criminal code and to vigorously enforce the law when corporations have been caught due to the law makers’ connection with the elite and powerful of society. Jim Hightower iterates that politicians lack incentives to investigate and prosecute the corporate rich who are financially responsible for their being elected in the first place. He states” Why would your average politico, who was elected with corporate campaign dollars-and is looking forward to reelection with more where that came from-hound his corporate sponsors for any of their misdeeds" (Hightower 2000)? American University Professor Jeffrey Reiman and Paul Leighton explained the criminal justice’s reaction to white-collar crime in their article Enron and a Year of Corporate Financial Scandals, as “Huff and Puff and…Do little,” about white-collar crime (Reiman and Leighton 2001) Even when we turn towards the academic world, a world we belong to, and specifically the field of criminology, the researchers agendas have reflected the dominant political climate, thus the focus has been on street-crime versus white-collar crime. The interests of the criminologist have been “shaped by the interest and assumptions of official policy-makers and the institutions that they serve.” (Garland, 1994, in Maguire, Morgan and Reiner, 2002, p.36 via corporate crimes and criminological theory. Retrieved June 4, 2004, from uk.geocities.com/nevill5/corporatecrimes.html)



Although U.S. President Bush’s comments that “We aim for a simple uncompromising position. Throw the crooks in jail” (Reiman and Leighton 2001) seem tough, the average jail term for white collar convicts is 36 months compared to 38 months for car theft and 63 months for drug offences. Despite the fact that congress set up a commission to give fines to corporations, lobbying by the corporations only resulted in reduced fines for white-collar crime criminals. The politicians are often tied to the very corporations they are suppose to police. Enron, a multibillion dollar energy trading company that filed for one of the largest bankruptcies in history on December 2, 2001 in debt over 31 billion, contributed 2 million dollars to U.S. President Bush over his political career. And we probably have heard of the connections current U.S. vice-president **** Cheney has with Halliburton, a Texas construction and engineering super corporations that services the oil industry, and its corruption related to re-building of Iraq. The criminal justice system along with its law makers have done awful in their false statements to prosecute and punish the corporations due to economical times and a lack of a pubic outcry, which I turn to next.





Moral panics created by the elite to control the poor not the rich

It has been my contention that money, usually tied with race, buys you freedom in America, not citizenship. The more money you have the more freedom from social controls you get. It is quite interesting that White-Collar crime, with its massive impact financially on tax payers and their retirements, its dangerous effects on the enviornment, and its mass murder style on its workers, is not labled a moral panic, while African-American and Latino street crime is. A moral panic according to Sociologists Erich Goode and Nachman Ben-Yehuda (1994), is when the public feels something must be done to stop the ones who pose a threat to the moral value of society. They state below:



The moral panic, then, is characterized by the feeling, held by a subsantial number of the members of a given society, that evildores pose a threat to the society and to the moral order as a consequence of their behavior and, therefore, “something shoud be done” about them and their behavior. A major focus of that “something” typically entails strengthening the social control apparatus of society—tougher renewed rules, more intense public hostility and condemnation, more laws, long sentences, more polcie, more arrests, and more prision cells. (p.31)



Why then is white-collar crime not treated as a moral panic by the public when its effect is so massive and devestating to our lives and the future lives? Moral panics are created by the elite media in most cases. It is the media’s representation or contruction of the criminal which creates a moral panic, thus a need to act to control deviant behavior. Noam Chomsky, MIT Professor of Linguistics, Linguistic Theory, Syntax, Semantics, and Philosophy of Language gives us his definition of the elite media:



What are the elite media, the agenda-setting ones? The New York Times and CBS, for example. Well, first of all, they are major, very profitable, corporations. Furthermore, most of them are either linked to, or outright owned by, much bigger corporations, like General Electric, Westinghouse, and so on. They are way up at the top of the power structure of the private economy which is a very tyrannical structure. Corporations are basically tyrannies, hierarchic, controlled from above. If you don’t like what they are doing you get out. The major media are just part of that system. (Chomsky 1997)

The media in North America consists of 7 major movie studios, 1,800 daily newspapers, 11,000 magazines, 11,000 radio stations, 2,000 television stations, and 2,500 book publishers. A grand total of only 23 corporations control over 50% of the business in each media form, it is "In some cases they have a virtual monopoly.” (Chomsky 1993)



If the corporations control the media, thus control the creation of moral panics, it becomes clear why we do not see people calling for stiffer penalties and prison time for the corporations found guilty of White-Collar crime.



No control on the Corporations

Not only is a moral panic used to control the street criminals instead of the corporate rich, but the penal system is used in the same way. Law and Sociology professor David Garland argues in his book, The Culture of Control, crime and social order in contemporary society, says that governments find its easier to target the marginalized populations versus the corporations because, “...they allow controls and condemnation to be focused on low-status outcast groups, leaving the behaviour of markets, corporations and the more affluent social classes relatively free of regulation and censure” (Garland 2001:200). Those who run the penal system, again dictated by the corporations would rather see the “other” (those racially different and economically disadvantaged) in jail versus themselves. This laissez faire concept of not interfering with the corporation’s right’s to scam the public is outrageous. Max Castro argues that the laissez faire concept by the government literally lets corporations get away with murder (Max Castro, in article "Is there hope for a New Ideology?" July 30, 2002 in the Miami Herald).

I am not a Marxist, and it is clear communism was not an ideological alternative, nor am I Capitalist, but the Marxist perspective that criminal law and its enforcement are tied to the whims of the wealthy thus are used as means of controlling the behavior of the poor, lower-class, and powerless, rings true (Croall 2001:3). The rich are simply not in the business of punishing itself. The media allows white-collar crime to go un-noticed by the masses. White-collar crime does not get the same air play as street crime. Have we ever heard of a war on corporations who are responsible for 56,000 deaths a year? Have we ever seen newscast show over and over CEOs cheating us out of tax money? So there is no control over the rich, they control is the message we get.

[maruf]

Part III of III

Who is the victim?

Corporations’ crimes are seldom portrayed as knowing, willing actors, but as mistakes or exceptions. In this age of putting the focus on the victim when street crime has been committed to the victim, we really see this portrayal of the victim when it comes to the abuse or crime of the multi-national corporations. White-Collar Crime actually subverts democracy and individual rights that that it proclaims. The masses of people are the true victims. White-collar crime accounts for more than 338 billon dollars annually based on conservative numbers, while street crime accounts for 3.8 billon dollars (Drutman 2003). This is no mistake or slip-up happening. The Corporate climate is one calculated, cut throat, intentional, illegal criminal acts all in a course of a business day with a nice suit and tie on as Sutherland defined it. A recent released tape concerning the corruption of the former energy giant Enron, shows how intentional and sinister the acts of the corporate are. Two Enron traders talking about money they might have to pay back, were recorded saying, “They’re f***ing taking the money back ... the money you stole from those poor grandmothers in California?” (Sunday Herald, June 6, 2004 www.sundayherald.com/42433) In this case the poor grandmothers were the victims, but due to no substantial media attention, we would never feel the outrage as a society.



Conclusion



“It's all how well you can weave these lies together. ... All right?" "I feel like I'm being corrupted," the employee said. "No, this is marketing," the boss says (Sunday, June 06, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M. Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2001947844_enroned06.html).



The above quote is a recently released tape of a conversations that an Enron boss had telling an employee how to lie in the course of his work. Capitalism is the root cause of Corporate Deviance. Certainly it is the responsibility of Government to serve as the Checks and Balances to Corporate Deviance. White-collar crime accounts for more than 338 billon dollars a year and contributes to around 56,000 work related deaths annually, but the effect is greater than these numbers will indicate. What about the future effects on us, such as cancer and ozone problems do to toxins being released in the air? White-collar crime is treated as an accident by the media, if it even is consider a crime in the first place. The focus on the victim, so common today in the media, does not play out with white-collar crime. We never see the many victims of white-collar crime, thus we never feel the connection with the people of hurt. The Criminal Justice system is influence by popular culture of society and its moral panics. The politicians and Law makers have played an active role in disregarding corruption at the top of the corporations, who actually have financial ties to the ones they are suppose to police and less ties with your average citizen. Despite recent cases in the media involving such names as Enron, WorldCom, AOL-Time Warner, etc, the future does not look bright for your average citizen under capitalism. It is my belief that this problem will not cease until capitalism as an ideology is replaced.



Sources

1. Goode, Enrich and Nachman Ben-Yehuda. 1994. Moral Panics, The social construction of deviance. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers

2. Garland, David. 2001. The Culture of Control, crime and social order in contemporary society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

3. Castro, Max. 2002. “Is there hope for a New Ideology?” Miami Herald July 30, 2002, retrieved at Common Dreams News Center (http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0730-02.htm)

4. Hightower, Jim. 2000. “Crime in the Suites” Alternet.org April 1, 2000, (http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=210)

5. Simon, David. 2002. “Corporate Deviance” Pp.313-321 in Investigating Deviance an Anthology, edited by Bruce a. Jacobs Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury Publishing Company

6. Reiman, Jeffrey and Paul Leighton. 2001 “Enron and a Year of Corporate Financial Scandals.” Retrieved on June 4, 2004 from (http://www.paulsjusticepage.com/RichGetRicher/fraud.htm) and Published as a supplement to Jeffrey Reiman’s The Rich get Richer& the Poor Get Prison 6th ed. (2001) Winter 2003

7. Drutman, Lee. 2003. “What About Three-Strikes-and-You’re-Out for Corporate Criminals?” Common Dreams News Center retrieved June 8, 2004 (http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0307-02.htm)

8. Corporate crimes and criminological theory. Retrieved June, 4, 2004, from uk.geocities.com/nevill5/corporatecrimes.html

9. Crossen, Cynthia. 2003.”A thirties revelation: rich people who steal are criminals, too.” The Wall Street Journal, October 15.retrived June 4, 2004 from (http://securities.stanford.edu/news-archive/2003/20031016_Headline08_Crossen.htm)

10. Chomsky, Noam. 1997. “What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream.” Retrieved June 5, 2004, from (http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/articles/z9710-mainstream-media.html)

11. Croall, Hazel. 2001. Understanding white collar crime. Buckingham. Philadelphia: Open University Press

12. “’Disgusting’ tapes did Enron deeper into mire.” 2004. Sunday Herald, June 6. Retrieved June 6, 2004 from (http://www.sundayherald.com/42433)

13. “Outrageous Enron.” 2004. The Seattle Times, June 6. Retrieved June 6, 2004 from (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2001947844_enroned06.html)

14. “White-collar crime: an overview.” Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, Myron Taylor Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853 on the web: lii.law.cornell.edu/ Retrieved June 7, 2004

From (http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/defn_a1#defn_a1)

[maruf]

www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/07/25/news/national/84f91cbed134340587256edb007555cb.prt


Shackles come off for corporate dollars

By GLEN JUSTICE
The New York Times
WASHINGTON -- As the political conventions begin, corporate big spenders, who have been restrained by new campaign finance laws, finally can cut loose.

The Raytheon Co., IBM and Fidelity Investments each gave at least $1 million to the host committee for the Democratic National Convention in Boston, according to a donor list. AT&T, Amgen and Nextel Communications each gave at least $500,000. In all, more than 150 donors have contributed more than $39.5 million -- money they could not legally give to a political party or a candidate under the new law but are permitted to donate to a convention.

Donors are outdoing themselves to finance the conventions and spend money on parties throughout Boston and New York, courtesy of provisions in federal campaign finance laws and congressional ethics rules that allow almost unlimited spending at conventions and their attendant social events.

In Boston this week, there will be a reception at Fenway Park before the Red Sox play the Yankees, as well as boat cruises, golf outings, concerts and late night events in locations like the trendy club Saint, which features an all-red "bordello room" and beds for patrons to lounge.

Lists circulating around Washington's K Street lobbying corridor trumpet 200 to 300 official and unofficial events from Saturdayto Thursday, and similar rosters are already being created for the Republican convention in New York next month.

Depending on how much they have given, donors might get invitations to choice events or wads of passes to the convention. And many are giving parties in the hope of mixing with lawmakers, congressional staff members and other decision makers, building relationships that may be good for business in Washington.

"These are kind of branding things," said John Jonas, head of public policy for the law firm Patton Boggs, which is giving a late-night party for hundreds of guests and dozens of lawmakers.

On Tuesday, the MBNA Corp., Merrill Lynch, the Bank of America Corp. and other companies will treat Democrats on the House Committee on Financial Services and the Senate banking committee to a brunch at the Bay Tower, a restaurant high above the city.

Many lobbying firms are also playing host. The Philadelphia law firm of Blank Rome is sponsoring events in Boston and New York, as well as providing clients and every Democratic member of Congress with editions of the Zagat restaurant guide for Boston with the firm's name on the cover.

"It's important for us to work both conventions because all of the people you want to see are in one place at one time in one week," said David Girard-diCarlo, chairman of the firm and a major Republican fund-raiser. "You can accomplish more in one afternoon or one evening or at a breakfast or at a lunch than you otherwise could."

[Rodger]

Thanks a lot! I value this.
Best Essay writing
problem solution essay template

[Terrance]

Really tons of errific information.
Best Essay writing
problem solution essay

[Bertie]

You suggested that terrifically!
Best Esswy writing
buy cheap essay online

[Danial]

This is nicely expressed! .
Best Esssy writing
essay helper

[Randi]

Perfectly spoken genuinely! .
Best Essay writing
buy cheap essays online

[Kathleen]

Useful tips, Many thanks!
Best Essay writing
essay helper