soc/crim 12 ex3

Professional Fraud: Focus on Health Care

Physicians, lawyers, other professionals tempted to defraud patients/clients/govmnt - work is private, diff for investigators to know when fraud occurs - more autonomous - patients and clients can't know whether their bills are truthful and accurate - self-regulation: est rules for their members' behavior - rationalize wrong-doing - health care fraud est btwn $77 billion-$259 billion annually - received most attention of any professional fraud: committed by physicians, pharmacists, med equipment companies, nursing homes, medical testing labs, home health care providers, med billing services, ambulance services - often involve OVERBILLING

Defining Homicide and Assault (pg. 194)

Placed by offender's intent and amount/nature of physical force until death - Part 1 crimes: Murder and Non-negligent manslaughter

4 categories of Murder and Non-negligent manslaughter

In practice, they overlap - Decision depends whether evidence will indicate beyond reasonable doubt the intent/amount/nature of physical force required for particular charge

International Comparisons (196)

U.S. has highest homicide rate - Useful to compare homicide rates of U.S. cities w/ others of similar size - Houston's homicide rate is 6x greater than Toronto's - Difference btwn U.S. and other nations is much larger for homicide than it is for other types of serious violence

Trends in U.S. Homicide Rates (198-199)

U.S. homicide rates: - ROSE SHARPLY after mid 1960s-1970s - DECLINED after 1980 - ROSE after 1985-1990s - DROPPED SHARPLY, leveled off, and declining slowly for past years - Post-1985 homicide rise from increase in homicides by/against young males (under 24) in urban areas - Factors: Growing despair from declining economic opportunities in urban areas during 1980s; Increased drug trafficking in inner cities bc of declining econ opp; Increased possession/use of handguns - Drop in homicide rate after early 1990s reflect general decline in crime since then

Aggravated Assault (199-200)

- Discussion centered on homicide bc data most reliable and bc 2 crimes generally similar except for victim's fate - Trend data for homicide and social/geogrpahical patterning of hom apply to aggravated assault-->committed by men/colored ppl/young ppl/ in South and urban centers - Dynamics of agg assault resemble homicide --> major diff btwn 2 crimes is if victim dies - Agg assaults = relatively spontaneous where assailant acts out of anger/revenge/strong emotion - Many agg assaults involve ppl who know each other - Major diff btwn agg assault and homicide involve WEAPON USE (2/3 hom involve firearm; 1/4 agg assault involve firearm)

Examples of Property Crime

- How something is stolen determines crime committed Ex1: Held at gunpoint for wallet = ROBBERY bc involve threat/physical force Ex2: Snatch necklace and runs off or pick-pocketted = LARCENY Ex3: Steal object from store while stores open = LARCENY (shoplifting) bc had right to be in store Ex4: Offender breaks into store at night and steal; break into house and steal = BURGLARY Ex5: Invite friend over and he steal = LARCENY Ex6: Doorbell rings and someone holds you up at gunpoint = ROBBERY

4 subcategories of murder and non-negligent manslaughter

1. 1st Degree Murder - Committed w/ malice aforethought (offender planned to kill then did) - Premeditated murder, felony murders (rape, robbery, arson causes death) 2. 2nd Degree Murder - Deaths offender intended serious bodily harm short of killing but victim died anyway - Deaths from a "depraved heart" or extremely reckless conduct can lead to this 3. Voluntary Manslaughter - Manslaughter: Killings considered less serious/blameworthy but still not justifiable - Voluntary manslaughter: killings committed out of intense emotion (anger/fear) 4. Involuntary Manslaughter - Killings bc offenders acted recklessly (parent shakes crying infant and kills accidentally) - Traffic fatalities

UCR defines 2 types of assault

1. Aggravated Assault: Unlawful attack by 1 person upon another to inflict severe/aggravated bodily injury - Weapon use or other "means likely to produce death/great bodily harm" 2. Simple Assault: Assaults "where no weapon is used/don't result in serious/aggravated injury to victim"

Professional Fraud Examples

1. Exaggurating charges 2. Billing for services not rendered for a real patient 3. Billing for services for fictitious or dead patients 4. "Pingponging"- sending patients to other doctors for unneccesary visits 5. Family "ganging"- examining all members of a family when only 1 is sick 6. "Churning"- ask patients to come in for unnecessary visits 7. "Unbundling"- bill a medical procedure or piece of equipment as many separate procedures or equipment parts 8. Providing inferior products to patients 9. Paying kickbacks and bribes for referrals of patients 10. Falsifying med records to make an individ eligible for benefits 11. Billing for inferior products or items never provided 12. Falsifying prescriptions 13. Inflating charges for ambulance services

Price-Fixing and Restraint of Trade

2nd type of corporate financial crime involve antitrust violations - corps conspire to set high prices for goods and services rather than allowing free market to work, consumers pay more than should: price-fixing - cost $60 billion annually -Restraint of trade: Business practices that violate free market principles; violates antitrust law - anticompetitive agreements: manufacturer sells its products only to retailers who agree not to sell rival manufacturers' products

Embezzlement

2nd type of employee theft - theft of cash and misapporpriation or misuse of funds - Cressey observe embezzlers have financial problems they want to keep secret bc of embarrasment/shame - Rationalize they're only borrowing money or their company will not miss the funds Collective embezzlement: emerged in 1980s in savings and loan and other financial industries - stealing of company funds by top execs who often worked in groups of 2+ and conspired w/ "outsiders" like real estate developers and stock brokerage executives - "land flips": sell each other land back and forth with each transaction invovling higher process - est to cost fed govmnt at least $500 billion by 2030

Mass Murder and Serial Killing (206-207)

Examples of mutiple murder/multicide: several victims die all at once or in longer time span - uncommon - Mass murder: Taking several lives at once or w/in short time frame - No clear defn of how many lives must be taken/how short time (8-10 lives taken suffice; many scholars think 4) - Mass murder's very short time frame distinguishes it form serial killing (involves methodical taking of human life 1 at a time over period of days/wks/mo/yrs) - No clear defn how many lives must be taken but scholars think at least 3 separate killings

Patterning of Property Crime

In U.S.: - highest in SOUTH, lowest in NORTHEAST - lowest in RURAL areas - higher in YOUNG PPL (under 25 account for 51% of property-crime arrests) - common during adolescence - male HS seniors more likely than female - UCR arrest data: males 84% of burglary arrests; 82% motor vehicle theft; 82% arson arrests; 57% larceny arrests -Male proportion of larceny arrests is lower than for other crimes bc FEMALES more involved in SHOPLIFTING than other crimes - Male shoplifters more likely to be professional shoplifters instead of amateurs - Typical property offender = white, although Afr-Amer disproportionately represented; low-income background

Defining Property Crime (240-241)

FBI classify 4 types (Part I Offenses): 1. *BURGLARY* - attempted or completed "unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or a theft" - most in homes and businesses 2. *LARCENY-THEFT* - attempted or completed "unlawful taking/carrying/leading/riding away of property from possession or constructive possession of another" - involves STEALTH, no force/threat/deception - misc category including shoplifting, pick-pocketting, purse snatching - excludes property crimes involving deception (embezzlement, fraud, forgery) 3. *MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT* - attempted or completed theft of motor vehicle (car/truck/bus/snowmobile/motorcycle) - exclude boat/farm equipment/airplanes/construction equipment - ~80% motor vehicle theft involve cars (minivans, SUVs) 4. *ARSON* - "any willful or malicious burning/attempt to burn, w/ or w/out intent to defraud, a house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, personal property or another, etc" - must be proved to be counted by UCR -not included in FBI's estimate of annual crime rate Part II Offenses: - UCR's Part II offenses involve deception: "forgery, counterfeiting involve making/altering/uttering/possessing, w/ intent to defraud, anything false in the semblance of that which is true" - fraud: obtaining $ or property by false pretenses - buying, receiving, possessing stolen property, embezzlement (misappropriation or misapplication of money or property entrusted to one's care, custody, control)

Automobile Industry (272-273)

Ford knowing that car had defects but didn't do anything knowing it'd cost them alot of money - cost people's lives!!

Race, Gender, and Age of Offenders and Victims (194-195)

Half of offenders/victims are AFR-AMERICAN (even though they're only 13% of U.S. populn) - Homicide largely INTRARACIAL crime - For single-offender, single-victim homicides: 92% of Afr-Amer murdered by Afr-Amer offenders and 85% of white murder victims murdered by white offenders - Men more likely to murder and be murdered --> homicide = "distinctively masculine matter" - Women more likely to be murdered by current/former spouse or partner ("intimates") - 37% women killed by male intimates, less than 3% of males killed by female intimates

Type of Weapon (198)

Important fact of homicides: Type of weapon used! - Firearms accounted for slightly more than 2/3 of all homicides (68%) (handguns account for 49%)

The South (196)

In U.S., highest homicide rates in THE SOUTH - Lowest in NORTHEAST - MIDWEST and WEST in midd - South have highest regional hom rate bc regional subculture of violence in which disputes that might fade away in other regions become deadly - Southerners demand responses; violent if necessary --> influence of slavery history, lynching; warmer temps; primary economy was herding not farming; level of economic deprivation - South have highest aggravated assault

Property Crime for Thrills

Jack Katz believe violent and property crime done for excitement and thrills - Property offenses = sneaky thrill crimes that offenders commit bc excited by IDEA OF STEALING and prospect of obtaining objects they desire - theory commended and criticized but explain why young males have esp high rates of property crime: more "seduced" than adults and women by objects they want to steal - found socioeconomic status affect likelihood of considering stealing object

Lenient Treatment

Legal treatment of corporate criminals continues to be fairly lenient - Weak or absent regulations (powerful and can water down regulatory regulation; fed and state regulatory agencies are underfunded and understaffed so misconduct goes undetected) - Difficulty of Proving Corporate Crime (corp have power and resources and can get skilled attorneys) - Weak punishment

Contemporary Views (264)

Marshall Clinard and Richard Quinney - divided white-collar crime into 2 types: OCCUPATIONAL and CORPORATE - Occupational crime: committed by individs in course of their occupation for PERSONAL GAIN - Corporate crime: commited by corporations for corp's financial gain - some prefer to call it organizational crime: emphasizes that crime can be done by and behalf of orgs - corporate crime is typically used to cover harmful corporate behavior whether or not it violates any criminal law

Social Organization of Property Crime

Social organization: roles that diff property criminals play and the social networks that support their criminal ways Amateur Theft - Amateur criminals (opportunistic/occasional criminals): comprise vast majority of property offenders - teens, early 20s, unskilled - commit crimes when opp arises - unplanned - small illegal property Professional Theft - Professional property criminals - older, more skilled - potential high illegal profit - learn craft from other profess criminals who tutor or mentor - excite imagination and used in books/movies (Robin Hood) --> condemn their crime but secretly admire for bravery - Mary Owen Cameron cateogrized shoplifters as SNITCHES and BOOSTERS - Most shoplifters = Snitches/amateurs who steal merch of little value for self - Boosters (10% of shoplifters): skilled professionals who sell their stolen goods to fences/pawn shops - Motor vehicle theft divided into JOYRIDING or PROFESSIONAL - Joyriding: committed primarily by teenage boys working in groups - steal for a ride then dump - Professional car thieves are older, more skilled; can dismantle for parts or deposit in auto resale; so skilled- rarely discovered and arrested

Target Hardening

Target hardening: efforts to make residences and businesses more difficult to burglarize, and motor vehicles less vulnerable to theft of vehicle/its contents - stronger locks, burglar arms, home security measures to reduce burglaries; alarm sysytems, - guardianship: dog, someone home

Tipsters and Fences (245-246)

Tipsters: let burglars know of safe, attractive targets - come from criminal world and also legit occupations (attorneys, repair ppl, police, bartenders) - tip off burglars abt residences and businesses ripe for taking Fences: used to dispose of their stolen goods and give them money in return - sell stolen goods to customers for buying for much less than usual - professional burglars can't exist w/out help of law-abiding citizens - "working in shadow of 2 worlds" - financial success depends on marketing and mgmt skills and on ability to be reliable and punctual

Difference btwn homicide and aggravated assault

Whether the victim DIES - More discussion on homicide - Rely heavily on UCR (Uniform Crime Reports)

Murder and Non-negligent Manslaughter

Willful killing of 1 human by another - excludes deaths caused by gross negligence, suicide, justifiable homicide (killing of armed/dangerous felons by police/private citizen)

The Extent and Nature of Workplace Violence (208-209)

Workplace violence = common - 1/4 of violent victimizations of ppl 16+ at work nonfatal violence occured in workplace in 2009 - 4/5 were simple assaults - rapes, sexual assaults, robberies, aggravates assaults made up slightly more than 1/5 of the violence - Robbers (38%, 1/3 of workplace homicides) from 2005-2009 - Decline in workplace violence reflect decline in U.S. violence of all types since early 90s - law enforcement, officers, security guards, bartenders experience HIGHEST rates of nonfatal workplace violence - firearms used in 5% nonfatal workplace violence but 80% of workplace homicide - workplace violence higher in males/Native Amer and whites - Offenders using drugs/alc in 1/4 workplace violence - Males account for 4/5 victims of workplace homicides - committed by ppl victim knows (nonstrangers commit ~59% workplace violence against fekapes, 47% against males) - Female employees more likely to experience violence by ppl they know from both outside/inside workplace

Similarities w/ Street Crime

both white-collar and street crime involve STEALING and VIOLENCE - don't usually break law unless have opportunity to - opportunity differ among occupations - use techniques of neutralization to justify crime and other misconduct - lack self-control maybe? - women involvement lower than men's (opportunity matters too bc woen less likely to be corp execs)

Economic and Human Costs of White-Collar Crime

many criminologists believe white-collar crime costs us more in lives and money than street crime - white collar crime: $575 billion annually - # ppl killed by street crime:102,100 ppl