Week 3 Paper. Tyler Christensen. Southwestern College Professional Studies. CJUS425 Criminal Law and Procedure. Affiliate Instructor Peter J.

Transcription

1 Tyler Christensen 1 Week 3 Paper Tyler Christensen Southwestern College Professional Studies CJUS425 Criminal Law and Procedure Week 3 Paper Affiliate Instructor Peter J. Herdt January 27, 2013

2 Tyler Christensen 2 Abstract In this paper you will read about several different topics from chapters eight, nine and ten of the Criminal Law and Procedure textbook. These topics will vary from property crimes to organized crime and vice crimes. You will read questions and answers of these specific crimes as well as certain terms used in these crimes and how they are applied.

3 Tyler Christensen 3 Part I Chapter 9 Questions for Thought and Discussion: Question 1: Why do federal criminal statutes figure so prominently in the context of white-collar offenses? Federal statutes are more prominent in white-collar crimes because those statutes are written by and under the authority of congress. Those statutes such as, postal, bankruptcy, taxing and interstate crimes, are the primary means of the white-collar crimes. Being that white-collar crimes are genuinely done in big corporations that are spread out throughout the country and possibly even the world. So the crime is not just happening in one place, it is occurring through several states, making it an interstate crime. State and local agencies do not investigate interstate crimes occurring outside their jurisdiction. That is why federal statutes are more prominent in white-collar crimes. Part II This article from the Federal Bureau of Investigations news page covers a bank fraud of a credit union in Ohio. This bank mainly assisted Croatians coming into America and settling in the Cleveland area. The chief operating officer, Anthony Raguz, of the bank accepted $1 million in bribes and kickbacks over a span of 10 years. The chief operating officer approved a thousand loans totaling over $70 million, some of that money from the loans was even sent overseas to a different bank. This article and crime shows how white-collar crime does not just happen in a local area, but how that money or other assets are sent around the world. Raguz was sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of bank fraud, money laundering, and bank bribery and ordered to pay $71.5 million in restitution ( Bank Fraud, 2012).

4 Tyler Christensen 4 Part III Chapter 8 Forgery One of the learning objectives identified in chapter 8 at the beginning of the chapter is, how forgery differs from passing a worthless check (Scheb & Scheb, 2011). Forgery is more than just an individual signing somebody else s name to get his or hers money. Forgery is a very big or more common crime than people realize. With forged signatures on deeds, birth certificates and trading documents, forgery is a major criminal enterprise occurring every day and everywhere. Not to mention forged documents created by amateurs and professionals, from fake ID s for minors to passports for international criminals. This is a crime that is occurring and individuals do not know about it until it is too late. Chapter 9 Money Laundering One of the learning objectives in chapter 9 states, money laundering and currency violations and why these are crimes (Scheb & Scheb, 2011). Money laundering is the act of making profits from illegal activity appears legal or legitimate. Money laundering is very commonly seen in big drug rings, arms deals, even the white-collar crimes such as insurance scams and insider trading. Money laundering is illegal because if it were legal, it would promote more illegal activity. It would basically say that an individual made a profit off of an illegal activity and we know about it, as long as you pay your taxes its ok. Therefore by making it illegal, it discourages criminal or illegal activity and profiting from those activities. Chapter 10 Profanity At the beginning of chapter 10, one of the learning objectives states, Why laws prohibiting profanity are becoming obsolete (Scheb & Scheb, 2011). Profanity, unfortunately, is more common nowadays than it was 30 years ago. When I was a kid if a bad word came out of

5 Tyler Christensen 5 my mouth, I ate a bar of soap. This deterred me from using profane language until I got older and started seeing the terms more commonly used among individuals. I was not aware but according to our book, a majority of states or local courts have laws enacted to prohibit such language. However, these laws are seldom enforced by peace officers. What some people call profane and offending language, is another s common language. Therefore it is hard to justify how something may be offending to one is not to another. This is why laws prohibiting profanity are becoming fewer and not enforced. It also could be considered an infringement on the first amendment of free speech. Part IV Chapter 8 Term: Uttering a forged instrument Uttering a forged instrument is defined in the back of our textbook as, the crime of passing a false or worthless instrument, such as a check, with the intent to defraud or injure the recipient (Scheb & Scheb, 2011). So according to our textbook and a passage I found from a legal site, To utter means to distribute or offer under the pretense that it is genuine. The uttering of a forged instrument is a separate and distinct offense from the making of it ( Uttering a Forged Instrument Law & Legal Definition, 2013). Forgery is the actual making of the document, ID or check and uttering is the actual distribution of the forged document. So an example would be, let s take Leo Dicaprio from Catch Me If You Can. In that movie there was a part where he was making checks and they appeared as if they were checks from an airline company as an employer, and Leo Dicaprio was a pilot cashing his checks. The checks Leo Dicaprio was making were the forged documents, now when he was cashing the checks and actually getting the money that would be the uttering a forged instrument. By cashing the checks

6 Tyler Christensen 6 he was circulating them through the system and they were making their way back to the employer from the bank. Chapter 9 term: Racketeering I have heard this term many times before, but have never really understood its meaning. According to USlegal.com, Racketeering is the federal crime of conspiring to organize to commit crimes, especially on an ongoing basis as part of an organized crime operation ( racketeering, 2013). So from my understanding, racketeering is any type of illegal activity that is conducted by a gang, mob, or any type of organized crime group. So an example of this would be, a gang that is giving cash contributions to an official running for sheriff who if elected would deter his deputies from investigating and arresting the gang. Chapter 10 term: Drug courier profiling Drug courier profiling is defined in our book as, occurs when police employ a set of characteristics thought to typify people engaged in drug smuggling in order to identify such persons (Scheb & Scheb, 2011). I found this interesting as a former interdiction trooper, there is no profiling in drug couriers. There are indicators to look for that can suggest such an act, but that is not considered profiling. Profiling is more termed to race or ethnicity, so the only thing you could really say that would define drug courier profiling is stating that every Hispanic that comes through an airport is a drug courier. That would be a proper definition of drug courier profiling, but is that accurate. No, not every Hispanic that comes through the airport is smuggling narcotics through their luggage or up their butt. Not all drug couriers are the same, use the same methods or come from the same place. Therefore you cannot profile drug couriers, it would be ineffective. That and it is illegal for law enforcement officials to profile.

7 Tyler Christensen 7 Reference Scheb, J.M., & Scheb, J.M. II. (2011). Criminal Law & Procedure. Belmon, CA: Wadsworth. Bank Fraud. (2012). On FBI s news online. Retrieved from (2013). Legal definitions home. Retrieved from