How They Got Away With It - White Collar Criminals and the Financial Meltdown

Erscheinungsjahr 2012
ISBN: 978-0-231-15690-5
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 384 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 614 g

An international team of scholars with backgrounds in criminology, sociology, economics, business, government regulation, and law examine the historical, social, and cultural causes of the 2008 economic crisis. They also take stock of the long-term devastation done to governments, businesses, and individuals, and the ongoing, systemic issues that have so far allowed the perpetrators to get away with their crimes. Insightful essays probe the workings of the toxic subprime loan industry, the role of external auditors, the consequences of Wall Street deregulation, the manipulations of alpha hedge fund managers, and the "Ponzi-like" culture of contemporary capitalism. They unravel modern finance's complex schematics and highlight their susceptibility to corruption, fraud, and outright racketeering. They examine the involvement of enablers, including accountants, lawyers, credit rating agencies, and regulatory workers, who failed to protect the public interest and enforce existing checks and balances. While the United States was "ground zero" of the meltdown, the financial crimes of other countries intensified the disaster. Internationally-focused essays consider bad practice in China and the European property markets, and they draw attention to the far-reaching consequences of transnational money laundering and tax evasion schemes. By approaching the 2008 crisis from the perspective of white collar criminology, contributors build a more general understanding of the collapse, and they crystallize the multiple human and institutional factors preventing justice from capturing even the worst offenders.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Will, Susan

Handelman, Stephen

Brotherton, David C.

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Strafrecht Kriminologie, Strafverfolgung
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Finanzkrisen, Wirtschaftskrisen
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Finanzsektor & Finanzdienstleistungen Finanzkrisen
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtssoziologie, Rechtspsychologie, Rechtslinguistik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: Roots of the Crisis1. Wall Street: Crime Never SleepsDavid O. Freidrichs2. The Logics of Finance: Abuse of Power and Systemic CrisisSaskia Sassen3. America's Ponzi Culture Susan Will4. Bernie MadoffJock YoungPart II: Enablers of Fraud5. Unaccountable External Auditors and Their Role in the Economic MeltdownGilbert Geis6. And Some with a Fountain Pen: Mortgage Fraud Subprime BubbleHarold C. Barnett7. Generating the Alpha Return: How Ponzi Schemes Lure the Unwary in an Unregulated MarketDavid ShapiroPart III: Perverted Justice8. The Technological Advantages of Stock Market TradersLaureen Snider9. Why CEOs Are Able to Loot with Impunity -- and Why It MattersWilliam K. Black10. The Façade of Enforcement: Goldman Sachs the Politics of BlameJustin O'BrienPart IV: Perspectives from Afar11. Reappraising Regulation: The Politics of "Regulatory Retreat" in the United KingdomSteve Tombs and David Whyte12. How They Still Try to Get Away with It: Crime in the Dutch Real Estate Sector Before and After the CrisisHans Nelen and Luuk Ritzen13. Economic and Financial Criminality in PortugalRita Faria14. Greece "For Sale": Casino Economy and State-Corporate CrimeSophia Vidali15. Financial Fraud in China: A Structural Examination of Law and Law EnforcementHongming ChengEpilogue Can They Still Get Away with It?Appendix A Short (Global) History of Financial MeltdownsCompiled by Alex HoldenContributorsIndex

Über Autor(innen)

Handelman, Stephen
Stephen Handelman is director of the Center of Media, Crime, and Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is the author of Comrade Criminal: Russia’s New Mafiya, which was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and coauthor of Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World—Told from Inside by the Man Who Ran It.

Brotherton, David C.
David C. Brotherton is professor and chair of sociology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, the City University of New York. His research focuses on social exclusion and resistance, and his most recent book, Banished to the Homeland: Dominican Deportees and Their Stories of Exile, is coauthored with Luis Barrios. He also coauthored Keeping Out the Other: A Critical Introduction to Immigration Enforcement Today (with Phil Kretsedemas), The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation: Street Politics and the Transformation of a New York City Gang (with Luis Barrios) and coedited Gangs and Society: Alternative Perspectives (with Louis Kontos and Luis Barrios).

Will, Susan
Susan Will is an assistant professor of sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She writes on corporate bankruptcy, financial crime, legal culture, and the social impact of regulatory apparatus. Her research focuses on white-collar and corporate crime, the sociology of law, and the sociology of the environment.

Susan Will is an assistant professor of sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She writes on corporate bankruptcy, financial crime, legal culture, and the social impact of regulatory apparatus. Her research focuses on white-collar and corporate crime, the sociology of law, and the sociology of the environment.

Stephen Handelman is director of the Center of Media, Crime, and Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is the author of Comrade Criminal: Russia's New Mafiya, which was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and coauthor of Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World -- Told from Inside by the Man Who Ran It.

David C. Brotherton is professor and chair of sociology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, the City University of New York. His research focuses on social exclusion and resistance, and his most recent book, Banished to the Homeland: Dominican Deportees and Their Stories of Exile, is coauthored with Luis Barrios. He also coauthored Keeping Out the Other: A Critical Introduction to Immigration Enforcement Today (with Phil Kretsedemas), The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation: Street Politics and the Transformation of a New York City Gang (with Luis Barrios) and coedited Gangs and Society: Alternative Perspectives (with Louis Kontos and Luis Barrios).