Your responses should be detailed explanations that combine your knowledge of the material with your informed opinion on the subject matter. An informed opinion is one that relies not only on personal preference, experience, and/or individual attitudes but also on expert knowledge of criminology. If you can answer the question in less than 200 words, you need to expand upon your ideas. Deepen your responses by discussing examples from the readings, your personal experience, themes discussed in past classes, or current events. You can also deepen responses by adding detail, considering alternative perspectives, or posing questions.
Prompts
1. In The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison the authors argue that the criminal justice system is like a carnival mirror. What do they mean by this and what evidence do they provide? In their view, how would the criminal justice system need to change in order to become a more accurate “mirror”?
2. Explain the difference between the legalistic approach to white-collar crime and the social injuries/ harms approach. Discuss the various arguments for and against the social injuries/ harms approach and then weigh in on the debate by discussing potential downfalls or limitations.
3. What are some of the specific challenges related to researching white-collar crime relative to conventional crimes? Support your argument using some examples from the lecture narrative. In your opinion, what are the three most important things a researcher needs to take into account when embarking on a study of white-collar crime?
4. You are a researcher setting out to study an explosion on an oil rig owned by a multinational corporation. The explosion has resulted in the death of several workers and widespread environmental damage. Choose 2 research methods that you believe are most appropriate to apply to this type of white-collar crime. In your discussion, explain the strengths and weaknesses of each method as they apply to this particular case of white-collar crime.