Deck 9: Law and the Social Control of White Collar Crime

Question 1

According to the text, which of the following is the primary reason businesses support regulatory law?

A) They put the highest priority on the public welfare
B) They realize that they can benefit from an increase in public trust or a more stable and predictable business environment
C) They feel completely impotent in the face of public concern
D) They believe that the laws will create fair market competition between large and small companies

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following statements was true of England in the feudal and late medieval periods?

A) The common law addressed occupational offenses much more fully than conventional forms of harm
B) The marketplace was wholly unregulated
C) Laws protecting consumers and prohibiting unfair market practices gradually emerged
D) The law encouraged the aggressive pursuit of profit

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The text characterizes the 19ᵗʰ century in America as a period during which:

A) no laws addressing harmful businesses practices were adopted
B) harmful business activities were broadly criminalized
C) contradictory forces allowed businesses and enterprises much freedom, but certain harmful business practices were addressed by the law
D) businesses operated in such an honorable way there was no need for legal regulation

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The first known laws directed at commercial transactions date back to which of the following periods?

A) Ancient Mesopotamia
B) The Roman Empire
C) 16ᵗʰ-century England
D) 19ᵗʰ-century America

Question 5

Which of the following acts called for increased oversight duties for corporate fraud, and required corporate executives to personally certify corporate financial statements?

A) The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
B) The Sherman Act of 1890
C) The Robinson-Patman Act of 1936
D) The Responses, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980

Question 6

Which of the following provisions was not included in The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002?

A) Less oversight duties for corporate fraud
B) CEOs and CFOs personally certify corporate financial statements
C) Establishment of a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
D) Changes in the Federal Sentencing guidelines

Question 7

Which of the following is a product of appellate court opinions?

A) The Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)
B) Constitutional law
C) Case law
D) Administrative law

Question 8

Which of the following most accurately describes Edwin Sutherland's position on the use of white collar crime as a term?

A) It should refer only to activity prohibited by the criminal law
B) It should be applied to white collar harm prohibited by criminal, civil or administrative law
C) It should refer to any form of harmful activity engaged in by members of the upper class
D) It should refer to any harmful activity which occurs within an occupational context

Question 9

According to the text, which of the following is true?

A) The need for formal social control has diminished in modern times
B) The opportunities for white collar crime were greater in traditional societies
C) Informal social control is less effective in traditional than in modern societies
D) Many of the worst white collar crimes were committed by the powerful who did not have incentives to impose formal controls on their own predatory practices

Question 10

The view that white collar crime law is implemented by the state because it helps sustain the system and "legitimates" the state in the eyes of the general population is most consistent with which of the following perspectives?

A) Consensual
B) Instrumentalist
C) Structuralist
D) Rationalistic

Question 11

The laws adopted in the early 20ᵗʰ century which regulated the meat industry but were also supported by the large meatpackers are especially well-explained by which of the following perspectives on lawmaking?

A) Consensual
B) Instrumentalist
C) Rationalistic
D) Dialectical

Question 12

The Fourteenth Amendment was originally introduced in the 19ᵗʰ century to protect which of the following groups?

A) Recently emancipated slaves
B) Corporate trusts
C) Small businesses
D) Workers

Question 13

Traditionally, the mechanisms of social control have focused on which of the following?

A) Individuals
B) Groups
C) Organizations
D) Societies

Question 14

Adam Smith, the premier philosopher of capitalism, took the position that:

A) the free market and not the legal system is the best and most efficient means for preventing or minimizing harmful conduct by businesses
B) the criminal law should be used to impose limitations on business competition
C) since businessmen do no harm to consumers, there is no reason to formulate laws directed at their activities
D) laws directed at business activity will do more harm to the most powerful businessmen

Question 15

The famous Carrier's case of 1473 in England:

A) provided a foundation for the modern law of theft, and a precedent for laws prohibiting employee theft
B) upheld the principal that an individual in legal possession of property could not be charged with theft of that property
C) established standards for care and caution in the transport of goods
D) held that no legal distinction existed between the property of employers and the property of employees

Question 16

Which of the following statements about the influence of business interests white collar crime laws is not true?

A) Politicians are importantly dependent upon business for campaign donations
B) Some business lobbyists are former legislators with strong ties to lawmakers
C) Lawmakers are most typically former businessmen themselves
D) At least some significant segment of lawmakers' constituencies benefit from pro-business laws

Question 17

The Commerce Clause, which authorized Congress to make laws regulating commerce between the states, is an example of which of the following types of law?

A) Legislative law
B) Constitutional law
C) Case law
D) Administrative law

Question 18

The view that law in a capitalist society reflects the direct control of the elite class over the state is most consistent with which of the following perspectives?

A) Consensual
B) Instrumentalist
C) Structuralist
D) Rationalistic

Question 19

In the 17th and 18th century employee theft, embezzlement, and related acts:

A) were wholly disregarded by the criminal law
B) became the targets of specific criminal laws
C) were addressed by numerous laws which were very general in scope
D) were generally left to resolution in the civil courts

Question 20

Which of the following statements about the application of criminal laws to harms committed by businesses is true?

A) There has been a great deal of consensus that they are needed
B) The Reagan Administration of the 1980s is closely associated with their expanded application
C) The proper lines of demarcation between acceptable and unacceptable practices have not been self-evident to all
D) They have proven easier to formulate and apply than formulating and applying laws to conventional crime

Question 21

Which of the following is not a way in which the executive branch contributes to the "making" of white collar crime law?

A) Influencing legislative law-making through lobbying
B) Determining the specific language of the law.
C) Controlling the actual implementation and enforcement of the law.
D) Making appointments to the top administrative posts in regulatory agencies

Question 22

Which of the following statements about the status of corporations as juristic persons is true?

A) The law has never made any distinction between the rights of natural persons and juristic persons
B) Some critics argue that corporations, or juristic persons, should be stripped of the rights of natural persons
C) Natural persons are acknowledged to have far more power than juristic persons
D) Corporations have enjoyed no benefits from their status as juristic persons

Question 23

Which of the following could be described as the overriding objective of antitrust law?

A) Protect the interests of corporate trusts
B) Abolish monopolies and insure competition.
C) Regulate the manner in which monopolies operate
D) Abolish any governmental interference in the market

Question 24

The doctrine of ultra vires held that:

A) corporations cannot be held responsible for executive actions not authorized by their corporate charter
B) corporations can be held fully responsible for the acts of any employees
C) corporations can only be held responsible for the acts of corporate managers
D) corporations can be criminally sanctioned even when no corporate employee can be shown to have engaged in illegal actions

Question 25

_____holds a corporation quite directly responsible for harmful consequences when it can be shown that the collective actions of various corporate managers and employers taken together establishes responsibility.

A) Moral Penal Code
B) aggregated fault
C) imputation fault
C) respondeat superior rule

Question 26

The administrative agencies can be best described as:

A) operating exactly like all other executive branch departments
B) operating exactly like the legislative branch
C) operating exactly like the judicial branch
D) operating like a mixture of the executive, legislative and judicial branch

Question 27

The single most famous antitrust act, passed in 1890, was the _____ Act.

A) Smith
B) Celler-Kefauver
C) Sherman
D) Taft

Question 28

Protective legislation for working conditions:

A) was completely unknown before 1970
B) has been passed primarily in response to pressure from major corporations
C) has effectively protected workers for much of the 20th century
D) was principally adopted only from 1970 on

Question 29

Full implementation of environmental protection laws has been constrained by all but which of the following?

A) Inadequate budgets
B) Judicial reluctance to impose criminal penalties on environmental offenders.
C) Declining public concern about environmental harm.
D) Difficulties in clearly identifying, measuring and assigning blame for environmental harm.

Question 30

Which of the following has not been advanced as a criticism of RICO?

A) Its broad and sweeping language grants the state too much discretionary leeway
B) It was never intended for use in prosecuting businessmen as "racketeers"
C) Its forfeiture provisions are draconian and punitive and out of proportion to the offenses
D) It places defense attorneys at a great advantage relative to prosecutors, due to weak enforcement provisions

Question 31

Which of the following was the reason Richard Nixon was not charged and tried for offenses related to the Watergate scandal?

A) The nature of the relevant legislative laws
B) Constitutional prohibitions against charging an acting or former President
C) A Presidential pardon, which is an executive branch power
D) A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court

Question 32

Stuart Green has demonstrated how which of the following inform different types of white collar crime law?

A) Moral concepts
B) Legal concepts
C) Resolutions to political conflict
D) Compromises

Question 33

According to John Coffee, criminal law differs from civil law in which of the following ways?

A) Criminal laws are legislative acts, but the civil law is largely judge-made
B) Intent plays a lesser role in criminal law
C) Criminal law is more tolerant of procedural informality
D) Criminal law relies upon private enforcement

Question 34

White collar crime has been an especially dynamic area of law since:

A) the 1970s
B) the 1980s
C) the 1990s
D) the Enron scandal

Question 35

Which of the following statements about administrative agencies is true?

A) They have broad policy-making powers which have delegated to them
B) They are all wholly independent of executive power control
C) They are all highly controlled by the executive branch
D) They have no independent policy-making powers

Question 36

The adoption of the Occupational Safety and Health Act can be attributed to all but which of the following factors?

A) A relatively healthy economy
B) Worker agitation
C) Corporate management's perception that it could profit from such an act
D) New attention to the rising rate of work-related injuries

Question 37

The Administrative Procedure Act, enacted in 1946, was intended to do which of the following?

A) Ensure that administrative agencies would be fully subject to judicial control
B) Impose some constraints on administrative agency powers, and provide guidelines for its procedures
C) Ensure that administrative agencies could operate without any constraints on their powers
D) Eliminate the distinction between administrative rule-making and adjudication

Question 38

Which of the following is true of corporate criminal liability?

A) It preceded the assignment of corporate civil liability
B) It is based on the proposition that corporations are natural persons, not juristic persons
C) It is largely a 20ᵗʰ-century phenomenon
D) It was a fully formed doctrine in Europe by the 15ᵗʰ century

Question 39

Which statement about the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act is true?

A) It was originally adopted primarily as a means of prosecuting white collar offenders
B) It cannot be used against white collar offenders
C) It has been applied to a range of white collar offenders
D) It has been applied only to white collar and organized crime offenders

Question 40

Those who de-emphasize the differences between criminal law and civil law in responding to white collar crime stress all but which of the following points?

A) Both branches of law require some form of intent
B) Tort sanctions can also be punitive
C) Both branches of law involve public and private interests
D) Both branches of law follow identical procedures

Question 41

The concept of social control was first introduced by Edwin Sutherland.

Question 42

According to the text, white collar crime can be seen as a product of failed social
control and as a product of highly successful social control.

Question 43

The imputation theory, which holds that the corporation is liable for the intent and acts of its employees on any level in the corporate hierarchy, was originally developed via which form of law?

A) Tort
B) Executive
C) Administrative
D) Constitutional

Question 44

The respondeat superior rule does not ascribe corporate criminal responsibility when an agent:

A) has committed a crime
B) has personally profited from the crime
C) was acting within the scope of his authority
D) was acting with intent to benefit the corporation

Question 45

The term law has had a single, settled meaning in the course of Western history.

Question 46

Concern with commercial misconduct began only in the 19ᵗʰ century, with the
advent of industrialization and capitalism.

Question 47

The Court's decision in the famous Carrier's case of 1473 recognized a legal
distinction between possession and ownership.

Question 48

It has been generally agreed that the term white collar crime should be restricted
to violations of the criminal law, rather than being more broadly defined.

Question 49

The laws developed in England in the 18ᵗʰ century were structured to respond
effectively to the exploitative and harmful practices of businesses as corporate
entities.

Question 50

Social theorists are in broad agreement that social control is based upon
consensus.

Question 51

Antitrust law, directed against monopolistic practices, is at odds with Adam
Smith's views of capitalism.

Question 52

Which of the following is a prosecutorial problem under the identification theory, which requires proof of higher authority if the corporation itself is to be held liable?

A) Establishing that laws were actually broken
B) Demonstrating that some harm was caused
C) Establishing that the corporate actors who carried out the illegal activity were at a high enough level to be said to be acting for the corporation
D) Demonstrating that the corporate charter specifically prohibited the corporate actors from taking any illegal action on behalf of the corporation

Question 53

Even when laws attempting to control certain forms of corporate activities are
adopted, elite interests often have the power to influence the meaning of the laws.

Question 54

Many of the activities commonly classified as white collar crimes are violations
of administrative rather than statutory law.

Question 55

Adam Smith, the premier philosopher of capitalism, argued that the legal system,
not the free market, is the best means for minimizing harmful conduct by
businesses.

Question 56

The 2008 financial crisis was widely blamed on a deregulatory philosophy that proliferated under both the Reagan and Bush Adminstrations.

Question 57

Historically, the range of activities defined as white collar crimes have inspired a
more limited formal response than conventional crimes.

Question 58

According to the text, in countries with a civil law system, the corporation has traditionally been seen as which of the following?

A) A natural person
B) An aggregate of individuals
C) A rational, economic actor
D) A non-rational, emotional actor

Question 59

Following the "Black Death" in the 14ᵗʰ century, laws were enacted in England to
regulate wages as well as punish those who refused to work.

Question 60

As a society becomes larger, more complex and more heterogeneous, the
historical tendency is to rely increasingly upon formal laws in response to white
collar crime.

Question 61

The political influence of business on lawmaking has remained relatively stable
over the course of modern American history.

Question 62

Administrative agencies may be created by the legislative branch, operate as part
of the executive branch, and function, at times, like the judicial branch.

Question 63

The structuralist perspective on lawmaking recognizes that the state is committed
to the system's long-term survival rather than to advancing the immediate interest
of capitalist elites.

Question 64

Administrative agencies have typically had their rule-making closely overseen by
Congress and the courts.

Question 65

Government agencies and entities generally oppose white collar crime laws.

Question 66

The instrumentalist perspective on lawmaking is especially effective in explaining
laws which work against the immediate interests of major capitalist corporations.

Question 67

In general, during periods of relatively strong economic performance, more
regulatory laws have been imposed on business.

Question 68

The burden of proof in administrative courts is more stringent than in traditional
courts.

Question 69

From the latter half of the 19ᵗʰ century on, the U.S.Supreme Court consistently
favored the rights of consumers and employees over the rights of corporations.

Question 70

The dialectical theory of lawmaking views it as a process directed toward the
resolution of various conflicts confronting society in a particular historical
context.

Question 71

The United States Constitution says nothing specifically about white collar crime.

Question 72

The vulnerability of businesses to government regulation seems to be largely
independent of the state of the economy.

Question 73

Some areas of white collar crime, such as insider trading laws, are more fully
developed in case law than in statutory law.

Question 74

Large corporations and major business entities have sometimes benefited from the
adoption of regulatory laws.

Question 75

In the latter part of the 19th century, corporate lawyers invoked the Fourteenth
Amendment's "due process" clause to ward off federal attempts to regulate
business.

Question 76

In recent years in the U.S., public interest groups have clearly been far more
successful in the legislative arena than in the courts in their efforts to press for
more effective white collar crime laws.

Question 77

Toward the end of the 19ᵗʰ century, laws regulating or criminalizing a wide range
of business practices were promoted and implemented in the U.S.

Question 78

Historically, business has had relatively little influence over the law-making
process.

Question 79

The overriding purpose of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was to restore public
confidence in corporate financial statements and to encourage investment in
corporate stocks.

Question 80

Administrative courts have become an attractive alternative to traditional courts
for prosecution of some forms of white collar crime.