White Collar Crime in the news
In a New York City Federal Courthouse, this week, Raj Rajaratnam stands trial for the same alleged sins. At issue is whether he received inside information on a 1 billion dollar proposed venture between Verizon and Clearwire.
In recent years, whether it was the Enron scandal or Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, judges have begun dropping the hammer on those responsible for creating financial mischief. For whatever reason, when it comes to crime, the American psyche remains transfixed on murders, robberies and drug selling. These are serious offenses, mind you, but more often than not, such offenses only impact a few individuals, namely the victim.
Still, television shows like Law and Order and CSI strictly focus upon the same. If one was to poll the average viewer of such shows and ask who poses the greater threat, a kid on trial for a single murder or the corporate executive whose greed ruins the security of tens of thousands of people and leads to multiple suicides, heart attacks and strokes, the answers may be very telling. Why the media and Hollywood are not held accountable for creating a climate where real crooks are not discussed with the same passion as poor, uneducated criminals is a mystery.