Crime Investigation Assignment

The world yearns for peace and security as major components of growth and development in all spheres of life. It saddens me to learn that even as people go about their daily duties to meet their needs other use their influence to get their daily bread. All nations globally have rules and regulations that regulate crime yet there are still disparities of crime depending on the power of who commits it. People rot in jails for mere mistakes yet the people ruining the global goals walk free in the streets. State and corporate crimes have created a disparity in the treatment of crime leaving the media confused to present the correct image of what is happening. The world continues to bleed by running into state debts that only benefit a particular syndicate while customers and business are snatched off their hard-earned coins from unfair and illegal transactions from corporates (Rothe & Kauzlarich, 2016).

Rarely do people think of state crimes because at the end of the day we take part in the democratic processes and other necessary undertakings to pick the people we entrust with leadership. As followers, we support the leadership of the nation as much as we can by promptly paying taxes, yet they still stub us at the back. It is important to note that state crimes are categorized into four major underpinnings namely, economic crimes, crimes by security and police officers, cultural and social crimes, and political crimes. At the mention of these categories, one gets a clear picture of what the media would treat as ordinary happening in the news and nobody takes it seriously. At the same time, it reminds people of their roles in taming state crimes just as the “Black Lives Movement” in the U.S did attract the attention of the entire world when it experienced such crime actioned by state police. Other notable examples of state crimes include corruption, funding terrorism, funding organized crimes, and discrimination. Like the state crimes, corporate crimes are white-collar crimes perpetuated with people with legitimate occupations for the benefit of the interested company such as cybercrimes, bribery, embezzlement, environmental degradation due to negligence, and false claims during advertising (Rothe & Kauzlarich, 2016).

It is very rare for ordinary people to realize the underlying intention of these crime perpetrators. When they come out to the public vicinity, they already have undergone sugar coating that makes it hard for one to imagine just how damaging the act has been. Being aware of these types of crime helps people to proceed with caution in their investment deliberations, demand accountability from the people they elect, tighten security measures on information to avoid pilferage, demand prompt government audit on expenditure and progress. Without tight measures to hedge security, companies are most likely to fall in the reds for the sake of one fraudulent or a group of selfish individuals who use their position to abuse the privileges entrusted to them by stealing. Consequently, governments are most likely to raise the standards of living to cater for the replacement of money pondered within the syndicates (Bernat & Whyte, 2019). From the previous studies, organized crimes which is a primary tactic in state crime takes time to detect as there are always insiders who get away with the crime while surrendering sacrificial lambs to pay for their unscrupulous ways of making wealth.

The news today has a plethora of crimes that require people to read between the line to correctly interpret and take the cover of their meek selves. In the past four weeks, there has been a myriad of state crimes both locally and internationally. The most eye-catching one was reported today on the Star hinting that Canada is getting back to its Huawei 5G mixed reaction situation even with the expected backlash from the public following the conclusion of Meng-Michaels’s saga. Most companies in Canada have recorded a high turnover of boycotting the Chinese service provided who was equally in for serious ethical issues with the USA. Elites have expressed their concern about information espionage if Huawei is given the authority to act in the position of a service provider (“The Meng-Michaels saga ended, Canada is turning back to its Huawei 5G controversy — and the potential of public backlash,” 2021). They are most likely to act ethically and defy the business rules to do what they wish. What makes this news story an explicit example of state crime is the take of the Canadian government to have given Huawei a contract in the past and bothered to not raise any alarm on possible misconduct. Also, no media house is explaining the reason for public backlash nor most techno communications withdrawal from the service provider. Honestly, something is fishy, and a lot underlies the mere reporting on public and corporate reactions.

The world was also moved with the turn of events in Haiti especially with this new error of technological advancement. The president of Haiti has been assassinated despite the high levels of security that the state accords him for his protection. Though people may be reluctant and term it as a mere assassination, the truth is there are high chances it was an organized crime. Pushing through the tight security to kill a president needs a mastermind plan especially with people interested in taking his position. The probing of the Prime Minister is an indication of an organized crime within the state syndicate (“Haiti PM asked to testify in president’s assassination hearing,” 2021). Borrowing from History, assassination raises acute reactions with people lamenting and demonstrating against such brutal acts. To reclaim peace, there are often cases of police brutality leading to the loss of lives by demonstrators. A good example was the USA’s historical assassinations of revolutionists that led to heightened levels of tension and loss of lives during riots.

On the other hand, corporate crimes are often well thought, scripted, and creepy moves by malicious people who hide in business. According to the Star-News today, 29th, there was a report in the Toronto police desk where a man had been robbed of approximately 60k in his remote desktop by scammers (“Victim loses almost $60K in remote desktop takeover scam: Toronto police,” 2021). The big question is, who registers scammers and why would it happen. Even though nations have tried to limit the chances of corporate fraudsters some people are very creative and use psychological manipulations to steal from people. The big lesson to take home from the incident is that no one should ever entrust the safety of their appliances. Losing such huge sums is painful but the truth is the victim had been a little more careful to realize that only unethical people would send you pins or request to do so he would have declined and made away with it. There has been a rise in such happenings and some sadly are because of people deciding to use insider information to manipulate systems and steal from people. People who have been conned suffer trauma and lack of trust in people making their lives hard to recover from ordinary situations.

The other important instance of corporate crime is witnessed in the wrongful use of cryptocurrency. Most malicious people have turned the cryptocurrency business into a source of hiding criminal acts to secure their interests within ill-intended syndicates. In July, Hong Kong shocked the world when its authorities associated cryptocurrency with money laundering in the country. The suspected money launders had allegedly managed to move over 154.1 million dollars within borders to hide their economic deafening acts of money laundering. Later, on 24th September, CNN reported the Chinese government’s move to term illegal all the transactions related to cryptocurrency in the country (Deng & Liakos, 2021). The responsible government agencies also insisted on clumping down all illicit activities associated with digital currencies. Further to that, the government felt the need to protect people by assigning the National Development and Reform Commission to develop new systems to hedge the risks associated with cryptocurrencies while shutting down all crypto mining projects at the same time not allowing new mining projects.

In a world where the mass media has compromised its standards of reporting and sensitizing people, the less informed run at a risk of losing their treasures as victims of these fraudulent acts (Rothe & Kauzlarich, 2016). We expect the government to be responsible but just as well accept that even the government is never sure of its security since they work with people who may decide to be selfish and betray them. All the same, being able to stay ahead of communications and learn from the previous events is the only way to surviving in this age of compromised reporting. People must take good care of their personal information with the utmost confidentiality. If you are not sure about an event, take time to consult before rushing. People have lost a lot of money and that needs to stop. Governments have equally had to pay for their negligence and compromised security channels that allow syndicates to get away with their plans. It is thus crucial to keep exploring the existent cases of crime to familiarize with the cases to be able to make the right judgment. Most importantly, people should make their voices count in public opinions seeking justice. Until then, people are more likely to suffer from corporate and state criminal acts that compromise security and peace within the nation.

References

Bernat, I., & Whyte, D. (2019). State‐Corporate Crimes. The Handbook of White‐Collar Crime, 127-138.

Deng, S., & Liakos, C. (2021, September 24). Bitcoin plummets after China intensifies cryptocurrency crackdown. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/24/investing/china-cryptocurrency-ban/index.html

Haiti PM asked to testify in president’s assassination hearing. (2021, September 11). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-58527693

Rothe, D., & Kauzlarich, D. (2016). Crimes of the powerful: An introduction. Routledge.

The Meng-Michaels saga ended, Canada is turning back to its Huawei 5G controversy — and the potential of public backlash. (2021, September 29). thestar.com. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/09/29/the-meng-michaels-saga-ended-canada-is-turning-back-to-its-huawei-5g-controversy-and-the-potential-of-public-backlash.html

Victim loses almost $60K in remote desktop takeover scam: Toronto police. (2021, September 28). thestar.com. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/09/27/victim-loses-almost-60k-in-remote-desktop-takeover-scam-toronto-police.html