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Attitudes toward white collar crime fluctuate in accordance
with the business cycle. With the collapse and scandal of Enron and the
dot com crash, mistrust of big companies, corporate executives and professionals
is now at a high point. The media has had a hand in influencing this cycle
by focusing public attention on a few key stories. This publicity causes
unique situations to seem more common than they may be. For example, the
Enron scandal has been a top headline for weeks. The corrupt practices of
this company are arousing suspicion of all big businesses because the repetitive
nature of headline news makes their practices seem common.
The Enron scandal has also shocked the American
public into recognizing that this kind of white collar crime can have a
significant negative impact on ordinary people as never before. When most
Americans had pensions, the bad conduct of business executives made for
interesting reading but didn’t seem to be all that important. Now,
with most dependent on 401(k) stock plans for retirement, bad behavior by
executives can wipe out people’s retirement in a day. Even jurors
who normally believe in “buyer beware” have been shocked into
realizing that due diligence is hard to do when executives lie and conceal
information.
The heavy media focus on Enron is already having
business impacts, as other companies are having their accounting reports
questioned as jurors’ general trust in the system is undermined. It
also surely will have an impact on juror perceptions of parties accused
of embezzlement, fraud, and accounting malpractice.
However, there are no timeless perceptual "norms"
regarding white collar crime. Attitudes fluctuate as events change and different
cultural perspectives come into play. In the go-go 1980s and during the
dot-com boom, where the perception was that everyone had a chance to get
rich, people were more tolerant of "creative" business practices,
inflated rhetoric about business possibilities and investment returns, and
questionable business behavior.
It is therefore important to have current jury
research to understand how a jury in your venue will perceive your case
and to develop critical questions for jury selection. Mock trials, community
surveys and focus groups are all good ways to get feedback and find out
jurors' current attitudes toward key issues in your case.
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