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Using the ethical consequentialist theory of utilitarianism, this paper aims to demonstrate the correlation between the prosecution of Arthur Andersen LLP and the United States Department of Justice’s (DOJ) increased use of pretrial diversion agreements, both nonprosecution and deferred prosecution agreements (N/DPA) for criminal corporations.

Through an analysis of previous literature, the United States Justice Manual, and data from the Corporate Prosecution Registry, this study examines the trend of N/DPAs from 1992 to 2021. Specifically, the data is examined to assess whether a pattern exists before and after the 2002 prosecution of Andersen.

This study finds an exponential increase of N/DPAs after Andersen’s prosecution. The DOJ’s basis for the increased use of these agreements is rooted in the utilitarian theory that the punishment of criminal corporations should deter and rehabilitate behavior while also maximizing the benefit to society (e.g. shareholders, employees and business community). The justice manual, memorandums and public speeches explicitly promote the use of N/DPAs for corporations to minimize collateral damage and the potential for negative societal impact.

This study applies a utilitarian framework to explain the criminal justice system’s increased use of pretrial diversion agreements for criminal corporations.

Over a decade since the Special Criminal Court (SCC) was established in Cameroon, hundreds of individuals have been indicted, tried and convicted. Sentences have been imposed, most of which include a term of imprisonment (principal punishment/penalty) and confiscation as accessory penalty or punishment. Research focus has not been directed at the sentences which, as argued in this paper, are inconsistent, incommensurate with the amounts of money stolen and a significant departure from the Penal Code. This paper aims to explore the aspect of sentencing by the SCC.

To identify, highlight and discuss the issue of sentencing, the paper looks at a blend of primary and secondary materials: primary materials here include but not limited to the judgements of the SCC and other courts in Cameroon and the Penal Code. Secondary materials shall include the works of scholars in the fields of criminal law, criminal justice and penal reform.

A few findings were made: first, the judges are inconsistent in the manner in which they determine the appropriate sentence. Second, in making that determination, the judges would have been oblivious to the prescripts in the Penal Code, which provides the term of imprisonment, and in the event of a mitigating circumstance, the prescribed minimum to be applied. Yet, the default imposition of an aggravating circumstance (being a civil servant) was not explored by the SCC. Finally, whether the sentences imposed are commensurate with the amounts of monies stolen.

This research unravels key insights into the functioning of the SCC. It advances the knowledge thereon and adds to the literature on corruption in Cameroon.

The prosecution and judges at the SCC should deepen their knowledge of Cameroonian criminal law, especially on the nature of liberty given to judges to determine within the prescribed range of the sentence to be imposed but also consider the existence of an aggravating factor – civil servant. They must also consider whether the sentences imposed befit the crime for which they are convicted.

The paper is an original contribution with new insights on the manner in which sentencing should be approached by the SCC.

The purpose of this study is to gain a broad understanding of public perceptions of the police and violence.

This study uses survey data collected from a nationally representative sample (N = 1,223) by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago. Descriptive, bivariate correlational and multivariate regression analyses of the data were conducted.

Descriptive analyses show the populace is equally concerned about the police use of violence and violence against the police, but bivariate analyses indicate the two types of concern are unrelated, and multivariate regression analyses show that few variables impact both types of concern. Consistent with prior research, young people and racial/ethnic minorities reported greater concerns about police violence than did older adults and Whites, yet neither age nor race/ethnicity impacted concerns about violence against the police. Perceived mistreatment by the police was the only variable which impacted perceptions of police violence and violence against the police in a consistent and cogent manner.

This study is the first to examine public perceptions of the police as both the agents and victims of violence. The results indicate public perceptions of the police are more complex than was previously believed.

The purpose of this study is to examine the politics, political economy, and fallout of hawkish regulatory policy on prescription drugs in Nigeria. Hawkish regulatory policy on prescription drug in Nigeria, such as opioid analgesics, is a very complex and multifaceted one, which usually involves the interplay of many factors and parties.

Policy manuals, official government gazettes (legislations, regulations, Acts and decrees), academic literature and a direct ethnographic observation of events surrounding the regulation of prescription drugs were reviewed and engaged.

The results revealed that Nigerian and global political economy and politics interface to define the direction of the new restrictive opioid policy, with resultant friction between prohibition and consumption. The reviews showed that the overarching “get-tough” and “repressive” policy are not necessarily founded on empirical evidence of an increase in prescription drug sales or use, but more as a product of the interplay of both internal and external politics and the prevailing socioeconomic order.

Instead of borrowing extensively from or being influenced by repressive Western drug laws and perspectives, Nigerian policymakers on prescription opioids should take control of the process by drawing up a home-grown policy that is less intrusive and punitive in nature for better outcomes. A mental sea change is required to understand the intrigues of Western power in Nigeria’s politics and political economy to avoid the continuous symptomatic failure of drug policy.

The politics and economic influence of the United Nations, USA and Western powers, as well as the axiom of moral panic of prescription drugs scares within the Nigerian environment, are particularly significant in the making of the emerging hawkish policy on prescription drugs in Nigeria.

This study examines the cultural history of the Api-Opi deity in Opi, Nsukka, Enugu State of Nigeria. The study sets out to examine the re-emergence of youthful worshippers of Api-Opi, despite the penetration of Christianity in the area.

The study employed ethnographic observation and field visits to the shrine of Api-Opi in Opi community of Enugu State, Nigeria. In addition, this study uncovers new information drawn from semi-structured interview questions undertaken in the study area between March and October of 2019.

Against certain claims on the impact of Christianity on Africa's traditional religions, the study found that the Api-Opi deity has withstood these post-colonial changes, growing its followership, particularly amongst the youths. It demonstrated the resilience of Igbo Traditional Worship System even in the midst of culture clash and religious iconoclasm advanced by Christianity in Igboland, Nigeria.

Evidence from this study helps debunk the notions of Eurocentric scholars who say African traditional religions are fetish, barbaric or primitive. It also shows how indigenous communities have protected and preserved their religious heritage despite the wave of modernization and other eternal influences. The study contributes to the increasing conversations about the role of traditional religion in the cultural resilience/revitalization of indigenous communities.

In the case of money laundering (ML) originating from the predicate crime of corruption, law enforcers find it difficult to prove all or the existence of a predicate crime on assets that produce assets. This paper aims to analyze ML in corruption cases in Indonesia.

This research uses qualitative descriptive methods. This research discusses the law enforcement of corruption which coincides with the crime of ML.

New findings were discovered where against the corruption case which was carried out concurrently with the crime of money laundering, the value of which was Rp. 1bn and above and has been handled by investigators from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), so the prosecution process is carried out by the public prosecutor from the KPK to continue the trial to the Corruption Court. With respect to cases of criminal acts of corruption, which were carried out concurrently with ML crimes, the value of which was Rp. 1bn and below and had been handled by the prosecutor’s investigators from the start, the prosecution process was carried out by the public prosecutor from the prosecutor’s office to continue the trial to the corruption court.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to use normative perspective on ML in corruption cases (white-collar crime). In contrast to previous studies that take fraud in general as an object of research, researchers are now interested in focusing more research on detecting suspected ML crimes: a case study on corruption cases in Indonesia.

This study aims to assess the nature and scope of dog-based programmes in prisons, assessing critically the potential opportunities, benefits, challenges and risks of developing innovative dog-based programmes for older prisoners in England and Wales. This paper outlines the potential benefits and challenges of developing dog-based programmes for older prisoners and sets out next steps for future research and practice.

This study is based on a scoping review of published research literature on prison dog programmes (PDPs) in the USA, the UK and other countries, with particular reference to older people in prison, followed by semi-structured interviews with six members of an expert advisory group. The literature review and data from the qualitative interviews were analysed thematically.

There is a substantial body of published research literature which supports PDPs as having identifiable positive impacts for people and also dogs, and also published research which highlights the benefits to older people of dog ownership or participation in dog-based activities. However, much of this research is small-scale and qualitative, and it has been argued that there is a lack of a quantitative evidence base. This research concludes that findings from the literature review and the semi-structured interviews support further research and the creation of pilot projects to develop dog-based projects for older people in prison.

This study was small-scale, and the findings need to be approached with caution. The literature review searched a small number of databases and filtered out articles published in languages other than English, and the review of the grey literature focused on reports from the UK. The number of experts interviewed was small and there was no direct consultation with older people in prison nor with older people with recent personal lived experience of imprisonment and community resettlement. A more extensive future study would benefit from a more extensive literature review, a larger group of participants and the inclusion of service users, prison managers and government policymakers, subject to the appropriate ethical and security approvals. At the time the research took place, ongoing COVID-19 restrictions on prison research meant that research with current prisoners and prison managers would not have been approved by the HMPPS NRC.

This research provides a research-based justification for future dog projects for older prisoners, leading potentially to improved well-being for older people in prison.

This study brings together the published research literature on PDPs with the research literature on the needs and experiences of older people in prison for the first time, and identifies potential directions for future research.

The paper discusses a range of aspects of the spread of sportswashing within top-flight football, identifies the motivations of its proponents, what is on offer to football clubs, their followers and local communities and the ways in which it coheres with the nature of the modern game.

A range of disparate literature, both academic and non-academic, is synthesised to provide a broad-ranging introduction to the spread of sportswashing within top-flight football.

Sportswashing is likely to increase within top-flight football in future years as a result of its resonance with aspects of the game's evolving nature. Resistance to its continuing spread presently appears improbable.

As relatively recent development within football, the sportswashing topic has produced a limited literature to which this paper contributes.

Drawing on the social exchange theory, the authors extend the high-reliability literature by examining employees' subjective experience of working in contexts engaging in mindful organizing (MO). Ultimately, they ask the question about how MO affects employees' attitudes and behavior toward work and organization, such us organizational commitment (OC), motivation to work and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), in ordinary business settings. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.

The authors surveyed 307 employees from various industries, using paper-and-pencil questionnaires. A series of hierarchical regression analyses and structural equation modeling were performed to test our hypotheses.

The authors found that MO is positively related to employees' affective and normative commitment to an organization, and that affective commitment is positively related to motivation to work and OCB. The study also reveals that the affective commitment has a partially mediating role in the MO – motivation and MO – OCB relations. Although several researchers argue that the effectiveness of MO may be higher in an uncertain environment, the authors’ study indicates that the environment does not moderate the relationship between MO and OC.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first attempts to explore the effects of MO in a traditional (i.e. nonhigh reliability) business context. Furthermore, their findings prove that MO not only leads to higher reliability and greater safety, as previous studies show, but it also positively affects performance-related attitudes and behavior.

This paper aims to outline how certain lessons from ethical systems can be relevant and applicable to tackling unethical behavior, including financial crime, within the finance profession.

This paper adopts a pragmatic perspective while acknowledging that there is a myriad of reasons managers act unethically, including the reality that many do so knowingly and deliberately. The matter is further complicated by human nature, given an individual’s behavior (ethical or unethical) is not easily discernable from their psychological, sociological, theological or cultural attributes.

Although such systems may not solve the problem of corrupt behavior, research suggests that industry professionals can learn to act in a more responsible and ethical manner. Given the wounded reputation of the financial sector, owing to their role in committing financial crimes such as money laundering, advances in ethical conduct would elevate both the effectiveness of the sector, as well as its reputation.

It is impractical to think we can completely resolve the problem of unethical behavior. Improvement, however, seems possible through promoting virtuous character traits and ethical behavior in individuals and organizations. Virtue ethics can play a significant role in combating financial crime and supporting anti-money laundering initiatives.