Newswise — According to a recent Bloomberg.com report, "The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, a $700 billion taxpayer bailout, public outcry over excessive pay and the demise of three of the biggest securities firms has not stopped Wall Street from rewarding its employees with substantial end-of-year-bonuses."
"Walking into a bank with a gun and demanding money from a teller is one way to steal money," says David O. Friedrichs, Professor and Distinguished University Fellow, Sociology/Criminal Justice, The University of Scranton. "Walking into a corporate boardroom and securing from the board's compensation committee, made up of cronies, paid consultants, and even relatives, compensation of millions " sometimes tens of millions or hundreds of millions " is another way to steal money. The principal differences are that the second way of stealing money pays much better, is all too often legal, and does not result in criminal prosecution and imprisonment. This needs to change. Professors Friedrichs can discuss among other topics:
"¢ The core role of exorbitant executive compensation in the present majorfinancial crisis."¢ What specific forms of harm arise from awarding exorbitant CEO compensation?"¢ Why do corporate board compensation committees perpetuate this problem?"¢ What arguments can be advanced for criminalizing this behavior?
Founded in 1888, The University of Scranton is a comprehensive, co-educational Catholic and Jesuit institution located in Pennsylvania's Pocono Northeast with an enrollment of more than 5,500 undergraduate and graduate students. Scranton has a record of nurturing Fulbright fellows that is unmatched for an institution of its size and scope " 121 since 1972. Since 2000, Scranton students have earned more than 40 prestigious scholarships and awards, including 24 Fulbright and other international fellowships, four Truman scholarships, five Goldwater scholarships, three NCAA Post-Graduate scholarships, two Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholarships, two Udall scholarships and five selections to USA Today's All-USA College Academic teams.
David O. Friedrichs, Professor and Distinguished University Fellow, Sociology/Criminal Justice, The University of Scranton. Professor Friedrichs is the author of Trusted Criminals: White Collar Crime in Contemporary Society (Wadsworth 2007), Law in Our Lives: An Introduction (Roxbury 2006) and more 100 chapters, articles, encyclopedia entries, proceedings papers and essays on white collar crime and other topics. He has served as the President of the White Collar Crime Research Consortium (2002-2004), and as a member of the Working Groups on Crime as Business (Wharton School). In 2005 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Division on Critical Criminology/American Society of Criminology.
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