Face Criminal Charges Research Articles

S.C. lawmakers investigating drowning of MH patients

A road barricade and an S.C. National Guard truck did not stop two Horry County Sheriff's Department deputies from driving a van into a flood in September, leaving two female mental‐health patients trapped inside to drown, S.C. lawmakers heard on Nov. 7, the Independent Mail reported. But it was not just the two deputies who put Nicolette “Nikki” Green, 43, and Wendy Newton, 45, at death's door, their families said. The state's entire mental‐health system failed the two women, they added. “Two women needlessly lost their lives,” state Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D‐Charleston, said Nov. 7. “We must take these deaths seriously and let that spur us to action for the work that still needs to be done.” Senators called the Nov. 7 hearing after the two women — Green of Myrtle Beach and Newton of Shallotte, North Carolina — drowned Sept. 18 in the back of an Horry County sheriff's van that was submerged in Hurricane Florence‐related flooding near U.S. 76 and Pee Dee Island Road in Marion County. Both women were trapped in the van, described by their families as a “cage,” for more than 24 hours until rescuers safely could remove their bodies. Neither Green nor Weston was restrained or shackled in the van, which had a rear door. But the two deputies did not have a key to that door, said Newton family attorney Tommy Brittain. The deputies were driving the women from the Waccamaw Center for Mental Health and a mental‐health center in Loris to facilities in Darlington and Lancaster. Green's family has called for both ex‐deputies to face criminal charges.

Awareness and understanding of HIV non-disclosure case law among people living with HIV who use illicit drugs in a Canadian setting

BackgroundIn 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) ruled that people living with HIV (PLWH) could face criminal charges if they did not disclose their serostatus before sex posing a “realistic possibility” of HIV transmission. Condom-protected vaginal sex with a low (i.e., <1500copies/mL) HIV viral load (VL) incurs no duty to disclose. Awareness and understanding of this ruling remain uncharacterized, particularly among marginalized PLWH. MethodsWe used data from ACCESS, a community-recruited cohort of PLWH who use illicit drugs in Vancouver. The primary outcome was self-reported awareness of the 2012 SCC ruling, drawn from cross-sectional survey data. Participants aware of the ruling were asked how similar their understanding was to a provided definition. Sources of information from which participants learned about the ruling were determined. Multivariable logistic regression identified factors independently associated with ruling awareness. ResultsAmong 249 participants (39% female), median age was 50 (IQR: 44–55) and 80% had a suppressed HIV VL (<50copies/mL). A minority (112, 45%) of participants reported ruling awareness, and 44 (18%) had a complete understanding of the legal obligation to disclose. Among those aware (n=112), newspapers/media (46%) was the most frequent source from which participants learned about the ruling, with 51% of participants reporting that no healthcare providers had talked to them about the ruling. Ruling awareness was negatively associated with VL suppression (AOR:0.51, 95% CI:0.27,0.97) and positively associated with recent condomless sex vs. no sex (AOR:2.00, 95% CI:1.03,3.92). ConclusionMost participants were not aware of the 2012 SCC ruling, which may place them at risk of prosecution. Discussions about disclosure and the law were lacking in healthcare settings. Advancing education about HIV disclosure and the law is a key priority. The role of healthcare providers in delivering information and support to PLWH in this legal climate should be further explored.

A Study of Photocopying Practice and Copyright Law in Nigeria Libraries: Librarians Perspectives

Purpose: The study examine photocopying practice and copyright law in Nigeria libraries. Design/Methodology/Approach: A social survey method of research was adopted for the study. Five objectives and five research questions were formulated to guide the study. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select one hundred and fifty seven (157) respondents for the study whereas 91% were retrieved. The data collected were analyses using descriptive statistical tools such as, bar chart, percentages and mean. Findings: The outcome of the study revealed that libraries needs to play a prominent role in the issue of copyright law. The results also discovered that no limit to photocopied being made from textbooks and other libraries materials, more so, user’s awareness of copyright law does not influence their photocopying practice. Implication: The paper further emphasized that there should be adequate awareness of librarians in the issues of copyright law for effective and efficiency services delivery. Originality/Value: The paper value can be situated in its appropriate recommendations that libraries should derive a better means of effecting copyright law in Nigeria libraries and Ethics should be applied in the use of copyrighted library materials. Furthermore, law about 'fair use' should not be abused in term of photocopying materials in the library and copyright law offenders should face criminal charges among others.

Was Trafficking in Persons Really Criminalised?

This paper examines the successes and setbacks in the criminal justice response to trafficking in persons. While today, the majority of countries have passed specific legislation criminalising human trafficking in response to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, there are still very few convictions of trafficking. Using currently available knowledge, this paper discusses four possible reasons for low conviction rates. Further, the paper suggests that due to the heavy dependency on victim testimonies when prosecuting trafficking in persons crimes, members of criminal organisations that are easily identifiable by victims may face criminal charges more frequently than other members of the criminal group, particularly those in positions of greater responsibility who profit the most from the criminal activities. In this context, the exceptionally high number of women among convicted offenders is explored.

Feds End Probe Of Tesoro Blast

No one will face criminal charges in connection with the April 2010 refinery explosion and fireball that engulfed and killed seven Tesoro workers in Anacortes, Wash., the U.S. Justice Department says. Shortly after the accident, prosecutors and criminal investigators launched an inquiry to determine whether federal environmental and worker safety statutes and regulations were violated. “This tragedy demanded careful and thorough investigation,” says U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. “I am satisfied that the investigators and the experienced environmental attorneys in my office evaluated all the evidence and determined it does not reach the exacting bar for criminal prosecution.” The four-year investigation included interviewing past and present employees, reviewing thousands of documents, and consulting with industry experts. Tesoro spokeswoman Tina Barbee tells C&EN that the petroleum refiner “appreciates the government’s diligent and thorough investigation of this incident. We are pleased with this decisio...

The Insurance Hypothesis: An Examination of KPMG's Audit Clients around the Investigation and Settlement of the Tax Shelter Case

SUMMARYAlthough prior literature has suggested that independent audits provide an implicit form of insurance against investor losses (the “insurance hypothesis”), it has been challenging to isolate the “insurance” effect. In this paper, we use a unique setting to examine this effect. In 2002, KPMG was investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice in relation to tax shelters sold by the firm. From then until early 2005, several news reports suggested that KPMG would be indicted and suffer potentially the same fate as Arthur Andersen. However, in August of 2005 KPMG entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which ended widespread speculation of an impending federal indictment against the accounting firm. Because the investigation centered around tax services offered by the firm, we argue that the circumstances surrounding the investigation and settlement provide a natural setting to test the insurance value provided by auditors. We show that KPMG audit client firms experienced significant negative abnormal market returns when it appeared more likely that KPMG would face criminal charges, but earned significantly positive abnormal returns following news reports of an impending settlement. Further, these abnormal returns appear to be driven by KPMG client firms in greater financial distress or subject to greater litigation risk. These findings are consistent with the insurance hypothesis. Although we cannot completely eliminate other explanations such as an assurance effect or switching costs, we argue that such explanations are unlikely to drive our main findings.

Company duplication – plain fraud or a ‘poor man's’ bankruptcy? A case study in the financial distress of small businesses

AbstractTwo possible solutions to corporate financial distress are traditionally considered: commencing a formal bankruptcy proceeding or arranging an out‐of‐court capital restructuring. Corporate bankruptcy scholarship has largely ignored a third solution occasionally undertaken by small businesses, that is, resorting to self‐help measures. The purpose of this paper is to start filling the gap using a unique case study. The paper describes and analyses an existing phenomenon among small firms in Israel experiencing financial distress – company duplication. A typical scenario unfolds as follows. An entrepreneur who controls the financially distressed Company A registers a new Company B in an attempt to avoid a complete shutdown of her creditors' disturbed business. The assets of Company A are transferred to Company B in what appears to be fraudulent conveyance. Company B serves as a vehicle through which the original business is kept running. If necessary, the entrepreneur will also register Company C and repeat the process. Israeli law regulates company duplication in an ambivalent manner. On the one hand, conventional wisdom considers company duplication to be tantamount to fraud against Company A's unaware creditors. Accordingly, company duplication has been recently denounced by the Israeli Supreme Court as an illegitimate way of conducting business. The Court held that notwithstanding the principle of limited liability, an entrepreneur resorting to company duplication is personally liable to pay any debt of Company A that was not serviced by it. On the other hand, company duplicators do not face criminal charges. To the extent that company duplication is practiced by insolvent entrepreneurs, deterrence is therefore suboptimal, as insolvent duplicators are not sanctioned at all. Against this backdrop, this paper advances two normative arguments. First, a more sympathetic explanation should be considered to account for company duplication. An entrepreneur resorting to company duplication might actually be arranging for a ‘home‐made’ bankruptcy proceeding (i.e. buying time which could help the business establish its viability and regenerate). According to this narrative, the duplication mimics the role of a formal bankruptcy stay on unsecured creditors' collection efforts, thus suggesting that company duplication serves as ‘a poor man's’ bankruptcy proceeding. Second, this new explanation of company duplication, combined with the current level of suboptimal deterrence, mandates a re‐evaluation of this business pattern to assess its relative efficacy. I argue that at least in the Israeli context because of its special features, company duplication should be tolerated with regard to small businesses, assuming that the entrepreneur is not defrauding creditors or attempting to rescue a business that has failed due to economic rather than merely financial factors. To that end, company duplicators should be held personally liable to debts of the duplicated companies and be pursued with criminal sanctions only selectively, as explained in the paper. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

SMS. OMG! LOL! TTYL: TRANSLATING THE LAW TO ACCOMMODATE TODAY'S TEENS AND THE EVOLUTION FROM TEXTING TO SEXTING

Around the country some teenagers are using their cell phones to distribute nude or seminude pictures of themselves through text messages. An alarming number of these teenagers who are caught possessing or distributing the pictures face criminal charges as a child pornographer. Some face the possibility of jail time; others must register as a sex offender. Such harsh punishments are the product of laws that have not caught up with technology's advancements. This Note suggests that child pornography laws be restructured to include a category for juvenile “sexters” so these teenagers are not prosecuted as adults or forced to register as sex offenders. The laws should recognize different categories of sexters and provide rehabilitation programs suited to respond to the level of risk each sexter presents.

Should doctors who make clinical errors be charged with manslaughter? A survey of medical professionals and members of the public

If a doctor is grossly negligent and the patient dies as a result, the doctor can be charged with manslaughter. We have investigated the difference in opinion between medical professionals and the public on whether doctors should face criminal charges following different fatal medical errors. We conducted a survey of 40 medical professionals and 40 members of public, using a set of questions about negligence and manslaughter relating to four real-life cases of doctors charged with manslaughter where eventual outcomes were known. Medical professionals and the public agreed that lessons could be learnt from all four cases and that an independent review of each case should be carried out. However, across all cases, the public were more likely to respond that the doctor should be charged with manslaughter (OR = 2.1; 95% CI = 1.3-3.2). The public and, to a lesser extent, medical professionals still hold individuals responsible following a death due to medical error. This has implications for those who advocate a systems-based approach for assessing the root causes of medical errors, where there is a limited focus on individual accountability.

The consequences to managers for financial misrepresentation

We track the fortunes of all 2,206 individuals identified as responsible parties for all 788 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) enforcement actions for financial misrepresentation from January 1, 1978 through September 30, 2006. Fully 93% lose their jobs by the end of the regulatory enforcement period. Most are explicitly fired. The likelihood of ouster increases with the cost of the misconduct to shareholders and the quality of the firm's governance. Culpable managers also bear substantial financial losses through restrictions on their future employment, their shareholdings in the firm, and SEC fines. A sizeable minority (28%) face criminal charges and penalties, including jail sentences that average 4.3 years. These results indicate that the individual perpetrators of financial misconduct face significant disciplinary action.

How We Fight

ON THE MORNING of November 19, 2005, a U.S. Marine unit patrolling Haditha, a small farming town in the heart of Iraq's violence-plagued Anbar Province, was hit by a powerful roadside bomb. The explosion killed one marine and wounded two others. But that was just the start of the killing that day. Following the attack, four Iraqi college students and a driver who were approaching the scene in a taxi were also killed, as were 19 civilians in nearby houses, including an elderly man in a wheelchair and several children and the women who were trying to shield them. The first official account of the incident claimed that only i5 civilians had died, all from the bomb blast. In March 2006, an extensive Time magazine investigation challenged that version of events. Subsequent inquiries found that the marines had probably killed all 24 Iraqi civilians themselves and that U.S. commanders should have conducted a more thorough investigation earlier. The marines involved in the incident appear likely to face criminal charges, including for murder. If the marines' responsibility is confirmed, the Haditha killings will be the gravest violation by U.S. forces of the legal prohibition against the wanton targeting of civilians since the invasion of Iraq. A bedrock of the laws of war for more than a century, noncombatant immunity encompasses two key concepts: distinction

Unraveling the General: A Chilean Perspective of Pinochet’s Downfall

Issues 81 ISSUES UNRAVELING THE GENERAL: A CHILEAN PERSPECTIVEOF PINOCHET’SDOWNFALL JavierA. Couso UniversidadDiego Portales, Chile Just one year ago, former Chilean dictator General August0 Pinochet was enjoying a period of relative calm and tranquility, safe from prosecution due to his senile dementia, which was diagnosed after his return from “house arrest” in the United Kingdom in 2000.This highly disputed diagnosis allowed Pinochet to avoid prosecution in over a hundred criminal lawsuits for human rights violations perpetrated during the military regime he led between 1973 and 1990. With a few exceptional incidents, such as the occasional demonstration by opponents who recognized him when he shopped for books or took a walk in his favorite beach town, Iquique, Pinochet managed to stay out of the public eye, leading a peaceful life, similar to that of millions of anonymous pensioners. Thanks to this low profile, for the first time in thirty years the Chilean media confined the old general to the kind of obscurity that fugitives find rewarding. Although this scenario was not the one he had planned for his final years-he had hoped to enjoy the honor and recognition of being a Senator for life, but he was forced to relinquish the seat as part of his lawyers’ strategy of claiming he was mentally unfit to stand a criminal trial. This outcome , however, did not seem altogether bad, given how close he came to a life sentence in jail in 1998. In an ironic twist of fate, as a consequence of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the US Senate began an investigation into the sources of Islamic terrorist organizations’ funds, which led to the disclosure of the Chilean dictator’s secrets accounts at Riggs Bank of Washington, D.C. This revelation had far reaching implications. The initial revelation caused a scandal, which was heightened by the sum of money involved, almost 15 million dollars, which 82 The Latin Ainericanist 9 Spring 2005 far exceeded what Pinochet could have saved from his relatively modest salary as career military officer or as President of Chile. The most damning element that emerged from the investigation of the secret bank accounts was the disclosure that Pinochet had personally performed sophisticated banking operations even after having been declared mentally incompetent to stand trial. Indeed, according to the U.S. Senate investigation, as late as 2002-two years after the medical diagnosis of senile dementia-Pinochet personally transferred money from his Riggs Bank’s account to other banks in the Caribbean and Chile. The revelation that the General was a completely ableperson, except when it came to face justice, outraged many Chileans. In response to this disclosure, some Chilean lawyers involved in the scores of criminal lawsuits filed against Pinochet made a formal request to the courts to strip the general of his senatorial immunity in order to re-open criminal procedures against him. In the first case heard by the courts after the Riggs Bank secret accounts scandal, the Santiago Court of Appeals agreed to deprive Pinochet of his immunity, thus forcing him to face criminal charges relating to ‘Operation Condor’ case.’ However, the Court of Appeals simultaneously instructed the judge in charge of the case, Juan Guzmin to order a new neurological examination of the 88 year-old general, and only then assess his ability to defend himself in a criminal trial. Judge Guzmh asked three different neurologists to examine Augusto Pinochet, but they were unable to agree on his mental fitness to stand trial. Guzmin, then interviewed the General, reviewed his medical reports, and ruled Pinochet mentally fit to stand trial. Pinochet was then indicted. At the time of writing, Pinochet’s trial in the ‘Condor Case’ was still on course, but a final sentence is not expected for years, given the slow pace of Chile’s criminal procedure, particularly in such high profile cases tried under the old criminal procedure.’ In the meantime, the General remains under house arrest. What is the Likely Impact of Bringingthe Former Dictator to Justice on Chile? The events of the last decade concerning Pinochet have taught us to be very cautious when it comes to forecasting outcomes. Indeed, nobody ever expected...

Seven points financial services institutions should know about IT spending for compliance

If financial services institutions (FSIs) do not comply with a variety of new regulations they can face criminal charges. Despite budget pressures they must therefore continue to invest in technologies in support of their compliance mandate. This paper describes the major regulations applying to FSIs and discusses IT spending to comply with those regulations.

When is a teacher or school liable in negligence?

The law is increasing affecting the practice of education. The most likely reason a teacher or school will face legal action is in negligence where a student has been injured while under the school’s protection. This may occur in a variety of settings. To satisfy the elements of the tort of negligence the student who becomes in law the plaintiff must prove that a duty of care was owed, that the duty was breached, by not maintaining the appropriate standard and that the injury was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of that breach of duty. It would be rare for a teacher to face criminal charges but it could happen if a teacher had an intention to harm or acted recklessly.

Imanishi-Kari won't face criminal charges

Federal prosecutors have declined to press criminal charges against Thereza Imanishi-Kari, the Tufts University immunologist accused of fabricating data to support a paper she coauthored with Nobel Laureate David Baltimore and four others in 1986. The decision came shortly after a forensic expert hired by Imanishi-Kari's lawyer charged that evidence against her is flawed. Baltimore, claiming vindication, says he will ask the journal Cell to withdraw his retraction last year of the paper about transgenic mice [ 45 , 247 (1986)]. He resigned as president of Rockefeller University last winter under the weight of the controversy, which has dragged on for six years. But the U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore, Md., discounts the forensic expert's claims, and stresses that its decision not to prosecute says nothing about the integrity of Imanishi-Kari's research. It's a mistake to give that kind of weight to a decision made by criminal prosecutors, assistant U.S. attorney Geoffrey R. Garinther tells C&EN. The...

Was Trafficking in Persons Really Criminalised?

This paper examines the successes and setbacks in the criminal justice response to trafficking in persons. While today, the majority of countries have passed specific legislation criminalising human trafficking in response to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, there are still very few convictions of trafficking. Using currently available knowledge, this paper discusses four possible reasons for low conviction rates. Further, the paper suggests that due to the heavy dependency on victim testimonies when prosecuting trafficking in persons crimes, members of criminal organisations that are easily identifiable by victims may face criminal charges more frequently than other members of the criminal group, particularly those in positions of greater responsibility who profit the most from the criminal activities. In this context, the exceptionally high number of women among convicted offenders is explored.