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Cartels

CartelsCartels and Their Role in the Market



A cartel is an explicit or formal agreement among firms that are in competition with each other. By creating a cartel, it sets up a formal organization of manufacturers and produces that decide and agree on fixed prices, production, and marketing to increase the profits of the participants. This allows the participating producers to constrain other competing companies outside of the cartel and potentially create a monopoly of the product in the market.
Topics discussed on in a cartel agreement can include:
• Price Fixing
• Bid rigging
• Market Shares
• Total industry output
• Allocation of territories
• Allocation of customers
• Establishment of sales agencies
• Division of profits among participants.
Cartels can often be found in markets that have a smaller number of sellers and in turn, less competition. It also applies to a product that is relatively homogenous and has few variations between sellers. 
Because of antitrust laws (specifically the Sherman Antitrust Act which passed in 1890), cartels are no longer legal in the United States and creating one is considered a federal crime. However, many European countries do allow cartels to operate. These cartels influence the prices of imported goods that come into the United States. Drug cartels in other countries also affect the United States, as many illegal narcotics are smuggled into the United States.
Cartels can be classified as being either private or public.
• Public: The government is involved in order to regulate and enforce the cartel agreements made. The sovereignty of the government protects the cartels from any legal actions made against them.
• Private: These cartels can be legally liable under whatever antitrust laws are in placed in the country of question.
Most competition laws and antitrust laws forbid private cartel agreements. It is important to spot and break up these private cartels because of competition policy that are found in most countries, although it is rarely an easy task to prove the existence of a cartel agreement since many of the involved parties are extremely careful not to leave physical evidence of such a thing.
Many different legal decisions and economic studies of antitrust authorities have concluded that the median increase in price accomplished by these cartels was about 25% in the last 200 years. Private cartels with participants from two or more countries created an average increase of price of 28%, whereas private domestic cartels averaged 18%. Less than 10% of all cartels used in the sample did not raise the market price of their product.
One example of a cartel is the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC. This cartel is between the governments of The United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, Libya, Kuwait, Iran, Angola, Ecuador, and Algeria.
OPEC represents countries that produce major sources of oil in the Middle East, South America, and Africa. While not as powerful as they once were, they have some control of gas prices and cannot be held accountable for being in a cartel due to public international law giving them doctrine of state immunity.

Prison Reentry

Prison Reentry

What do Prison Reentry Programs Do?
Prison reentry programs are designed to promote effective reintegration of prisoners and offenders back into their communities after being released from jail or prison. Many of these prison reentry programs require a very comprehensive approach to the case and works to help offenders in receiving the proper skills needed to become citizens that follow the law. By creating prison reentry programs, it helps reduce recidivism rates.
There are many different prison reentry programs, such as vocational training, work programs, and prerelease programs. One particular initiative is supported by the United States Department of Justice, and is known as the Prisoner Reentry Initiative. It is also supported by the Office of Justice Programs, as well as other federal programs such as the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, Labor, and Housing and Urban Development.
This initiative is a complete effort that looks at both adult and juvenile groups of very high-risk offenders. It provides resources to create, set up, improve, and evaluate many reentry strategies used to ensure the safety of the community by reducing serious, violent crimes.
This is done through preparation of the selected offenders in order to successfully integrate them into their communities after having served a long period of secure confinement in an adult or juvenile correctional facility, a state training school, or other secure institution.
In these prison reentry initiatives, some goals include providing education, job training, mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, mentoring, and risk assessment. The initiative then works to proper monitoring and training as well as other assessment to help transition the individual into society. 
Long term programs are also included to help provide various social services and community based groups to provide continuing services and mentor relationships if necessary. These programs are often implemented are often implemented the first year and a half after release from jail or prison.
Another approach to prison reentry is through reentry courts. These courts offer the chance for even more extensive treatment and management of offenders at the beginning of the sentencing phase. The goal is to promote accountability of the offender while giving services and treatment during the prison reentry phase.
These programs can be very helpful because annually, almost 650,000 individuals are released from federal and state prison doorsteps. Even more come out of local jails and have often been in and out of jail more than once. For example, The Bureau of Justice Statistics found that in a study consisting of 15 states, over 67% of the released state prisoners were rearrested, over half of them returning to prison within three years.

Verbal Abuse

Verbal Abuse

What Counts as Verbal Abuse?


Verbal abuse is best thought of as an emotional environment that is ongoing that is created by an abuser to the abused, most often for the point of maintaining control. One of the primary underlying factors in the dynamics of a relationship with verbal abuse is the fact that the abuser has low self-esteem or opinions for him or herself. Because of this, the abuser tries to put their victim in a lowered position to make them believe similar things through a warped projection.
Verbal abuse can include:
• accusing
• berating
• blaming
• blocking
• bullying
• countering
• defaming
• defining
• discounting
• diverting
• harassing
• insulting
• interrogating
• lying
• name-calling
• putting down
• raging
• taunting
• threatening
• trivializing
• withholding
• yelling
Some examples of verbal abuse include:
• Control by telling a victim how to feel and what to think while refusing to understand the victim’s perspective. The abuser may object verbally in a violent way to the victim’s desires or inions. 
• Withholding support, affection, information or money and denying it when the abuser is confronted.
• Isolating a victim by blocking outside relationships to family and friends. The abuser works tries to convince the victim that the only person who truly cares about the victim or likes the victim is the abuser. Occasionally, the verbal abuser may be willing to admit to this behavior, and agrees to end it, but the behavior tends to quickly restart.
 Verbal abuse can happen to any person of any race, gender, sexual orientation, culture, size or age. It is seen most often in is especially prevalent in marital relationships. Most often, the intensity of verbal abuse will increase over time and can even escalate to a point where it becomes physical abuse as well.
Often in a relationship with intense verbal abuse, the victim often suffers from very low self-esteem along with low self-worth. Because of the verbal abuse, a victim can easily fall into post-traumatic stress disorder or even clinical depression.
Despite verbal abuse being one of the more common forms of abuse, it is normally not considered to be as seriously as other forms of abuse, since no visible proof comes out of verbal abuse. However, verbal abuse can sometimes be more harmful to the individual’s well-being than physical abuse.
If verbal abuse starts at a young age, it can contribute greatly to borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, codependency, and many other psychological disorders that often continue on into adulthood.
Individuals who feel they are being verbally attacked by an abuser regularly should try to get professional counsel and get out of the hurtful environment as much as possible. Staying in an environment with a verbal abuser is extremely damaging for a person’s well-being.

Most Wanted

Most Wanted

Most Wanted in the United States


There are many different most wanted lists based on the level of government and the government or law enforcement agency involved. The most commonly known one in the United States is the Federal Bureau of Investigations most wanted list that started in the middle of the 20th century.
The Ten Most Wanted List is one of the most well know FBI list that have been in existence since March of 1950. The list was designed by the FBI with the country’s new media in order to publicize dangerous fugitives in order to receive more public assistance in tracking these fugitives. These names are chosen by the 56 field offices of the FBI who submit their candidates for the list to the Criminal Investigative Division. Selected candidates are approved by the Assistant director and then the FBI’s director.

Different FBI Wanted Lists
The FBI has different lists based on the crimes.
• Ten Most Wanted
• Parental Kidnappings
• Most Wanted Terrorists
• Crime Alerts
• Crimes Against Children
In order to be on the list, an individual must have a long record of committing crimes or be a very dangerous menace to society. The case must also benefit from public awareness. The first person to be put on the list was Thomas James Holden, who had murdered his wife and two of her relatives. Since then 949 fugitives have been put on the list, while 464 of them have been located or apprehended.

Currently the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives are:
• Jason Derek Brown
• Victor Manuel Gerena
• James J. Bulger
• Eduardo Ravelo
• Robert William Fisher
• Joe Luis Saenz
• Alexis Flores
Semion Mogilevich
• Glen Stewart Godwin
• Osama Bin Laden (who is now deceased)

Other Most Wanted Lists Kept by Government or Law Enforcement Agencies
• U.S. Marshal’s Most Wanted list consists of those with a history of many violent crimes who are possibly armed and dangerous.
• U.S. Postal Inspection Service has a list for those who have committed robbery, mail fraud, harming postal employees, and other crimes.
• Secret Service Most wanted Fugitives
• Interpol International Police Organization
• The Drug Enforcement Administration maintains their own lists of most wanted fugitives based on Field Division. They also keep a list of major international fugitives as well.
• The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and firearms has a wanted list.
• Environmental Protection Agency’s list of fugitives includes those who have broken the EPA’s rules.
Many states jurisdictions also have their own most wanted lists. For example, California’s most wanted list is kept by the Department of Justice, while New York’s list is kept by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. 

Execution

Execution

Execution in the United States


Lawful execution through the death penalty or capital punishment is the death sentence upon an individual through the judicial process as punishment for an offence by the individual. Crimes that can result in being sentenced to execution are considered capital offenses or capital crimes.
Capital is a term that originates from capitalis, a Latin word, that literally means “regarding the head”. The idea originated from the fact that originally, a capital crime was punishable by severing the body from the head.
Capital punishment has existed and been practiced by the majority of societies, while only 58 countries currently actively practice it. 95 countries have abolished execution while the countries remaining have not used it for over a decade or only have used in in extreme circumstances such as during wartime.
In the United States, capital punishment is practically applied to only aggravated murder, although occasionally it is applied to felony murder. Prior to the Declaration of Independence, executions were an enforced penalty for many felonies. After the American Revolution, execution was still maintained with the United States common law system.
Execution is a very controversial idea in many different states and countries and positions often rely on or are based off of a political or cultural ideology or a religious belief. In the United States, Capital punishment has constantly been a contentious social issue. Historically, the majority of the public favors it in murder cases, yet this support has changed over time.
The procedures of execution and the crimes that can warrant it vary by state by state and jurisdiction by jurisdiction and have done so throughout American history. Currently, 34 four jurisdictions have banned execution by law, while others have simply suspended its use. Meanwhile there are a few that are attempting to increase its applicability. In 2008 there were 37 executions in the United States and 46 executions in 2010, where all but two lethal injection.
In the 37 states as well as the federal government that have execution statutes, only five methods of execution are prescribed:
• Lethal Injection
• Lethal Gas
• Electrocution
Firing Squad
• Hanging. 
Most of the executions performed in the United States are by lethal injection. However, more than half the jurisdictions also provide for alternative methods. The choice of method can be based off of:
• The Inmate’s choice
• Date of sentence or execution
• Change of method being unconstitutional
Currently, Nebraska is the only state that does not have lethal injection as the main choice of execution. It also does not provide other options besides electrocution as the only method of execution. Currently, none of the states provide hanging, lethal gas, or a firing squad for the only method of execution.
Since the death penalty laws were reinstatement in 1976, New Jersey became the first state to repeal its laws in 2007. The Nebraska Supreme Court also repealed the laws in 2008 by saying the electric chair was not constitutional as a method of execution. Since there are no alternative methods, Nebraska in practice does not have a death penalty.

Rape Statistics

Rape Statistics

United States Rape Statistics


Rape is not just a women’s problem, but rather a societal problem. Here are some rape statistics to help show to provide more information on the issue. 


Rape Statistics on the Victims
• 1 out of 6 American women have been through either an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime.
• Over 17.7 million women in America are currently the victims of completed or attempted rape.
• In 2003, 90% of rape victims were women.
• 80% of rape victims are white, but minorities are more likely to experience an attack.
• 1 in 33 American men have been the victim of an attempted rape or completed rape.
• In 2003, 10% of rape victims were men
• Over 2.5 million American men  have been the victims of rape or sexual assault.
• 80% of rape and sexual assault victims are less than 30 years old, while 33% are less than 18 and 15 are less than 12.
• Young women ages 16-19 are four times more likely to be victims or attempted rape, rape, or sexual assault in comparison to the general population.

Rape Statistics: Frequency
• Attempted rape, rape, or sexual assault occurred to individuals 12 or older 248,300 times according to 2007 rape statistics.
• Someone is sexually assaulted in the United States every 2 minutes.
• Thankfully, the rate of sexual assault has fallen over 60% since 1993.

Rape Statistics: Reporting the Crime
• At least 60% of sexual assaults and rapes are not reported to law enforcement authorities, meaning only approximately 6% of rapists experience jail time.
• This means approximately 15/16 rapists are not held accountable for their crimes.
Rape Statistics: The Offenders
• About 67% of rapes and sexual assaults are done by someone the victim has met as opposed to a stranger.
• 38% are an acquaintance or friend, 28% are someone who is considered intimate, and 7% is a family member or relative.
• Over half of all sexual assaults and rape incidents happen within a mile of the home of either the offender or the victim.
• According to rape statistics, approximately 40% occur in the victim’s home and 20% happen in a friend, relative’s, or neighbors home.
• 43% of all rapes happen between 6PM and 12AM, 24% happen from 12AM to 6AM, while 33% happen between 6AM and 6PM.
• The average age of the offender is 31 years old.
• About half of the offenders are white.
• 22% of rapists that are imprisoned are married.
• In about 1/3 of all sexual assaults, the offender is under the influence of either drugs or alcohol.
• 84% of rapes use only physical force according to victims.
• More than 1/10 of the rapes in 2001 used a weapon such as a knife, gun, or other form.
• Almost half of rapists released from prison committed another crime and was arrested for it within 3 years.

Tampa Man Exported Millions in Computer Equipment to Iran

Tampa Man Exported Millions in Computer Equipment to Iran


On October 18, 2012, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that Mohammad Reza “Ray” Hajian of Tampa was sentenced to four years in federal prison for violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian trade regulations as well.  Hajian was also sentenced to a year of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $10 million.  


Court documents show that Hajian illegally exported expensive and complex computer equipment to Iran from 2003 to 2011.  The transactions are in direct violation of the U.S. embargo on transactions between Iran and the United States.


Hajian worked with other co-conspirators to ship the computers and electronic equipment.  The co-conspirators routed all shipments, payments and travel between the two countries through the United Arab Emirates.  They contacted only through email, used fake identities, and communicated in code to hide the extent of their activities.  Hajian is believed to have shipped about $14.85 million worth of computers and electronic equipment to Iran during the operation.  


Hajian pleaded guilty to the charges on July 11, 2012, and his companies—RH International LLC, Nexiant LLC, and P & P Computers LLC—pleaded guilty as well.  


Sue McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI Tampa, stated, “The magnitude and scope of the threats facing the United States has never been greater than today, and that’s why Homeland Security Investigations investigates individuals who try to export sensitive technologies to hostile nations.”  


Robert Luzzi, special agent in charge of the Security’s Office of Export Enforcement Miami Field Office, noted: “Parties who conspire to export to embargoed destinations such as Iran will be pursued and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”  


The sentencing of Hajian comes just a week later after the United States declared that Iran may have been responsible for the attempted cyber attack on the White House.  


Tensions continue to grow between the United States and Iran.  


Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
 

Mussolini

Mussolini

The Life and Death of Mussolini 
Benito Mussolini was most notably a the Fascist leader of the Italian government from  1922 to 1943 and the leader of the National Fascist Party.
Mussolini was born in Dova di Predappio in July of 1883. As a young boy he was influenced by his father’s beliefs as a socialist who admired many Italian Nationalists. He later moved to Switzerland where he studied various philosophers and slowly became involved in the Italian Socialist movement. He returned to Italy and served in the military for two years.
He left Italy again and moved to Trento, where he worked for the labor party while also doing work for the Socialist party. He became a prominent member of the Socialist party but by WWI, he found himself with an opinion different form the other Socialists who felt that they should not be involved in the war.
Mussolini denounced socialism and took on a more nationalist stance, which eventually transformed into his fascist beliefs. He entered politics and created the Italian Combat Squad, which claimed to oppose social class discrimination but instead supported nationalist ideas like unity. He later founded the Fighting Fascists which gave him a seat in the Parliament in 1921. 
By setting fixed general elections, he was able to maintain his position and eventually created a dictatorship. However, living standards declined for many Italians and while life was not getting better for these citizens, Mussolini did nothing to fit the situation.
Mussolini put the Italian nation through wars the Ethiopian War, Spain’s Civil War, finally World War II. He Joined Adolf Hitler and started to attack Jewish people in his own country. Towards the end of the 1930’s, Mussolini found himself with significantly less support.
Because of fear of being overshadowed by other political leaders of the world, Mussolini strived to continue his efforts in World War II, despite a lack of support from Italy’s citizens. His military suffered tremendous losses and defeats from European forces due to lack of food and supplies and lost his power in 1942. While Hitler helped him restore his position a year later, he still struggled through his plans of invasion and occupation as well as through a civil war between 1944 and 1945.
As the end of the war neared, Mussolini struggled to survive. He was arrested but was soon freed. As Allied forces came closer, he attempted to escape with his mistress to Switzerland. He was captured and the next day he was executed.

J. Robert Verdun

J. Robert Verdun

 


J. Robert Verdun

J. Robert Verdun is a Canadian former newspaper publisher best known for his involvement in a defamation lawsuit that resulted in one of the largest awards of damages given in such cases. The case in question was Astley v. Verdun, which entered the Canadian court system in 2006 and achieved a resolution in 2011.

The origins of this case lie with a 1999 dispute between J. Robert Verdun and Robert Astley. In 1999, Astley was the president and CEO of the company Mutual Life of Canada, in which J. Robert Verdun was a shareholder. A policy holders' meeting was held that year to discuss and approve making the company a publicly traded entity named Clarica. J. Robert Verdun voiced his disagreement to this plan loudly, allegedly attempting to gain control of the chairman's microphone when his was turned off. Despite his opposition, the conversion of Mutual Life into Clarica began.

In 2004, J. Robert Verdun renewed his dispute with Astley, who was being considered for induction to the board of the Bank of Montreal. In a letter he sent to the bank's chairman, he described Astley in derogatory terms as greedy and pledged that, in light of his opposition to Astley being appointed, he would make his opposition public. This email constituted the first of eight statements later found to be defamatory.

In February 2005, J. Robert Verdun attended the bank's annual general meeting and denounced Astley for 35 minutes as unethical. In November of that year, he reiterated his claims in the form of shareholder proposals submitted to several banks. Under Canadian law, banks are required to reprint and share these statements with all shareholders, giving the charges J. Robert Verdun made a larger audience.

At this point, both the Bank of Montreal as well as Astley's lawyer notified J. Robert Verdun that he should stop his remarks. Rather than complying, J. Robert Verdun filed another complaint regarding Astley's position with the bank with the Ontario Securities Commission. As a result of this action, in May 2006 Astley filed a lawsuit against J. Robert Verdun seeking one million Canadian dollars in damages regarding eight separate defamatory statements made maliciously. J. Robert Verdun filed a counterclaim which was dismissed .

In May of 2011, a jury ruled that all eight of the statements J. Robert Verdun had made qualified as defamatory and made with malicious intent. In addition to being ordered to pay $650,000 the presiding judge issued a permanent injunction prohibiting J. Robert Verdun from making any statements about Astley in any medium and in any form. The decision was notable not only for the size of the damages awarded but because of the decision to restrict the freedom of speech of J. Robert Verdun. The judge made this ruling in light of Verdun's continued pattern of behavior, which included publishing a book reiterating and expanding his statements about Astley even after the jury's verdict had been returned. 

 

Lynne Stewart

Lynne Stewart

 


Lynne Stewart

Until her 2005 conviction for providing material support to terrorists, attorney Lynne Stewart was best known for her controversial defense of a variety of defendants who she represented on ideological grounds. In many interviews, Lynne Stewart said that her upbringing by immigrant parents in Brooklyn had left her strongly predisposed to fight on behalf of those dispossessed by the legal system.

For example, in 1991 Lynne Stewart represented Larry Davis, a resident of the Bronx, New York who had been involved in a 1986 shootout with the NYPD that resulted in the shooting of nine police officers. Working with attorney William Kunstler, Lynne Stewart was successful in helping him to avoid murder and attempted murder charges. Other high-profile defenses were not always so successful, such as her defense of Mafia kingpin Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, who was sentenced to 13 years in jail in 2005 on charges of trafficking the drug Ecstasy.

In 1999, Lynne Stewart was charged with contempt of court when she refused to comply with a New York court order demanding an explanation of what kind of alternative fee arrangement she had arrived at with a client charged as part of a larger case involving a drug gang. The following year, she attracted further legal attention whiel working the defense of Sheik Omar Abdal-Rahman, an Egyptian cleric who played a leadership role in the Islamic Group, which had been deemed a terrorist organization by the American government.

Lynne Stewart had previously represented Abdal-Rahman during his 1995 trial for charges of conspiracy designed to bomb major American buildings. She continued working with him on issues related to his handling after conviction, meeting with him roughly three times a year. As part of her efforts, Lynne Stewart agreed to abide by "special administrative measures," which among other things required her not to disclose any part of their conversations to third parties. However, video footage of her visits to him at a Minnesota prison revealed that Lynne Stewart had served as a kind of cover while Abdal-Rahman passed on messages for distribution to the interpreter.

In July 2000, Lynne Stewart made statements to the press on behalf of her client, leading to a federal grand jury indictment in 2003. In November of that year, she was charged with obstruction of justice, in addition to being part of a conspiracy to provide material support for terrorist activities. In 2005, following additional legal maneuvers, Lynne Stewart was found guilty of defrauding the American government by violating the terms of her special administrative measures.

From 2006 to 2010, a series of legal actions, as well as Lynne Stewart's treatment for breast cancer, delayed the implementation of her prison sentence. In 2006, she sent a letter to the federal district court overseeing her case in which, contrary to her prior positions, she admitted to wrongdoing and poor judgment. In 2010, she was finally sentenced to 10 years in prison and began her sentence later that year.

 

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