Term Paper Info

As you already know from the syllabus, a term paper is required for this course. After much discussion (and energetic lobbying by several of you) during our first meeting, the requirements for the paper, which are vague by design, are as follows:

Length: minimum five pages, no maximum -- but this is not a situation in which "more is more:" you can write five pages and get an A, or write 20 pages and get a C. I am looking for quality, not quantity.

Topics: any topic you want, as long as it has something to do with White Collar Crime. Possible topics might include (1) the recent bribery indictment and dismissal of charges against former San Jose Mayer Ron Gonzales; (2) stock options backdating cases: should this conduct be illegal absent proof of loss to shareholders? (3) Sarbanes-Oxley: is it doing more harm than good? (4) prison experiments: who gives a damn? (see PWH, Chapter 9); (5) Elizabeth de la Vega's hypothesis that President Bush engaged in a criminal conspiracy to deceive the public into supporting the Iraq war; (6) abuse of the presidential pardon power to benefit white collar criminals; (7) should American corporations be prohibited from bribing overseas officials to obtain contracts, or does this constitute an unnecessary and counterproductive impediment to our economy; or, rather than focusing on a particular kind of crime, you might consider a more general philosophical topic, such as (8) what causes more societal harm: white collar crime or street crime? (9) should the law protect gullible people who fall prey to Ponzi and other scams, or should the law just "let the buyer beware"? and finally, since I only need one more to make it to (10) tax policy: would the "Fair Tax," "Flat Tax," or some other tax system help to reduce the temptation and opportunity to commit tax evasion?

Due Date: April 22, 2008

Grading: theterm paper will be worth 25% of your grade, equal to the mid-term exam. Grading will be based on my admittedly subjective evaluation of the following:

(1) Knowledge: does your paper demonstrate knowledge and understanding of your chosen topic;

(2) Quality of Writing and Analysis: do you have a clear thesis? Are the facts and sources well-organized? Is your conclusion supported by the analysis?

(3) Quality of Sources: does your work reflect time spent on research? (Hint: citations to Wikipedia don't count.) Are your sources worthy, balanced, and fair? and finally,

(4) Originality: this is obviously the most subjective category, but I will give reward students who obviously put some real time and effort into coming up with their topics, and didn't just take the easy out of grabbing something from the textbook and dressing it up a little.