Question

• Compare and contrast theories of crime causation. Speculate as to which theory would have most likely detected fraud at Enron.
• Assess the six situational categories that cause non-sharable problems. Determine which of these six categories, in your opinion, were prevalent at Enron.  

Answer 1

Crime Causation

The Enron Corporation is mainly known for the scandals associated with it which surfaced in 2001 and were mainly as a result of institutionalized accounting fraud and corruption. The theories of crime causation include the strain theory which is as a result of the struggle people are going through in the society and they engage in crime to better their situation; the social learning theory (crime as a result of associating other people engaging in the same activity) and control theory (stipulates that it is normal for humans to engage in crime to satisfy their needs). These theories all seek to establish why crime exists. Unlike the social learning theory and the strain theory, the control theory concentrates more on why people conform; it takes crime for granted (Ramage, 2006).

            The theory that is most likely to have caused the situation at the Enron Corporation is the social learning theory. The fraud was mostly in the accounting sector and even brought up many questions on how the accounting is carried out in corporations in USA. This is an indication that the accountants among themselves have found ways to carry out their fraudulent activities without actually being noticed. They therefore take advantage of the fact that they are trusted and carry out these crimes and even influence each other to do so (Pedneault, 2013)

            There are usually conditions that usually cause non share problems. This is due to the fact that sharing such problems would actually cause more harm than good. For the Enron Corporation, what caused them to find themselves in such a situation is the fact that they needed to ensure that this condition does not make people lose faith in them. They needed to work it out a way that they would retain their dignity even after rising from their current unpleasant situation.