Foundations of Criminal Law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Foundations of Criminal Law - Assignment Example Fraud losses impact deeply or adversely almost every aspect in business. The fraud management is mainly encountered through the Deterrence, Prevention, Detection, Mitigation, Analysis, Policy, investigation and Prosecution3. Although definitions of legal insanity differs according to states, generally a person is considered insane and not responsible for a criminal conduct if, at the time of the offense, as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, he is not able to appreciate the nature and quality of his criminal act4. SET 1 Case 1 The article is about a case against a person named Lord Hanningfield who had been held guilty for using the funds of Essex County Council mainly for his own personal interests by citing false claims. It is a case of theft by false accounting. Theft is defined as a punishable offence where a person may wish to dishonestly obtain property belonging to other5. There are five elements of theft which are appropriation, property, belonging to other, with the intention of depriving the other permanently and dishonesty6. Theft by false accounting arises when a person dishonestly destroys or falsifies an account or any record required for an accounting purpose. Also if the information furnished by the person, who may be required by any accounting purpose, is untrue by the knowledge of the person, it is also known to be theft arising out of false accounting7. False accounting is used to obtain more funds from the banks or related institutions8. In the article Lord Hanningfield was found guilty of using the funds of Essex County Council by submitting receipts and claims which were found to be false. It was found that he had provided false details about his travel expenditures to draw money out of the council. He had submitted a receipt of ?500 for traveling which was found to be false. He also used the facility of a chauffeur driven car provided by Essex County Council to his home when the distance was only of 46 miles. The normal allowa nce level is ?174 for a single night without a receipt. Lord Hanningfield had repeatedly violated this provision. He had booked for airfares to India and hotels outside London which were booked by others. Also, it was found that Lord Hanningfield was in full knowledge about the false claims when it was being committed. This is a case of fraud caused by theft in accounting as it satisfies the five elements for causing a theft a well as accounting inappropriately that is caused intentionally. However, Lord Hanningfield claim that he had used the money which he is entitled to does not provide a clear picture of theft. The above mentioned law does not explain this clause as whether the defendant had utilized his rights or it was a fraudulent behavior. The article is insufficient to deduce if it was fraud by abuse of position. There are statutory conditions against fraud caused by theft of false accounting. On conviction, the accused can be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceed ing seven years 9. Case II In this case of fraud, the wife of a policeman was alleged of taking part in a ?10 million mortgage scam for the exchange of the high value goods. This is the case of fraud by false representation. A person is said to be in violation of this law if he person makes a false representation through dishonest means, for the intentions of reaping gains for him or