Wednesday, April 7, 2004

‘Pressure’:
a corrupting U.S. trait

---

It’s a verb and noun. It’s also a scandalous influence on behavior.

Pressure.

"The pressure is on" the coach. "Put pressure on to get the contract," the sales manager is told. "The pressure of being a star is unbelievable," says the celebrity. "Directors are putting on pressure for a better third quarter," the CEO sighs. Sen. John Kerry’s answer to higher priced gasoline—put "pressure" on oil producing countries. In addition, a rash of lawsuits over companies shaving hours off employee time cards, according to Cornell University professor George Milkovich, reveals "pressures ...to control costs and improve productivity."

Not even law enforcement is exempt from corrupting "pressure."

Associated Press reporter Mark Niesse finds a widespread practice among police of shaving crime statistics.

Georgia State University criminal justice professor Robert Friedman blames politicians who want a prettier community image as well as police fearing for their jobs.

In Atlanta, 22,000 crime reports vanished to improve the image for the Olympic games. Philadelphia deleted several thousand rape reports. In Broward County, Fla., the state’s attorney is investigating altered crime statistics.

This comes on the heels of another criminal justice scandal—aggressive prosecutors and judges relying on tainted and corrupt evidence to send hundreds of innocent persons to prison, many to Death Row.

Not to be forgotten are news reporters fired for phony stories, most who had succumbed to pressures to excel.

Police deleting crime reports (and reporters producing counterfeit stories) are driven by the same rationale as corrupt auditors who cooked Enron’s books—creating a false impression of performance.

Pressure to improve performance through fraud also has involved data on military weapons systems, new medicines, and professional resumes.

The most shameless use of false data may have been the Bush administration’s fictional threats of imminent Iraqi nuclear, chemical or biological attacks on U.S. interests to pressure Congress into supporting the attack on Iraq.

Anyone for pressure for honesty?

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.