Julian Assange, famous for his computer hacking skills, is the editor in chief of WikiLeaks, a whistle-blower website. WikiLeaks has exposed documents and videos detailing the corruption in Kenya, Guantanamo Bay procedures, and the American involvement in the Afghan and Iraq wars, portions of which were classified confidential and secret. The New York Times published some of this information. Although WikiLeaks did not actually “leak” classified material (some of it was passed to WikiLeaks by a low-level US Army intelligence analyst). The US Department of Justice has charged Assange with 18 counts of violating United States Codes (laws), including conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and illegally obtaining classified material.

Module 14 Discussion

• Do you think it is ethical to expose or publish “leaked” confidential and secret government information? Explain your answer.
• What is the difficulty in prosecuting a defendant for this type of publication?

MODULE 14 WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT

1. How do larceny and embezzlement, differ and why are these differences important? Explain your answer.

2. Why is burglary of a dwelling at night time generally graded higher than other burglaries? Explain your answer.

3. A man walks into a 7-11 store, grabs a six pack of beer and starts to walk out. When the clerk confronts the man, the man opens his jacket showing the clerk a gun in his waistband, but says nothing. The clerk backs up and the man walks out. You as a police officer get the call, see the man and arrest him. While searching the man you locate the gun, which turns out to be a pellet gun. According to the text is this crime still a robbery, or something else? Explain your answer.