Essay on Corporate Crime

White Collar crime is not a crime unto it self, but instead a criteria that has to be met in order for a crime to be considered as White- Collar Crime; (Blount, 2002) hence the reason why Corporate Crime is also considered as White- Collar Crime. At the same time, White Collar Crime and Corporate Crime can be seen as distinct criminological categories, however, in order to reveal this, this essay will firstly be exploring Sutherland's definition of white collar crime and the perplexity with this definition of white-collar crime. It will then be looking at the modification which had to take place with Sutherland's definition of white-collar crime in order to established a distinction between white-collar and corporate crime.

In my opinion the ramifications of noncompliance are absolutely justifiable actions. Our government often enacts legislation which may not be in the best interest of the people. Therefore, when a corporation engages in fraudulent activities which are illegal or immoral and these actions affect the livelihood of numerous individuals across the Nation our only recourse

Greg Whalley, (former Enron President and Chief Operation Officer) had six to eight conversations last fall with the Treasury’s Department Peter Fisher, including one in which he asked Fisher to call Enron’s lenders as they decided whether to extend credit to the company.

Most everyone goes home after a long day of work and watches the news. Think, what is usually reported? The weather, local activities, headline news, or daily criminal activity. Shootings, stabbings, homicides, etc. are all discussed by media anchors these days. This causes most everyone in our society to become familiar with crimes that are considered street crimes. What most people don’t hear about on the news is what is considered white-collar crime, sometimes known as corporate crime. White-collar crime not only is less reported in the media but also receives weaker punishments than street crime. This paper will first discuss the similarities between the two types of crime and then explain why their punishments are strongly

The question before our society is not whether corporate crime is a victimless crime, rather the question is what should be done about it? Corporate crime doesn’t just do harm to the investors that can be unknowingly damaged by these crimes, it has a much more insidious nature to it as it has done harm on global scales. Corporate crime is almost a misnomer because many of these criminal wrongdoings are for the most part legal, when not taken to their ultimate conclusion. Society within the United States has been taught that the man in the brief case, yelling at other men in dark coats on the flow of the stock exchange are the smartest guys in the room. This paper will attack that idea on many levels, the first salvo will be

We like every other person in this world, when we hear the word crime; we automatically get an image of a person from a low class in a bad neighborhood and coming from a troubled family. However, who knew that those who are educated and coming from a wealthy family can also pertain to the world of crime and mischief. We as human beings tend to also be judgmental, assuming that only unprivileged men have a drive to commit an offense against the law then a prosperous individual. Nevertheless, it is not our evil doing that we are regularly pushed to foresee this problem this way, especially not when it is the media, the government, and the media are the ones who painting this picture for us.

As said in every economics class, the reason every business goes into business is to make money. The same can be said in criminal cases involving businesses. In the majority of cases, executives and people highly ranked in the company tend to bend the numbers in the financial/accounting areas of the business or corporation. They do not do this for fun, but rather to make money. Something needs to be done before corporations really get out of hand.

In this article, Apuzzo and Protess outline the new strategy set out by the Justice Department to target white-collar crime. Up until now, they indicate that there has been very few executives that have been charged with crimes for their role in the housing scandal and other economic scandals that lead up to the previous recession. The new strategy, headed by the new Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the Deputy Attorney General Suzy Yates, encourages corporations to turn over their executives and settle it as a civil case instead of blaming a low-level employee and possibly face criminal charges and heavy fines.

Committing a corporate crime seems tempting at times, and the culprits usually feel as if their crime is justified. They justify their choice to steal from the company by assuming that the only person who would be affected is the CEO, or somebody that would not notice a dent in their hefty salary. However, it is naive to think of these types of crimes in a way that doesn’t adequately explain the ripple affect each crime has on society.

In 1939, American sociologist Edwin Sutherland introduced the phrase “white-collar crime”. White-collar crime is a nonviolent crime committed by a business or large corporations. They are usually scams or frauds to gain wealth in society. The people who are guilty of this crime lie, cheat and steal from investors of their company or business. Even though these crimes are non-violent, they have major impacts on the society. Their companies become non existent and families get destroyed. All of their life savings and savings for their children get taken away, and they become bankrupt. Not only does it affect their families, the investors who believed in their business lose millions or even billions of dollars.

Many of these regulatory agencies have been under attack by special interest groups who want less oversight in their business endeavors. However, less oversight is one way that white-collar crimes are overlook. For example, during the 2008 economical downturn, the veil was lifted off the business practices of many of the Wall Street banks and hedge funds companies. The next section of this paper will examine the impact the white-collar crimes have on society and how it differentiates from other types of crimes. White-collar crime can and many times do affect society in a

One of the key critical issues that should be researched in 21st century criminology is corporate and white collar crime. "White-collar crime is a very broad concept that speaks generally to illegal behaviour that takes advantage of positions of professional authority and power - or simply the opportunity structures available within business - for personal or corporate gain."(Kempa, 2010:252). White-collar crime can be any form of fraud, embezzlement, trading for personal gain, trying to increase stock prices by exaggerating profits or misleading products conducted by business professionals. Unlike the more common crimes such as drug related offences, assault and possession theft white-collar crime

Studies have indicated that the public now judges white-collar criminality to be more serious than it had been in the past, people now have lost confidence in the people running major companies, and most American corporate executives are believed to be dishonest. The public's concern with corporate crime has grown recently, but has been evident for several years. Corporate crime has also been linked to political leaders in this country. Corporate crime is a crime of power and profit for the offenders. Large and powerful corporations who have the support of prominent political leaders can be difficult to prosecute in corporate crime cases. At the Progress & Freedom Foundation conference held at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia) was asked why he spent so much time addressing the issue of street crime and violence, while ignoring the issue of corporate crime and violence. Gingrich answered, "If I went around the country and said, 'Vote for us and there will be no more white-collar fraud,' the average voter will say, 'I don't think he gets it.'" But corporate crime is more than just white-collar fraud. And one reason that Gingrich doesn't address the issue of corporate crime might be because one of the corporations that has brought him to power is Southwire Co. of Carrollton, Georgia. Southwire has close ties to

1. The Enron debacle created what one public official reported was a “crisis of confidence” on the part of the public in the accounting profession. List the parties who you believe are most responsible for that crisis. Briefly justify each of your choices.

Ethical behavior, in a general sense, is a definition of moral behavior in regards to lawfulness, societal standards, and things of that nature. In the business world, ethics commonly refer to acceptable and unacceptable business practices within the workplace, and all other related environments. The acceptance of colleges regardless of ethnicity, gender, and beliefs, as well as truthfulness and honesty in relation to finances within the company are examples of ideal ethical business conducts. Unethical business behavior would include manipulating procedures based on bias or discrimination, engaging in activities that promote political gain, as well as blatant fabrication of monetary factors within the company and “can affect