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Essay about The Invincible Criminal

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Imagine losing your retirement funds or being a victim of a mortgage fraud because money from your bank account disappeared overnight! The 1996 report of the National Criminal Justice Commission estimated that the annual cost of white-collar crime is between $130 billion and $472 billion, seven to twenty-five times greater than the cost of conventional or street crime (Conklin, 2010, P. 71). White-collar crime in America is considered larceny committed by the wealthy, respected, and legitimate enterprise which is not set up or intended to go out of business like an ordinary fraud or con game. White-collar crime offenses may involve forgery, embezzlement, or fraud involving massive amounts of money. Offender’s commit fraudulent acts in the …show more content…

Edwin Sutherland introduced the term white-collar crime at the fourth annual meeting of the Sociological Association in 1939 (Conklin, 2010, P. 69). The Federal Bureau of Investigations defines white-collar crime as “Those illegal acts which are characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and which are not dependent upon the application or threat of physical force or violence” (Barnett). Individuals and mainly organizations commit white-collar crimes to obtain money, property, or services. By committing these invincible crimes, the criminal’s goal is to avoid the payment, loss of money or services, and to secure personal or business advantage. Three major orientations help define white-collar crime “Those that define white-collar crime by the type of offender (high socioeco¬nomic status and/or occupation of trust); those that define it in terms of the type of offense (economic crime); and those that study it in terms of the organizational culture rather than the offender or offense” (USDOJ, 1989, P. 3). Even though illegal acts of white-collar offenses are defined and interpreted differently by everyone, the fact of the matter is that offenders must be punished in accordance with U.S. law. This leads to our next discussion, we'll look into the laws meant to prevent white-collar crime as well as how those who commit it are punished.
Preventing and Punishing White-collar Crime
Additionally, laws that regulate white-collar

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