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White Collar Crime Part 1 Summary

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(1200)Part I: Summary of White Collar Crime: The Uncut Version by Edwin H. Sutherland et al (1983)

This book summary will define the various aspects of “white collar” that are presented in White Collar Crime by Edwin Sutherland et al (1983). Sutherland et al’s (1985) book presents a theoretical and analytical approach to the study of white-collar crime, which is divided into six parts. Overall, the book represents sixteen chapters that define this criminological phenomenon with in-depth evaluations of these crimes. In Part I, Sutherland et al (1983) define the complex array of different rimes that are committed in corporate American culture that take place at the American Sociological Society in 1939. Sutherland is presented as a speaker …show more content…

These crimes involve embezzlement, theft of salaries and bonuses, and other aspects of financial misconduct that are often rejected from the court system (Sutherland et al, 1983, p.162-163). In addition to the massive power of large corporate entities, the issue of committing war crimes in Chapter 11, also illustrates the unenforced and unmitigated power of American companies involved in transnational corporate activities. These actions can include bribing foreign militaries or goon squads to take control of resources, which define a problem of corporate power in the American legal system regarding criminal charges of this kind. In this respect, Sutherland et al (1983) winds down Part II by exposing the problem of miscellaneous violations of laws in Chapter 12, which also suggest that the courts are not prosecuting corporations. These findings suggest that a small percentage of white-collar crimes are not being prosecuted or presented before the …show more content…

Sutherland et al (1983) analyzed the potential for making private power and electric corporations into state regulated institutions. In this way, 15 power and light organizations were analyzed in order to expose the problem of privatized profiteering by corporate individuals that overcharged for electricity. This defines one aspect of state regulation that would control problems like this by taking direct control from private enterprises in this regulatory business models. More so, in Part IV, Sutherland et al (183) define the “interpretation” of white-collar crime as a form of “organized crime” (Chapter 14) in the mode of a mafia or monopoly system. This theory is also reinforced by Sutherland et al’s (1983) analysis of white collar crime in Chapter 15 refers to the theory of Differential Association as the foundation of criminal

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