White Collar Crime in America Essay examples

Most people, when they hear the word “crime,” think about street crime or violent crime such as murder, rape, theft, or drugs. However, there is another type of crime that has cost people their life savings, investors’ billions of dollars, and has had significant impacts of multiple lives; it is called white collar crime. The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines white collar crime as

The well-to-do generally come from upper-class families - meaning that they face none of the disadvantages of an absent-parent upbringing - and have no need to rob convenience stores to feed their children, so they bypass petty crime and move on to what is known as white-collar crime; financially motivated nonviolent crime committed by business and government professionals. “The temptation to commit white collar crimes is far greater for the wealthy” says Sal Bommarito of the Mic Network. Petty crime offers no worthwhile reward to the 1%, as the money earned from a late-night robbery would likely end up being spent on their breakfast the next morning, but the hundreds of thousands of dollars that could be made from corporate embezzlement could be the down payment on the new Ferrari they’d been eyeing. The lack of street crime but over-saturation of white-collar crime committed by the upper-class is ultimately just as, if not more, harmful on a global scale. Canada alone lost $74,387,465.23 in 2014 due to mass marketing fraud, a crime generally committed by white-collar criminals. In contrast, there were 14, 258 reported thefts of $5000 or more perpetrated in Canada in the same year, resulting in an approximate loss of $71, 290,000, undercutting mass marketing fraud by $3,097,465.23. The difference lays in the types of crimes being committed; the poor are more likely to commit street crime whilst the rich are ultimately more likely to commit fraudulent corporate

A white-collar crime by definition is a crime that is committed by individuals of higher status. It is not necessarily a violent crime, but could be depending on the situation. An individual who works in a professional environment, such as the government or corporation tend to take advantage of employees and manipulate them into thinking their practices are legitimate. Some examples, of white-collar crimes include fraud, embezzlement, insider trading, and other various crimes. However, individuals who involve them selves in drugs or stealing someone’s personal possessions commit street crime. For example, it tends to be violent depending on the situation and it usually happens in a public place or

White-collar crime is defined as the financial motivations of non-violent crimes that are committed by professionals of business and those of the government. In the field of criminology, Edwin Suthelan (1939), a socialist who was the first person to define white-collar crime as a crime that respectable and those people of higher social status commit. The crimes include those associated with fraud, bribery, embezzlement, cybercrime, money laundering, theft of the identity and many more crimes that are nonviolent. For the white collar crimes, the offenses committed should produce some gains financially. The crimes are thereby committed by those persons holding various positions in businesses or organizations, and it is because of this position they can gain access to amounts of huge money that they get from the people like customers with whom they serve. The criminals involved are not caught in activities that are violent, involved in drug issues or illegal activities.

There are many theories and sub-theories on why white-collar crime occurs, just as there are many theories and sub-theories on why street crime occurs. However, as with any theory dealing with sociology, there are faults as human nature is hard to define generally.

White-collar crimes are just as prevalent today as ordinary street crimes. Studies show that criminal acts committed by white-collar criminals continue to increase due to unforeseen opportunities presented in the corporate world, but these crimes are often overlooked or minimally publicized in reference to criminal acts on the street. Many street crimes are viewed as unnecessary, horrendous crimes because they are committed by lower class citizens, whereas white collar crimes are illegal acts committed by seemingly respectable people whose occupational roles are considered successful and often admired by many (Piquero, 2014). These views often allow white collar crimes to “slip through the cracks” and carry lesser charges or punishment.

White Collar Crime by Edwin Sutherland, published in 1949, is a study in the theory of criminal behaviour. Sutherland states that this book is an attempt to reform the theory of criminal behaviour only, not to reform anything else. And although it may include implications for social reforms, this is not the objective of the book. Sutherland define white collar crime as ‘a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation’ (pp. 9). He adds that it excludes many crimes of the upper class, such as murder, intoxication, and adultery, because these are not usually part of their occupational procedures. He goes on to describe white collar crime as being similar to juvenile delinquency in the sense of the stigma generated from each crime. In both of these crimes the procedures of criminal law are altered so as not to attach stigma to the offenders. Finally, Sutherland writes that crimes are committed across all social classes, not just people in lower classes or living in poverty, contrary to popular belief at the time of publication.

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 this paper the exciting criminal phenomenon known as white-collar crime will be discussed. Corporate Crime and Computer Crime will be discussed in detail. Crime preventative agencies such as the NCPC (National Crime Prevention Council) will also be researched. White Collar Crime The late Professor Edwin Sutherland coined the term white-collar crime about 1941. Sutherland defined white-collar crime as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation" (Siegel 337) White-collar crime includes, by way of example, such acts as promulgating false or misleading advertising, illegal exploitation of employees, mislabeling of goods, violation of weights and measures statutes, conspiring to

In this paper the exciting criminal phenomenon known as white-collar crime will be discussed. Corporate Crime and Computer Crime will be discussed in detail. Crime preventative agencies such as the NCPC (National Crime Prevention Council) will also be researched. White Collar Crime The late Professor Edwin Sutherland coined the term white-collar crime about 1941. Sutherland defined white-collar crime as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation" (Siegel 337) White-collar crime includes, by way of example, such acts as promulgating false or misleading advertising, illegal exploitation of employees, mislabeling of goods, violation of weights and measures statutes, conspiring to

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

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.

White-Collar Crime consists of occupational crime and corporate crime. Occupational crime refers to offences committed against legitimate institutions businesses or government by those with "respectable" social status. It includes the embezzlement of corporate funds, tax evasion, computer crime and expense-account fraud. It is not every day that we hear about white-collar crimes but these non-violent crimes are on the rise to the top. Federal Bureau of Investigation states that USA, for example recorded white collar crimes amounting $300 billion every year (Cornell University, 2010). White-collar crime is relatively a new idea. It has many aspects that are practical for study and further interpretation to clear some of its dark areas. White-Collar Crime was once introduced by Edwin Sutherland in 1939 during his speech in American Sociological Society. The following crimes actually performed are Bribery, Extortion, Insurance, Fraud, Embezzlement, Cybercrime etc. People who participate in these criminal activities are highly powerful and respectful among the society. The following activities include description about White-collar Crime, Investigation of White Collar Crime and The Consequences of committing a White-collar Crime.

“Crime is an act committed or omitted in violation of the law (Zastrow, 2014)”. Crime is a serious problem in the United States and the majority feel the criminal justice system is ineffective in slowing it down. Our laws are put into place according to the social norms and values of the time, therefore, they change according to societal changes. Everyone violates laws at different times of their lives, but most people aren’t caught or their violations are minimal. The people most likely to be arrested for crimes are young males, especially men of color, poor people and city residents. This isn’t because these people commit more crimes, they are just more likely to be profiled, stopped, arrested and have charges pursued against them. White collar and organized crime is just as common, but charges and convictions against these criminals is rare, or older, suburban white men would be the most common criminals. It is impossible to collect accurate crime statistics on the amount of crime that takes place since much of it goes unreported and many charges are pled down in court or not prosecuted at all. The police are focused on pursuing specific types of crime and courts spend more time enforcing those cases, making those crimes statistically higher. White collar crimes cause the most financial damage to society and have the largest number of victims, yet police and courts aren’t that interested in enforcing or convicting these criminals. Another

Quinney (1964), “Because the validity of white collar crime as a form of crime has been a subject of severe controversy, the question of conceptual clarity has largely been ignored. Today, as a result, the meaning of the concept is not always clear” (p208).