White-collar crime is currently an important part of the landscape of unlawful activities, where individuals and organizations commit acts to obtain money, property, or services to avoid the payment or loss of money or services or to secure personal or business advantage. In my own words white collar criminals can be found everywhere, they are like zombies taking advantage of the criminal justice system but instead of feeding on flesh, these lawless criminal “Zombies” feed of the poor, therefore “producing social disorganization on a large scale” (p.293). This would follow by social cost, mistrust, unemployment, injuries and possible death for the hard working people of America. Sutherland unique studies of white-collar crime had a lot of controversial
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.
White collar crime is often associated with crimes committed within businesses. These include different forms of fraud such as tax fraud, welfare fraud, money laundering, and property crime (Simpson & Benson, 2009: 42). These forms of white collar crime often have a huge impact on the welfare of the society in profound ways. For instance, according to an article authored by McGrath, a company that suffers losses from fraud must make up for this loss by for example raising the prices of its products. Hikes in prices would mean that consumers would be required to dig dipper into their pockets thus affecting their finances. The loss from fraud could also make the affected company to take drastic measures such as layoffs or implementing salary cuts for the employees (McGrath, n.d).
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.
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
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.
White-collar crime poses a vexing problem for the criminal justice system (CJS). It is an
Many people in society are unsure on what white collar crime actually is. There are different opinions on what white collar crime should be defined as. A strong definition would be any violation of criminal, civil or regulatory laws or unethical actions committed in the course of one’s occupation. These individuals are usually very respectable in society and have “high-status”. White collar crime is much larger than your traditional street crime: It harms a larger pool of people and can go on for many years under the radar
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
White-collar crimes possessed future horrific harms and consequences to our nation, especially in the financial spectrum; yet, the society’s main concerns laid on street crimes because of their physical and immediate effects. It is important to note, however, that no crime is better than the other. Even though the impact of white-collar
Although white collar crime is a growing problem worldwide, it remains a concept that cannot easily be grasped. One of the largest difficulties in understanding white-collar crime revolves around an ongoing debate about how to define white-collar crime. One of the first and most utilised definitions is Sutherlands. This definition received a large amount of criticism but is still widely used throughout criminology. Therefore the purpose of this essay will be to outline that although Sutherland’s definition of white collar crime does not specifically encompass all areas of white collar crime, it remains effective as it generates discussion and allows for a broader perspective on an issue that is ever-changing and too extensive to be narrowly
In this research paper that you are about to read you will learn something’s about white collar. You will be learning who coined the term, what it is, and you will also be learning who does it. The term white collar is define as- of or relating to the work done or those who work in an office or other professional environment. It was coined by the late great Edwin Sutherland in 1941. Sutherland said ‘’ white collar is a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation (siegel-337). Let me just give you some examples of a white collar crime, promulgating or misleading advertisements, illegal exploitation of employees, putting bad labels on goods, violating of measures statues etc.
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
White collar crime is a serious issue in the United States. White-collar crime is “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation” (cornell.edu). Examples of such offenses include bribery, credit card fraud, insurance fraud, bank fraud, blackmail, extortion, forgery, securities fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement, repair scams, Ponzi and pyramid schemes. These non-violent crimes are responsible for an estimated $250 billion to $1 trillion in economic damages each year (Martinez). Individuals who commit white collar crimes have an increased likelihood to experience injustice compared to those who commit a street crime as noted in multiple studies detailed in various scholarly articles. Also, street criminals have a greater chance of getting caught in their wrongdoings versus white-collar criminals. Those who commit white collar crime make their decisions based on the philosophy or idea that their actions have low risk and a high reward. We face a dilemma in the United States because white-collar criminals are treated with minimal, inequitable punishment due to their social status, whereas the street criminals are treated with the correct, impartial 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.
So, we can look at the different people who commit these crimes and why, crime data supports clear tendencies regarding criminal race, gender, education level and class, when one thinks of the word crime we think of crimes committed by the average criminal such has a crime against a person involving bodily harm and threat of bodily harm, or other actions committed against the will of the victim, assaults battery, sexual assault, domestic violence and robbery, other crimes are arson, shoplifting, and drug crimes, when one looks at white collar crime which is associated with crimes committed by someone of a higher level social class, crimes like fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion and money laundering. White collar crime is distinguished from the everyday crime in two important ways, the cases are very difficult to prosecute, white collar crimes are often far more complex than normal crimes. The current criminal justice system is shaped by bias crimes unique to the wealthy are either ignored or treated lightly while the so called common crimes of the poor lead to arrest, charges, convictions and imprisonment. When one looks at the criminal justice system they have created the image that crime is almost exclusively the work off the poor, has they say the rich get richer