White Collar Crimes

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).

Why discuss the development of the marketplace? Why is it central to the concept of white-collar crime?

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.

When I say white collar crime a few ideas usually will fill the average persons head. Many will immediately think of Bernie Madoff. This scumbag ran a ponzie scheme spanning multiple decades and made over 60 billion dollars in the process. He was eventually caught and thankfully is spending the rest of his natural born life in prison. Someone might also think of Martha Stewart. Martha, to the surprise of her fans, was much more than that loveable women on the home shopping network or the cooking channel. Martha was caught committing an act called insider trading. According to (The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission), insider trading is when an individual has knowledge not known to the public about what is going to occur within a company

Summary: White-collar crime can be represented by highly educated people in position of power, trust, respectability and responsibility within a business or organization. A great example of these type of people are; corporate executives, government employees, doctors or any individual that work or manipulate any kind of monetary business as banks or loan firms. The article relate how some big companies can get away with white-collar crime, just for the fact that big companies has the power to overdue their misconduct, by paying a large amount of money to the system, and still go back to business like nothing happens. This

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

However, the best known theory in reference to white-collar crime, which is still talked about today, and in many ways connects the learning theory, is the differential association theory. Differential association theory suggests that delinquent individuals influence other individuals within a group or environment or, as a single person, to perform acts of deviant behavior or outside of the social norms (Seddig, 2014). Just as forms of criminal behavior is learned, Sutherland stated that white-collar crime is no different and that it is learned directly or indirectly by individuals who are already participating in criminal behavior (Schmalleger, 2011). The differential association theory is useful in explaining white-collar crimes when: (a) Individuals who already participate in these crimes my easily coerce other individuals, teams, or departments within the environment when the benefits are known and the crime looks easy or simple, (b) The crime looks easy to commit, and your co-worker explains how easy the process is and that skimming a small percentage off of such a large sum will never be missed, and (c) In committing white-collar crimes, often time there are reasons such as unattainable goals , thus, organizational managers may turn to crime to meet corporate

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.

These people have more opportunities to commit a white collar crime than a person with little authority. Peter Michelmore, a journalist for Readers Digest describes this situation well in his article, "On the Trail of a Scam" He describes a savings and loan scam and the man behind it all. "Meyer learned that New Era was run by John G. Bennet, Jr., a 57 year old evangelical Christian." (112) New Era was a getting money from a private university, in which he promised huge returns on their investment. New Era did show them huge profits, but only to gain their trust and invest more money. The private university was gaining trust in New Era and investing more money. Finally, when They had invested a large sum of money, New Era collapsed and John Bennet walked away with the university's money. Mr. Bennet is a prime example of our findings. He is a man over the age of eighteen and he is in a position of power. People have entrusted him with their money. To commit his crime, he needed to be in a position where he was trusted, or in authority. After he won their trust, he took their money. White collar crimes are growing at an alarming rate and must be curbed. There are many things that the nation can do to slow the growth of these crimes. The white collar crime that affects the most people is the scam. For that reason, scam prevention will be emphasized more than embezzlement. I feel that the most effective weapon against these crimes is to

In this day and age, a corporation, family, or individual always has a potential risk of encountering fraud within their money supply. On average, fraud and abuse costs U.S. organizations more than $400 billion annually (Federal Bureau Investigation, 2010). Many may think that white collared crime is only money laundering or stealing, but that is only two out of the sum that countless culprits get away with. The term “white-collar crime,” originally coined in 1939 is synonymous with the full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals (Federal Bureau Investigation, 2010). These frauds include anything from bankruptcy fraud, money laundering, identity theft, corporate fraud to a wide number of threats all circling

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.

From the standpoint of the criminal, the ideal white- collar crime is one that will never be recognized or detected as a criminal act. (Radzinowicz 325-335) Corporate Crime Corporate crime is the type of crime that is engaged in by individuals and groups of individuals who become involved in criminal conspiracies designed to improve the market share or profitability of their corporations. ( Siegel 338) Corporations are legal entities, which can be and are subjected to criminal processes. There is today little restriction on the range of crimes for which corporations may be held responsible, though a corporation cannot be imprisoned. The most controversial issue in regard to the study of corporate crime revolves around the question of whether corporate crime is "really crime." Corporate officials, politicians, and many criminologists object to the criminological study of corporate criminality on the strictest sense of the word. The conventional and strictly legal definition of crime is that it is an act, which violates the criminal law and is thereby punishable by a criminal court. From this perspective a criminal is one who has been convicted in a criminal court. Given these widely accepted notions of crime and criminals, it is argued that what is called corporate crime is not really

The judicial system supports the behaviors of making an individual a repeat offender. The prosecution process is flawed when punishing criminals for their crimes. White-collar crimes may not appear to be taken as seriously as other crimes, (i.e., murder, rape, armed robbery, etc.) so the jail sentencing will not be as impactful. This action sends the message to criminals that with softer criminal tactics, they will not do hard time. According to the text, “Jail time does not offer amicable solution, because in most times the intended offense is not prosecuted” (Lilly, Cullen & Ball, 2011).

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.

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