White Collar Crimes: A Case Study

The year 2000 signaled to the world the beginning of a new age. While previously the world had begun to accept technology it was not until the early millennia that it had become a mandatory part of our lives. With this blossoming of new technology came the peak of a newer type a crime in which the rich would steal from the poor and give to themselves. White collar crimes are still only a century old, and yet have become one of the most devastating types of crimes committed. They not only affect the victims that are stolen from, but also the lives of the people who would be removed from their job when the scandal is found out. This is what happened early in the millennia with the Enron corporation and the scandals that were put forth but its operators.

White Collar crime has been a hot topic since the 20th century. Edwin Sutherland introduced the term at the fourth annual meeting of the Sociological Association. At this meeting he explained who this type of criminal is and what the criminal does for a living. Sutherland developed a theory to try and fit this type of criminal. The theory is differential association. There are four different pieces of evidence to understand the theory. White collar crime ranges from Embezzlement to Mortgage Fraud. This paper will explain several incidents which are involved with white collar crime and how it hurts many individuals from families to businesses. The sentencing guidelines help convict criminals. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act helped add on top of the

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.

David O. Friedrichs provided more accurate definition of occupational deviance because the term seems to be applied to activities drifted away from the original meaning of White Collar crime. It’s blended with the term conventional crime. Edwin Sutherland introduced the concept of white-collar crime in 1939. There were conceptual confusions with the term occupational crime, occupational deviance, and workplace crime because these terms are combined with white-collar crime. Friedrichs (2002) defined occupational deviances as “characterized as activity undertaken for one’s own gain, or to cope with workplace stress, and not for the benefit of one’s employer or organization” (p.249).

White collar crime is prevalent and brought to our attention more and more by the media since the mid to late 1990s. With the downfall of companies such as Enron, Tyco Toys and WorldCom MCI white collar criminals are facing lengthy prison sentences. Greed and personal vendettas are what have led our country to understand and gain more knowledge about these corporations and the corrupt CEOs that have brought them to their demise.

Welcome to the age of white collar crime. A time when the words thieves and businessmen go hand in hand. White collar criminals don’t get their hands dirty in their work. They use their heads to get what they want instead of using a little muscle. These criminals are just as dangerous as the rapists and murderers. In these times, even the most seemingly respectable people are suspected of white collar crimes.

Almost every individual has become victimized in various capacities at one point by white collar crime (Friedrichs, 2010). Due to this, victimization of white collar crime it is highly disseminated and distributed. As a result, the aspects of the victims is highly heterogeneous (Friedrichs, 2010). In addition, even though white collar crimes are serious and cause harm many types of white collar crime are not generally considered to be a crime and the individuals affected are not considered victims. Some victims of white collar crime include employees who work in unsafe and unlawful conditions, consumers who are sold unsafe and price-fixed products or consumers who are victimized by deceitful and unethical practices (Friedrichs, 2010). Victims can also be differentiated into personal victims, organizational victims and tertiary victims such as the community (Friedrichs, 2010). There is insufficient information to claim that one group of individuals is statistically more likely to become victims of white collar crime because in general an individual is less likely to know that they have

In the United States, there are many different types of crimes that are committed. One type of crime that is considered non-violent would be white-collar crime. Under white collared crimes there are hundreds of different types of crimes that would fall under this category. Sociologist and criminologists have come up with many different theories to what white-collar crime is and what type of people commit these crimes. In the next few paragraphs I will explain what white-collar crime is and my opinion on how white-collar crime should be dealt with.

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.

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 and corporate crimes are crimes that many people do not associate with criminal activity. Yet the cost to the country due to corporate and white collar crime far exceeds that of “street” crime and benefit fraud. White collar and corporate crimes refer to crimes that take place within a business or institution and include everything from Tax fraud to health and safety breaches.

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.

According to the book, “The term trust refers to the confidence in a relationship that the other party will act honorably and fulfill legitimate expectations” (Friedrichs 9). Individuals put their faith in a corporation or individual because some people want to see the best in people. “We put our faith in the banks that store our money, the corporations that employ us, the retail stores where we purchase our items, a stockbroker in which we invest in and so much more” (Friedrichs 9). The book is trying to tell us that trust is involved in everything that we do every day. In the book it also states that, “trust and it violations are certainly key elements in white collar crimes” (Friedrichs 9) Trust between two individuals can be broken.. According to the FBI, “white collar crimes are not dependent on threat or physical violence” (FBI). The FBI wants us to note that corporations or individuals do not threaten anyone or physically harm the individual. Wells Fargo is a perfect example of trust and white collar crimes. Wells Fargo

Welcome to the age of white collar crime. A time when the words thieves and businessmen go hand in hand. White collar criminals don't get their hands dirty in their work. They use their heads to get what they want instead of using a little muscle. These criminals are just as dangerous as the rapists and murderers. In these times, even the most seemingly respectable people are suspected of white collar crimes. President Clinton and the first lady Hillary Clinton have been tangled up in the Whitewater and Travelgate business ventures. Although the two have not been formally charged with any wrongdoing, there is a committee currently investigating their dealings and charges are not out of the question for either of them. In Michael Isikoff's