The Age Of White Collar Crime

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.

The following case is one of the most famous white-collar crime cases known to date. Enron Corporation was an American energy company based out of Houston, Texas. Kenneth Lay formed Enron in 1985 after a huge merger. Over time Enron’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and other corporate executives misled auditors and the board of directors in major financial transactions. Thus, $11 million dollars was lost by shareholders after Enron’s stocks dramatically fell in the end of 2001. Enron was then bankrupt. In this case, many Enron executives were sentenced to prison, a rare punishment for white-collar crime. As a result of this incident, the Sarbanes- Oxley Act was enacted. This act ensured that there would be

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.

The case of white-collar crime I chose to educate myself on was the Enron scandal. The Enron corporation was an energy and services company in Houston, Texas. In just fifteen years, Enron became the seventh largest company in the world. They were one of the worlds largest electricity and natural gas companies. According to CNN, in 2000, the company claimed to have made around 111 billion dollars in revenue. During that time, a single share was going for $90.75.

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

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.

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.

Furthermore, white collar criminals usually don’t have a past criminal history and are not anti-social. They also tend to have an educated background and often in their mid-thirties, in managerial positions. The state of Tennessee classifies embezzlement charges by the value of money or property stolen (LexisNexis, 2015).

A present day study of the term white collar crime, is as controversial as it is general. If you log onto the F.B.I. website to see a host of crimes ranging from health care fraud to computer fraud. (www.fbi.gov) Criminologists, with a focus on the law, contend that many of the behaviors society believes to be white collar crimes are in fact not crimes at all. Without a statute to define a behavior as a criminal violation of law, behaviors could be labeled by individual standards rather than in the context of community value. An individual evaluation of what is or is not deviant allows for a subjective approach that softens the scientific objectivity of criminology (Tappan 1977). Additionally, the American system of criminal justice

White-collar crime is a term that describes a diverse amount of corporate and individual crimes ranging from fraud, bribery and public corruption to environmental crimes such as air and water pollution in addition to illegal dumping (Adler, Mueller, & Laufer, 2016). White-collar crimes are far from being victimless and as a matter of fact, depending on the sophistication level of the scheme, the ability to destroy companies, cost investors millions of dollars and devastate families is very plausible. Such crimes can generally be differentiated from others based on the use of deception, concealment and breaches of trust. The primary motivation behind white-collar crimes is usually monetary and includes reasons such as attaining or avoiding

Crime is something that occurs every day. When we think of crime usually, we think of thefts, robberies, murders, homicides, domestic abuse, sexual assault, rape, arson, etc. But more often than not, crime occurs under our noses. This occurs in the form of white collar crime. White collar crime is defined by Edwin Sutherland as “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.”

The study of social science, criminology investigates the heart of crime, it’s causes, it’s preventative measures, it’s reason for occurrence and society’s attitudes towards crime. White collar crime occurs in the world and many criminologists struggle to reach a compact definition of the crime. For the purpose of this paper, Edwin Sutherland’s definition (1939) will be utilized to help the reader - “white collar crime constitutes crimes committed by a person of high standing and social status in the course of their occupation”. It has an overwhelming negative impact on the community than ordinary crime and causes significant damage. Criminologists use ‘corporate crime’ and ‘white collar crime’ collectively and they are more or less equivalent

Many Criminologists have studied different theories to explain the reason behind the commission of white-collar crimes. Many of the current studies focus on a wide range of factors, rather than on few factors, to explain why people commit white-collar crimes in modern society. Sutherland theorized that white-collar crimes and conventional crimes were similar enough to focus on poverty and social pathologies as the base reasoning for committing each type of crime (Friedrichs, 2014). However, many of the people who commit white collar crimes do not live in poverty, and generally respected in their field of expertise. Consequently, a general theory of white collar crime fails to consider a variety of other factors and places those crimes in