White-collar crime

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The term "white-collar crime" refers to financially motivated, nonviolent or non-directly violent crime committed by individuals, businesses and government professionals.[1] The crimes are believed to be committed by middle-class individuals for financial gains.[2] It was first defined by the sociologist Edwin Sutherland in 1939 as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of their occupation".[3] Typical white-collar crimes could include wage theft, fraud, bribery, Ponzi schemes, insider trading, labor racketeering, embezzlement, cybercrime, copyright infringement, money laundering, identity theft, and forgery.[4] White-collar crime overlaps with corporate crime.

Definitional issues

Modern criminology generally prefers to classify the type of crime and the topic:

Relationship to other types of crime

Blue-collar crime

Main article: Blue-collar crime

The types of crime committed are a function of what is available to the potential offender. Thus, those employed in relatively unskilled environments have fewer opportunities to exploit than those who work in situations where large financial transactions occur.[9] Blue-collar crime tends to be more obvious and thus attracts more active police attention such as vandalism or shoplifting.[10] In contrast, white-collar employees can incorporate legitimate and criminal behavior, thus making themselves less obvious when committing the crime. Therefore, blue-collar crime will more often use physical force, whereas in the corporate world, the identification of a victim is less obvious and the issue of reporting is complicated by a culture of commercial confidentiality to protect shareholder value. It is estimated that a great deal of white-collar crime is undetected or, if detected, it is not reported.

Corporate crime

Main article: Corporate crime

Corporate crime benefits the corporation (company or other type of business organization), rather than individuals. It may, however, result from decisions of high-ranking individuals within the corporation.[11] Corporations are not, unlike individuals, litigated in criminal courts, which means the term "crime" does not really apply.[12] Litigation usually takes place in civil courts or by institutions with jurisdiction over specific types of offences, such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that litigates violations of financial market and investment statutes.[13]

State-corporate crime

Main article: State-corporate crime

State-corporate crime is “illegal or socially injurious actions that occur when one or more institutions or political governance pursue a goal in direct cooperation with one or more institutions of economic production and distribution.” [14]The negotiation of agreements between a state and a corporation will be at a relatively senior level on both sides, this is almost exclusively a white-collar "situation" which offers the opportunity for crime. Although law enforcement claims to have prioritized white-collar crime,[15] evidence shows that it continues to be a low priority.[16]

When senior levels of a corporation engage in criminal activity using the company this is sometimes called control fraud.

Organized transnational crime

Organized

drug smuggling, illegal arms dealing, terrorism, and cybercrime. Although it is impossible to precisely gauge transnational crime, the Millennium Project, an international think tank, assembled statistics on several aspects of transnational crime in 2009:[18]

  • World illicit trade of almost $780 billion
  • Counterfeiting and piracy of $300 billion to $1 trillion
  • Global drug trade of $321 billion

Red-collar crime

When a white collar criminal turns violent, it becomes red collar crime. This can take the form of killing a witness in a fraud trial to silence them, or murdering someone who exposed the fraud, such as a journalist, detective or whistleblower. Perri and Lichtenwald defined red collar crime as follows:

“This sub-group is referred to as red-collar criminals because they straddle both the white-collar crime arena and, eventually, the violent crime arena. In circumstances where there is threat of detection, red-collar criminals commit brutal acts of violence to silence the people who have detected their fraud and to prevent further disclosure.”

Bureau of Labour Statistics, homicide is the third highest cause of death in the American workplace.[20][21]
The Atlantic magazine reported that red collar criminals often have traits of narcissism and psychopathy, which ironically, are seen as desirable qualities in the recruitment process. Even though it puts a company at risk of employing a white collar criminal.

One investigator, Richard G. Brody, said that the murders might be difficult to detect, being mistaken for accidents or suicides:

“Whenever I read about high-profile executives who are found dead, I immediately think red-collar crime,” he said. “Lots of people are getting away with murder.”

Occupational crime

Occupational crime is “any act punishable by law that is committed through opportunity created on the course of an occupation that is legal.” [22]Individuals may commit crime during employment or unemployment. The two most common forms are theft and fraud. Theft can be of varying degrees, from a pencil to furnishings to a car. Insider trading, the trading of stock by someone with access to publicly unavailable information, is a type of fraud.[18]

Crimes related to national interests

The crimes related to the national interests consist mainly of treason. In the modern world, there are a lot of nations which divide the crimes into some laws. "Crimes Related to Inducement of Foreign Aggression" is the crime of communicating with aliens secretly to cause foreign aggression or menace. "Crimes Related to Foreign Aggression" is the treason of co-operating with foreign aggression positively regardless of the national inside and outside. "Crimes Related to Insurrection" is the internal treason. Depending on a country, criminal conspiracy is added to these. One example is Jho Low, a mega thief and traitor who stole billions in USA currency from a Malaysian government fund and is now on a run as a fugitive.[23]

Demographics

According to a 2016 American study,[24]

A considerable percentage of white-collar offenders are gainfully employed middle-aged Caucasian men who usually commit their first whitecollar offense sometime between their late thirties through their mid-forties and appear to have middle-class backgrounds. Most have some higher education, are married, and have moderate to strong ties to community, family, and religious organizations. Whitecollar offenders usually have a criminal history, including infractions that span the spectrum of illegality, but many do not overindulge in vice. Recent research examining the five-factor personality trait model determined that white-collar offenders tend to be more neurotic and less agreeable and conscientious than their non-criminal counterparts.

Punishment

In the United States, sentences for white-collar crimes may include a combination of

death penalty under aggravating circumstances,[28] yet some countries have a maximum of 10–25 years imprisonment. Certain countries like Canada consider the relationship between the parties to be a significant feature on sentence when there is a breach of trust component involved.[29] Questions about sentencing disparity in white-collar crime continue to be debated.[30] The FBI, concerned with identifying this type of offense, collects statistical information on several different fraud offenses (swindles and cons, credit card or ATM fraud, impersonation, welfare fraud, and wire fraud), bribery, counterfeiting and forgery, and embezzlement.[31]

In the United States, the longest sentences for white-collar crimes have included the following:

Bernard Madoff (150 years for $65 billion fraud scheme); Frederick Brandau (55 years for $117 million Ponzi scheme); Martin Sigillito (40 years for $56 million Ponzi scheme); Eduardo Masferrer (30 years for accounting fraud); Chalana McFarland (30 years for mortgage fraud scheme); Lance Poulsen (30 years for $2.9 billion fraud).[32]

Theories

From the perspective of an offender, the easiest targets to entrap in "white collar" crime are those with certain degree of vulnerability or those with symbolic or emotional value to the offender.[33] Examples of these people can be family members, clients, and close friends who are wrapped up in personal or business proceedings with the offender. The way that most criminal operations are conducted is through a series of different particular techniques. In this case, a technique is a certain way to complete a desired task. When one is committing a crime, whether it be shoplifting or tax fraud, it is always easier to successfully pull off the task with experience in the technique. Shoplifters who are experienced at stealing in plain sight are much more successful than those who do not know how to steal. The major difference between a shoplifter and someone committing a white collar crime is that the techniques used are not physical but instead consist of acts like talking on the phone, writing, and entering data.[33]

Often these criminals utilize the "blame game theory", a theory in which certain strategies are utilized by an organization or business and its members in order to strategically shift blame by pushing responsibility to others or denying misconduct.[34] This theory is particularly used in terms of organizations and indicates that offenders often do not take blame for their actions. Many members of organizations will try to absolve themselves of responsibility when things go wrong.[35]

Forbes Magazine lays out four theories for what leads a criminal to commit a "white collar" crime.[36] The first is that there are poorly designed job incentives for the criminal. Most finance professionals are given a certain type of compensation or reward for short-term mass profits. If a company incentivizes an employee to help commit a crime, such as assisting in a Ponzi Scheme, many employees will partake in order to receive the reward or compensation. Often, this compensation is given in the form of a cash "bonus" on top of their salaries. By doing a task in order to receive a reward, many employees feel as though they are not responsible for the crime, as they have not ordered it. The "blame game theory" comes into play as those being asked to carry out the illegal activities feel as though they can place the blame on their bosses instead of themselves. The second theory is that the company's management is very relaxed when it comes to enforcing ethics. If unethical practices are already a commonplace in the business, employees will see that as a "green light" to conduct unethical and unlawful business practices to further the business. This idea also ties into Forbes' third theory, that most stock traders see unethical practices as harmless. Many see white collar crime as a victimless crime, which is not necessarily true. Since many of these stock traders cannot see the victims of their crimes, it seems as if it hurts no one. The last theory is that many firms have unrealistic, large goals. They preach the mentality that employees should "do what it takes".[36]

See also

References

  1. ^ "FBI — White-Collar Crime". FBI.
  2. ISBN 978-1-107-64513-4
    .
  3. ^ Sutherland, Edwin Hardin (1950). White Collar Crime. New York: Dryden Press, p. 9.
  4. ^ "White Collar Criminal Defense Guide". Law Offices of Randy Collins. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  5. ISBN 978-0495600824
    . citing Kane and Wall, 2006, p. 5
  6. ISSN 1745-9125
    .
  7. ISBN 0-19-513621-7
  8. ISBN 9780673982797
    .
  9. ISBN 9780911577389
    .
  10. ^ Shover, Neal; Hunter, Ben W. (2013-01-11). "Blue-collar, white-collar: crimes and mistakes". Offenders on Offending. doi:10.4324/9781843927785-24. Retrieved 2020-02-20.
  11. ^ Darryl A. Goldberg (25 February 2020). "White collar vs. corporate crime".
  12. ISBN 978-0-7619-3004-4
    .
  13. ISSN 0167-4544
    .
  14. ISBN 9781118774885
    .
  15. ^ Anzalone, Charles (28 April 1991). "White-Collar Crime Has Become Priority of Law Enforcement". Buffalo News.
  16. ^ "State's white collar convicts get lighter sentences". California Watch.
  17. ISBN 978-1-315-22835-8, retrieved 19 November 2023{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location (link
    )
  18. ^
    ISBN 9780195433784
    . Retrieved 1 June 2012.
  19. ^ http://www.all-about-psychology.com/support-files/fraud_detection_homicide.pdf Fraud Detection Homicide and how to prevent it.
  20. ^ "Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure". www.bls.gov.
  21. ^ Chun, Rene (8 September 2018). "A Shocking Number of Killers Murder Their Co-workers". The Atlantic.
  22. ISSN 1466-8025
    .
  23. ^ Sukumaran, Tashny (16 February 2019). "What's the deal with Jho Low, Malaysia's most wanted man?". South China Morning Post Publishers. South China Morning Post. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  24. ISBN 978-0-19-992551-3
    .
  25. ^ Rubino, Esq. PA, Frank. "White Collar Crime - An Overview". Archived from the original on 22 August 2012. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  26. ^ "Penalties for White Collar Crime". Blumberg & Associates. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  27. JSTOR 2095541
    .
  28. ^ "Is China's White-Collar Death Penalty Fair?". The American Lawyer. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  29. ^ "What is Breach of Trust in Canada?". Alexander Ejsmont. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  30. Yale Law Journal
    . Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  31. ^ Barnett, Cynthia. "The Measurement of White-Collar Crime Using Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Data" (PDF). FBI.gov. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  32. ^ Liz Moyer, In Pictures: The Longest White-Collar Prison Sentences, Forbes (24 June 2009); Webster Groves Attorney, Clergyman Will Spend The Rest Of His Life In Prison For $56 Million Ponzi Scheme (December 12, 2012).
  33. ^ a b "White-Collar Crime: An Opportunity Perspective". Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  34. doi:10.1177/2631787720975192
    .
  35. S2CID 150320253
    .
  36. ^ a b Khan, Roomy. "White-Collar Crimes – Motivations and Triggers". Forbes. Retrieved 5 March 2021.

Further reading

External links

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