Formatting Problems
In today's society our most valuable commodity is not grain, steel or even technology; it is information. Because of computer networks, just about everyone can now access an astounding range of information. The Internet is international, even though 80 percent of the Internet use occurs in the United States, and a staggering amount of information on every subject imaginable is available for free. Because so many people now have access, computer crimes have become more frequent. Everyone with a computer and a modem can commit a computer crime if so inclined. Anyone, conceivably, could become a "white collar" computer criminal. When the term "white collar" crime came into wide spread use several decades ago, it was thought that certain crimes were committed by persons whom no one would normally suspect of criminal behavior: professional, "white collar" workers. In the late 1990's, however, the term "white collar" is somewhat inaccurate. The playing field has been leveled by the widespread use of computers. Now "white collar crime" tends to mean simply "non violent crime" or "economic crime." As technology becomes increasingly accessible to more and more people, it also becomes a potential tool for increasing numbers of criminals. Most computer crimes do not involve violence but rather greed, pride, or play on some character weakness of the victim. They are based on dishonesty and not force. For these reasons, computer crimes are considered white collar. Just as the term "white collar crime" designates several kinds of crime, the term computer crime also designated several types of crime. It includes crimes that are committed with a computer, crimes that occur in cyber space, and crimes committed against a computer. Some of the crimes are completely new; while others are older crimes that merely use the computer as a tool. The endless and constant growing variety of computer crimes makes it difficult to pass laws that adequately cover new computer crimes. Some crimes such as embezzlement, wire fraud, and forgery, are already covered under existing law. Others, such as cyber vandalism, cyber terrorism, and cyber espionage, are relatively new. For these newer crimes, the letter of the existing law sometimes does not allow prosecution of what clearly is criminal behavior. Employees and ex-employees of the victimized company commit most "white collar crimes". Likewise about 75 to 80 percent of prosecuted computer crimes are committed by current or former employees. There are many different kinds of computer crimes ranging from identity theft to sexual harassment to otherwise ordinary "white collar" crimes that happen to involve a computer.
The installment of new security could even be a problem, for people who operate these new security systems could also be a potential thief. There is an approach among many enterprises that it is simpler to easily excuse the employee who committed the offense, instead of dealing with the law and the officers; and follow through with the money and time by prosecuting in order to seek restitution. Sometimes the firm does not to acquire the negative publicity that has to do with the internal offense, especially when their reputation is predominant to their company model. White-collar crime is often categorized as a crime without a victim, damaging only large, objective corporations. Recent news broadcasts portray nothing could be farther from the absolute truth.
The white collar crime usually forms within corporations and who is head of the organization is someone who has education to run the business. This person with education who commits this crime tends to convince staff that has less education into this type the activity. One of the white-collar crimes is the most common is fraud. White collar crimes are durable because the personals who commit them know how the system works in the business market. It is for this reason that in the case of fraud. Victims often fail to recover what has been stolen by deception. As is the case for the Internet fraud where many people fall; especially when looking for work, there are companies personals deceive those applying for work give information of their personal
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 different.
White-collar crime is the financially motivated illegal acts that are committed by the middle and upper class through their legitimate business or government activities. This form of crime was first coined by Edwin Sutherland in 1939 as “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.” (Linden, 2016). Crime has often been associated with the lower class due to economic reasons. However, Sutherland stressed that the Criminal Justice System needed to acknowledge illegal business activity as crime due to the repercussions they caused and the damage they can cause to society (Linden, 2016). Crime was prevalently thought to only be
The documentary Rise of the Hackers, focuses on the rising criminal use of hacking and how it is effecting multiple areas of technology. The documentary describes simple and complicated situations concerning hacking, but there still questions that must be answered when it comes to hacking and crime. The main question is in trying to determine why a person would choose to commit computer hacking. There are various theories already present within the criminal justice system that may explain at a micro-level and macro-level. These theories would explain why offenders would commit the crimes, but it may not answer the full scope of the question. The Routine Activities Theory would help to explain why offenders offend, why victims are victimized,
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.
A look into the public’s perception on whether the penalties given are harsh enough for white collar criminals since most types of crimes have a set of standard penalties for those convicted. A standard set of penalties needs to be looked at for white collar crimes to help in eliminating the criminal behavior and saving society billions of dollars a year. Perception of Penalties White collar crime is viewed as non-violent and treated differently than other types of crimes; some that are even violent in nature. In general, personal and public perceptions can vary from one individual to another. “A recent survey conducted by the National White Collar Crime Center (NWCCC) confirms that the public considers certain white collar crimes as more serious than some street crimes, according to Drs.
In the twentieth century, White Collar and Organized Crimes have attracted the attention of the U.S. Criminal Justice System due to the greater cost to society than most normal street crime. Even with the new attention by the Criminal Justice System, both are still pretty unknown to the general public. Although we know it occurs, due to the lack of coverage and information, society does not realize the extent of these crimes or the impact. White Collar and Organized is generally crime committed by someone that is considered respectable and has a high social status. The crimes committed usually consist of fraud, insider trading, bribery, embezzlement, money laundering, identity theft or forgery. One person would not normally commit all of these but likely one or the other.
White collar crime was first defined by an American sociologist from Nebraska, Edwin Sutherland, in 1939. He defined it as “A crime committed by a person of respectability or of high social status in the course of his occupation”. Now days, it is defined as “A crime that is financially motivated non- violent and committed by business or government professionals.” White collar criminals do not use violence to obtain the money but instead they use deceit and concealment, they misuse their power and trust. It is often seen as a less serious crime although we hear about these types of crime in the news all the time. The most common types of white collar crime are embezzlement, tax evasion, money laundering.
White-collar crime, specifically computer crime, is becoming more popular as computers become more readily available. Crimes using computers and crimes against computers are usually committed without fear of being caught, due to the detachment of the offender from the victim.
Technology has opened new encounters and opportunities for the criminal justice system. There are so many new practices of criminal activity, such as computer crimes. There are different types of computer crimes that many people become victims of every day. Computer crime is any crime that involves a computer and a network. The computer may have been used in the commission of a crime, or it may be the target ("Computer Crime: Chapter 2: What Are the Crimes?", n.d.). Crimes such as data diddling, pump and dump, social engineering and spoofing are computer crimes. Even though these crimes are difficult by privacy issues, the new technology has made investigations and prosecutions well organized and effective. Though views are different on the pros and cons of specific technological changes in the criminal justice system, there is an agreement the system has changed affectedly ("Effects of Technology in Criminal Justice | eHow", n.d.).
Fraud and white-collar crime are common forms of crimes that people commit in various aspects and positions in the corporate world. Fraud and white-collar crimes have similar meaning as they refer to the non-violent crimes that people commit with the basic objective of gaining money using illegal means. The cases of white-collar crimes have been increasing exponentially in the 21st century due to the advent of technology because fraudsters apply technological tools in cheating, swindling, embezzling, and defrauding people or organizations. White-collar crime is a complex issue in society because its occurrence is dependent on many factors such as organizational structure, organization culture, and personality traits. Thus, the literature review examines how organizational structure, organizational culture, and personality traits contribute to the occurrence of white-collar crimes.
White-collar and organized criminal activities are special cases of offending largely for monetary gain. Although both forms of deviant behavior are similarly motivated, they may be considered together (Humphrey & Schmalleger, 2012). They both may involve a network of offenders working together or sometimes alone. The term white-collar crime began in 1939. It is defined as crimes that are committed by a person of respectability and high social rankings in the course of his occupation (Sutherland, 2002).
Cybercrime is a global issue plaguing the world. The dictionary defines cybercrime as “crime conducted via the Internet or some other computer network”(Merriam-Webster). The definition remains very broad because the word “cyber” is defined as “relating to the culture of computers, information technology, and virtual reality.” Due to the growing number of people gaining access to the internet, rapid development of technology, and the globalization of the world, more of the world population is becoming susceptible to involvement in cybercrime – whether it be as a victim or a criminal. Cybercrime involves different levels of the world on both the victim and criminal side from an individual citizen, to small groups, businesses, and the government, to the countries of the world. There are different groups from law enforcement agencies to the U.S. Secret Service, that are attempting to combat the problem through cooperation and preemptive efforts. If these groups combined with the public to protect themselves and the country from criminals that commit cybercrime, the nation’s network and technology servers would be much safer for technology users. Clearly, cybercrime is a problem because it puts internet users at risk of being taken advantage of or harmed.
Just as traditional criminal activities, cybercrime can take many forms and occur virtually anytime and anywhere. Criminals committing cybercrime use very different methods, depending on their abilities and goals. This should not surprise anyone after all cybercrime is merely an activity "criminal" to the ingredient that adds a computer or an electronic network for its commission.