Effects Of White Collar Crime

White-collar crime results in enormous annual losses to victims and are several times the amount of Conventional or street crimes. The cost of white-collar crime is estimated well below the actual costs to the economy. It affects The collapse of major financial institutions have become major political issues. Harmful activities by corporations put worker’s safety at risk, as well as consumers. Some white-collar crime is still subject to criminal law and the criminal justice, although they are not regarded to as a crime in way burglary, murder or assault are. More often than not they are also less likely to be prompted for tougher policing and punishment. White-collar crime questions the way in which crime is defined and how it should be treated by the justice system. It involves a large

Many criminologists have found that defining white-collar crime a more complex process than anticipated (Benson, Madensen & Eck 2009). When Edward Sutherland defined the term he defined it as a crime committed by a person who was of upper class and a person of respectability in their occupation (Benson, Madensen & Eck 2009, Hansen 2009). Also noted was that the lower class and working class had a high propensity for the conventional and street crimes such as murder, robbery, assaults and other base offences (Hansen 2009). White-collar crime is recognised by an offender’s high occupational status and being in the position to expoilt their own power, trust and responsibilities in order to gain individual financial advancement or for long term professional advancement (Horsley 2014). The types of crimes that are considered to be under the term white-collar include but are not limited to forms such as embezzlement, consumer fraud, tax fraud, insider trading, money laundering and corrupt payments (Horsley 2014).

In measuring the extent and the effects of white-collar crime on the economy is extremely difficult (Ransley &