What type of sentences do white collar offenders receive, and how do the compare and contrast with that of violent criminals?
White-collar crime, a term first coined by American criminologist Edward Sutherland, is used to describe “an act committed to exploit social, economic, or technological power for personal or corporate gain” (Levenson). This type of crime is committed by individuals in high business or political rank and status, white-collar referring to their sophisticated corporate attire. Many white-collar individuals are infamous for their crimes, which prior to getting caught, resulted in them amassing large sums of money. White-collar crime is among the fastest- growing types of crime in the world, and years ago, was viewed as a less serious type of crime, as white-collar criminals are typically not violent. In recent years, however, there has been a growing recognition of its harm to society as a whole. In the United States alone, white-collar crime has resulted in at least ten times the combined cost of theft, burglary, and robbery of blue-collar criminals. White-collar crime is finally receiving more attention for the negative effect that it has on society, and these offenders are receiving justly harsh sentences.
Many white-collar offenders may start off as trustworthy, respected businessmen/women in their workplace. Motivated by greed and power, these highly skilled people will use cunning and deceit to earn what they want from innocent people. Some people are very well known through their illegal white collar activities that are brought to light. After a competitor’s representative met with The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with suspicion about Bernard Madoff, founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment...
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...om the mouth of Edward Sutherland. White collar crime has been noticed throughout the years for the incredible damage that it can cause the public. It has occurred many times since its beginnings and is still occurring today. Those individuals involved have a weakness that many humans face: greed. Though relatively unknown for their crimes, fame is not the motive for white collar criminals’ desire to gain significant sums of money for their crimes. Through recent years of recognition, the United States can better control a crime that has resulted in at least ten times the combined cost of theft, burglary, and robbery of blue-collar criminals. With protocol in place, white collar crime can be controlled and decreased significantly. Over the past few years, through recognition & action, white collar offenders are being more fairly judged & given harsher sentences.
1. Reiman explains that the idea that white collar crime is taken less seriously is because it protects the elite classes. For example, if the public believes they should fear the poor more than the rich, the rich can commit more crimes and go unnoticed because the population is focused on the poor Reiman explains that that the way crime is explained does not exactly fit what we think crime is. He explains that the notion that white-collar crime being harmless is based on the idea that white collar crimes do not end in injury or death is false because more people’s lives are put at risk than “lower class” crimes. Reinman thinks it is necessary to re- educate the public on white-collar crimes for economic
White collar crime is a term created by Edwin Sutherland in 1939 that refers to crimes committed by people of higher social status, companies, and the government according to the book “White-Collar Crime in a Nutshell” by Ellen Podgor and Jerold Israel. White collar crimes are usually non-violent crimes committed in order to have a financial-gain (Podgor and Israel 3). A very well known white collar crime that has even been taught in many history classes is the Watergate scandal. This is a white collar crime that was committed by government authorities. Watergate was a crime that shocked the nation.
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
White-collar crime is defined as committed by public officials or businesspeople, defined as non-violent, and usually revolve around financial crimes. These crimes can cause companies to be destroyed, cost investors thousands of dollars, and even wipe a family’s entire life-savings. Insider trading, Ponzi schemes, and embezzlement are just a few types of white-collar crimes. In 1939, Edwin H. Sutherland, described white-collar crime as any violation of the law by a person of high status in their work-place. Sutherland also noted the white-collar criminals are less likely to be prosecuted than other offenders. The concept of white-collar crimes has been changed over recent decades. Blue-collar crimes are people who do not work in prestigious work-places; these are white-collar crimes, and work mundane jobs, like maintenance. This changed how people see white-collar crime, as it no longer only relates to people of high status. To help the concept of work-related crime, occupational...
white-collar crime” (Shapiro, S. P.). It is no surprise to anyone that positions of trust regularly decentralize to corporations, occupations, and “white-collar” individuals. Nevertheless, the concept of “white-collar crime” involves a false relationship between role-specific norms and the characteristics of those who typically occupy these roles. Most of the time, it is the offender that is looked at more than the crime itself and assumptions about the individuals automatically come into play. It has be to acknowledged that “ class or organizational position are consequential and play a more complex role in creating opportunities for wrongdoing and in shaping and frustrating the social control process than traditional stereotypes have allowed” (Shapiro, S. P.). The opportunities to partake in white-collar crime and violate the trust in which ones position carries are more dependent upon the individuals place in society, not just the work place. The ways in which white-collar criminals establish and exploit trust are an important factor in truly exploring and defining the concept of white-collar crime.
Today, worldwide, there are several thousands of crimes being committed. Some don’t necessarily require a lethal weapon but are associated with various types of sophisticated fraud, this also known as a white-collar crime. These crimes involve a few different methods that take place within a business setting. While ethical business practices add money to the bottom line, unethical practices are ultimately leading to business failure and impacting the U.S. financially.
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.
Crime comes in different ways, shapes, and forms. From corruption to murder, the seriousness and blameworthiness varies from crime to crime. The most common factor of all crime is that it is illegal. The problem with prosecution is that some crimes can find loopholes around the rigidity of the laws created. This is the hardest for white collar crimes. With so many types of white collar crimes, it is hard to understand where it belongs on the scale on seriousness and blameworthiness and how to prosecute. With white collar crimes, they are most commonly seen as “victimless” or “paper” crimes, since they do not involve physical harm to the people included. With so many types available to analyze, the purpose of this paper is to focus on bribery, perjury, and fraud. When it comes to white collar crimes, or any crime for that matter, we do not only need to focus on what causes it and society’s reaction to it. We need to look into prevention of it and being able to stop it before it even starts.
White collar crimes do not garner as much media attention as that of violent crimes (Trahan, Marquart, & Mullings 2005). This is an odd fact because white collar crimes cost society much more than violent crimes do (Messner & Rosenfeld 2007). While there are many different definitions for white collar crime, Schoepfer and Piquero describe it as a nonphysical crime that is used to either obtain goods or to prevent goods from being taken (2006). People who commit these crimes are looking for personal or some sort of organizational gain and are being pressured to be economically successful from the idea of the American dream. The authors suggest that there are two types of people who commit crimes, those who have an immense desire for control and those who fear losing all they have worked hard for (Schopfer & Piquero 2006). Both groups have different reasons for turning to crime, but both groups commit the crime to benefit themselves. It was found that higher levels of high school drop outs were directly correlated to levels of embezzlement in white collar crime (2006). Because they are drop outs, they are less likely to be successful legitimately and turn to crime more often than their graduate
People draw conclusions and profile the average committed street crimes by race, gender, and social classes. White-collar crimes are probably not as common as street crimes to the average person. Not everyone hears about every crime and some crimes manage to slide around the news. Society usually thinks of crime as violent or unethical abuse of some sort (leaving a baby in the car on accident). Poverty, social environments, and peer pressure influences decisions for people who committee white-collar crimes.
Marilyn Price and Donna Norris” (Perri, J.D., CFE, CPA, 2011, p. 23). Even though white collar crimes do not seem as violent as someone that commits murder there is still major damage done. For example, a fraud victim goes through a lot of hardship. They can be harassed, have their identity stolen, and lose everything. This, in many cases, can be looked at as a serious crime.
This case illustrated that there were real consequences to white collar crime. In addition to paying the fifty million dollar fine, he relinquished another fifty million dollars of his illegal trading profits. (He still had millions remaining, however, from his illegal gains.) His actual prison sentence was three years, yet he served only twenty-two months in the federal prison at Lompoc, California, which was known to have a “country-club” atmosphere.
...o be intense for arrests for white collar crime than for predatory violence or drug dealing. Indeed, political pressure is more likely to be exerted in blocking or derailing white collar crime investigations than in conventional crime cases, and the police can operate effectively against white collar crime only to the extent that they are relatively free of political influence” (2010:278). Until political influence and the powers of corporations are subdued little can be done to battle this type of crime. People who commit this type of crime have the power to avoid prosecution primarily due the powerful corporations they work for or the institution they are a part of.
Champion, D 2011, ‘White-collar crimes and organizational offending: An integral approach’, International Journal of Business, Humanities, and Technology, vol. 1 no. 3, pp. 34-35.
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