White-Collar Crime Vs. Street Crime

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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.

Lets first start off by defining each one of these types of crime. Street crime is a loosely defined term that usually refers to criminal acts that are done in public. Currently, society is more aware and familiar with this type of crime. Examples of street crime include homicides, shootings, robberies, etc; crimes that are usually depicted on the news or on television shows such as COPS. White-collar crime, on the other hand, is defined as “illegal or unethical acts committed by an individual or organization during the course of legitimate occupational activity” (Barkan, 2012). In Layman’s terms, white-collar crime is basically any type of crime committed, usually by authoritative figures, in a business or corporation. This type of crime is usually associated with criminal acts such as fraud, pilferage, embezzlement, or any type of corporate corruption. There are also two subtypes of white-collar crime: occupational crime and organizational crime. Individuals usually commit occup...

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...f these factors influence why white-collar criminals tend to get away with more than street criminals. However, there are ways to reduce white-collar crime. A good start would be to have the media report more on white-collar crime as it does on street crime. Since money plays a huge factor in a corporations ability to buy excellent attorneys, pay harsh fines, etc., it is important to make white-collar punishments harsher than they currently are (Barkan, 2012). With all these changes, society has a better chance of deterring white-collar crime.

Works Cited

Barkan, Steven E. Criminology: A Sociological Understanding. Upper Saddle

River: Pearson Education, 2012. Print.

FBI. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2011. us/investigate/white_collar>. Prentice, Robert. "ENRON: A BRIEF BEHAVIORAL AUTOPSY." Wiley. N.p., n.d.

Web. 9 Nov. 2011.

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