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Essays on white collar crime
Objectives of the study of white collar crime
Objectives of the study of white collar crime
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Within this paper, embezzlement in America was researched in general and specific ways. The history of white-collar crime was discussed along with the formulation of embezzlement. The most popular cases dealing with embezzlement were mentioned and briefly analyzed. Along with the defining embezzlement, this paper lets readers know expected punishments for committing this crime and also discusses the variations of embezzlement as a crime. This paper also offers insight on how embezzlement can harm individuals, corporations, and communities. Keywords: white-collar crime, punishment, embezzlement, corporations
Embezzlement and white-collar crime has been in existence for as long as businesses have been in existence. It seems until recently,
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Embezzlement can occur not only if one defendant is involved, but if the distribution to third parties occurs.(Embezzelment,2014) Generally two types of embezzlement is discussed on a basis. The first is commonly referred to, “skim off the top.” The skim off the top method is a type of embezzlement process where individuals acquire small portions over an extended period of time. This method is used to reduce awareness from authorities and lessen the chance of getting caught. Other embezzlers choose the high risk/instant reward route of taking a large sum of money and disappear from the detection all together. As one could imagine, this method often leads to discovery by the authorities. (Embezzlement, 2014) Though these are the basic types of embezzlement, the processes in which offenders complete these basic forms of embezzlement are growing at rapid rates. Embezzlement is becoming a very common issue that our economy and country …show more content…
In actuality, the crime of embezzlement and white-collar crime in general impact the society around them heavily. When an organization suffers from fraudulent actions such as embezzlements, assuming the company does not shut down it must make up for lost profits. Unfortunately for the consumer that usually means upping prices of their good. If the previous statement is not feasible then the company must cut hours, or in severe cases, cut employees all together. Innocent employees could be unable to pay bills, loans, and credit scores could be ruined. In cases dealing with stock fraud, it can ultimately cause investors to lose faith in the stock market system meaning less financial flow circulating through the markets directly impacting companies nation wide. An example being the Enron scandal following misappropriation of investor’s money resulting in thousands of investor’s retirement accounts to be completely wiped clean. The financial stress that one undergoes following an event like embezzlement is unimaginable. Innocent people are forced completely abandon a somewhat comfortable lifestyle and future and re-evaluate their entire lifestyle. As one can obviously see, these crimes directly affect employees, consumers, and families in more ways than one.(McGrath,
The news article that I decided to do my assignment on is about a bank manager, Debra Anne Chapin, that embezzled 2 million dollars from a bank. The news article’s title is, “Former manager jailed for cheating bank out of $2M; Woman used cash to pay bills, gamble and feed her cocaine habit.” The crime took place in Calgary between June 1, 2006 and June, 30 2008. This embezzlement is a classic case of white collar crime and demonstrates numerous criminological theories.
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...
One of the most recent white-collar crime involved Wells Fargo, a banking and financial services provider. In 2016 San-Francisco based bank Wells Fargo (WFC) employees secretly created millions of unauthorized bank and credit card accounts without permission of their customers. Opening about 1.5 million fraudulent deposit accounts and submitting 565,443 credit card applications allowed Wells Fargo employees to boost their sales targets and receive bonuses. Consequently, customers were wrongly charged fees for accounts they did not know existed. In this business crime scenario, Wells Fargo involved to pay $185 million in fines and refund $5 million to affected customers. Also, around 5,300
2 Companies are exposed to crimes either from the inside, or the outside. White-collar crime is a complication; harming companies in our society, which costs millions. An example of a white-collar crime would be the Ford Pinto case. When gas prices were rising in the United States, people started to search for economical cars.
There is a myth that there is great tolerance towards the existence of white collar crime, but this is not true. It
Most people consider this crime to consist of CEO’s manipulating their way to making a large fortune. This of course, is true most of the time in high-profile cases. For example, in late 2001 Enron Corporation executives confessed to overstating the company’s earnings. This lead to artificially inflating what the company was worth and deceived the investors. It took some time to unravel all the fraud put behind this devious act but shows how sophisticated white-collar crime can be. Although it’s usually associated with upper management of corporations, people from all different levels and occupations can perform this crime ("How White-collar Crime Works").
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.
In order to coherently understand the meaning of white collar crime, Friedrichs (2010) states that it must be approached in stages. The first stage is polemical, and is related to the definition. The second and third stages are typological and operational. As previously mentioned, white collar crime has been quite heavily debated, and currently there is no definition that is generally accepted by criminologists. Some argue that the term white collar crime should be abandoned altogether, and another issue is where it is appropriate to draw the line between legal practices and illegal practices (Hayes & Prenzler, 2012; Dobovšek & Slak, 2015). Throughout time, the scope of white collar crime has broadened to include many other typologies of white collar crime, due to the fact that technology has and continues to advance. The most common types of white collar crime include occupational crime, corporate crime, state crime, financial
One of the most recent white-collar crime involved Wells Fargo, a banking and financial services provider. In 2016 San-Francisco based bank Wells Fargo (WFC) employees secretly created millions of unauthorized bank and credit card accounts without permission of their customers. Opening about 1.5 million fraudulent deposit accounts and submitting 565,443 credit card applications allowed Wells Fargo employees to boost their sales targets and receive bonuses. Consequently, customers were wrongly charged fees for accounts they did not know existed. In this business crime scenario, Wells Fargo involved to pay $185 million in fines and refund $5 million to affected customers. Also, around 5,300
Perri, J.D., CFE, CPA, F. (2011, January/February). White-collar crime punishment too much or not enough?. FRAUDMAGAZINE, Retrieved from http://www.all-about-forensic-science.com/support-files/white-collar-crime-punishment.pdf
In 2008 the worst financial crisis since the great depression hit and left many people wondering who should be responsible. Many Americans supported the prosecution of Wall Street. To this day there have still not been any arrests of any executive on Wall Street for the financial collapse. Many analysts point out that greed of executives was one of the many factors in the crisis. I will talk about subprime loans, ill-intent, punishments, and white collar crime.
...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.
...crimes rather than on street crimes. Rarely will you hear of these crimes on the news until after sentencing has taken place. Unfortunately, corporations can easily afford to pay thousands or even millions of dollars in penalties and fines therefore penalties need to be increased greatly. Due to corporate power, white collar crime is hard to prove even once it is suspected. Determining who began the crime and trying to persuade a jury whom already has a hard time understanding the complexity of these types of crimes can be difficult.
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.