Blue-Colar Crime Vs White Collar Crime Essay

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Blue-Collar Crime vs White-Collar Crime
Crime is defined as an action or omission that constitutes an offense that may be prosecuted by the state and is punishable by law. It is something that has been around since the dawn of time and has only manifested through the years into more deceptive and manipulative forms. The United States is infested with two forms of crime: blue collar and white collar crime. Blue collar crime consists of murder, rape, robbery, and any offenses that cause direct harm to an individual. White collar crime is a more expensive crime, so to speak, as it consists of crimes such as embezzlement, fraud, and stock manipulation. As long as crime has been around people have tried to explain why crimes occur and deter people …show more content…

There are many causes of people committing these crimes, such as poverty, which is the number one cause, but rage, passion, and jealousy are also other causes. Murder, robbery, and rape are not only committed by those who are poor, but they are also committed by wealthy individuals, however it is much more uncommon. Criminals have usually been morphed by society to believe that they have to commit criminal acts to achieve higher social standing and wealth. In turn, with these crimes being committed by lower-class citizens, they typically receive harsher punishments because they cannot afford adequate legal services. Another cause for harsher punishments is that the media is more involved with blue-collar crimes than white-collar crimes due to ratings; more people tune in to hear about a high-speed car chase or a bank robbery than someone forging a painting to …show more content…

In this day and age, white-collar crimes are those crimes which are generally committed in a business setting and are considered to be non-violent. Some people refer to white-collar crimes as "paper crimes". A few examples of white-collar crimes include wire fraud, forgery, embezzlement and more. Social status is a possible cause of white-collar offenders, most people who have become wealthy feel they need to stay wealthy by any means. Other possible causes include jealousy, greed, and the feeling that they could get away with it because others are unintelligent, such as in Ponzi schemes where they can take advantage of others. With white-collar crimes being committed by the upper-class citizens in the United States, their punishment is often much less severe than that of blue-collar criminals. The wealthy can afford expensive lawyers to delay cases until the prosecutor would rather give them a slap on the wrist than continue with the case. Another cause for less severe crimes is due to media and that most white-collar crimes get kept on the “down low” and do not reach the headlines. These are referred to as “victimless crimes” even though crimes committed at a white-collar level often

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