Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
White collar crime
White collar and corporate crime
White collar and corporate crime
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: White collar crime
Matthew Love
HW 4 Crime
White Collar Crime
A social problem associated with crime and criminal justice is white collar crime. White collar crime encompasses several crimes including fraud, money laundering, tax crimes, and embezzlement. White collar crime is considered differently than other crimes because of the offender's social status, demographics, and psychological characteristics (Cohen 2016). Those who commit white collar crimes are make more rational decisions than violent offenders, and they as equally likely to be committed by men as they are women (Cohen 2016). Those affected by white collar crime come from all races and genders. Although victims of white collar crime tend to be older and middle to upper class (Crime 1990) Statistics on white collar crime reported by law enforcement can be limited because the victims may not know who to report the crime to (Cohen 2016). There is a financial burden on the society as a whole. After the financial crisis of 2008 brought on by several different kinds of white collar crime such most importantly mortgage fraud, investors lost more than 7 trillion dollars. A lot of which was invested for retirement and college tuition (Cohen 2016). There is also a physical component to white collar crime associated with corporate negligence and not adhering to safety standards and regulations. One example is the E-coli
…show more content…
C. (2007). The goals and promise of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21(1), 91-116.
Cohen, M. A. (2016). The Costs of White-Collar Crime. In The Oxford Handbook of White-Collar Crime (p. 78). Oxford University Press.
Crime, W. C. (1990). Victims of fraud: Comparing victims of white collar and violent crime. Bull Am Acad Psychiatry Law, 18(1).
Friedrichs, D. O., & Salama, O. (2015). White-Collar Crime and Public Policy: Crimes of High Finance and Environmental Crime. US Criminal Justice Policy, 315.
Kaal, W. A., & Rule, V. (2016). Dodd-Frank
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.
...rs, such as the environment, play a significant role in determining the hidden causes of criminal behavior. For that reason, although the theories discussed contradict each other, they each offer us different insights into white-collar crimes undertaken by individuals. Strain theory focuses on the widespread cultural emphases of wealth and material success. This can drive individuals and their corporation to pursue new criminal methods to advance. Rational choice guides scrutiny to an offender’s analysis regarding the benefits and costs associated. Each provides an explanation for different aspects of white-collar behaviour depending on the way a situation examined. For crimes aren’t necessarily an individual issue but a problem of society. Therefore, in order to reduce crime focus needs to be placed on changes regarding both individuals and the broader society.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
anahl Introduction to Criminology Writing Assignment #2: “Enron” I Enron was once a successful energy company in Houston, Texas. Through an intense culture of risk taking, a drive for profit over the well-being of people, and a structure that fostered employee rivalry; the façade of a successful business collapsed from under its traders and executives. Enron’s negligence is a lesson in the monetary and personal damage that white collar crime inflicts. Three factors contribute to our understanding of corporate crime.
The term white-collar crime refers to “unethical business practices committed by people in the course of their work lives” (Manza). Although people tend to consider street crimes more dangerous than white-collar crimes, the last one could have more negative consequences and harm more people in a society than the first one. White-collar crimes can be practiced in many different ways, such as stealing money to the employer, or corporate leaders making decisions to seek profits and causing injury or harm to innocent people. The fraudulent acts of Enron and the 2008 financial crisis violated federal and state laws. However, the criminal justice system did not give fair punishment to the responsible ones, because they got modest prison sentences,
This paper will explore different types of white collar crime from some of the most common white collar crimes like fraud, identity theft and scams, as well as other types of white collar crimes like embezzlement and tax fraud. This paper will use research found online that explains the different white collar crimes as well as consequences, definitions and even companies or people who have committed those crimes. This paper will also discuss my views and opinions as well as research that I have found.
White collar crimes are possibly the most serious crimes in the world. In America white collar crime is responsible for an estimated $250 billion to $1 trillion in economic damages each year White collar crimes consist of bank fraud, blackmail, bribery, counterfeiting, credit card fraud, embezzlement, extortion, forgery, insider trading, insurance fraud, investment schemes, securities fraud, tax evasion, advanced fee scams, service and repair scams (Martinez, 2014). When people hear about white collar crimes they think of people like Bernie Madoff but white collar crimes happens every day in some form or another. Business executives generally wear white shirts with ties commit types of crimes are more available to them such as embezzlement
White-collar crimes and organizational structure are related because white collar-crimes thrive in organizations that have weak structures. According to Price and Norris (2009), the elites who commit white collar-crimes usually exploit weaknesses in organizational structure and formulate rules and regulations that favor their crimes. Makansi (2010) examines case studies to prove that white-collar crime is dependent on organizational structure. For example, the financial crisis that Merchant Energy Business faced in 2001-2002 occurred due to the liberal Financial Accounting Board, which failed to provide a standard model of valuing natural gas and fuel. Moreover, a financial crisis that rocked the securitization market in 2008 was due to fraudulence in the pricing of securitization products. These examples ...
White-collar crime will not be fully understood unless there is knowledge of the value conflicts in the governmental regulations of business (Newman, 16). A reason white-collar crime is committed is to make a big business even bigger or the individuals running that business become greedy (Newman, 16). There is still a lot to learn from white-collar crime, but the Federal Bureau of Investigations is creating and improving programs into combatting fraud and other types of white-collar crimes to protect the State and Federal Governments (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 2014).
...the entire research shows that the ACFE’s profile description of a white collar criminal not only describes the white collar criminal, but also law abiding citizens. The ACFE describes their idea of a white collar criminal as someone who is “young, well-educated, aggressive go-getters who get tripped up along the way” (Pavlo, 2010, p. 1). Also, the ACFE explains that there are also red flags that can be noticeable. In fact, 43% of the cases involving white collar criminals showed that they were living way beyond their means (Pavlo, 2010, p. 1). In a 2008 article, white collar criminals are described as typically being men averaging between forty-one years to fifty years old and working in a company’s accounting department (). As discussed; profiles can be established, however, there are some discrepancies as to a perfect profile describing a white collar criminal.