White Collar Crime Case Study

Sutherland, E. H. (1949). White Collar Crime. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

What is the book about?

White Collar Crime by Edwin Sutherland, published in 1949, is a study in the theory of criminal behaviour. Sutherland (1949) states that the book is an attempt to reform the theory of criminal behaviour only, not to reform anything else. And although it may include implications for social reforms, it is not the objective of the book (Sutherland, 1949). Sutherland (1949) defines white collar crime as ‘a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.

What is the book attempting to achieve; does it achieve this?

The book attempts to conduct research in order to extend the field of criminology, not any other subject/matter. Sutherland (1949) was attempting to bring attention to an area of criminal behaviour that criminologists had not previously studied at a comprehensively level. As white collar offenses were not included in the data that criminologists used at that time, he made an attempt for it to become included in order for criminologists to analyse this data. The two core objectives of Sutherland’s

He analysed types of violations of laws (called decisions) including restraint of trade, misrepresentation in advertising, infringement of patents, trademarks, and copyrights, unfair labour practices, financial fraud and violation of trust. Sutherland’s (1949) findings were outstanding. He found a total of 980 adverse decisions against the 70 corporations. Of the 980, 583 were rendered by courts and 397 by administrative agencies (Sutherland, 1949). Furthermore, of the 70 corporations, 30 were either illegal in their origin or began illegal activities immediately after their origin, and 8 were probably illegal in origin or in initial