Analysis Of White Collar Crime

Are millions of middle-class Americans really white-collar criminals? The unauthorized importation of prescription drugs from a foreign country is a federal crime. So is “sharing” copyrighted material without permission. Assisting someone in the commission of a federal crime is also a federal crime. Countless

American seniors purchase prescription drugs from

Mexican and Canadian pharmacies. Millions of Americans, including teens using family computers, share copyrighted music without paying for it.

According to the Department of Justice, “White-collar offenses shall constitute those classes of non-violent illegal activities which principally involve traditional notions of deceit, deception, concealment, manipulation, breach of trust, subterfuge

In his landmark book, White Collar

Crime,1 first published in 1949, Sutherland dismisses the traditional mens rea (criminal intent) requirement and the presumption of innocence.2

He suggests that the “rules of criminal intent and presumption of innocence … are not required in all prosecution in criminal courts and the number of exceptions authorized by statutes is increasing.”

3 If nothing else, his disregard for age-old foundational principles of criminal law should cast doubt on the balance of Sutherland’s work.

Sutherland goes on to construct a class-based definition of “white-collar crime.” He is concerned with who the alleged perpetrator was, rather than what that person might have done. “White collar crime,” says Sutherland, is “crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.”4 With this radical redefinition, Sutherland attempted to drain the word “crime” of its meaning. He made distinctions not on the basis of an act or intent, but according to the status of the accused.5 Professor Sutherland’s supporters have stated:

The term white-collar crime served to focus attention on the social position of the

Intent is not normally considered in such enforcement actions; thus many of

Sutherland’s “crimes” may have been inadvertent, unintended acts.16 Nevertheless, Sutherland was determined to classify such acts as crimes.

Sutherland’s influence is clearly evident in the contemporary substance and practice of federal criminal law. Many federal offenses prosecuted under the label of “white-collar crime” are regulatory or public welfare offenses, rather than true crimes.17 The principal architect of the U.S. Sentencing

Commission’s guidelines for sentencing organizations cites Professor Sutherland’s “social science research,” among that of others, to explain the need for the guidelines, namely the “evidence of preferential treatment for white collar offenders.”18

Stigma Without Sin

Often, when convinced that a person or class of persons is guilty of a crime, people become impatient with legal niceties. Sutherland and others who assume the guilt of much of the business world believe that the ordinary protections of the law