Sutherland's Concept of White Collar Crime in the 21st Century

This essay discusses Sutherland’s concept of white collar crime in the light of whether it is still appropriate in the 21st century. It is worth noting that white collar crime is often perceived as a less serious crime in the society. This is based on several reasons including the fact that the crime receives less media coverage. This incomprehensive media coverage of white collar crime may be attributed to the complex nature of the crime, which makes many incidences go unreported. In other words, it is often difficult to pin point one person as the perpetrator of the crime as it would happen with the case of robbery, knife crime, or drug trafficking. However, white crime remains a serious crime and one that can have serious negative impacts on the society and victimize many without their knowledge.

During the 20th century, it is worth reckoning that many studies were carried out on white collar crime. However, these studies, conferences on white collar crime, and the publication of books on the same, were largely conservative. From the 1980s through to the first half of the 21st century, there was a recurrent idea that “greed is good”. This mantra that was semi-official encouraged corporate scandals including Halliburton and Enron (Jensen & Gerber, 2007: 11).

Despite the fact that white collar crime is a major menace to the society, it has become rampant and it is often misinterpreted by the public. One article in the guardian newspaper indicates the seriousness of white collar crime by alluding to the high rate of fraud in 2009. The article reports that in the entire 21 years of the consultant’s report, the first half of the year 2009 saw the highest levels of fraud (Allen, 2009). During this period, a total of 636 million p...

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...reat white collar crime as actual crime. This is especially important since it has cost many organizations and indeed tax payers, billions of dollars due to unscrupulous dealings in high offices. Sutherland’s concept advocates the need to implement laws that will facilitate strict prosecution of executives without regard to their status in the society but purely based on the magnitude of the crimes they have committed. However, Sutherland’s concept is limited in many fronts particularly from its definition of white collar crime. The 21st century has seen technological advancements that have been used by various criminals regardless of their social status to commit massive frauds. Therefore, white collar crime is not a preserve of the elite alone. Therefore, the law should apply across the board without discrimination on the basis of social class of the accused.