White-collar crime is an illegal or fraudulent Act, a non-violent crime where the primary motive is typically financial in nature. white collar criminals usually occupy a professional position of power and one that commands well above average compensation. According to Coral 2011 White collar crimes range from, theft at work,...
White-collar crime is an illegal or fraudulent Act, a non-violent crime where the primary motive is typically financial in nature. white collar criminals usually occupy a professional position of power and one that commands well above average compensation. According to Coral 2011 White collar crimes range from, theft at work, to fraud, and corruption. employment offenses, embezzlement, food offenses, automotive offenses, environmental crime, and state and corporate crimes. White-collar crime can be done on both a local and global level, often targeting people from outside of the offender’s country making it harder for prosecution.
White-collar crime often involves some form of inside knowledge and abuse of trusted occupational roles. Most white-collar crime is committed in private on a small- or large-scale, involving people who hold a position of trust. whilst offenders have no physical contact with victims, making it less of a fear compared to other crimes. White-collar criminals are more sophisticated and are less likely to be investigated, arrested, or convicted than other criminals. This has a big impact on how a victim receives justice and them often forgotten. The term white-collar crime was first coined by sociologist and criminologist Edward Sutherland. In the 1940s Sutherland sought to direct criminologist attention away from its misleading Preoccupation with the crimes of people of low status and toward those committed by the ‘respectable’. Tim Newburn criminology
Sutherland’s definition of white-collar crime was Violations of criminal law committed by a person of Respectability and high social status in the course of one’s occupation. He argued it would be reasonable to assume that most criminal activity was concentrated among the poor receptions of society. However, this is a false picture. Sutherland, Edwin H. 1940. The White-collar criminal.
anyone can be a victim of white-collar crime, from the wealthy, the poor, large organizations, and small businesses White-collar crime victims suffer financial or economic loss and possibly physical or emotional harm. victims who have been targeted, come from various backgrounds and professions. As workers companies have a duty of care towards both their workforce and the consumer, however, this is not always enforced and can often result in financial loss and loss of life. And even loss of life. As seen in the death of 23 cockle pickers who died in Morecambe in 2004, the VW emissions scandal in 2015, and Maxwell Corporation and corporate scandals. Another case was the West Virginia mine owner Donald Blankinship who was jailed in 2016 after workers died after his refusal to undertake expensive safety measures.
Consumers have long been recognized as one of the major groups of victims of white-collar and corporate crime. These crimes tend to attract less publicity, in comparison to major financial frauds or cases involving mass harm. Consumers are generally regarded as one of the main groups victimized by white-collar crime and all consumers could be subject to fraud. It is very common for consumers to be victims of white-collar crime daily. With most purchases being made online this opens up a number of gateways for white-collar criminals to exploit this can be individuals setting up fake websites selling various consumer items, as in the case of Russal Wasendorf Sr, ex-CEO of Peregrine, who defrauded clients out of $215 million over 20 years he was given a 50year prison sentence. Also, The Enron scandal drew attention to accounting and corporate fraud as its shareholders lost $74 billion in the four years leading up to its bankruptcy, and its employees lost billions in pension benefits.
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