In 1939, the term “white-collar crime” began to be associated with frauds committed by business and government professionals. The phrase was mentioned during a speech given by Edwin Sutherland to the American Sociological Society. Sutherland defined “white-collar” as “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social stats in the course of his occupation” (White Collar Crime). However, white-collar crimes are described in various ways. The Justice Department characterize white-collar crimes as deceit, embezzlement, forgery, or a breach of trust that does not result in threatening into anything physical or violence (United States Justice Department). White-collar crimes may seem harmless, but can take toll on families, investors,…
through building blocks such as internal controls and independent, verifiable information. White collar criminals build a sense of false integrity around them in order to gain…
White-collar criminals and street criminals should be treated equally because one is not more superior than the other one. No matter the class status of the person is if they committed a felony they should be punished. For example, one of the guys who s interviewed mentions this “a felony should be treated the same, no matter what kind of felony.” This has a lot to do with being punished equally because there is an equal amount of high class people and working class people as criminals.…
will be specifically discussing the disparities between “White-Collar Criminals” and “Street Criminals” within the United States Justice System. In the United States, “White Collar Criminals” are 33.4% less likely to be convicted of their crimes than “Street Criminals”. (Van Slyke and Bales 2012) In other words, “White Collar Criminals” have an unprecedented advantage in the Justice System. In a review of the U.S Sentencing Commission’s White-Collar Sentencing Guidelines and Loss Data, Mark…
an occupation and committed during work duties (Clinard, M &Meier, R, 2016, p. 180). Statistics have reported that the loss to victims due to white-collar crimes is more than 200 billion whereas loss for street crimes is 3 to 4 billion (Clinard, M &Meier, R, 2016, p. 211). The disparity of actual loss has persisted for decades, however,the focus by criminal justice has persistently been placed on conventional crime (Clinard, M &Meier, R, 2016, p.180). White collar criminals and conventional…
Privilege crimes also known as white collar deviance, are usually committed by people who hold high positions in their workplaces and have a respectable status in their communities. There are several different types of crimes that involves white-collar deviance; these two are occupationally related, embezzlement and inside traders. However, the criminal justice system does not punish these crimes the same as they would crimes committed by the underprivilege or blue-collar crimes, because of the…
The differentiation between street crime and white-collar criminals happened in the 1940s and the evolution of the well-known fraud triangle theory followed soon after. However, Dorminey et al. (2012) argued that fraud in the modern-day world goes beyond the fraud triangle theory and strongly supported Wolfe and Hermanson’s (2004) fraud diamond theory, which recognizes the fraudster’s capabilities. Capability identifies the fraudster’s personality traits, abilities to recognize the opportunity…
wealth and power is especially transparent in our justice system. Those in power make and create laws that benefit themselves. They further decide who and what is deviant. This paper will argue that white-collar crime is indeed crime and it is more damaging in the grand scheme of things than common crime, and should be treated as such. Furthermore, this paper argues that the rich get richer and the poor…
Essay Outline White-collar crimes, although not discussed very often, are on rise. When one hears the word crime, they are inclined to think violence or an unethical abuse of some sort. However, people rarely take corporate crimes such as fraud, theft, forgery, or embezzlement into a higher regard, as they do not highly affect the common citizen personally. Studying these executive crimes is important to raise awareness of deceit within society, and to protect and prevent unethical practices…
The FBI states, in regards to white-collar crime as, “These crimes are characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and are not dependent on the application or threat of physical force or violence. The motivation behind these crimes is financial—to obtain or avoid losing money, property, or services or to secure a personal or business advantage.” This definition is more like today’s definition of white-collar crime. However, in our book, Sutherland coined the phrase for…