...White collar crimes are offences committed by persons who, by virtue of their careers, exploit technological, economic, or social power for corporate or personal gain. In 1949, an American criminologist named Edwin Sutherland illustrated typical attire of perpetrators, who were mostly politicians, high-ranking professionals and businesspeople. However, since Sutherland’s time, such crimes have ceased to be the exclusive domain of these groups. Nowadays, developments in commerce and technology have broadened the scope of white-collar crime to include intellectual property crimes, healthy-care crime and cybercrime (computer crime). It also includes more traditional crimes involving conspiracy, bribery, embezzlement, tax, antitrust violations, money laundering, perjury, obstruction of justice and regulatory violations The white collar criminals mostly referred to as WWCs have the following common characteristics: They are nonviolent. Literary this means that during this criminal activity, there is absolutely no violence involved. Instead, they use deceit and concealment. A person who gives force information when applying for a government contract is considered as white collar criminal. White collar criminals are persons in a position with certain powers vested in them hence they misuse those powers vested in them for their personal gains or corporate profits. Officials in public offices which accept bribes or misuse public funds are good examples of white collar criminals since...
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...Beech Fort Hays State University A contemporary analysis of the term “white collar crime” is as pertinacious as various concepts within the realm of the Criminal Justice System. According to fbi.gov, there are a host of crimes ranging from health care fraud to computer crime amassed under the umbrella of white collar crime. In addition, the term is widely utilized by both criminologists and sociologists alike, incorporating a mass of non-violent behaviors related to pecuniary fraud. Beyond the fundamental description, currently there is a pervasive inaptness and disciplinary criticism of the definition and application of white collar crime. An assortment of criminologists with the focal point being on state and federal law, contend that many of the behaviors society believes to be white collar crimes are in fact not crimes at all. Short of a statute to delineate whether specific conduct is labeled as a criminal violation of law, behaviors tend to be categorized by individual standards rather than in the context. An individual evaluation of what is or is not deviant allows for a subjective approach that softens the scientific objectivity of criminology (Tappan 1977). Furthermore, the Criminal Justice system was assembled upon the foundation of individual culpability. This presents difficulties when criminal acts involve cooperative intricacies. The penalty phase in regards to the corporate criminal action was not intended to impose sanctions against groups or organizations...
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...of criminal offenses. Crimes are sub-categorized into violent crimes and non-violent crimes. Crimes of violent nature may involve assault, battery, rape, homicide, and kidnapping, to name a few. These types crimes bring either physical or mental harm to a person. Non-violent crimes may involve crimes such as embezzlement, money laundering, forgery, and burglary. Such crimes are offenses against property. White-collar crime is a non-violent crime. According to Geis’ (Geis, 2002, p.8) the term “white-collar crime” was coined by Edwin Sutherland. He introduced the concept during the American Sociological Society Meeting in 1939. During the meeting, Sutherland raised a concern about high-status white-collar offenders receiving less attention for their crimes than the attention that traditional criminals of low-status are receiving. Later, in his book “White Collar Crime”, Sutherland defined white-collar crime as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.". Through his definition, Sutherland intended to point out that traditional crimes such as homicide, kidnapping, and the likes were more likely to be committed by lower class citizens. While he also tried to point out that white-collar crimes are mostly committed by persons of high stature in society, according to his research. His definition of white-collar crime was flawed. It predicted the crime based on the status of the offender rather than the characteristics of...
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...S E C T I O N II Understanding White-Collar Crime Definitions, Extent, and Consequences S ecti on Hi g h l i g h ts •• •• •• •• •• •• White-Collar Crime: An Evolving Concept Modern Conceptualizations of White-Collar Crime Extent of White-Collar Crime Consequences of White-Collar Crime Public Attitudes About White-Collar Crime Characteristics of White-Collar Offenders A 34 s noted in the introduction, Edwin Sutherland created the concept of white-collar crime more than 70 years ago to draw attention to the fact that crimes are committed by individuals in all social classes. As will be seen in this section, one of the largest difficulties in understanding white-collar crime has centered on an ongoing debate about how to define white-collar crime. After discussing various ways that white-collar crime can be defined, attention will be given to the extent of white-collar crime, the consequences of this illicit behavior, public attitudes about white-collar crime, and patterns describing the characteristics of white-collar offenders. Section II Understanding White-Collar Crime 35 As a backdrop to this discussion, consider the following recent white-collar crimes described in the media: •• A jury convicted [then-Baltimore mayor Sheila] Dixon . . . of embezzling about $500 worth of gift cards donated to the city for needy families. Dixon then pleaded guilty last month to lying about thousands of dollars in gifts from her former boyfriend, a prominent developer...
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...fraud scheme | CrimesInChicago 5/4/13 11:59 AM CrimesInChicago CA T EGORY ARCHIVE S : FR AU D SC HE ME White Collar Crime and Prosecution Posted on February 1, 2013 by webmaster White-collar crime is skyrocketing! Tough economic times and the advent of hi-tech computer technology coupled with Wall Street fraud is proving tough times for all Americans. Who are the white-collar criminals? What is White-collar crime? How do these individuals arrive at a position of trust? What is law enforcement doing? Who will be affected next? Will you be next? A white collar crime is many times defined as a non-violent crime involving deception and/or trickery, typically committed by a business person, public official, or someone of high stature, trust, or authority. Evidence in a white collar crime usually involves a paper trail of evidence that investigators use to prosecute the case. Although this definition may be true, it is hotly contested within the community of experts that try to define “White-Collar Crime”. Many experts feel there are three main characteristics that categorize a white-collar criminal. Some experts believe that white-collar crime should be defined by the high socioeconomic status and/or occupation of trust that the offender has. Others believe that white-collar crime should be defined by the type of offense committed i.e., fraud, counterfeiting, forgery, embezzlement, bribery, larceny, price fixing, racketeering, computer fraud, obstruction of justice, and perjury...
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...Running Head: EXPLAINING WHITE COLLAR CRIME White Collar Crime Explanation Kaplan University Deborah Llamas CJ501P-01N Professor Tom DiPaola August 14, 2013 Bernard Madoff, appeared to be a cordial man with an alluring personality, however, despite his friendly demeanor Madoff had another side to him that was not as friendly and compassionate, he was considered to be withdrawn, cold, and unfriendly (Cresswell, & Thomas, 2009). Accordance to the video Maddoff was very rarely seen intermingling with the victims of whom he swindled millions of dollars, by means of hiring, Michael Bienes, and Frank Avellino, whom were responsible for bringing in clients with the promise of returns of potentially, 15% to 20% (Bienes, 2009). I. Maddoff’s Behavior Explained. Accordance to the video it is obvious that Bernie Maddoff considered a psychopath defined in the following manner; psychopaths do not learn from experience, have no inclination of responsibility, do not obtain the means of controlling their dispositions, emotionally immature, and unable to develop meaningful relationships. Similarly, Madoff clearly obtained anti-social personality social disorder, he had the ability to manipulate people without having any feelings of guilt or remorse for his actions, he never considered the fact that the people he cheated out of their hard earned money. He never considered that his victims had their rights, appeared to be amiable yet was aggressive...
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...Types of White Collar Crime Angela L. Langley LEG 200 – White Collar Crime in Government, Business, and Labor Professor Thomas Demko Strayer University May 28, 2012 Assignment 1: Types of White Collar Crime A white collar crime is illegal and unethical, which violates the public trust. It deals with lying, cheating, and stealing by high profile individuals. A single con can destroy a business, hurt families by cleaning out their life savings, or cost investors billions of dollars. “Devastating losses in relation to homes, businesses, jobs, retirement funds, and college savings were widespread. “It was clear that fraudulent misrepresentations on many levels were at the center of this crisis” (Friedrichs, 2010, p. 1). We will compare and contrast the nature of white collar crime with other types of illegal acts, compare and contrast the typical participants of white collar crime against the participants of other types of illegal acts, discuss the role of technology in white collar crime and how its role may create differences from other forms of crime, and analyze the role of opportunity and how it contributes to white collar crime. Compare and contrast the nature of white collar crime with other types of illegal acts. The key elements of white collar crimes are trust and its violation. “White collar crimes take on the form of misrepresentation, stealing, misappropriation, self-dealing, corruption, and role conflict” (Friedrichs, 2010, p. 10). White-collar...
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...White Collar Crime: Embezzlement and Price Fixing Dr. Stokes White Collar Crime Fall 2012 November 19th 2012 This paper will discuss White Collar crime and the crime of price fixing, antitrust, and embezzlement. There are many different types of white collar crime. White Collar crime is a crime that is not too often viewed as harmful. A White Collar crime is an illegal act committed for monetary gain. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opted to approach white-collar crime in terms of the offense. The Bureau has defined white-collar crime as “. . . those illegal acts which are characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and which are not dependent upon the application or threat of physical force or violence. Individuals and organizations commit these acts to obtain money, property, or services; to avoid the payment or loss of money or services; or to secure personal or business advantage.” (USDOJ, 1989, p. 3.) According to the F.B.I. White Collar crime is not a victimless crime. A single scam can destroy a company, devastate families by wiping out their life savings, or cost investors billions of dollars (or even all three, as in the Enron case). Today’s fraud schemes are more sophisticated than ever. Edwin Sutherland coined the term White Collar crime. In 1939 Sutherland coined White Collar as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation". People that commit White Collar crime are ordinary...
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...inadequacies of traditional theories in crimes. "White-collar crimes will constitute those classes of non-violent illegal activities which principally involve traditional notions of deceit, deception, concealment, manipulation, breach of trust, subterfuge or illegal circumvention. Furthermore white collar crimes concentrated much more consideration in organization and businessmen. The terms "white-collar crime" and its offshoot, are "organized crime”. Most of the criminals are occurring in companies and the causes are the way money handling (Murray.K, 2010). Forensic accountant will investigating financial crimes and insurance fraud of white collar crook on behalf of companies and public law enforcement agencies. In addition, most of the high profile corporation, will misconduct in money laundering. The fraud will identify by forensic accountants and wherever they go money will takes them. Less attention is focused towards perpetrators compare to actual crime committed by the white collar crook. Antitrust violation, bank fraud, bribery/kickbacks, computer/internet fraud, consumer fraud, counterfeiting, credit card fraud, economics espionage and trade secret theft, embezzlement /larceny, extortion/blackmail, financial fraud, forgery, healthcare fraud, identify theft, public corruption, racketeering, and telemarketing fraud are the white collar crook violations (Brody.G, Kiehl.A, 2010). The characteristic white collar crook criminal does not pledge many of the economics fraud as...
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...Assignment 2--- White Collar Crime Theories, Law, and Processes Lucas McPherson Professor Dr. Matthew Miko LEG 200 – White Collar Crime in Government, Business, and Labor December 21, 2011. 1. Explain white collar crime in terms of various theories related to criminology and crime. There are several basic theories in which white collar crime can be explained relating to criminology and crime. We must look at several concepts and behaviors and take certain metaphysical, ontological, and epistemological assumption about the ultimate nature of reality and being into consideration. Example, is reality subjective or objective? Is causation simply a human construct, or is it something that can be definitively and objectively established? The latter were two questions to approach some explanation of the theories of white collar crime and the criminological concept of the offenders in this sector. There are the sociological, biogenetic, psychological, and sociogenic explanation to white collar criminology and crime. The most basic theory of criminality states that criminals are different in some fundamental way from non-criminals. Then the nature of the difference must be identified. On a Sociological level the propensity to commit crimes, is shown to vary among various segments of the population or among different organization. The biogenetic explanation of criminality became especially influential in the nineteenth century. This states that criminals are inherently...
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...crimes ; robbery, credit card fraud, drug peddling, rape, insider trading, prostitution, bigamy and attempted suicide to name but a few. They should entail punishment in the ideal situation. These situations can and do take place in extremely dissimilar conditions and for conflicting reasons. This stochastic variable makes it hard for the criminal justice system to be foul proof and have a “recognized measuring standard” of crime to a level that incorporates the total outlook of various social groups (Digital Films, 2012). Any action against the word of God, the laws of a country or one intended to cause harm and hardship to an individual or a society is defined as crime (Danny Dorling et al, 2005). ANALYSIS Two parameters determined the public’s perception of crime in most cases; the most reported crimes in the mainstream media and the most likely crimes they encounter in their daily lives. The majority of the interviewees are more inclined to see a criminal in the terms of a “gun – toting street criminal” not as an “immaculately dressed wall street banker”. Time and lack of information insulates the public when it comes to white collar, corporate and state sponsored crimes, which are more sophisticated and have much wider impact. According to the Jones and Bartlett, a Gallup poll of 2009 found fifty percent of the respondents believed street crimes such as burglary, rape, murder, drug peddling, assaults as the immediate serious crimes they worry about most. Spending on...
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...May 2005 PERCEPTION OF A WHITE-COLLAR CRIME: TAX EVASION 1 By Hughlene Burton University of North Carolina at Charlotte Stewart Karlinsky San Jose State University Visiting Fellow, 2005 School of Business Law Curtin University of Technology Cindy Blanthorne University of North Carolina at Charlotte ISSN: 1321-7828 ISBN: 174067 410 3 1 This paper was previously published in the American Taxation Association Journal of Legal Tax Research. 1 PERCEPTION OF A WHITE-COLLAR CRIME: TAX EVASION Hughlene Burton, Stewart Karlinsky and Cindy Blanthorne ABSTRACT The current study was designed to investigate U.S. taxpayers’ perception of the severity of tax evasion relative to other offences in general and white-collar crimes in particular. We compared the perception of tax evasion to twenty other offences, including violent crimes such as rape and murder and relatively minor offences such as jaywalking. Due to the recent focus by lawmakers and the media on white-collar scandals and the lack of comparisons in prior literature, we also included six white-collar crimes. Overall, the results indicate that tax evasion was viewed as only somewhat serious. When comparing tax evasion to other white-collar offences, we found that tax evasion was perceived as equal in severity to minimum wage law violations and rated less serious than the other four white-collar crimes investigated. Most demographic factors (age, gender, education or income level,...
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...Sunita Kalpee Week 2 Written Assignment The Case that I chose was one about Mortgage Fraud in Hawaii. The lenders foreclosed 12, 340 properties in Hawaii last year. Even the FBI has charged several people with this fraud. The control issues that were compromised were the proper estimation of real estate that was pledged for the mortgages. If the values of the properties had been assessed properly and their future values not considered this fraud would not have taken place. The borrowers do not fit the average fraud perpetrator. These borrowers misrepresented the facts related to loans. In a large number of cases these were real estate industry persons that made false or misleading statements. The characteristics that make him difficult to detect are that these workers arrive on time at work and leave after office hours, they are perceived as diligent workers and so even the FBI does not suspect them. Further, most of the fraud perpetrators in the real estate business are a part of the management and are perceived to be very honest. This is why they are not suspected of fraud. The real estate workers had the opportunity to commit fraud. They fill up applications for mortgage loans and so have the opportunity to make false statements on loan applications. In addition, the real estate workers had the opportunity to hide the facts. They hid the factual value of the assets. Even if an asset did not exist they claimed that the asset existed. Finally they had the opportunity...
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...conflict, or a functionalist theorist would analyze this part of the criminal justice system. Resocialization is a process in which a person released from prison or another institution re-enters society as a changed individual. The question, however, is: How effective are our “total” institutions in re-socialization? When looking at the evidence, it is clear that the prison system often falls short in this area. The prison system is a correctional method in which inmates are confined and have limited rights. However,...
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...Case 5-1 David L. Miller: Portrait of a White-Collar Criminal 1. How does Miller fit the profile of the average fraud perpetrator? David Miller looks just like a normal employee and that is the main reason he would fit right into the profile of that of the average fraud perpetrator. Those who are usually while collar workers do look like most in the world of business, and thus making them even more of a perpetrator in some cases. These type of workers do work long hours and most of the time it is because they are committing the fraud or trying to hide it. They work long hours and never take vacation but they are most likely working on the constant struggle to conceal their fraud. How does he differ? Miller differed from the profile of the average fraud perpetrator because he assured the companies he did fraud with in the beginning and took fault for his actions. Miller also said he would pay back the money he had stolen. The company gave Miller a chance and he did make good on his promise. The down side is that he may be frauding other companies to pay back the first company his frauded. How did these characteristics make him difficult to detect? These characteristics made it difficult to detect Miller because his white collar criminal image was so identical to that of the general public, and he was trusted and liked by all of his employers. Since he works inside the company, he is aware of the company’s system and weakness. And with this, he managed to exploit...
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