3. Crimes of the powerful-White collar & corporate crime Flashcards
Outline White collar crime
Sutherland
Sutherland: white collar crime is ‘ a crime committed by a person of responsibility & high social status in the course of their occupation’
Sutherland aim was to challenge the stereotype that crime is WC phenomenon, however he fails to distinguish between 2 different types of crime:
- Occupational crime-committed by employees for own personal gain, often against organization for which they work
- Corporate crime-committed by employees for their organization in pursuit of its goals e.g. deliberately missselling products to increase company profits
Define white collar crime
sociologist-Sutherland
Crimes committed in the furtherance of an individual’s own interests, often against the corporations of organisations within which they work.
Define corporate crime
Those crimes committed by or for corporations or businesses which act to further their interests and have a serious physical or economic impact on employees, consumers and the general public. The drive is usually the desire to increase profits.
Outline Tombs view on white collar & corporate crime
Tombs(2013) corporate crime has enormous costs: Physical(deaths, injuries & illnesses) enviromental(polution) and economic ( to consumers , workers , taxpayers)
cORPORATE CRIME COVERS RANGE OF ACTS & OMISSIONS:
Financial crimes-such as tax evasion, bribery, money laundering & illegal accounting
Crimes against consumers
Crimes against employees
Crimes against environment
State-corporate crime
Reiman and Leighton argue that the more likely a crime is to be committed by high-class people, the less likely it is to be treated as an offence. Also, there is a much higher rate of prosecutions for the typical ‘street crimes’ that poor people commit (such as burglary and assault). Crimes committed by the higher classes (such as tax evasion) are more likely to get a more forgiving view from the justice system
