corporate and white collar crime

Question 1

define corporate crime?

Answer 1

crimes committed either by a corporation, or by individuals acting on behalf of a corporation or other business entity

Question 2

what is white collar crime?

Answer 2

crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of their occupation

ie. fraud, bribery, ponzi scheme, insider trading etc.

Question 3

why is it important to look at corporate/white collar crime?

Answer 3

1. most costly than street crime
2. causes greater financial damage than street crime
3. dont think about being victimized by corporate crime
4. occupational deaths = unsafe and illegal.

Question 4

what happened with the financial collapse in 2008?

Answer 4

bank gave out mortgages to ppl who couldn’t afford to pay it back

• no contraints on who qualified.
• extractive capitalism : bank put owness on financial profit over social responsibility.
• people pulled out money , trillions of dollars lost, gov’t bailed out institutions instead of taxpayers.

Question 5

2 types of nature of corporate + WC crime?

Answer 5

1. crimes against public : corporate + business crime, by individual + professional practitioners
2. crimes within organization: crime against organization, or against employees.

Question 6

occupational crime?

Answer 6

white collar crime committed by individual/group of individuals exclusively for personal gain.

Question 7

organizational crime?

Answer 7

corporate crime
- committed with support + encouragement of formal organization and intended in part to advance the goals of that organization

Question 8

proportion of CC?

Answer 8

from small number of industries

- few organizations did most cc’s.

Question 9

wcc and social class?

Answer 9

positively correlated

- higher social class = more likely to do wcc (occupational)

Question 10

3 reasons why middle-/upper-class lifestyle may contribute to criminal behaviour?

Answer 10

1. competitive spirit [want to win, if continuously evaluated = pressure to lie + cheat + misconduct increases]
2. arrogance: “rules dont apply to me”
3. sense of entitlement: believe they deserve what they stole.

Question 11

the law on corporations? why is this problematic?

Answer 11

treated as a juristic person

• can’t imprison company, removes personal responsibility = effect of punishment hardly felt.
• no collective corporate conscience. top isn’t responsible for bottom of barrel bc so many workers. unchecked criminal behaviour

Question 12

unprofessional conduct + malpractice

- handled how?

Answer 12

• hidden from public, dealt with through privately governed bodies
• professional/private regulatory body may fail to do job

Question 13

investment + securities fraud?

Answer 13

1. ponzi schemes: investors are promised substantial returns but paid by other investors
2. insider trading: illegal trading by people with knowledge of the trades = knowledge gives advantage
3. artificially inflated stock prices (altered), then sold for profit

Question 14

what is tax fraud?

Answer 14

• tax-havens in other countries
• hide income. dont report part of salary
• exaggerate deductions
• technique of neutralization: taxes are too high, it’s fine.