Crimes of the Powerful

Question 1

Introduction

Answer 1

Introduction
• Diverse and harms tends to be more serious than other crimes.
• Offences may not subject to criminal law. Different legal status.
• Creative compliance - how businesses restructure terms to they are lawful.
• They tend to be invisible and responsibility is diffused
• Victims don’t always know they are being victimised.

Question 2

Sutherland 1942 White collar crime

• definition
• features

Answer 2

• Crime committed by persons of high social status and respectability in the course of their operations.
• Argues that crimes can be committed by the elite but are more likely to be undetectable, ignored or punished with more lenient sentences.

Real crimes?
• Health and safety crimes more likely to be “technical crimes” not seen as criminal.
• Terminology – wrongdoings/breeches, incidents, injuries not murders

Knowing about crimes of the powerful
•	Victimless crimes 
•	Seen as trivial 
•	Not listed in victimisation surveys 
•	Specialist knowledge needed. 
•	Official statistics are unreliable as dealt with enforcement agencies rather than recorded as crime with the police.

Question 3

Croall 2011 - examples of crimes in organisations

Answer 3

•	Financial crimes 
o	Tax evasion, fraud, mis-selling 
•	Employment offenses 
o	Discrimination, health + safety
•	Environmental crimes
o	Fly tipping, ignoring climate change. 

Crimes of the powerful will often have a larger physical and economic cost than street crime.

Question 4

Regulation not prosecution

Answer 4

• Offences may not be subject to criminal law – have different legal status
• Health and safety, HM Revenue regulation – encourages self-regulation and compliance.
• Should it only be defined against the criminal law or the concept of any harm?
• What about the harmful activities which lie between the spaces of laws?
o Or practises which are legal but clearly against the spirit of the law. (tax avoidance).

Question 5

Theoretical explanations

Answer 5

classical criminology – crime is a rational act.
Strain theory – conflict between cultural goals + aspirations and legitimate opportunities. Maximisation of profit. + relative deprivation.

Stigmatisation of working classes
(Marx Theory + Stephan Box)
Wealth and power is concentrated in the hands of a few and oppresses the poor, criminal law is an ideological tool which makes us fear some crimes and ignore the others.

system upholds particular class distinctions and the subordinate classes remain oppressed through criminal law. 
 law appears to be neutral but law is powerful and maintains order in the interests of the powerful and the capitalist system.  

Creates stigmatisation.
Doesn’t define crimes of the powerful.
Criminal law categories reflect the interests of powerful groups and the effect is what we fear.
• Deflects attention away from other forms of crimes
• Sensitises us to the crime of the poor and very worried - we call control of these authorities and maintaining the distributing of crime.
• It makes us fearful
• Patterns of policing reflected in official statistics
impression that it happens in poor communities - reinforces illusion powerless are more dangerous

Question 6

Grenfell Tower - case study

Answer 6

Case Study – Grenfell Tower 2017
• Largest loss of life since WWII
• High density, low cost living (350 people)
• The area – Kensington the most unequal borough in London
• Cheap cladding started the fire.
• No sprinkler system
• Lack of coordination between fire units.

Actions and inactions
• Fridge has still not been recalled
• Fire service – wrong advice, limited training, lack of resources
• Cladding manufacturer – crime of negligence
• Landlords – lack of safety features
• Council – repeated concerns not listened to.
• Gov – aftermath response wholly inadequate + high density cheap housing.

If it went to court what would the defence be?
• Material probably legal, crimes so complex which would argue a different outcome. Very difficult to prosecute.
• Criminal law is symbolic and censure

Conclusion
• Difficulty of identifying the victims and who is responsible
• Difficulty of measuring the crimes of the powerful
• What gets measured and what doesn’t
• Certain types of crime gets absorbed.