Marxism (Crimes of the Powerful) Flashcards
How is the reaction to the crimes of the powerful different to that of the wc?
- higher class crime may be less likely to be treated as an offence
- for higher class crime (eg. serious tax evasion) the CJS takes a more forgiving view
Who first coined the phrase ‘white collar crime’?
Sutherland
How is white collar crime defined?
- occupational crime committed by employees for their own personal gain, often against the organisation for which they work
How is corporate crime defined?
- committed by the employees for their organisation in pursuit of goals
Due to the fact that many of the harms caused by the powerful do not break the criminal law, for example, administrative offences. How do Pearce and Tombs address this problem?
- they widen the definition
- define corporate crime as “any act or omission that is a result of deliberate decisions or culpable negligence… that is intended to benefit the business”
- includes breaches of civil and administrative law
The Scale and Type of Corporate Crimes
According to Ball, the British public believes benefit fraud is a big problem. How does it compare to tax evasion?
- in 2016, only 0.7% of total benefit expenditure was overpaid due to fraud - £1.2 billion
- for 2012 HMRC figured £42 billion was lost via tax avoidance and evasion by multi-national corporations and super-rich individuals
The Scale and Type of Corporate Crimes
For every individual pursued by the courts for tax fraud, how many were prosecuted for welfare offences?
- 700 people
The Scale and Type of Corporate Crimes
Pearce comments that both the penalties and likelihood of prosecutions for those involved in corporate crime are relatively small. Why?
- creates impression that extent of corporate crime is minimal
- revelations of widespread nature of corporate crime would threaten capitalist power
- purpose is to maintain myth that the law applies equally to the rich and poor
- state is a neutral body defending the welfare of society
The Scale and Type of Corporate Crimes
What does Snider argue?
- many of the serious and predatory acts in modern industrial countries are corporate crimes
- corporate crime does more harm
+ costs more in terms of money
than street crime, which is seen as more serious
The Scale and Type of Corporate Crimes
Corporate crime covers a wide range of acts and omissions. List all 5 and what they include
- financial crimes: tax evasion, bribery, illegal accounting
- crimes against consumers: false labelling, selling unfit goods
- crimes against employees: sexual/ racial discrimination, violation of wage laws
- crimes against the environment: illegal pollution of air, water, land eg. toxic waste dumping
- state-corporate crime: harms committed when government institutions and businesses co-operate to pursue their goals eg. when working in marketised/ privatised public services
How many work-related deaths does Tombs calculate as being caused by employers breaking the law?
1,100
The Abuse of Trust
What does Carrabine et al note?
- high-status professionals are in positions of trust and respectability
- we entrust them with our finances, health, security, personal information
- however, this gives them opportunity to abuse this trust
Give an example of an abuse of trust
- tax avoidance scheme devised by accountant Ernst and Young for wealthy clients was unacceptable
- the scheme could have cost the taxpayer over £300 million a year
The Abuse of Trust
How can accountants and lawyers be useful to criminal organisations?
- employed to launder criminal funds into legitimate business
The Abuse of Trust
How has the status, expertise and autonomy of health professionals provided scope for criminal activity?
- UK dentists have claimed payments from the NHS for treatments not carried out
