Social Class

Question 1

Middle Class: White-Collar Crime Examples

Answer 1

• Embezzlement -> financial fraud, stealing money from someone else’s bank account and transferring it to your own (lawer embezzles money from clients)
• Fiddling expenses -> employees dishonestly alter financial documents to get more money for themselves (ask taxi drivers for blank reciepts to claim more money)

Question 2

Middle Class: Reasons for Low Prosecution Rates

Answer 2

• Hard to detect -> hidden from view, people appear to be doing legitimate work
• Dealt with internally by companies -> most dealt within the company in fear of bad publicity (fire the employee or cut their wages)
• Lack of awareness that a crime has been committed -> may not realise they are the victim of a crime (steal 1p from thousands of bank accounts)
• No individual victim to report the offence -> fraud against the NHS and taxpayer, doctor falsifies prescriptions and patient records to claim thousands of pounds

Question 3

Corporate Crimes: Merton’s Strain Theory

Answer 3

• Want more money or profit that they can’t achieve through legitimate means
• Commit insider trading to obtain more money for a second home and Porshe
• Furlough fraud - force workers to come in during lockdown to maintain profit

Question 4

Corporate Crimes: Labelling Theory

Answer 4

• Unlikely to be labelled as criminal because they are similar to normal business practices
• Go through a process of ‘delabelling’, corporate crimes go undetected as it seems they are just doing their job
• They don’t fit the police stereotype so police do not target them
• Most cases are viewed as accidents and go through civil proceedings (inquiry)
• Some are redefined as mistakes or oversights instead of deliberate attempts to break the law
• GRENFELL TOWER FIRE: defined as an accident, council made a mistake in approving the use of cheap cladding, had no intent to kill or injure someone

Question 5

Corporate Crimes: Traditional Marxism

Answer 5

• Driven by criminogenic capitalism
• Pressure to increase profits in an increasingly global market, turn to illegal means if it cannot be done legally
• DIESELGATE SCANDAL: cheated on EU emissions tests to create more profit for Volkswagen, consumers were deceived as they believe they were buying environmentally friendly diesel cars

Question 6

Corporate Crimes: Differential Association