Social Class and Crime

Question 1

What is white collar crime?

Answer 1

Sutherland defined WCC crime as ‘a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of their occupation’.

Question 2

What is occupation crime?

Answer 2

Crime committed at the expense of the organisation, e.g. employees stealing money from their employers.

Question 3

What is corporate crime?

Answer 3

Crime committed by and organsation for its own benefit in the knowledge of those who run it. These crimes are committed in the pursuit of profit.

Question 4

Why are m/c crime not in OCS?

Answer 4

Police expectations, selective enforcement, cultural capital, difficult to detect, manipulate police with their knowledge of the system and not labelled as ‘troubelmakers’

Question 5

Why are the w/c criminal according to Merton?

Answer 5

W/c don’t have the legitimate means to achieve the American Dream. So they turn to crime to achieve their goals.

Question 6

Why do the w/c commit crime according to Functionalists?

Answer 6

A.Cohen - w/c siffer status fustration so join subcultures- lead to criminality.
Miller - w/c hold focal concerns which lead to criminality.
Cloward and Ohlin - subcultures develop in w/c neighbourhood where there are few legitimate opportunites to succeed.

Question 7

Why do the w/c commit crime according to Right Realists?

Answer 7

Murray - the underclass are unable to socialise their children properly so they become delinquent.

Question 8

Why do the w/c commit crime according to Marxists?

Answer 8

Capitalism is crimongenic. W/c break the law because they are exploited which makes them poor - crime only means of surviving. Capitalism through advertising promote consumer goods - crime only way to get this - utilitarian crimes. Alienation and lack of ctonrol over their lives may lead to fustration - commit non-utilitarian crimes. Police use selective enforcement - w/c get arrested.

Question 9

Why do the w/c commit crime according to New Criminology?

Answer 9

Taylor, Walton and Young - w/c choose to break the law as a pro-revolutionary action against the r/c. Modern Robinhoods.

Question 10

Why do the w/c commit crime according to Interactionists?

Answer 10

W/c appear in OCS as they are more likely to be labelled as criminal, not because they are actually more criminal - police sterotyping.

Question 11

Why do the w/c commit crime according to Left Realists?

Answer 11

Lea and Young - w/c are more likely to be relatively depreived and marginalised and so join subcultures which lead to criminality.

Question 12

Why do the m/c commit crime according to Box?

Answer 12

Uses Merton’s strain theory - when people in white collar corporations find their route to a promotion or pay rise blocked, they innovate - turn to crime to achieve their goal. They may feel relatively deprived in relation to those better off than they are.

Question 13

Why do corporations commit crim according to Box?

Answer 13

When a corporation’s profits are down they many engage in illegal means to increase profits thus they innovate to achieve profit goals.

Question 14

Why do corporations commit crime according to Miller?

Answer 14

Many corportations such as financial trading institutions have a subculture which emphasises the pursuit of wealth and profit. This enterprise culture encourages risk taking. For some, these m/c focal concerns can lead to crime, e.g. among stock brokers.

Question 15

Why do the m/c commit crime according to Katz and Lyng?

Answer 15

Edgework - thrill-seeking and risk-taking may lead m/c into crime.

Question 16

Why do the m/c commit crime according to Sutherland?

Answer 16

Differential association - Individuals are socilaised into criminality by those they are associated with. So if one works in a company that normalises criminality to achieve profit goals, one will learn to act in that way.

Question 17

Why do the m/c commit crime according to Marxists?

Answer 17

M/c break the law because capitalism promotes consumerism and materialism. Even the well off can therefore feel deprived and turn to crime. Capitalism’s goal is to maximise profits - creates a dog-eat-dog culture.

Question 18

What is mystification? (Box)

Answer 18

Capitalism has spread the r/c ideology that WCC is less widespread and harmdul and the state does not need to enforce such laws to protect the r/c.

Question 19

How has labelling affected m/c criminality?

Answer 19

M/c do commit crime, but their crimes do not appear in OCS because they negotaite non-criminal labels for their actions. Nelken calls this de-labelling.

Question 20

Why do the m/c commit crime according to Left Realism?

Answer 20

Young - in late modernity, relative deprivation is increasing and spreading to the m/c. This leads to crime, e.g. hate crimes.

Question 21

What is the evalutation of m/c criminality?

Answer 21

Fails to explain why not all w/c commit crime.
Most crimes are undetected and unrecorded, so we don’t actually know how much crime there is or who commits it.
Studies have shown the WCC is seen as the ‘perk’ of the job, e.g. using an expenses credit card for personal expenses.

Question 22

Why is WCC under-represented in OCS?

Answer 22

1. WCC is difficult to detect.
2. WCC is complex and difficult to detect.
3. WCC is victimless.
4. WCC is rarely reported to the police.
5. WCC offences tend to be found not guilty.

Question 23

Why is WCC difficult to detect?

Answer 23

Such offences are invisible as they take place in the workplace as a part of the person’s job.

Question 24

Why is WCC is complex and difficult to detect?

Answer 24

Difficult to allocate the blame. Often, teams of investigators spend ears trying to get to the bottom of large scale fraud.

Question 25

Why is WCC is victimless?

Answer 25

No individual person is the victim so there is no one to detect and report it.

Question 26

Why is WCC is rarely reported to the police?

Answer 26

Companies prefer to deal with the offender internally for fear of damaging the company’s reputation. Many WCC are dealt with by regulatory bodeis such as the Health and Safety executive, the Enviroment Agency, the Trading Standards Agency, the BMA, etc. Rather than by CJS.

Question 27

Why is WCC offences tend to be found not guilty?

Answer 27

Members of the public who make up the jury hold the stereotypical view that crime is a w/c phenomenon. So they tend to see m/c offenders as respectable and acting in asn uncharacterstic manner. So they are treated leniently, getting community service, fines or short setneces in and open prison.

Question 28

What are the types of corporate crime?

Answer 28

1. Crimes against consumers.
2. Crimes against employees.
3. Enviromental offences
4. Financial fraud

Question 29

What are crimes against consumers?

+ example

Answer 29

Making and selling products that are unfit for human consumption.
Thalidomide - anti-sickness druing pregancy drug - 1960s. Deliberate fabrication of test resulted in the birth of 1000s of physically disabled babies.

Question 30

What are crimes against employees?

+ example

Answer 30

Failing to meet health and safety laws.
1965-90s - 25,000 people have been killed at work - 70% due to failure of management to meet H&S regulations.
Piper Alpha disaster 1988 - oil rig off the east coast of Scotland - 167 workers died.

Question 31

What are enviromental offences?

Answer 31

Polluting the enviroment through illegal disposal of waste, e.g Bohpal

Question 32

What is financial fraud?

Answer 32

False accounting, insurance fraud, e.g. Enron.

Question 33

How is corpoate crime regulated?

Answer 33

1. Regulatory bodies.
2. Power.
3. Wealth.
4. Lack of research.
5. Sentences are lenient.

Question 34

How do regulatory bodies help to regulate corporate crime?

Answer 34

Many offences are dealt with by regulatory bodies rather than CJS. Health and Safety Executive, Environment Agency, Trading Standards Agency, Inland Revenue, BMA, etc. They are more likely to issue official warnings than prosecute.

Question 35

What is the main aim of regulatory bodies?

Answer 35

To ensure compliance with their regulations rather than seek to identify offenders.

Question 36

How does the power of coporations help to regulate corporate crime?

Answer 36

The owners are members of the r/c. They can make the law enforced in their interests

Question 37

How does the media help to regulate corporate crime?

Answer 37

Tend to ignore corporate crime as it is too complex to summarise in an article or news report and it has no clear victim.

Question 38

How does the lack of research help to regulate corporate crime?

Answer 38

OCS is used to find out how many ordinary crimes there are, but nothing similar exists to find out how many corporate crimes exist. Sociological research is also limited as access to such organisations is often denied.

Question 39

How does lenient sentences help to regulate corporate crime?

+example.

Answer 39

In most serious cases, there are prosecutions, but the sentences tend to be lenient, e.g. short sentence in and open prisons or a fine.
Inadequate track maintenace - acused 7 deaths and 76 injuries in a Potters Bar train diaster. The company declared itself bankrupt in order to avoid prosecution