White collar and Corporate crime

Question 1

Describe the Volkswagen scandal that supports white collar crime

Answer 1

• global scandal
• 11 mill vehicles rigged to cheat emissions test
• management/ CEO blamed w/c engineers
• lied to police and customers
• environmental damage

Question 2

What is white collar crime?

Answer 2

• laws is selectively enforced so higher class are less likely to be prosecuted then w/c
• crimes of the powerful

Question 3

What did Edwin Sutherland define white collar crime as?

Answer 3

“Crimes committed by persons of respectability and high social status in the course of their occupations”

Question 4

What crimes did Edwin Sutherland class as white collar crime?

Answer 4

• Bribery
• tax evasion
• Fraud
• embezzlement
• breaking trade and safety regulations
• breaking food laws
• professional misconduct by laws

Question 5

What is Bribery, tax evasion, fraud and embezzlement?

Answer 5

Bribery - corruptly giving or recording an item of value to influence a course of action

Tax evasion - effort to avoid paying taxes by illegal means

Fraud - deceiving another in order to obtain property or services

Embezzlement - stealing money that has been interested in peoples care

Question 6

What 2 types of white collar crime did Sutherland state?

Answer 6

• occupational: committed by employees for person grain

- corporate: committed by employees for company

Question 7

What’s an example of occupational and corporate crime?

Answer 7

Occupational: stealing from company/ customers

Corporate: mis selling products to increase company profit

Question 8

What third type of white collar crime emerged?

Answer 8

• Croall added 3rd category
• organisational crime
• crimes cited by government or public organisation

Question 9

How did Pearce and Tombs truly define corporate crime?

Answer 9

• not all corporate crime breaks the law
• therefore corporate crime is:

“Any illegal act that’s a result of deliberate decisions or culpable negligence by the legitimate business organisation and that is intended to benefit the business”

Question 10

What does Pearce and Tombs say about corporate crime?

Answer 10

• more about who has the power to define an act a crime
• not about how harmful it is
• businesses can influence laws so actions are not criminalised

Question 11

What are the 5 types of corporate crime?

Answer 11

• financial crimes
• crimes against consumer
• crimes against employee
• crimes against environment
• state corporate crime

Question 12

What are examples of financial crimes?

Answer 12

• tax evasion
• bribery
• money laundering
• illegal accounting
• affects us as tax is for NHS

Question 13

What are examples of crimes against consumer?

Answer 13

• false advertising
• selling unfit goods

France 2011:

• french gov recommended women w/ breast implants made by poly implant prothèse to have them removed
• filled w/ dangerous industrial silicon

Question 14

What are some examples of crimes against employees?

Answer 14

• sexual discrimination
• racial discrimination
• violations of wage
• violation of health and safety laws

Question 15

What are some examples of crimes against environment?

Answer 15

• illegal pollution of air, water and land

- toxic waste dumping

Question 16

What are examples of state corporate crime?

Answer 16

• harms committed when government institutions and business cooperate to pursue goals
• private companies contracted to US military were accused of torture during the American occupation of Iraq

Question 17

What is the abuse of trust in terms of crime?

Answer 17

Carrabine:

• p’s trust high status professionals w/ finances, health, security and Indian
• professionals positions give chance to abuse p’s trust
• accountants and lawyers have been employed by criminal organisations to launder criminal funds into legitimate businesses
• e.g KPMG admitted to criminal behaviour and played $456 for tax fraud

Question 18

Describe how Harold shipman supports abuse of trust

Answer 18

• year 2000
• convicted of murdering 15 patients
• thought to have killed 200
• his status gave him the opportunity to do so

Question 19

What are the 3 sociological explanations of corporate crime?

Answer 19

• strain theory
• differential association
• labelling theory

Question 20

What is strain theory?

Answer 20

• m/c can achieve goals legitimately
• but they might still feel relatively deprived
• they want to have more success
• fuelled by greed and power to commit crime

Question 21

What is differential association?

Answer 21

Sutherland:

• if p’s associate with other criminal they are more likely to commit crime
• aggressive management culture in business circles generate corporate crime

Question 22

What is labelling theory?

Answer 22

Nelken

• corporate crime is not seen as ‘criminalI’
• corporate crime is similar to normal business practices
• powerful businesses employ accountants and lawyers to develop ‘techniques of neutralisation’
• this is to define their crimes as mistakes

Croall (2007)

• corporate crime does not intend to harm
• so they’re seen as less criminal than street crime e.g burglary
• e.g toxic waste dumping