White collar crime-3 Flashcards
What do Marxists say about WCC?
Needs more attention.
Crimes by wealthy are categorised into what?
WCC- middle-class pp committing crime. Corporate crime- company crimes.
According to Croall, what are the types of corporate crime?
Crimes against consumers, crimes against employees, financial fraud and environmental/ green offences.
Example of crimes against consumers.
Ford marketing car in 1970s knowing car had mechanical defects. 900 pp killed.
Drug company improperly tested fertility drug for morning sickness- thousands deformed babies.
Example of crimes against employees.
Approximately 500 employees die at work every yr.
1965-1995 in the UK, 25,000 pp killed at work.
70% due to employer safety negligence
Piper Alpha oil disaster, 1988, killed 167 workers, blamed on management neglect of safety standards/ regulations by official enquiry.
Owners escaped prosecution for criminal offence.
Example environmental/ green offences.
Pollution.
ICI fined £300,000 by Environment Agency for polluting groundwater.
Example of financial fraud.
Enron specialised in gat and electricity delivery to customers in future.
2001 filed for bankruptcy, billions in debt.
19,000 employees lost jobs/ savings invested.
Why isn’t WCC/ corporate crime reported?
Croall- not regarded as serious problem by general public.
Why is WCC/ corporate crime not regarded as important to the general public?
Invisible- out of public eye. Don’t fear it.
Complex- above average understanding
Difficult to prove
Why does WCC/ corporate crime happen?
Anomie (Merton). Members of society encouraged to pursue same goals - pressure on all social classes to succeed.
Illegal means= goals/ success.
Reiner- money main source of status
Relative deprivation
Subcultures driven by money and success.
How do Marxists critique this?
WCC/ corporate provide evidence of problem, not solution to uncovering them.
Those responsible have power to cover up.
Difficult to access organisations to uncover crime.
