White Collar, violence and property crime

Question 1

White collar crime is crime…

Answer 1

by and within businesses

Question 2

What are some types of white collar crime:

Answer 2

Environmental pollution
Health and safety violations
Fraud
Consumer affairs issues
Money laundering
Food regulation

Question 3

Criminology rightly criticized for a general failure to examine a range of white-collar crimes, these failures are likely connected to:

Answer 3

• Less powerful interest in these activities
• Different approach by the media to these events – less coverage, less emotive
• Difficult to research – predominantly ‘hidden’
• Not captured by general crime statistics – police records, surveys, or courts
• Specialised, expert knowledge required to understand a lot of this behaviour

Question 4

White-collar crime varies from other forms of criminal activity in a number of ways

Answer 4

• Generally private
  – Offenders are usually legitimately present
  – Often involves abuse of trust and insider knowledge
  – Often no immediate complaint and is less of a source of fear/anxiety
  – Difficult to determine responsibility and ambiguous legal/criminal status

Question 5

Some broad theories that have attempted to explain this class of offending (white collar)

Answer 5

• Differential association (Sutherland)
  – General theory of crime (self-control – Hischi and Gottfredson)
  – Sub-cultural theory and neutralisation
  – Rational choice/opportunity

Question 6

Four general trends we can summarise now about crime are:

Answer 6

• More property than personal
  – Decline overall, with increases that make sense
  – Not being a victim is normal, but if a victim then revictimisation is a real risk
  – Crime happens in specific places