White Collar Crimes - Case Study Example

Discovery of White Collar Crime Introduction The discovery of white collar crime has become a major area of study in the field of criminology. Some past decades have changed the study from an individualized form into an organizational research. The concept was initially put forward by Edwin Sutherland, a renowned criminologist and sociologist, in 1939 in a speech when he was talking to the American Sociological Society emphasizing upon the inclusion of, in the study of criminology, criminal activities performed by reputed businessmen. Since then, the term white collar crime has been introduced which has now “become an established part of the vernacular of criminology” (Schlegel & Weisburd, 1994, p.3) and since then it has been a hot topic of debate as well. What is white collar crime? “White collar crime tends to refer to crimes committed at a business by a businessman or woman”, (Conjecture Corporation, 2011). Sutherland, in his December 27, 1939 speech, asserted the fact that when people are surrounding by individuals who have criminal behavior, they are more likely to get involved in criminal activities. This called for the justice system to pose punishments upon these white collar criminals; however, these punishments will be mush lenient from those given to violent criminals because white collar criminals are not actually aggressive criminals who commit crime in series. Schlegel and Weisburd (1994, p.4) state that when Sutherland brought forward the concept, he was himself very much confused about the idea because he used words like “respectability, high social status, and occupation”, in his definition. White collar crime more often includes crimes like occupational fraud and cheating, and more specifically speaking, it includes “fraud, bankruptcy fraud, bribery, insider trading, embezzlement, computer crime, medical crime, public corruption, identity theft, environmental crime, pension fund crime, RICO crimes, consumer fraud, occupational crime, securities fraud, financial fraud, and forgery” (Karri & Associates, 2006). The concept nowadays is often related to the socio-economic status of an individual involved in the crime, as is also clear by the definition given by Sutherland himself. A white collar crime, performed either through computer or through paper, is often committed by people belonging to the middle class or the upper class because people get influenced by their origins. And since they belong to high social status, the crime may go undetected and if at all detected, then the criminals are able to hire expensive lawyers to defend their cases and they are also kept in prisons that have minimum security measures. Thus, they enjoy freedom even in their prisons. Why a white collar crime is considered as less punishable than violent crimes is still questionable because many white collar crimes tend to be more harmful to the people. If a white collar criminal steals all the funds that included people’s savings of their lives, then the victims are made to lose everything if the money is not recovered. But they are still punished less and are given many concessions as compared to other criminals because they belong to a higher socio-economic status. According to FBI, “White-collar crimes cost the United States more than $300 billion annually” (Karri & Associates, 2006). The concept of white collar crimes changes the way criminologists studied crime. Before this phenomenon, they looked at crime as an activity which can only be performed by street muggers and people belonging to lower social class. But after this concept was introduced, the rich and the poor, all were considered equal in the case of criminal activities. Thus, Sutherland was able to bring the powerful people at an equal status with the poor in the eyes of the Court of Justice and made sure that the rich people do not escape punishment due to their powerful political connections and strong financial position. Sutherland and His Contributions Sutherland pondered upon the concept when he took his sociological course in the University of Chicago. Although he was not the first one to study this concept, but he was surely the first one who made the study not only honorable but practical because he discussed the issue more clearly and concisely by organizing the methodical learning of the phenomenon. He expressed an idiosyncratic theoretical perception of white collar crime and provided an operational definition of the concept regarding administrative and civil violations. His theory was causal supported by empirical data which was obtained through studying administrative violations that occurred in seventy companies. A Summary of Sutherland’s Thesis If we sum up the main propositions of the white collar crime thesis by Sutherland, w come to know that white collar crime has been referred to as serious criminal activity by Sutherland in all cases when it violates the criminal law. The only thing that distinguishes the white collar crime from a low class crime is that it is implemented in a different way and at a different level. Thus, white collar criminals are only administratively different from lower class criminals. Sutherland has negated the theories of other criminologists who proposed that the mere causes of crime included poverty and sociopathic issues. He affirmed that these theories were based on samples that were biased according to the social status that did not relate to white collar criminals and also did not fully explain the lower class criminality. Thus, he argued that such a theory was required that could address both the elite and the lower class criminality. Hence, Sutherland’s research and theory changed the field of criminology and gave it a wider perspective which brought upper class and lower class criminals on same grounds. He also proposed the Differential Association Theory which explains the way criminals (deviants) get to learn technical knowledge that is required in performing the criminal activity (deviant). His Interactionist Theory of Deviance explains the factors that make people exhibit criminal behavior. Conclusion To conclude, white collar crime is the crime that is performed by people of high respectability and social status in occupational context, and it often goes unidentified or untalked about because of the white collar criminals’ strong connections and financial background. Sutherland, however, made the criminologists acknowledge the fact that the concept of crime is not just related to lower class street criminals but it also applies to those of the elite class just the same. References Conjecture Corporation. (2011). What is white collar crime? WiseGEEK. Retrieved 26 January, 2011, from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-white-collar-crime.htm Karri & Associates. (2006). White Collar Crime. Retrieved 26 January, 2011, from http://karisable.com/crwc.htm Schlegel, K., & Weisburd, D. (1994). White-Collar Crime Reconsidered. USA: UPNE. Read More