Why White Collar Crimes are Committed - Essay Example

Criminology 14 November 2005 Why White Collar Crimes are Committed (Criminology Theory) White Collar Crime has not been a widescale issue, presented by the media until recently. Although, in criminology there is a historical record of white collar crime being committed. One of the most substantiated cases involves more than one corporation, but all are associated with Enron. These occurred between the years of 2001-2002 but the criminal acts went on years before hand. Some of those involved in this scandal included: World Com, Global Crossing, Adelphia, and Tyco (Friedrich 2004).

The best possible way to develop an understanding of these crimes is through utilizing a specific criminological theory to define them (Friedrich 2004). By implementing the theory of Individualism in criminology, certain factors that lead to the causation of this form of white collar crime become evident.According to Sutherland (1994), personality and individual characteristics are not sufficient to offer a full comprehensive example of white collar crime. However, these two characteristics should not be dismissed entirely nor should the theory of the individualistic level (Friedrich 2004).

The reason this is stated is due to the implied idea that top corporate professionals, within these aforementioned companies are interpreted to the general public as being greedy and self preserving. This is obvious by the fact that if ethic's and concern for other investors had been deciding factors, these criminal actions of fraud and embezzlement (among others) would have never taken place. Many times the individualistic theory in white collar crime points to greed as the main causation for the crime or crimes.

What it amounts to is the fact that these executives would rather take the wrong highway to achieve higher positions of importance and financial flare/success than worry about what repercussions for their actions might be later down the road (Friedrich 2004). "Ever since the Watergate case, it has been a commonly advanced axiom that the cover up is worse than the original crime (Eichenwald 2002d). In conclusion, white collar crime is becoming more and pronounced. The individualistic theory is the best way to theorize why this is and a conclusion into many causes as to why it happens has already been reached using this implement in law.

One of the main aspects that were stated in the paper is related to greed. It has been found to be the main stimulating factor in cases such as Enron and Watergate. It can be determined that this type of crime causes more harm in the economics of a country than some other potential crimes would. Therefore, the concept of white collar crime in general is abhorrent in itself. Crime is inexcusable, especially when there is no causefor it but greed and selfishness.Works CitedEichenwald, K. Anderson Guilty of Shredding Files in Enron Scandal The New York Times 2004, A.

1Friedrichs, David. Enron ET Al.: Paradigmatic White Collar Crime Cases For the New Century 2004 pp.113-124Sutherland, E.H. White Collar Criminality American Sociological Review 5, 1940 pp.1-12