Foundations and Enforcements of White Collar Crime - Essay Example

The white collar crimes can be broadly defined as the crimes committed by the people who have a good social standing and are normally professionals who wield considerable authority within the organization. While the term was loosely used by Edwin Sutherland, an eminent criminologist in 1940, in a presidential address to ASA1, it has now been adopted into legal and non legal discipline to identify with a wide ranging acts that may be deemed unlawful. The term has become a popular way of describing illegal acts of the people who may not normally be associated with any omission and commission of dishonest acts.

Since such types of crimes are committed by respectable people, it often involves intricate manoeuvre of managerial accounting which may or may not be accompanied by huge amount of financial fraud. In 1970, Herbert Edlehertz, US Department of Justice Official, described white collar crime as ‘those illegal act or series of acts committed by non physical means and by concealment or guile, to obtain money, or property, or to obtain business advantage’ (Edlehertz). FBI2 has also reaffirmed Edlehertz’s definition and has asserted that white collar crimes are ‘characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and which are not dependent upon the application or threat of physical force or violence’ (USDOJ).

The white collar crimes are illegal acts that violate state laws and the persons found guilty, can be tried under various section of Criminal Law. The wide scope of white collar crimes is open to interpretations and unless the culprit is caught with hard evidence of violating federal or state laws, it becomes very difficult to bring the offence and the offender to its rightful result. Enron Scandal is one of the most infamous white collar crimes where the top executives of the company were involved in huge financial bungling, money laundering, security fraud, wire fraud etc.

that had finally led the company to seek bankruptcy in 2001 (Enron). In the recent times, there has been increasing cases of white collar crimes. The unethical conduct and non transparency in corporate governance has greatly facilitated the upsurge in the huge financial irregularity that has caused the loss of billions of dollars of the hard earned money of the public. There is urgent need to bring accountability within the working of the organization both public and private so as to safeguard public money and promote mutual trust and confidence.

It is especially true in the contemporary times, when the world economy is undergoing tremendous pressure with fast looming recessive trends. The government must take the onus of coming up with stringent laws that would effectively serve as deterrent in the arena of white collar frauds committed by people in authority.ReferenceEdlehertz, Herbert. (1970). The Nature, Impact and Prosecution of White Collar Crime. Washington DC: National Institute of Law and Enforcement and Criminal Justice. ENRON Scandal.

Available from: [Accessed 25 January, 2009].US Department of Justice, FBI.(1983). White Collar Crime: A Report to the Public. Washington DC. Sutherland, Edwin H. (1983). White Collar Criminality: The Uncut Version. New haven: Yale University Press