Characteristics of White Collar Offenders - Research Paper Example

Society is most of the time preoccupied with low-status offenders and the prevalent street crimes. This is at the expense of the offenses that are carried out by people of higher social statuses and occupations. One of the most common forms of this crime is known as White Collar Crime, which is a criminal activity carried out by a respectable person of high social status while in the line of duty. This paper will be a description of the common characteristics of White Collar Offenders.

White-collar crime is most of the time linked with legitimate behavior, as a result of this, most people of high socio-economic status resort to it when they get into financial difficulty (Keel, 2008). This is one common characteristic of white-collar offenders. They are always affluent people who believe that they will get their way through illegal and fraudulent measures. These people always engage in crime in a bid to maintain their position and outlook in society (Keel, 2008). This is one scenario that is common in most people who commit white-collar crimes, they are in good high-paying jobs and most of the time they are least likely to be suspected of any involvement in crimes.

Another factor that is common with white-collar crime offenders is the fact that on average they are in their forties (Shover and Hochstetler, 2006). This is an age that is slightly older than that of other offenders that carry out other types of crimes. This may be attributed to the fact that people in this age group are in a rush to make money and may not be patient to follow the proper channels of doing that, thus they resolve work-related crimes since they perceive that the possibility of being discovered is low. These offenders are also very highly educated and intelligent (Benson & Simpson, 2009). They are the ones that hold high positions in their places of work. This ability gives them the opportunity to understand various work structures hence using the information to carry out some fraudulent activities within the organization.

In addition to this, most white-collar offenders do not view themselves as criminals because crime is not their predominant activity. Therefore, they always tend to distance themselves from other groups in the same category such as organized crime offenders (Shover & Hochstetler, 2006). This is despite the fact that most white-collar crime is actually planned and involves a number of people who know that what they are doing is illegal and try to cover up for it through other legal activities.

Dishonesty and lack of integrity are common character traits that white-collar offenders exhibit. Lack of integrity enables most offenders to involve in activities that cause great financial pain and suffering to their employees or employers and co-workers without feeling that they are lying or stealing (Keel, 2008). Dishonesty is what helps them to cover up for their unpopular activities.

Most white-collar offenders tend to be male; nine out of ten people who commit these crimes are male as compared to women. In addition to this, in America, they tend to be white as opposed to the other minority groups that reside in the whole country. These groups tend to involve more in other kinds of criminal activities that are not considered white (Benson and Simpson, 2009).

In conclusion, white-collar crime is prevalent in society today. However, due to the way in which the perpetrators are organized and some of the high positions that they hold in their places of work, most of them tend to get away with their offenses which most of the time involve large sums of money. It is the responsibility of various sectors of society to come up with policies that ensure that those found involved in any kind of white-collar crime get punished for it.