White-Collar Criminals Professor Petter Gottschalk 36 th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners Mauritius 15 October 2014
Who is a white-collar criminal? Member of the privileged socioeconomic class and belongs to the elite in society Individual behaves illegally in non-violent acts committed for financial gain Person of respectability, who commits crime in a professional setting, where criminal activities are concealed and disguised in legal organizational work Criminal has power and influence and enjoys trust from others in privileged networks Offender is independent and irresponsible, dishonest and antisocial, and lacks integrity and social conscience Person is likely to exhibit narcissistic behavior and psychopathic traits Individual may be subject to strain and have low self-control Offender has legitimate access to the location in which the crime is committed, and the offender’s actions have a superficial appearance of legitimacy Criminal does not consider own actions as crime and has no guilt feeling
White-collar criminals in Norway 369 criminals sentenced to prison from 2009 to 2014 Average age 48 years old (Germany: 47years, Netherlands: 42 years) 93 % men (Netherlands: 85 % men) Average sentence 2.3 years in prison (Germany: 3.9 years) Sum of money involved in crime 48 million NOK (7 million US dollars) Most serious cases discovered by journalists after whistle- blowing Most occupational, not corporate crime Most internal victims, external victims: banks, society, customers