White-Collar Crime Edwin Sutherland (1949) defined white- collar crime as:- “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.”

2 Types of White-Collar Crime Occupational – crimes committed at the expense of the organisation eg stealing from the employer. Corporate – crimes committed on behalf of the organisation eg non-payment of VAT.

Examples of Corporate Crime Selling food which is unfit for human consumption. Manufacturing or selling of dangerous goods. Box claims that mechanical defects in the Ford Pinto may have led to between 500 and 900 deaths in the USA yet the company was fully aware of the defects.

Examples of Corporate Crime Failing to meet health and safety regulations which can lead to the injury or death of employees. Environmental offences False accounting or insurance fraud.

Views of Corporate Crime Treated differently by the Police, courts, public and regulatory bodies because:- Low visibility Complexity Difficult to allocate blame to particular individuals ‘crimes without victims’

Croall, 2001 Compared to many other forms of crime, corporate crime has a lower rate of detection and prosecution and more lenient punishments.

Explanations Personality-based Gross (1978) found that individuals who had been successful in large companies tended to be ambitious, see their own success in terms of the company’s success and they had an ‘undemanding moral code’.

Anomie Box (1983) used Merton’s version of anomie. He argued that if an organisation is unable to achieve its goals using socially approved methods then it may turn to other, possibly illegal, methods of achieving its goal. Braithwaite studied the pharmaceutical industry that scientists were willing to fabricate their results in order to have their products adopted by their companies. Motivated by financial greed and the desire for scientific prestige.

Marxist Fits the view that the real criminals are the rich and powerful. Pearce – in monetary terms the criminal activities of the working-class are small compared with the huge sums pocketed by private enterprise. Chamblis claimed that crime is widespread in every stratum in society.

The occasional prosecution of the ruling-class provides the fiction that the law operates for the benefit of society as a whole. Young claimed that the media supports the status quo. Workers have gained concessions through TUs but strikers are portrayed in a negative light. Drugs use of hippies and teenagers is condemned yet 72 million tablets used each year legally.

Young also claimed that capitalism was a system based on competition and personal gain. There is hostility and frustration for the losers. Members of each stratum use whatever means they can.

Subcultural Some sociologists argue that many corporations, especially financial institutions, have a subculture which emphases the pursuit of wealth and profit. Places high value on risk-taking and monetary success.