1. White-collar and Corporate Crimes

2. Aims of Lesson
To examine the under-representation of white-collar crime and corporate crime in official crime statistics (AO2)
To explore key sociological explanations for white-collar and corporate crime. (AO1)
To analyse examples of real-life white-collar and corporate crimes (AO2)
To provide an evaluation of such crimes (AO3)

3. Recapping – Marxism and Crime
What term do Marxists use when suggesting that crime is inevitable under capitalism?
What examples does Chambliss refer to when arguing that laws that are not passed are as important as those that are?
Complete the following – Laureen Snider suggests that corporate crime cost more in terms of money and lives than ……………..
How does the case of Akre v. Fox demonstrate the way that the bourgeoisie control the media?

4. Thinking Point !
What should happen to the shareholders of Volkswagen – should they have just been fined or should they have been imprisoned?

5. Marxists note that although all classes commit crimes, the law is selectively enforced so that higher class and corporate offenders are less likely to be prosecuted than working-class offenders.
 Such crimes by the powerful have become known as ‘white-collar crimes’. This term was initially coined by Edwin Sutherland.
 Edwin Sutherland an early Interactionist defined ‘white-collar crime as, crimes committed by persons of respectability and high social status in the course of their occupations’

6. What sort of crimes did Sutherland say they included?
1 Bribery (in business and politics) - form of corruption, offering or receiving an item of value to influence a course of action
2. Tax Evasion An effort to not pay taxes by illegal means
3. Fraud deceiving another in order to obtain property or services
4. Embezzlement stealing money that has been entrusted into people's care
5. Breaking trade regulations, and safety regulations in industry
6. Breaking food laws
7. Professional Misconduct by doctors

7. HAZEL CROALL
Croall tried to distinguish between two and later three types of white-collar crime
1. OCCUPATIONAL CRIME:
This refers to crimes that are committed by
a. professionals
b. senior of junior executives
c. or others in the course of their occupation.
This could include fraud, for example, various types
of electronic or computer crimes are increasingly common
2. CORPORATE CRIME : This refers to crimes committed by corporations or businesses.

8. It can include a wide range of activities from
pollution
fraud
breaking health and safety regulations
negligence or corporate manslaughter
3. Croall also recognised a third category she called ORGANISATIONAL CRIME, this refers to crimes committed by governments or public organisations. (Muncie and McLaughlin call these ‘powers of the state’)

9. Examples of White-Collar/Corporate Crimes
The Corporate Crime
The Zeebrugge disaster in 1987, 188 die when the Herald of Free Enterprise ferry ship sank when its bow doors were left open. Who was to blame? The management or the boson who left the doors open? One of the first examples of corporate manslaughter

10. The Fall of Barings Bank
The Occupational Crime Nick Leeson was a former trader whose unsupervised trading on Singapore’s monetary exchange brought down Baring’s Britain oldest Investment Bank. He made unauthorized losses of £827 million
The Fall of Barings Bank

11. The Organizational Crime
The Watergate Affair This emerged in 1972 when Richard Nixon was the US President. The White House was seen to have authorized the break in of the Democratic Party Headquarters (the opposition), and also illegal wiretapping and money laundering. Nixon then resigned

12. HOMEWORK ACTIVITY
Research and categorize the examples provided as either a
Corporate crime
Occupational Crime
Organizational Crime

13. Answers
1.Tiananmen Square – Organizational 2. Nestle – Corporate 3. Holocaust – Organizational 4. Bernard Madoff – Occupational 5. Bhopal – Corporate 6. Albert Stanley – Occupational 7. Ministry of Defence – Organizational 8. Thalidomide – Corporate 9. John Prescott - Occupational

14. Pearce and Tombs
Pearce and Tombs have noted that many corporate crimes do not actually beak the law. Hence they see corporate crime as
‘any illegal act that is the result of deliberate decisions or culpable negligence by the legitimate business organisation and that is intended to benefit the business’
Tombs argues that these types of offence are more about who has the power to define an act as a crime rather than about how harmful the act is: powerful corporations can influence the law so that their actions are not criminalised

15. Hence they note that white collar and corporate crimes do far more harm than ordinary ‘street crimes’ such as burglary and theft.
They include further examples such as
Crimes against Consumers – such as false labelling and unfit goods – e.g.
The French government ordered Poly breast implants from the company Prothese to be removed because they included dangerous industrial silicon rather than more expensive silicone.

16. Crimes against the Environment – include illegal pollution of air, water and land , such as toxic waste dumping.
Crimes against Employees - such as racial and sexual discrimination, violations of wage laws, of rights to join a trade union or take industrial action, and health and safety laws.
ACTIVITY
Working independently answer the following - Are zero hours contracts a crime against employees?
Provide a reason for the answer given.

17. The Abuse of Trust
According to Carrabine et al, people entrust high status professionals with their finances, health, security and information. However their position gives them the chance to abuse this trust.
For example KPMG admitted in the US to criminal wrongdoing and paid a fine for its role in tax fraud.
Accountants and lawyers have been employed by criminal organisations to launder criminal funds into legitimate businesses

18. The expertise, status and respect given to health professionals afford the chance of scope for criminal activity. As shown in the case of Frances Cappucini

19. The Invisibility of Corporate Crime
Corporate Crime is relatively invisible due to
The Media who reinforce the image of the
typical criminal as working-class
b.Lack of Political Will – little attention is given
by the government to white-collar crime
c.Crimes are too complex – investigators lack
the resources and technical knowledge to deal with crimes
d.De-labelling – Crimes are often filtered out of
criminal courts and defined as civil cases resulting in fines.
e.Under-reporting – Victims are not aware that
they have been victimised e.g. if duped by a mortgage company i.e. PPI

20. ACTIVITY
Different sociological explanations for why people commit white-collar crime?
Read through the following Newspaper article for a detailed commentary on the way that MPs were seen to fiddle their expenses in the past.
Working in groups to apply the group’s allocated theory to explain why MPs are routinely involved in making expense claims
that some might consider to be a white-collar crime.

21. Re-capping
What is the difference between white-collar, corporate and organisational crimes?
Give three reasons for why white-collar crimes occur.
Select and briefly summarise a sociological explanation for why white-collar crimes occur.