White Collar Crime
Ian Petoskey
White collar crimes hat are non-violent crimes committed by high occupational business or government professionals. The theory of crime which asserts that the essential element of criminality is the absence of self-control. People with high self-control consider the long-term consequences of their behavior; those with low self-control do not. People within society, think white collar crimes are not important social phenomenon, but that’s because majority of the cases of white collar crime goes undetected. “More than 88% of white collar crime incidents are never reported to law enforcement agencies, although about half of all incidents are reported to someone, such as a supervisor. 17% of individual respondents in this survey reported experiencing at least one form of white collar crime.”(Gaille) Professionals have emphasized that white-collar crimes are particularly harmful to society because they are committed by people in power who are expected to set a moral example for the society and behave responsibly. The reason that white collar crimes are so effective in society today, is because of the people of a higher occupation of an organization or business commit white collar crimes, even the most trusted and respected members (with no self control) within the society commit the white collar crimes the same way regular crimes are committed.
Steven Elliott explains why people commit white collar crimes, “White collar crimes are estimated to cost society many times more than crimes such as robbery and burglary. The amount of death caused by corporate mishap, such as inadequate pharmaceutical testing, far outnumbers those caused by murder. White collar crime is relatively unstudied and not well understood. As a result, white collar criminals are able to slip through the cracks with massive profits and minor punishments. Understanding what motivates these crimes of greed should be the first step in understanding how to prevent them.”(Elliott) “Cracking down on white collar criminals could reduce the problem. If theorists are correct and white collar crime is a rational choice, the fear of apprehension would play a role in the decision making process. Without fear of consequences, white collar criminals see few disadvantages to committing illegal acts.” (Elliott)
Within our society, people within a society think white collar crime is not important, that it never happens, it doesn’t affect anything; but they are wrong, white collar crime can happen by anyone and the reason that it isn’t mentioned or noticed is because majority of the white collar crimes are undetected or never reported. For instance there is potentially white collar crimes that are going on in your society and you might not even realize it. Most of the time these crimes are committed by high trusted members of the society. When people don’t say white collar crime affects anything, well that’s not true because white collar crime can impact a person emotionally and financially. When people commit these crimes it all impacts the economy of the society and with more widespread businesses it impact the economy of the entire country. When people commit these crimes it impact the profit of the company and the countries taxes. The opportunity cost of the situation is either getting more money faster while not sharing the money that was taken from the total profit with other employees and potentially getting caught then going to prison or let the business run it’s course and get money the legal way and not take it from the government or businesses. Running these white collar operations are a real risk to the professionals that are committing these crimes. Which sometimes there are cases about businesses lying to customers about a product to have them think it’s a customer’s need or want. White collar crime exists, is not receiving as much media attention or as much of a budget as it deserves, and these crimes costs the United States a huge amount of money each year, it is time to focus on what actually goes into this total cost of white collar crime. The amount of money that white collar crime costs each year is enormous, but that number is not making a big enough effect on people. Regardless, these areas need to be studied and understood if the United States hopes to prevent future white collar crimes.
Works Cited
Graham, Megan, "White Collar Crime and the United States' Economy" (2012). Honors Theses. Paper 49
Why People Commit White Collar Crimes. (n.d.). Retrieved Feburary 22, 2017, from http://legalbeagle.com/4579336-people-commit-white-collar-crimes.html
Consequences of White-collar Crime (From White-Collar Crime - An Agenda for Research, P 23-49, 1982, Herbert Edelhertz and Thomas D. Overcast, ed. - See NCJ-77820)
Gaille, B. (2015, August 11). 34 Surprising White Collar Crimes Statistics. Retrieved January 06, 2017, from http://brandongaille.com/34-surprising-white-collar-crimes-statistics/
(n.d.). Retrieved December 22, 2016, from http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1990-97753-000
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Becker, G. S. (n.d.). Crime and Punishment: an Economic Approach. Retrieved Feburary 21, 2017, from http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-62853-7_2
Braithwaite , John. "White Collar Crime." Annual Review of Sociology. N.p., 1985. Web. 20 Dec. 2016.
PUBLICATIONS. (n.d.). Retrieved December 22, 2016, from https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=10815
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