The Definition of White Collar Crime

In this paper the elicit iniquitous phenomenon surviven as skilled plague entrust be discussed. Corporate Crime and Computer Crime lead be discussed in detail. Crime preventative agencies such as the NCPC (National Crime Prevention Council) pull up stakes also be researched. The late Professor Edwin Sutherland coined the call clerical offensive about 1941. Sutherland defined white-collar detestation as a curse castted by a person of respectability and high friendly status in the vogue of his occupation (Siegel 337) professional plague includes, by way of example, such acts as promulgating false or misleading advertising, black exploitation of employees, mislabeling of goods, violation of weights and measures statutes, conspiring to fix prices, evading corporate taxes, computing machine offensive activitys, and so on. White-collar villainy is close distinctively defined in terms of attitudes toward those who commit it. These crimes be punishable by legal philos ophy, however it is generally regarded by the courts and by sections of the general public as much less reprehensible than crimes usually punished by the courts.The other types of crime are working-class offenses, which are predominately crimes of the under-privileged. White-collar crimes are punished far less harshly than blue-collar crimes, which shows societies attitudes towards the two sections of society. White-collar crime is attractive to sads beca habit it brings material rewards with secondary or no loss of status. (Taft & England 201) For some, white-collar crime is non viewed as a crime at all, because of its non-violent nature.Violent crime has an immediate and noniceable impact on its victim which raises the ire of the public, whereas white-collar crime oft goes undetected or is viewed as a bending of the rules. Yet white-collar crime burn create the greater havoc. The victim of an assault provide recover however, the impact of a fraud stooge last a lifet ime. This is especially true when the elderly are victimized, as they induce little or no hope of re-establishing themselves in financial terms. Contrary to the fashionable belief, white-collar sinfuls are thieves and the methods used to conceal their offenses are both insincere and ingenious.Concealment of the crime is always an objective of the offender, and it becomes an element of the crime itself. Because it is an insincere form of deceit, which is skillfully disguised, the investigation itself is very much long and laborious as far as proving venomous drift is concerned. The offence itself may be disguised in a maze of legitimate transactions, which are rather proper if viewed in isolation however, the cumulative effect is the commission of a reprehensible offence. From the standpoint of the criminal, the ideal white- collar crime is star that will never be recognized or detected as a criminal act.Corporate crime is the type of crime that is engaged in by individual s and groups of individuals who become involved in criminal conspiracies designed to emend the market share or profitability of their participations. ( Siegel 338) Corporations are legal entities, which can be and are subjected to criminal processes. There is today little bulwark on the range of crimes for which corporations may be held responsible, though a corporation cannot be imprisoned.The most controversial issue in regard to the think of corporate crime revolves around the question of whether corporate crime is actually crime. Corporate officials, politicians, and many criminologists object to the criminological study of corporate guilt on the strictest sense of the word. The conventional and strictly legal definition of crime is that it is an act, which violates the criminal law and is thereby punishable by a criminal court. From this perspective a criminal is one who has been convicted in a criminal court.Given these widely accepted notions of crime and criminals, it is deald that what is called corporate crime is not really crime and should not be considered as such by either the public or criminologists. (Hochstedler 22) It does appear that now in novel times society has had a evolution concern about white-collar and corporate crime. Studies move over indicated that the public now judges white-collar vice to be more than serious than it had been in the past, state now pass lost confidence in the people running major companies, and most American corporate executives are believed to be dishonest.The publics concern with corporate crime has grown recently, farther has been evident for some(prenominal) years. I will use one of the most memorable corporate crime cases in memorial The ford Pinto Case to prove my statement. (Cullen/Maakestad/Cavender 43) The product liability lawsuit and raise titled Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Company is a case in point and ought to be read by everyone. Grimshaw is an example of the type of topic that can happen when an industry insolates itself from competition. The Pinto affair has very distinguished lessons for us all.Its story can teach us much about the occasion of huge corporations and what corporations can do when they face no real competition. It elevator carries an important lesson about how the minds of those who run the worlds colossal corporations work. In November of 1971 the Grays purchased a new 1972 Pinto hatchback manufactured by Ford in October of 1971. The Grays had trouble with the car from the outset. During the startle hardly a(prenominal) months of ownership, they had to return the car to the dealer for repairs a number of times.Their car problems included excessive gas and oil consumption, down shifting of the automatic pistol transmission, lack of power, and occasional stalling. It was later learned that the stalling and excessive kindle consumption were caused by a heavy carburetor vagabond. On whitethorn 28, Mrs. Gray, accompanied by 13-year-old Ri chard Grimshaw, set out in the Pinto from Anaheim for Barstow to meet Mr. Gray. The Pinto was therefore six months old and had been driven approximately 3,000 miles. Mrs. Gray stopped in San Bernardino for gasoline, got back onto the freeway (Interstate 15) and proceeded toward her destination at 60 65 miles per hour.As she approached the Route 30 off-ramp where traffic was congested, she moved from the outer fast roadway to the middle lane of the freeway. Shortly after this lane change, the Pinto suddenly stalled and coasted to a halt in the middle lane. It was later established that the carburetor tout had become so saturated with gasoline that it suddenly sank, opening the float chamber and causing the engine to flood and stall. A car travel immediately behind the Pinto was able to swerve and pass it but the driver of a 1962 Ford Galaxie was unable to avoid colliding with the Pinto.The Galaxie had been traveling from 50 to 55 miles per hour but before the impact had been br aked to a speed of 28 to 37 miles per hour. At the moment of impact, the Pinto caught fire and its interior was engulfed in flames. accord to the plaintiffs expert, the impact of the Galaxie had driven the Pintos gas tank frontward and caused it to be pierced by the flange or one of the bolts on the differential caparison so that fuel sprayed from the punctured tank and entered the passenger compartment through gaps resulting from the dissolution of the rear wheel well sections from the floor pan.By the time the Pinto came to abide after the collision, both occupants had sustained serious burns. When they emerged from the vehicle, their clothing was almost alone burned off. Mrs. Gray died a few days later of congestive heart flush iture as a result of the burns. Grimshaw managed to survive but only through heroic medical measures. He has undergone numerous and vast surgeries and skin grafts and was expected to build to undergo additional surgeries over the nigh 10 years.He lost portions of several fingers on his left exit and portions of his left ear, hile his face required many skin grafts from various portions of his body. This vivid account of these events is needed to grasp the full impact of this tragic particular which could have been avoided by Ford for very minimal cost. Each Pinto could have been repaired for $4-$8 a piece. Management knew of these defects but still decided to baffle and release the Pinto to the public. The idea for the Pinto, as has been noted, was conceived by Mr. Iacocco sic, the Executive Vice chairperson of Ford. The feasibility study was conducted under the supervision of Mr.Robert Alexander, Vice President of cable car Engineering. Fords Product Planning Committee, whose members included Mr. Iacocca, Mr. Robert Alexander, and Mr. Harold MacDonald, Fords Group Vice President of car Engineering, approved the Pintos concept and make the decision to go forward with the project. Harley Copp, a former Ford engineer a nd executive in charge of the overhead testing program, testified that the highest level of Fords management made the decision to go forward with the production of the Pinto, knowing that the gas tank was vulnerable to uncture at gloomy rear impact speeds creating a significant risk of death or injury from fire and knowing that fixes were feasible at nominal cost.He testified that managements decision was establish on the cost savings, which would inure from omitting the fixes. This was the corporations outright tidy sum of human life for profit. The jury in this case brought in a verdict for the plaintiffs in excess of $128 million of which $125 million were retaliatory damages. There is another very important point to be made by this case.Ford knew that the Pinto was going to kill or burn people because of its design, but, because of the cost savings which would inure from omitting the fixes, Ford decided to let it go. calculate carefully exactly what Ford Motor Company was d oing here. One could argue that Ford was conducting cost-benefit analysis. To the Ford executives, the benefits were clear, calculable, and immediately available. Ford would save a few dollars on each Pinto manufactured. The costs would accrue in the future and would not be paid by Ford.Unfortunately, the costs were the lives and permanent injuries of nameless and faceless future consumers. The Pinto would appear to be a prime example of displace off costs. The suffering, the destroyed lives and families apparently were of minor consideration in the calculations when Ford performed the cost-benefit analysis. Corporate crime has also been linked to political leaders in this country. Corporate crime is a crime of power and profit for the offenders. stupendous and powerful corporations who have the support of prominent political leaders can be voiceless to prosecute in corporate crime cases.At the Progress & Freedom Foundation conference held at the mayflower Hotel in Washington , D. C. , Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia) was asked why he worn out(p) so much time addressing the issue of street crime and violence, eon ignoring the issue of corporate crime and violence. Gingrich answered, If I went around the country and verbalise, take for us and there will be no more white-collar fraud, the average voter will say, I dont think he gets it. only corporate crime is more than just white-collar fraud.And one land that Gingrich doesnt address the issue of corporate crime might be because one of the corporations that has brought him to power is Southwire Co. of Carrollton, Georgia. Southwire has close ties to Gingrich, it dominates the political economy of Carroll County, where Gingrichs political career was launched, and it is a corporation with a criminal record. Individuals affiliated with Southwire Co. , including its chief executive officer, Roy Richards, and its president, jam Richards, have donated more than $18,000 to Gingrichs campaig ns for Congress during the past ten years. check to the Los Angeles Times, crowd Richards has also donated 80,200 to GOPAC, the political action committee spearhearded by Gingrich. Computer technology has introduced new factors concerning the types of perpetrators, the forms of assets threatened, and embezzlement methods. ( Radzinowicz 357) Computer crimes generally fall into five categories 1) stealth of services 2) use of reckoner data for personal gain 3) unauthorised use of computing devices employed for various types of financial processing 4) property thieving by electronic computing device 5) placing viruses to destroy data.The terms computer misuse and computer handle are also used frequently, but they have significantly different implications. Criminal law recognizes the concepts of unlawful or fraudulent intent and of claim of right thus, any criminal laws that relate to computer crime would need to distinguish between accidental misuse of a computer system, negligent misuse of a computer system and intended, unaccredited memory access to or misuse of a computer system, amounting to computer abuse.Annoying behavior must be distinguished from criminal behavior in law. business relationship has shown that a broad range of persons commits computer crime students, amateurs, terrorists and members of organized crime groups. What distinguishes them is the nature of the crime committed. The individual who accesses a computer system without further criminal intent is much different from the employee of a financial knowledgeability who skims funds from customer accounts. The typical skill level of the computer criminal is a topic of controversy.Some claim that skill level is not an indicator of a computer criminal, while others claim that potential computer criminals are bright, eager, highly motivated subjects willing to accept a proficient challenge, characteristics that are also highly desirable in an employee in the data-processing fie ld. According to a number of studies, however, employees represent the largest threat, and indeed computer crime has lots been referred to as an insider crime. One study estimated that 90 per cent of economic computer crimes were committed by mployees of the victimized companies.A recent survey in North America and Europe indicated that 73 per cent of the risk to computer warranter was attributable to internal sources and only 23 per cent to foreign criminal activity. The American Bar Association conducted a survey in 1987 of 300 corporations and government agencies, 72 claimed to have been the victim of computer-related crime in the 12-month period prior to the survey, sustaining losses estimated to range from $ 145 million to $ 730 million.In 1991, a survey of security incidents involving computer-related crime was conducted at 3,000 Virtual credit Extension (VAX) sites in Canada, Europe and the United States of America. Seventy-two per cent of the respondents said that a secu rity incident had occurred within the previous 12-month period 43 per cent indicated that the security incident they had sustained had been a criminal offence. A further 8 per cent were uncertain whether they had sustained a security incident. Similar surveys conducted around the world report significant and widespread abuse and loss.Computer criminals have gained notoriety in the media and appear to have gained more social acceptability than tralatitious criminals. The suggestion that the computer criminal is a less harmful individual, however, ignores the obvious. The current threat is real. The future threat will be directly determined by the advances made in computer technology. Although it is difficult to quantify the scope of the computer crime problem, public reports have estimated that computer crime costs us between five c million and ten billion dollars per year.The Computer Security Institute has surveyed 428 randomness security specialists in Fortune 500 companies 42% of the respondents indicated that there was an unauthorized use of their computer systems in the last year. Only a fiddling portion of computer crimes come to the attention of the law enforcement authorities. While it is workable to give an accurate description of the various types of computer offences committed, it has proved difficult to give an accurate, reliable overview of the extent of losses and the actual number of criminal offences.At its Colloquium on Computer Crimes and Other Crimes against Information Technology, held at Wurzburg, Germany, from 5 to 8 October 1992, AIDP released a report on computer crime based on reports of its member countries that estimated that only 5 per cent of computer crime was reported to law enforcement authorities. Law enforcement officials indicate from their experience that recorded computer crime statistics do not represent the actual number of offences the term dark figure, used by criminologists to refer to unreported crime, has been apply to undiscovered computer crimes.The invisibility of computer crimes is based on several factors. First, sophisticated technology, that is, the immense, compact storage capacity of the computer and the speed with which computers function, ensures that computer crime is very difficult to detect. In contrast to most traditionalistic areas of crime, unknowing victims are often informed after the fact by law enforcement officials that they have sustained a computer crime. Secondly, investigating officials often do not have sufficient training to deal with problems in the complex environment of data processing.Thirdly, many victims do not have a contingency plan for responding to incidents of computer crime, and they may even fail to acknowledge that a security problem exists. The dynamic nature of computer technology, compounded by specific considerations and complications in applying traditional laws to this new technology, ordinate that the law enforcement, legal and judicial c ommunities must develop new skills to be able to respond fitly to the challenge presented by computer crime.The growing sophistication of telecommunications systems and the high level of expertise of many system operators flesh out significantly the task of regulatory and legal intervention by law enforcement agencies. If the law enforcement community is expected to deal with the problem of computer crime, adequate training sessions must be implemented. To address computer crime, most law of nature departments are allocating a greater proportion of resources to their economic or fraud investigation divisions, since many types of computer crime occur in the course of business transactions or affect financial assets.Accordingly, it is important for investigators to know about business transactions and about the use of computer in business. The ideal situation is to have investigators with not only solid criminal investigation backgrounds but also supplementary technical knowledge. This is similar to the traditional approach, where many police forces ensure that their fraud investigators, although not necessarily accountants, experience a thorough understanding of financial and business record keeping.