CRIME

White Collar Crime



White Collar Crime

Sociologist Edwin Sutherland (1883-1950) first coined the term "white-collar crime" around 1939 and used it for the title of a book published in 1949. White-collar crime is difficult to define because it can be committed by anyone with money and apply to many different activities. White-collar crime is illegal activity carried on within normally legal business transactions. For example, white-collar crime comes from within legal businesses such as banking, stock trading, or insurance claims. It does not include drug trafficking or smuggling, since both activities are illegal. White-collar crime is also nonviolent.

The motive of white-collar crime is personal gain. Individuals or groups may use and abuse their positions within a company to hide or steal money. White-collar crime can be committed by one individual like a car repairman charging for unnecessary work on a vehicle. Or it can involve a number of individuals in a large corporation who deceive investors (those who own stock in the company) while fattening their own bank accounts by millions of dollars.

A common term associated with white-collar crime is fraud. Fraud is the intentional deception of a person, business, The motive of white-collar crime is personal gain. Individuals or groups may use and abuse their positions within a company to hide or steal money. (© Ed Bock/Corbis) or government agency for the purpose of stealing property or money, or causing financial injury in other ways. This chapter defines and describes many types of white-collar fraud, including healthcare, government, bank, telemarketing, insurance, bankruptcy, securities (stock and bonds), and corporate fraud.

Victims of white-collar crime can be an individual; a group of individuals such as customers of a stock brokerage firm; a local organization whose treasurer secretly spends its money for his own benefit (embezzling); a company like a bank whose officers use its ...