Assignment 1 White Collar Crime

Question 1

E. H. Sutherland stated that white collar crime is a long established tradition in America and was a form of organized crime. It is composed of respectable business and professional men. Because white collar crime is committed by the upper class they have influence on the criminal law and regulations that there was little chance of them being convicted of a crime.

E.H. Sutherland disagreed with some of the basic procedural principals of criminal law, in his first published in 1949. He dismissed the traditional criminal intent and presumption of innocence is not required. (BAKER, 2004) He made his distinctions not on at act of intent but more the status of the accused. He focused more on the social position then the crime itself instead of the social structural factors such as capitalism, profit rates and business cycle. He did not make clear –cut distinctions among white collar crimes, and did not take into account the influence of corporations over the legislative and regulatory process. (BAKER, 2004)

Question 2

White collar crime has a broad term because it includes many nonviolent criminal offenses involving fraud and illegal financial transactions. Criminologists have agreed that white color crime occurs in a legitimate occupational context, is motivated by the objective of economic gain or occupational success and is not characterized by direct, intentional violence. (BAKER, 2004)

To understand the meaning of white collar crime it must be studied in three stages: (Friedrichs, 2010)

1. Palemical – definitional stage, illegal and harmful actions elites and respectable members of society for economic gain

2. Typological – organized patterns of the crime and criminal behavior

3. Operational – comparing white collar criminals and common criminals. White collar crime is a violation of eight federal crime categories: securities crime fraud, antitrust violations, bribery, tax offenses, bank embezzlement, postal and wire...