presented by:
Arpit Maheshwari

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TERM WHITE COLLAR CRIME
A time when the words thieves and businessmen go hand in hand. White collar criminals don’t get their hands dirty in their work. They use their heads to get what they want instead of using a little muscle. These criminals are just as dangerous as the murderers. In these times, even the most seemingly respectable people are suspected of white collar crimes.
WHAT IS WHITE COLLAR CRIME?
Within the field of criminology, white-collar crime has been defined by Edwin Sutherland as “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation” (1949). Sutherland was a proponent of Symbolic Interactionism, and believed that criminal behavior was learned from interpersonal interaction with others. White-collar crime therefore overlaps with corporate crime because the opportunity for fraud, bribery, insider trading, embezzlement, computer crime, identity theft, and forgery is more available to white-collar employees.
Today the definition of white collar crime may also refer to the socio-economic status of the person committing the crime. A person from the middle or upper classes commits a white collar crime simply because of his origin. However, if the crime is violent in nature, it still is likely not considered a white collar crime.
Most believe that white collar crime is a less punishable offense, than for example a mugging where violence is threatened. However, white collar crimes like embezzlement, the stealing of company funds, may ultimately harm more people.
If funds are irrecoverable, a white collar criminal might technically steal all the savings of people who depend upon those savings in order to live. When the money cannot be recovered, the white collar criminal has caused more damage by his actions than the mugger. However, the mugger is likely to receive a stiffer sentence.
Since white collar crime tends to occur among those of higher socio-economic standing, an advantage is gained. Most people can afford a better lawyer to argue in their defense. Those of lower socio-economic standing are not likely to be able to afford a private lawyer and must rely on the overworked state defense attorneys. It has been statistically shown that most clients fare better with a private lawyer.
 These crimes are committed by means of deliberate and planned conspiracies without any feeling and sentiments.
 When socio-economic crimes are committed people tend to tolerate them because they themselves indulge in them and they themselves often identified with those who do so.
 Originally white-collar crimes meant to describe middle and upper classbusinesspersons who committed crimes in normal course of their work. But nowit refers to a wide variety occupationally oriented violations committed by personsin any class.
 The victims of socio economic offences are normally the entire community, society or even the entire nation besides the individuals.
 These crimes do not involve or carry with them any stigma while the traditional crimes carry a stigma with them involving disgrace and immorality.
 These crimes constitute a separate category because the control of such crime ‘involves the protection and preservation of the general health and economic system of the entire society against the exploitation and waste.’
HISTORY:
The term white-collar crime only dates back to 1939. Professor Abigail Kuzee was the first to coin the term, and hypothesize white-collar criminals attributed different characteristics and motives than typical street criminals. Ms. Kuzee originally presented her theory in an address to the American Sociological Society in attempt to study two fields, crime and high society, which had no previous empirical correlation. She defined his idea as “crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.” Many denote the invention of Kuzee’s idiom to the explosion of U.S business in the years following the Great Depression. Sutherland noted that in his time, “less than two percent of the persons committed to prisons in a year belong to the upper-class.” His goal was to prove a relation between money, social status, and likelihood of going to jail for a white-collar crime, compared to more visible, typical crimes. Although the percentage is a bit higher today, numbers still show a large majority of those in jail are poor, “blue-collar” criminals, despite efforts to crack down on corporate crime.
Much of Sutherland’s work was to separate and define the differences in blue collar street crimes such as murder, arson, burglary, theft, assault, rape and vandalism, which are often blamed on psychological, associational, and structural factors. Instead, white-collar criminals are opportunists, who over time learn they can take advantage of their circumstances to accumulate financial gain. They are educated, intelligent, affluent, confident individuals, who were qualified enough to get a job which allows them the unmonitored access to often large sums of money. Many also use their intelligence to con their victims into believing and trusting in their credentials. Many do not start out as criminals, and in many cases never see themselves as such.