Thursday August 30 th Intro to WCC How to define White Collar Crime WCC 1 It s committed during ones job 2 The offenders occupational role plays a central feature in the perpetration of the crime 3 The offenders job is viewed as legit by society Payne s 6 reasons to study WCC It s a serious problem that costs us more in damage that property crimes WCC affects everyone By studying WCC we learn about a lot of crimes Effective intervention prevention systems can be developed Provide information about potential careers related to WCC Insight into current culture and subculture Nature of WCC WCC is Complex Involved large organizations Many individuals in different positions Complicated transactions over a long time Because of the complexity of it we must study Econ management law sociology and psychology Ways to Study WCC Surveys Most common Types On site Face to face Telephone Mail On site administration Advantages One setting Large sample Convenient and not much time needed Disadvantages Difficult to survey both offender and victim No database of offenders Educational differences make surveying hard Hard to recall instances Many won t tell the truth Face to face interviews Advantages Can gauge reactions Probing is an option Easier to develop rapport Disadvantages Time consuming and expensive Hard to find participants Trust and rapport Must gain access to business Telephone interviews Advantages Must studies used this People are more open to this Disadvantages People without phones can t do the study Some don t answer their phones Mail studies Advantages Less costly Large number to study Disadvantages May not understand questions No rapport Takes time to develop a list of residences Certain people are excluded Field Research Experiments Researcher go into the business to gather information Very difficult in WCC to get into these major companies Researchers examine how a variable produces an outcome Classic experimental design control and experiment Quasi experimental design Used for most WCC Lacks randomization yet similar to classic Case Studies Archival Research Can select a crime and figure everything out about it One particular crime case Reflects studies that use some form of record or archive as a database for the study Types of archives Case records Pre sentence reports Media reports Case descriptions of specific WCC Scientific Perspective and WCC How to relate the principle science to WCC Parsimonous keep explanations simple Determinism behavior is caused by or influenced by preceding factors Skepticism social scientists must question and re question Relativism all things are related Systems Perspective and WCC Technological Changes in technology have causes changes in the type of WCC Technological advances have also changed how we can respond to crime Social People learn from their peers We have social needs that must be fulfilled May play a large role Political Defines laws and policies about WCC Educational Many WC criminals come out of this system Education may promote WCC Also allows us to learn about WCC Religious May help to prevent misconduct Helps define acceptable and unacceptable behavior Occupational Two types low class and high class This system is composed of many systems Corporate Many WCC are uncovered within our capitalist system This system sometimes has the power to regulate itself Civil justice Victim against offender Offender can be a person or corporation Criminal justice Violations of the criminal law are handled here Police courts corrections Heavily influenced by other systems Economic Influences all other systems Many WCC have originated here Regulatory The formal source of rules come from this system The rights of offenders victims and corporations are different in this system Procedures and guidelines also vary Social Services Some services that are provided are related to WCC victimization In response to it i e If someone loses all their money to a fraudulent investor Tuesday September 30 th Statistics on Conventional Crime Uniform crime reports UCR Raw data about crimes National incident based reporting system NIBRS Collects data on the crime Provides info on 57 offenses National crime victimization survey NCVS Doesn t include information on WCC Asks households about victimization Statistics on WCC Governmental agency and annual financial reports Newspapers Journals Independent surveys There is no WCC equivalent to the UCR or NCVS Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Mission to enhance the integrity of financial systems by facilitating the detection and deterrence of financial crimes Provides estimates of suspicious activity in monthly reports A prominent sociologist The criminaloid businessman who commits illegal acts to max profits while hiding behind a fa ade of respectability and piety Guilty of moral insensibility Held them responsible for unnecessary deaths of workers WCC is a field coined by Sutherland in 1939 Introduced the term WCC in 1939 Crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation Beccaria Marx recognized the great and rich criminals Also knew it could cause great injury FINCEN E A Ross Grandfather of WCC The Discovery of WCC One of the first systematic explanations of specific forms of WCC Focused on the 70 largest manufacturing mining and mercantile corporations Examined Restraint of trade violations Unfair labor practices Fraudulent advertising Illegal rebates Sutherland 1940 5 keys points 1 WCC is real criminality 2 Financial costs of WCC is possibly higher than street crime 3 WCC differs because of differences in criminal law which separates them 4 Theories that assume crime is due to poverty are invalid because they don t apply to WCC 5 Differential association and social disorganization are 2 theories of crime that fit this requirement Defining WCC Agreed that Occurs in a legit occupational context Motivated by the objective of economic gain or occupational success Is not characterized by direct intentional violence As moral or ethical violations of natural law Behaviors defined as wrong because they violate the principles of a culture Violations of criminal law Criminally illegal behaviors committed by upper class individuals during their occupations i e Nurse who steals drugs from work and sells them i e Prosecutor takes a bribe to drop a charge Violations of civil law Not criminal but civil Violations of regulatory laws Occupations specific regulations and laws i e