Ira Sorkin White Collar Crime

White collar criminals are only able commit their crime(s) because of their position, occupation, and/or

White-collar crimes are just as prevalent today as ordinary street crimes. Studies show that criminal acts committed by white-collar criminals continue to increase due to unforeseen opportunities presented in the corporate world, but these crimes are often overlooked or minimally publicized in reference to criminal acts on the street. Many street crimes are viewed as unnecessary, horrendous crimes because they are committed by lower class citizens, whereas white collar crimes are illegal acts committed by seemingly respectable people whose occupational roles are considered successful and often admired by many (Piquero, 2014). These views often allow white collar crimes to “slip through the cracks” and carry lesser charges or punishment.

Most everyone goes home after a long day of work and watches the news. Think, what is usually reported? The weather, local activities, headline news, or daily criminal activity. Shootings, stabbings, homicides, etc. are all discussed by media anchors these days. This causes most everyone in our society to become familiar with crimes that are considered street crimes. What most people don’t hear about on the news is what is considered white-collar crime, sometimes known as corporate crime. White-collar crime not only is less reported in the media but also receives weaker punishments than street crime. This paper will first discuss the similarities between the two types of crime and then explain why their punishments are strongly

White-collar crime poses a vexing problem for the criminal justice system (CJS). It is an

Many people don’t recognize white collar crime as a crime. For some reason, they do not think white Collar crime as illegal. As it is a non-violent crime and have no direct damage to people. Even if white collar crime is non-violent crime, it affects a lot to consumers, corporate, and economy. Nevertheless, unlike its recognition white collar crime deals with the money, white collar crime affect a lot to society. White collar crime are criminal acts that are enacted by people during the course of business committed for their financial profits. White collar crime is known to be committed by business professionals and governors but nowadays, it can be committed by anyone regardless of gender, race, and social status. There are many sort of

Edwin H. Sutherland is given credit for introducing the term white collar crime during the late 1930’s. However, in today’s times there is still confusion on the specific definition of what qualifies as a white collar crime and how it should be defined. In addition, there are key differences between conventional crimes and white collar crime in age, race, class, and other various factors. The media has added to these differences by portraying these two crimes quite differently. In regards to Sutherland, I found his study on 70 of the largest U.S. manufacturing, mining, and mercantile corporations and their wrongdoings. Sutherlands study confirmed that 97 percent of these corporations were criminal recidivists. Yet, in these corporations view

Recently the issue of white-collar crime has gained a lot of attention and it is quite common to notice such cases in any part of the world. The term itself is rather old as it was coined by Edwin Sunderland in 1939 and white-collar crime is defined as crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation (Payne, 2013). The

According to the FBI, the term white-collar crimes is “now synonymous with the full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals. These crimes are typically characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and are not dependent on the application or threat of physical force or violence. The motivation behind these crimes is financial. Typically these crimes try to obtain or avoid losing money, property, or services or to secure a personal or business advantage.  Numerous white-collar crimes are committed by people holding top positions in the corporate and in the political world. Many times status and money has kept these criminals

In this day and age, a corporation, family, or individual always has a potential risk of encountering fraud within their money supply. On average, fraud and abuse costs U.S. organizations more than $400 billion annually (Federal Bureau Investigation, 2010). Many may think that white collared crime is only money laundering or stealing, but that is only two out of the sum that countless culprits get away with. The term “white-collar crime,” originally coined in 1939 is synonymous with the full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals (Federal Bureau Investigation, 2010). These frauds include anything from bankruptcy fraud, money laundering, identity theft, corporate fraud to a wide number of threats all circling

White-collar crime is currently an important part of the landscape of unlawful activities, where individuals and organizations commit acts to obtain money, property, or services to avoid the payment or loss of money or services or to secure personal or business advantage. In my own words white collar criminals can be found everywhere, they are like zombies taking advantage of the criminal justice system but instead of feeding on flesh, these lawless criminal “Zombies” feed of the poor, therefore “producing social disorganization on a large scale” (p.293). This would follow by social cost, mistrust, unemployment, injuries and possible death for the hard working people of America. Sutherland unique studies of white-collar crime had a lot of controversial

’Whilst there remains a discrete set of offences which can readily be defined as white-collar crime, the offender characteristics remain ever-changing, changing as a result of both technological advancements and societal developments changes. Traditionally, very few individuals had the means, access and ability to commit white-collar crime, with the world’s majority not having real access to corporate information. Compare that to today, over 61% of the total workforce now has the potential to access the targets of white-collar crimes from employment in business sectors such as management, professional, sales and office professions. In addition, with today’s current access to corporate information, white-collar offenders no longer required to be employed in a white-collar occupation to commit their crimes. White-collar offences can occur within the comfort of the offenders own home. The United States Department of Justice states white-collar crime is “committed by anyone having special technical and professional knowledge of business and government, irrespective of the person’s occupation.” Widespread access to the internet as well as advancements in information technologies and communication has allowed white-collar crimes to be committed with increasing ease. In addition, these technological advancements have become increasingly common across diverse social strata with the cost of these technologies

The case of Stratton Oakmont in the 1990s is an example highlighting the complexity of white-collar crime and contributes to its understanding. Jordan Belfort, founder of Stratton Oakmont, was found guilty of securities fraud and money laundering, both of which are types of white-collar crime. Fraud, according to Benson and Simpson (2015), is a crime in which a professional uses his or her superior knowledge and expertise to take advantage of something. Over the course of their occupation, the brokers at Stratton Oakmont used their knowledge and expertise to deceive their clients and inflate the prices of stocks under Belfort’s instruction. Ultimately, this fraudulent activity led to Belfort’s and Stratton Oakmont’s illegal financial success.

For misconduct, crime, and criminalization in particular as it relates to white collar crime, there are the three main issues that must be addressed to show valid theory. The first is criminality. The criminality of white collar crime is the focus on an individual or organization’s motivation the situation that stimuluses and leads to the act of a white collar crimes. The theory is imparts the reason that makes a person commit a white collar crime. The second issue white collar crime theory must address is the explanation of a crime. In the case of white collar crime the situational factors play a much bigger role and most situations are not the same. When it comes down to this level of analyzing a white collar crime. Some of the factors

White collar crime is not a victimless crime, and affects many people. These crimes can devastate a company, force investors to lose billions of dollars, and destroy people’s life savings. Through L. Dennis Kozlowski’s and Mark Swartz’s scandal reported in 2002, the Tyco Company lost over $28 billion dollars in debt. However, the biggest lash came to its shareholders who lost over $90 billion. The Tyco two were tried and found guilty in 2005, and are currently serving a 25- year- sentence. Crime never pays and it is only a matter of time before one is caught. The damage done affects all people involved

White collar crimes often consist of financial, non-violent criminal acts committed by someone who uses their social status or position within their occupation for financial gain. These crimes are usually done by professionals such as bankers, lawyers, office workers, business managers, executives and/or accountants. These professionals committing these white-collar crimes want to attain financial income and ensure they get away with it. Often, they target people who are gullible, with low or no education, elderly or simply take advantage of someone’s trust. The offender usually starts small then makes it a habit due to the oversight of the crime being committed. Although these crimes tend to not be nonviolent they violate the person’s involved trust which can cause psychological damages to the victim.