Social Learning Theory And Neutralization

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

White collar crime is often associated with crimes committed within businesses. These include different forms of fraud such as tax fraud, welfare fraud, money laundering, and property crime (Simpson & Benson, 2009: 42). These forms of white collar crime often have a huge impact on the welfare of the society in profound ways. For instance, according to an article authored by McGrath, a company that suffers losses from fraud must make up for this loss by for example raising the prices of its products. Hikes in prices would mean that consumers would be required to dig dipper into their pockets thus affecting their finances. The loss from fraud could also make the affected company to take drastic measures such as layoffs or implementing salary cuts for the employees (McGrath, n.d).

White Collar Crimes are crimes performed by a higher class of people which the reason of committing this category of crime has good intentions. We have learned in past lectures of Sociology of Punishment and Crime that strain theory is a social structure that pushes some individuals to commit crime. In this case (white collar crime), the theory is explaining how to reach a goal of an organization, incorporation, etc., where the people performing the work are being involved in frauds, copying, cheating and many other ways of committing a corporate crime. A condition to commit white collar crime you have to have a criminogenic opportunity, which it means you have to be in the right corporation where this is a normal action taken to reach the goal or achieve the status level in work field desired.

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

A life of crime is rooted to an individual 's personal social interactions with others. Therefore, a person 's environment and who surrounds them are extremely influential factors of the amount of exposure to crime. The only way a person is able to commit a crime is if they have learned how to. Learning crime is an essential aspect that develops into committing crimes. One cannot perform an act of crime if they do not learn the values, motives and techniques to do so (Piquero, Tibbetts & Blankenship, 2005). Thus, an individual has to be exposed to an environment that proceeds in a deviance direction. Consequently, relationships with family and friends are the most important authoritative figures in one 's life (Haugh, 2014). Associations with others allows an opportunity for a mentor to guide someone into the life of crime. Educators of crime pass down their techniques, methods and mentality of how to commit crime. Knowledge is taught and shared to successfully become a criminal. Sutherland concluded that learning crime is the same as learning any other type of behaviour (Piquero, Tibbetts & Blankenship, 2005). Additionally, differential association theory insists crime will presumably occur when one views the breach of law as more favourable than the compliance of law. Those committing white collar crime have adopted this type of view. White collar crime is developed in the same degree as every other crime, it is learned (Piquero, Tibbetts &

However, the best known theory in reference to white-collar crime, which is still talked about today, and in many ways connects the learning theory, is the differential association theory. Differential association theory suggests that delinquent individuals influence other individuals within a group or environment or, as a single person, to perform acts of deviant behavior or outside of the social norms (Seddig, 2014). Just as forms of criminal behavior is learned, Sutherland stated that white-collar crime is no different and that it is learned directly or indirectly by individuals who are already participating in criminal behavior (Schmalleger, 2011). The differential association theory is useful in explaining white-collar crimes when: (a) Individuals who already participate in these crimes my easily coerce other individuals, teams, or departments within the environment when the benefits are known and the crime looks easy or simple, (b) The crime looks easy to commit, and your co-worker explains how easy the process is and that skimming a small percentage off of such a large sum will never be missed, and (c) In committing white-collar crimes, often time there are reasons such as unattainable goals , thus, organizational managers may turn to crime to meet corporate

White-collar crime is defined as the financial motivations of non-violent crimes that are committed by professionals of business and those of the government. In the field of criminology, Edwin Suthelan (1939), a socialist who was the first person to define white-collar crime as a crime that respectable and those people of higher social status commit. The crimes include those associated with fraud, bribery, embezzlement, cybercrime, money laundering, theft of the identity and many more crimes that are nonviolent. For the white collar crimes, the offenses committed should produce some gains financially. The crimes are thereby committed by those persons holding various positions in businesses or organizations, and it is because of this position they can gain access to amounts of huge money that they get from the people like customers with whom they serve. The criminals involved are not caught in activities that are violent, involved in drug issues or illegal activities.

 Many offenders  get caught in the get rich quick scheme, It is also important to understand that most of habitual offenders have about 70% rate of reoffending. As stated by many researchers, crime is a product of social dysfunction; This best fits the Social disorganization theory. In which a detracting economic culture could possibly fuel the need for one to constantly commit crime to meet the their own endeavors, in

Welcome to the age of 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 rapists and murderers. In these times, even the most seemingly respectable people are suspected of white collar crimes.

In 1939, American sociologist Edwin Sutherland introduced the phrase “white-collar crime”. White-collar crime is a nonviolent crime committed by a business or large corporations. They are usually scams or frauds to gain wealth in society. The people who are guilty of this crime lie, cheat and steal from investors of their company or business. Even though these crimes are non-violent, they have major impacts on the society. Their companies become non existent and families get destroyed. All of their life savings and savings for their children get taken away, and they become bankrupt. Not only does it affect their families, the investors who believed in their business lose millions or even billions of dollars.

White-collar crimes possessed future horrific harms and consequences to our nation, especially in the financial spectrum; yet, the society’s main concerns laid on street crimes because of their physical and immediate effects. It is important to note, however, that no crime is better than the other. Even though the impact of white-collar

Crimes have been occurring in our society for many years and recently the occurrence of non-violent crimes has increased dramatically. Traditional and white collar crimes have two traits in common, an objective and a modus operandi, but the major difference is that a white collar criminal has a plan and also the ability, knowledge and technology to execute it (Nevis, 2012).

This essay will focus on two the environmental theories on why aggression may occur, social learning theory and de-individuation. In Social learning theory if the child sees an adult acting aggressively and being rewarded or just not being punished then that child may go on to think that acting aggressively is a good way to interact with other people. Bandura’s study(1961) found that children who were shown the adult acting aggressively towards to Bobo doll were more likely to act aggressively towards the doll themselves whereas none of the children who saw the adult acting kindly towards the doll acted aggressively towards it, instead they copied the nicer actions from what they’d seen the adult do, this is called vicarious reinforcement.

Akers and Sellers (2013) has stated that social learning theory is an expanded theory of differential association processes and improves it with differential reinforcement and other principles of the behavior theory. They added classical conditioning (the sharpening of involuntary reflex behavior); discriminative stimuli (internal stimuli that lead to signals for behavior); schedules of reinforcement (rewards and punishment ratio following behavioral feedback); and other theories of behavior (Akers & Sellers, 2013).

White Collar Crime by Edwin Sutherland, published in 1949, is a study in the theory of criminal behaviour. Sutherland states that this book is an attempt to reform the theory of criminal behaviour only, not to reform anything else. And although it may include implications for social reforms, this is not the objective of the book. Sutherland define white collar crime as ‘a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation’ (pp. 9). He adds that it excludes many crimes of the upper class, such as murder, intoxication, and adultery, because these are not usually part of their occupational procedures. He goes on to describe white collar crime as being similar to juvenile delinquency in the sense of the stigma generated from each crime. In both of these crimes the procedures of criminal law are altered so as not to attach stigma to the offenders. Finally, Sutherland writes that crimes are committed across all social classes, not just people in lower classes or living in poverty, contrary to popular belief at the time of publication.