Premium Essay

Difference Between White-Collar And Organized Crime

Submitted By
Words 366
Pages 2
Consequently, corporate crime is defined as illicit activity by members of the organization to advance its interest (Humphrey, Schmalleger, 2012). Whereas, government crimes are committed by public officials and government employees for monetary gain and acquisition of power (Humphrey, Schmalleger, 2012). Now, organized crime is defined in our textbook simply as, a serious offence committed by a group of three or more people with the aim of making money (Humphrey, Schmalleger, 2012).
In the definitions alone we see the similarity of money, or monetary gain. Both involved illegal activities through enterprises. A major difference between the two is that white-collar criminals try to profit off of legitimate businesses in a nonviolent way, while organized crime seek profits through illegal businesses and frequently employs physical intimidation and violence (White-Collar and Organized Crime, n.d.). Society perceives them in just that way, white collar crime as a softer less serious crime than organized crime which is violent and dangerous but in actuality white collar crime is pretty extensive and costly. Our textbook tells us that of the crimes known the consequences are devastating and the estimated annual loss from fraud alone is $994 billion dollars (Humphrey, Schmalleger, 2012). …show more content…
Enron was a large energy company in the United States who was committing fraud, conspiracy, false statements to banks and auditors, and insider trading. The CEO and founder of Enron, among many other officials, were charged with an extensive range of white collar crimes (Famous White Collar Crime Cases, 2017). When the mention of organized crime is heard, society thinks immediately of the Mafia, or Cartel, drugs and violence and all this is true. Deviant behavior runs on a scale from mild deviance to extreme deviance this course is outlining the differences, as well as, the similarities to this

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Characteristics of White-Collar Criminals

...Understanding white collar crime Hazel Croall Open University Press Buckingham · Philadelphia Open University Press Celtic Court 22 Ballmoor Buckingham MK18 1XW email: enquiries@openup.co.uk world wide web: www.openup.co.uk and 325 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA First Published 2001 Copyright © Hazel Croall, 2001 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1P 0LP. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 335 20427 9 (pb) 0 335 20428 7 (hb) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Croall, Hazel, 1947– Understanding white collar crime / Hazel Croall. p. cm. — (Crime and justice) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–335–20428–7 — ISBN 0–335–20427–9 (pbk.) 1. White collar crimes. I. Title. II. Crime and justice (Buckingham, England) HV6768 .C755 2001 364.16´8 — dc21 00–050174 Typeset by Type Study, Scarborough Printed in Great Britain by Biddles Limited, Guildford and Kings Lynn chapter ...

Words: 9241 - Pages: 37

Free Essay

White Collar Crime

...Types of White Collar Crime Angela L. Langley LEG 200 – White Collar Crime in Government, Business, and Labor Professor Thomas Demko Strayer University May 28, 2012 Assignment 1: Types of White Collar Crime A white collar crime is illegal and unethical, which violates the public trust. It deals with lying, cheating, and stealing by high profile individuals.  A single con can destroy a business, hurt families by cleaning out their life savings, or cost investors billions of dollars. “Devastating losses in relation to homes, businesses, jobs, retirement funds, and college savings were widespread. “It was clear that fraudulent misrepresentations on many levels were at the center of this crisis” (Friedrichs, 2010, p. 1). We will compare and contrast the nature of white collar crime with other types of illegal acts, compare and contrast the typical participants of white collar crime against the participants of other types of illegal acts, discuss the role of technology in white collar crime and how its role may create differences from other forms of crime, and analyze the role of opportunity and how it contributes to white collar crime. Compare and contrast the nature of white collar crime with other types of illegal acts. The key elements of white collar crimes are trust and its violation. “White collar crimes take on the form of misrepresentation, stealing, misappropriation, self-dealing, corruption, and role conflict” (Friedrichs, 2010, p. 10). White-collar...

Words: 1251 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Ged 216 Sociology Unit Exam 3

...and negative label that greatly changes a person’s self-concept and social identity? a. a deviant ritual b. a degradation ceremony c. a secondary identity d. stigma 4. The concept “retrospective labeling” refers to the process of a. interpreting someone’s past consistent with present deviance. b. defining someone as deviant for things done long before. c. criminal adults encouraging their children to become deviant. d. predicting someone’s future based on past deviant acts. 5. Thomas Szasz made the controversial assertion that a. deviance is only what people label as deviant. b. most people in the United States will become insane for some period during their lives. c. mental illness is a myth so that “insanity” is only “differences” that bother other people. d. our society does not do nearly enough to treat the mentally ill. 6. An example of the “medicalization of deviance” is a. theft being redefined as a “compulsive stealing.” b. drinking too much being redefined as a personal failing. c....

Words: 1112 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

White Collar Crime

...White collar crime The phrase white collar crime was first used by Edwin Sutherland in 1939 during a speech to the American Sociological Society. He defined white collar crime as a "crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation."(Sutherland, “White-Collar Criminality."). Today, white collar crime refers to illegal offenses that are generally committed in the business or professional setting (white collar versus blue collar jobs) to achieve financial gain. Crimes that do not involve physical violence, and that relate largely to financial matters, are often called white collar crimes. Corporate corruption is out of control for two main reasons. First, big companies are now multinational, while governments remain national. Big companies are so financially powerful that governments are afraid to take them on. It is very important to study the cause and the possible solution for the increase in numbers of white collar crime; our focus needs to shift from Blue Collar Crimes to White Collar Crimes. U.S.A spends nearly $50 billion on fighting Blue Collar Crimes, not even quarter of that amount is spent on fighting White Collar Crimes. Hardly a day passes without a new story of malfeasance. Every Wall Street firm has paid significant fines during the past decade for phony accounting, insider trading, securities fraud, Ponzi schemes, or outright embezzlement by CEOs. A massive insider-trading ring is currently on trial in New York...

Words: 2916 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

White Collar Crimes

...S E C T I O N II Understanding White-Collar Crime Definitions, Extent, and Consequences S ecti on Hi g h l i g h ts •• •• •• •• •• •• White-Collar Crime: An Evolving Concept Modern Conceptualizations of White-Collar Crime Extent of White-Collar Crime Consequences of White-Collar Crime Public Attitudes About White-Collar Crime Characteristics of White-Collar Offenders A 34 s noted in the introduction, Edwin Sutherland created the concept of white-collar crime more than 70 years ago to draw attention to the fact that crimes are committed by individuals in all social classes. As will be seen in this section, one of the largest difficulties in understanding white-collar crime has centered on an ongoing debate about how to define white-collar crime. After discussing various ways that white-collar crime can be defined, attention will be given to the extent of white-collar crime, the consequences of this illicit behavior, public attitudes about white-collar crime, and patterns describing the characteristics of white-collar offenders. Section II  Understanding White-Collar Crime 35 As a backdrop to this discussion, consider the following recent white-collar crimes described in the media: •• A jury convicted [then-Baltimore mayor Sheila] Dixon . . . of embezzling about $500 worth of gift cards donated to the city for needy families. Dixon then pleaded guilty last month to lying about thousands of dollars in gifts from her former boyfriend, a prominent developer...

Words: 20605 - Pages: 83

Premium Essay

Models of Organized Crime

...Models of Organized Crime Krishna Abney CJA 384 February 23, 2012 Mary E. Campbell Models of Organized Crime Organized crime has drawn many individuals to partake in this style of crime. Unlike petty crimes, organized crime involves a style that is comparable to any corporate style of business. It is an organized and managed business that follows similar practices with various levels of workers, management and leadership. Organized crime recruits from a variety of participants of skilled workers with a history of criminal activity such as theft, violence and drugs to educated white collar individuals who work in corporate and political settings. Bureaucratic and patron-client organizations are two categories that further identify the style of management and recruitment followed by members of organized crime. A bureaucratic organization follows the enterprise theory which resembles a style similar to the military. The members follow specific rules and are designated to specific jobs. Each member has his assigned duty based on his skill, expertise or education. Orders are dictated from the higher ranking members and are passed down to the various levels of “management” or middle ranks who then assign the duties to specific skilled members or “soldiers”. The lower ranking members are expected to follow through with assigned orders, they are not expected to act independently or make decisions without prior approval. The bureaucratic style follows a very...

Words: 518 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Moving

...intention of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) developed to uncover? What does data from the NCVS tell us about crime in the United States today? * The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is an annual survey of selected American households conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics to determine the extent of criminal victimization-especially unreported victimization-in the United States. The data tells us that procedures are based largely on reports to the police by victims of crime. 2. Identify and explain the significant differences between the Uniform Crime Report (UCR), the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). * The URC consists of monthly aggregate crime counts. Records one offense per incident, as determined by the hierarchy rule, which suppresses courts of lesser offenses in multiple- offences incidents. Does not distinguish between attempted and completed crimes. Records rape of females only. Collects assault information of five categories. Collects weapon information for murder, robbery, and aggravated assault. Provides counts on arrests for the eight major crimes and 21 other offenses. The NIBRS is consists of individual incident records for the eight major crimes and 38 other offenses, with detailed on offense, victim, offender, and property involved. Records each offense occurring in an incident. Distinguishes between attempted and completed crimes. Records rape of males...

Words: 488 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Antediluvian (Historicalizaion): Gender Inequality

...God did not make, or intended to make, two males and two females for sexual reasons. For this reason, God created heterosexuality between a man and a woman (for intimacy and sexual reasons). Heterogeneous biblical character viewed gender very divergently from the normalization society. For a paradigm, Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities in the bible, created the vulgar notion of homosexuality. That is, both of those cities had people having sexual transactions in a very vulgar way, and god destroyed those two (2) cities, because He created only two genders for interconnectivity, a man and a woman, embracing heterosexuality. In 1619, slavery was the first onset of racial inequality for our present day society. For a paradigm, black people were incarcerated by white people, which affected their pedagogical learning systems, labors, abilities to buy and sell, and etcetera. Because of racism, there are three direct rudimentary differences between the war of two colors (black and white). These differences are social, political and economic. The social difference of racial inequality is...

Words: 847 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Measuring Crime

...Measuring Crime Measuring crime is something that the United States does to see if the the programs they have in place are making a difference and helping to deter crime. A lot of time people will look at statistics and think because the percentage is decreasing, and that not always the case. In this paper I will explain the instruments used, programs and purpose of measuring crime, and myth's vs reality Crime rates. Crime is measured through statistics in the United States. Statistics help develop and see how new laws and programs are working. The three statistical reports used to measure crime in the United States are the (UCR) Uniform Crime Report, (NCVS) National Crime Victimization Survey, and (NIBRS) The National Incident Based Reporting System ("Fbi Uniform Crime Rate", 2012) . All of the crime instruments used can only be as accurate as the sources given to them. Crime rates and arrest rates are difficult for a law enforcement agency to produce to the high volume of calls received. Some examples of calls that do not require an arrest include lost pets, individuals needing medical assistance, and noise complaints. Each agency must make an organized effort to make contact with the individuals making the calls with high and low priority due to the unseen or unreported information at the caller’s location. The law enforcement community has also created an organization devoted to crime reports known as the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) data is based on...

Words: 807 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

State and Federal Prison Systems Paper

...Week 4 assignment 7/14/2014 There’s a big difference between the state prison system and the federal prison system. Even though both of these are correctional facilities, and used to detain inmates for criminal offenses, they both hold a different type of criminal. While the state prison system operates by holding criminals such as murderers, drug dealers, sexual offenders, and other crimes committed by the norm, the federal prison has a totally different population. In the federal prison system you will more likely find the white collar criminals, those that have embezzled large amounts of money, politicians, bank robbers, and others that have violated federal laws. An example of a state prison would be Turbeville here in South Carolina it is a level 2 correctional facility that usually houses inmates for crimes such as murder, drugs, sexual abuse, and other state level law breakers. Being that you will find more criminals in the state prison system, this system has a lot more facilities than the federal system. The state prisons call for more housing room, being that these crimes are committed on a daily bases and more people are being sent to the state penitentiary than the feds. The security levels for the 2 are also different. Both state and federal prison systems have different levels of security. These levels consist of Minimum (no flight risk), Low Security (trusted but still have to be under a closer watch than minimum), medium (inmates are kept under watch...

Words: 390 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Educational Achievement Is the Social Class Background of the Pupil

...What Is Deviance? The word deviance connotes odd or unacceptable behavior, but in the sociological sense of the word, deviance is simply any violation of society’s norms. Deviance can range from something minor, such as a traffic violation, to something major, such as murder. Each society defines what is deviant and what is not, and definitions of deviance differ widely between societies. For example, some societies have much more stringent rules regarding gender roles than we have in the United States, and still other societies’ rules governing gender roles are less stringent than ours. Gender and Deviance In the United States, women who cry in public in response to emotional situations are not generally considered deviant—even women who cry frequently and easily. This view of women has remained relatively constant. Over the past fifty years, however, society’s perception of men who cry has changed. A man who cried publicly in the 1950s would have been considered deviant. Today, men who cry in response to extreme emotional situations are acting within society’s norms. Male politicians cry when announcing defeat, male athletes cry after winning a championship, and male actors cry after winning an award. By today’s standards, none of these men is committing a deviant act. Relativism and Deviance Deviance is a relative issue, and standards for deviance change based on a number of factors, including the following: * Location: A person speaking loudly during a church service...

Words: 5129 - Pages: 21

Premium Essay

Criminal Justice

...jurisdiction and to investigate local crimes. The local law enforcement includes differing agencies like the municipal (local police departments), county (local sheriff department), regional and tribal (local reservation police department) police that get there authority from the local government. The state law enforcement agencies main purpose is to do highway patrol and state wide investigations. State police aid the local police department with emergencies and investigations that are beyond the jurisdiction and resource boundaries of the local departments. Federal law enforcement agencies key role in place is to work with certain types of crimes. The FBI, the US marshals and Border Patrol are a few of the main agencies. FBI has eight major investigations. Counterterrorism (a prevention of terrorism by military or political actions), public corruption (the usage of public office for private gain), civil rights (citizens rights to social freedom, political and equality), counterintelligence (preventing sabotage, spying, intelligence gather by a foreign country or enemy), organized crime (illegal actions committed by groups or organizations of criminals such an example are mafia or gangs), major theft/violent crimes (Violent Crime include Bank Robbery, Gangs, Kidnapping, Murder for Hire, Serial Killings and Major Thefts include Art theft, Cargo Theft, Copper theft, Jewelry and Gems, Organized Retail Theft and Vehicle Theft.) and White collar crime (embezzling, laundering, or stealing...

Words: 1100 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

My Files

...Most classical theories of crime causation, both old and new, make certain basic assumptions. Among them are these: Crime is caused by the individual exercise of free will. Human beings are fundamentally rational, and most human behavior is the result of free will coupled with rational choice. Pain and pleasure are the two central determinants of human behavior. Crime erodes the bond that exists between individuals and society and is therefore an immoral form of behavior. It is easy to understand why the entertainment industry and the media are often targeted as the cause of crime and criminal violence. However, many other types of explanations for crime are also viable, such as genetic abnormalities, individual psychological differences, and variations in patterns of early socialization that may predispose some people to crime and violence. Likewise, it is prudent to examine social institutions such as the family, schools, and churches for their role in reducing or enhancing the likelihood of criminality among people. One thing is certain: There is no single cause of crime; it is rooted in a diversity of causal factors and takes a variety of forms, depending on the situation in which it occurs. Nonetheless, some theories of human behavior help us understand why certain people engage in acts that society defines as criminal or deviant, while others do not. A theory is a kind of model. Theories posit relationships, often of a causal sort, between events and things under study...

Words: 978 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Stuff

...CHAPTER 7 DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL Deviance 171 Social Policy and Social Control: Illicit Drug Use in Canada and Worldwide 193 What Is Deviance? 171 Explaining Deviance 175 Social Control 182 Conformity and Obedience 182 Informal and Formal Social Control Law and Society 186 Crime 185 187 Types of Crime 188 Crime Statistics 190 The Issue 193 The Setting 193 Sociological Insights 193 Policy Initiatives 193 Boxes RESEARCH IN ACTION: Street Kids 183 sOCIOLOGY IN THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY: Singapore: A Nation of Campaigns 186 TAKING SOCIOLOGY TO WORK: Holly Johnson, Chief of Research, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada 192 Cigarette smoking has become stigmatized in Canada. This newspaper advertisement, sponsored by Health Canada, reverses the typical advertising strategy of equating smoking with sexiness. 169 H eidi Fleiss was in her late twenties when she was arrested for operating a call girl service. At the time, her pediatrician father had reacted flippantly, “I guess I didn’t do such a good job on Heidi after all.” Later, he would be convicted of conspiring to hide profits from his daughter’s call girl ring. Fleiss had dropped out of school when she was sixteen and established a liaison with a playboyfinancier who gave her a Rolls-Royce for her twenty-first birthday. In her early twenties, Fleiss interned in the world of prostitution by working for Madame Alex (Elizabeth Adams)...

Words: 18652 - Pages: 75

Premium Essay

Careers

...Careers Microcomputer Accounting II April 8, 2011 Find Out About Yourself I took the Career Interest Game. The three categories I selected were Conventional, Realistic, and Investigative which makes me CRI. My first choice was the Conventional otherwise known as “The Organizers.” I can relate to most of the list under the “Are You?” category. I am well organized, accurate, and efficient in most everything I set out to accomplish. I like things to be structured and organized. I always try to be polite but yet persistent in every task I pursue. I am practical and orderly and I like working with numbers. The methodical, thrifty and ambitious are probably the ones I do not agree pertain to me as a person. I agree with everything listed under the “Can You?” category since I do work with a lot of paperwork in a short period of time. My current position requires me to constantly work on a computer terminal and keep accurate records. I am also required to write business correspondence often and work in a team setting as well as individually. My job requires me to follow certain procedures and pay attention to detail. There is also a great deal of typing and data entry involved in my daily tasks. I also have to collect information and organize it in a specific manner. My work revolves around numbers and currency figures. The only thing on the list that I do not agree with is shorthand; I never took a class for it nor have I ever used it. Under the Conventional category...

Words: 1466 - Pages: 6