White-Collar Crime
White-collar crime is typically non-violent
• corruption
• healthcare fraud
• money laundering
• it frequently involves people lying or hiding in order to prevent losing money or
property
The Victims Of White-Collar Crime:
• willing victims: those who get taken advantage of by scammers
• unwilling victims: those taken advantage of in normal commercial transactions
• employees: bullying, sexual harassment, racial discrimination
• public: polluted environment, illegally dumping toxic waste
• victims are often above the age of 65 as they aren’t likely to understand that
they are being taken advantage of (exploited)
The Offenders Of White-Collar Crime:
• the offenders are mostly white men between the ages of 30 and 40, who have
a middle-class background and some degree of a higher form of education
• corporate crime: a crime that is done by or for a business i.e tax evasion in
order to increase their personal profits
• professional crime: a crime that is done by professionals i.e accountants who
steal money from their customers’ accounts
The Level Of Public Awareness:
• this crime receives very little media publicity as it is so under-reported because
individuals do not know that they are victims
White-collar crime is deviant and criminal because it is not only illegal activity,
because it is not only illegal activity, but is also frowned upon within the ethics of
society.
Examples:
• Bernie Madoff: publicised the “ponzi scheme” in American culture - the scheme
pays previous investors with money from current ones and keeps money flowing
in and out, whilst enabling you to claim a cut. he was responsible for the largest
ponzi scheme in American history at $65 billion and ended up receiving a 150
year sentence after he pled guilty to 11 counts of financial crimes and was also
required to pay the investors $170 billion in reparations
• Harold Shipman: a serial killer that held the profession of being a family
physician which enabled him to commit his crimes, which were 15 convicted
murders, but it is believed that he could possibly be responsible for up to 250. He
forged the will of one of his victims which proved there to be a financial motive
behind his crimes. he was sentenced to life in prison with 15 counts of murder
and one count of forgery
Statistics:
• 3.4 million frauds in the UK during 2016-17 which is about 1/3 of the total
unlber of crimes committed during these years (around 11 million)
• fraud is recognised as 39% of all crimes committed - Telephone-operated
Crime Survey
, • fraud-related crimes grew by 25% in 2022 - the total number committed in
March 2022 was 936,276
Moral Crime
Moral crimes are offences against society’s normative moral standards.
• euthanasia (assisted dying)
• prostitution (selling your body)
• vagrancy (homelessness)
• under-age alcohol consumption (drinking)
• gambling (games involving money and chance)
• drug abuse (taking illegal substances)
The Victims Of Moral Crime:
• mainly assumed to be a victimless crime, but the perpetrator and the victim
can be the same person i.e a drug user is not likely to turn themselves into the
police for their purchases
The Offenders Of Moral Crime:
• this varies depending on the offence, however, it is usually the same individual
i.e underage drinkers
• some do it as a form of income i.e drug dealers
• some such as beggars and rough sleepers have no other option but to commit
this crime
The Level Of Public Awareness:
• commonly low as a lot of offenders’ crimes are concealed by their families and
friends
• society also mostly takes no notice of these crimes as a form of sympathy for
the victims ans offenders
Moral crime is both criminal and deviant.
Examples:
• River Phoenix: was an American actor and musician who would partake in a
habitual cocaine and heroin intake since his teenage years and he died in 1993
in Los Angeles, California from a speedball (cocaine and heroin) mixture
• Jamie Dunn, Martin Dunn, Catalina Cojocaru, Andrei Cojocaru: between 2015
and 17 they arranged for women to travel from Europe (Romania in particular) in
order to offer off-street prostitution services. Jamie was sentenced to 4 years and
9 months in prison, Catalina was given 3 years and 9 months, Martin was given
12 months of community service and 100 hours of unpaid work and Andrei
received 1 year in prison, 14 months of suspension and 150 hours of unpaid work
Statistics:
• In 2020/21 there were around 210,000 drug offences recorded by the police in
England and Wales (this is 19% higher than 2019/20)
• In 2014–15, there were 456 prosecutions of sex workers for loitering and
soliciting
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