This thesis on white-collar crime explores non-violent offenses committed by individuals or organizations in professional or business environments. It delves into complex issues such as corporate fraud, embezzlement, insider trading, and money laundering, examining their impact on financial markets...
CHAPTER – I - INTRODUCTION
1.1 White collar crimes in India
1.1.1 Hoarding, Black marketing and Adulteration
1.1.2 Tax Evasion
1.1.3 White collar crime in certain profession
1.1.4 Medical profession
1.1.5 Engineering
1.1.6 Legal Profession
1.1.7 Educational Institution
1.2 Objective of the Study
1.3 Hypothesis
1.4 Research Methodology
1.5 Research Tools
1.5.1 Primary Tools
1.5.2 Secondary Tools
CHAPTER – II- WHITE COLLAR CRIME
2.1 Meaning and Definition of White collar crime
2.2 White collar crimes in various Domains in India
2.2.1 Legal System in India
2.2.2 In Trade and Industry
2.2.3 Financial Institutional Fraud
2.2.4 Corruption in Government and policies
2.2.5 Forgery
2.2.6 Violation of foreign Exchange regulations and Import-Export
2.2.7 Violation of Tax Laws
2.3 White Collar Crime in various profession in India
2.3.1 Legal profession
2.3.2 Engineering
2.3.3 Educational Institutions
2.3.4 Money laundering techniques
2.4 Distinction between White collar crimes and Blue collar crimes
2.5 Definition of Blue Collar crime
2.6 White collar crime
2.7 White collar crime and Traditional Crime
2.8 The Scope of White collar crime
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2.9 Causes of white collar crimes
2.10 Victims of White collar crime
2.11 Technical and Methodological problems deriving from the
nature of offences
CHAPTER- III- CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL
PROVISIONS TO CONTROL WHITE COLLAR
CRIMES IN INDIA
3.1 Provisions in Constitution of India to control
white collar crimes
3.1.1 Writs
3.2 Comptroller and Auditor-General of India
3.3 The Central Vigilance Commission
3.4 Committee on Public Accounts
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,3.5 Provision in Indian Penal Code
3.6 Criminal Procedure Code
3.7 The Prevention of Corruption Act
3.8 The Food Adulteration Act
3.9 The Essential Commodities Act
3.10 The Customs Act
3.11 Provisions Relating to Income Tax Act
3.12 The Foreign Exchange Management Act
3.13 White collar crimes committed through Compute,
punished under I.T Act
3.14 The Prevention of Money Laundering Act
3.15 The right to Information Act
3.16 Anti-Corruption Bureau of State
3.17 Central Bureau of Investigation
3.18 Provisions under Administrative law
CHAPTER –IV- CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
4.1 The Idea of white collar crime
4.2 Statutory and legal provisions regulating white collar crime
4.3 The socio-economic impact
4.4 Inadequacy in present law
Suggestions
Bibliography
Annexure-I
United Nation Convention against Corruption
CHAPTER-I
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,INTRODUCTION
It is common knowledge that certain professions and public officers offer
lucrative opportunities for criminal acts and unethical practices to the professional
& persons occupying the public offices which hardly, attracted public attention
as well as of the legislature. In the year 1941 E.H. Sutherland propounded the
concept of white collar crime. Sutherland pointed out that besides the traditional
crimes such as assault, robbery, dacoity, murder, rape; kidnapping and other acts
involving violence, there are certain anti-social activities which the person of
upper strata carries on in course of their occupation or business. These activities
for long time were accepted as a part of usual business tactics necessary for shrewd
professional man for his success in profession or business.
The term is widely used by both criminologists and sociologists alike,
incorporating a mass of non-violent behaviours related to economic fraud. Beyond
that rudimentary description there is widespread disagreement and interdisciplinary
criticism of the definition and application of white collar crime. Criminologists,
with a focus on the law, contend that many of the behaviours society believes to
be white collar crimes are in fact not crimes at all. Without a statute to define
behaviour as a criminal violation of law, behaviours could be labeled by individual
standards rather than in the context of community value. An individual evaluation
of what is or is not deviant allows for a subjective approach that softens the
scientific objectivity of criminology. Additionally, the American system of criminal
justice was built upon the premise of individual culpability. This presents
difficulties when criminal acts involve a collective. The penalty phase of a criminal
action was never meant to impose sanctions against groups or organizations.
Sociologists contend the term itself is fundamentally flawed. Studies have shown
the vast majority of white collar crimes are carried out by individuals comprising
the middle and lower classes of society, without regard to the colour of their
collar. Sociology views white collar crime not from a statutory or legal definition,
but rather as a class distinction emphasizing the disparity between the treatment
of the rich and the poor. In many cases the motivation leading to the commission
of a white collar crime is directly related to socio-economic status. The definitional
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conflict between sociology and criminology has led to what has been termed sterile
definitional disputes.
The current definition of white collar crime has come about due to a
commingling of behaviours, variables, systems and theories. Unlike conventional
crimes, white collar crime can be committed by an individual, a corporation, an
occupation, or an organization. The criminal element of intent has become less
important as product liability and other corporate malfeasance have come to be
identified as white collar crime. A questionable clustering of behaviours has
resulted in an intermixing of simple deviations from societal norms, breaches of
civil law, and criminal violations, thus blurring the line between civil and criminal
law. For the purpose of this paper, it is necessary to limit the scope of the term
white collar crime. The genesis of the term is credited to Sociologist Edwin
Sutherland in 1939 and simply states that white collar crime is the abuse of
power by an individual, situated in a high place, whereby virtue of that position
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, they are provided with opportunities for such abuse. This research has refer to
crimes of professional occupations as a behaviour having been statutorily defined
as criminal, committed by an individual who has obtained a professional
occupational position where the trust inherent to that position facilitates the
commission of such crime. Professional will refer to occupational prestige rather
than career criminality. This research has attempted to offer an explanation as to
why a professional practitioner may commit a criminal act
facilitated by occupation after living a life of relative conformity to societal norms.
Means,
motive, and opportunity will be analyzed. Structural perspectives and learning
theories of deviance will be applied to distinguish conventional and white collar
crime.
In a 1939 meeting of the American Sociological Society, Edwin Sutherland
proffered the term white collar criminal1. He defined the white collar criminal as
any person of high socio-economic status who commits a legal violation in the
course of their business activities.
Sutherland’s definition emphasized the offender over the crime, and the
role of trust and power in providing the means and opportunity to commit deviant
acts. For half a century since, Sutherland’s definition of the white collar criminal
has been the subject of much debate and controversy. Specific criticisms point
2
out his use of arbitrary terms that cannot be quantified, such as high socio-economic
status, respectable and business activities. It is widely considered throughout the
sociological community, that Sutherland’s 1939 definition of white collar crime
was intended to draw attention to the idea of there being no difference between
elite crime and street crime; as well as highlight the discrepancies in the application
of law and justice between the rich and the poor. In subsequent writings, Sutherland
clarified his use of high socio-economic status to include persons of the middle
and upper class. Sutherland’s elucidation had little to no effect in quelling the
arguments related to his original work. A study based on the interviews of federal
prisoners convicted of embezzlement concluded that although none of the subjects
were poor, only a scant few could be considered as being of a high socio-economic
status. Cressey’s findings led to other criminologists questioning whether an offense
such as embezzlement could even be considered white collar crime under the
Sutherland definition2. Even the term business activity was the subject of debate
with Quinney theorizing the term should apply to all persons, in all occupations,
without regard to socio-economic status. Quinney questioned whether a person
cheating welfare would be
committing a white collar crime because the welfare system is the source of their
livelihood.
Despite fifty years of debate and study, no consensus has been reached.
Defining white collar crime is an enigma. A common misconception of white
collar crime is that, like pornography, it is difficult to define, yet most people
would recognize it when they saw it.
The only fact regarding white collar crime is that no occupation is exempt
or untouched by it. One need only pick up the paper, watch the news, or surf the
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