Unit 1 – Ac1.1/1.2 Exam question
“Analyse two crimes evident in the brief and explain reasons why they could go
unreported”
Two crimes that are evident in the brief that I am going to analyse are white collar crimes and honour
crimes. I will also be discussing why these crimes go unreported and will support with real case study
examples.
The first crime evident in the brief which I will discuss are white collar crimes. White collar crimes involve
non-violent crimes such as fraud, hacking or tax evasion and is usually committed for a financial gain.
Generally, the offenders are respected businesspeople with high status and are sometimes involved in
crime groups such as the mafia. The victims of white-collar crimes are usually people who have money to
invest or are people recruited into schemes by acquaintances. There is a low level of awareness for white
collar crimes due to many factors such as, it is difficult to detect, offenders hide their crimes through
complex transactions and the offenders are not seen as suspicious In the brief, Mr S had been making
fraudulent expense claims for two years in an attempt to fund his extravagant lifestyle and to pay for
gambling debts. In this scenario, Mr S is the offender of fraud, and the victim of his crimes are the bank as
he has made fraudulent claims from them. A real case of a white-collar crime is Bernie Madoffs Ponzi
scheme. Bernie Madoff was a businessman who served as chairman of NASDAQ, so he had a large
reputation, and he created a large Ponzi scheme to defraud people of their funds. He promised a profit to
investors and as the scheme grew, more money was being distributed to other investors and eventually he
had scammed investors of over 150 billion dollars. Madoff was eventually caught after he confessed his
crimes to his sons, and they turned his father in. This then led to his assets were then frozen and he was
arrested from his own home the next day. Madoff was then sentenced to 150 years in prison for pleading
guilty to 11 charges. A social reason for why the crime may go unreported is that people may have a lack of
knowledge on how the scams work and may not even know that they have been scammed and therefore
do not know to report it. Another reason would be that the transactions that take place within white collar
crimes are so complex it is difficult to understand that a crime has taken place and sometimes it is hard to
trace who has committed a crime and therefore it is hard to prosecute. Also, there is a lack of media
interest in white collar crimes so it may lead people to thinking that the police cannot help them or that
they may not take them seriously if they report it. In the brief, Mr S’ fraudulent expense claim s may go
unreported as he works as a bank manager so he is highly respected, and no suspicion would be arous4ed
due to his status at the bank. Also, he may have covered up his crimes through complex transactions so
that the claims cannot be tracked back to him.
The second crime that I will be analysing from the brief is honour crimes. These are carried out as
punishments on individuals for bringing shame onto families and can include acid attacks, abductions,
mutilations, beatings, and murder. Typically, the offenders are a male member of a family, (father, uncles,
cousins) and this is generally in Asian communities. The typical victims of honour crimes are young girls
from Asian families. In the brief, Mrs S is the victim of a potential honour crime as her family have been
planning to kill her due to her marrying a white, British man instead of a Hindu man like the rest of her
family. They are so opposed that they would like her to die to prevent any further shame being offenders
of this crime would be Mrs S’ family as they are planning to kill her, and the victim would be Mrs S. A real
case of an honour crime would be Samaira Nazir. Samaira wanted to marry her Afghan boyfriend, knowing
that her family would disapprove as he was not in the family circle. Upon hearing this, her father lunged at
“Analyse two crimes evident in the brief and explain reasons why they could go
unreported”
Two crimes that are evident in the brief that I am going to analyse are white collar crimes and honour
crimes. I will also be discussing why these crimes go unreported and will support with real case study
examples.
The first crime evident in the brief which I will discuss are white collar crimes. White collar crimes involve
non-violent crimes such as fraud, hacking or tax evasion and is usually committed for a financial gain.
Generally, the offenders are respected businesspeople with high status and are sometimes involved in
crime groups such as the mafia. The victims of white-collar crimes are usually people who have money to
invest or are people recruited into schemes by acquaintances. There is a low level of awareness for white
collar crimes due to many factors such as, it is difficult to detect, offenders hide their crimes through
complex transactions and the offenders are not seen as suspicious In the brief, Mr S had been making
fraudulent expense claims for two years in an attempt to fund his extravagant lifestyle and to pay for
gambling debts. In this scenario, Mr S is the offender of fraud, and the victim of his crimes are the bank as
he has made fraudulent claims from them. A real case of a white-collar crime is Bernie Madoffs Ponzi
scheme. Bernie Madoff was a businessman who served as chairman of NASDAQ, so he had a large
reputation, and he created a large Ponzi scheme to defraud people of their funds. He promised a profit to
investors and as the scheme grew, more money was being distributed to other investors and eventually he
had scammed investors of over 150 billion dollars. Madoff was eventually caught after he confessed his
crimes to his sons, and they turned his father in. This then led to his assets were then frozen and he was
arrested from his own home the next day. Madoff was then sentenced to 150 years in prison for pleading
guilty to 11 charges. A social reason for why the crime may go unreported is that people may have a lack of
knowledge on how the scams work and may not even know that they have been scammed and therefore
do not know to report it. Another reason would be that the transactions that take place within white collar
crimes are so complex it is difficult to understand that a crime has taken place and sometimes it is hard to
trace who has committed a crime and therefore it is hard to prosecute. Also, there is a lack of media
interest in white collar crimes so it may lead people to thinking that the police cannot help them or that
they may not take them seriously if they report it. In the brief, Mr S’ fraudulent expense claim s may go
unreported as he works as a bank manager so he is highly respected, and no suspicion would be arous4ed
due to his status at the bank. Also, he may have covered up his crimes through complex transactions so
that the claims cannot be tracked back to him.
The second crime that I will be analysing from the brief is honour crimes. These are carried out as
punishments on individuals for bringing shame onto families and can include acid attacks, abductions,
mutilations, beatings, and murder. Typically, the offenders are a male member of a family, (father, uncles,
cousins) and this is generally in Asian communities. The typical victims of honour crimes are young girls
from Asian families. In the brief, Mrs S is the victim of a potential honour crime as her family have been
planning to kill her due to her marrying a white, British man instead of a Hindu man like the rest of her
family. They are so opposed that they would like her to die to prevent any further shame being offenders
of this crime would be Mrs S’ family as they are planning to kill her, and the victim would be Mrs S. A real
case of an honour crime would be Samaira Nazir. Samaira wanted to marry her Afghan boyfriend, knowing
that her family would disapprove as he was not in the family circle. Upon hearing this, her father lunged at
