White Collar Crime
Alan Greenspan is an economist and financial adviser, he once said “Corruption,
embezzlement, fraud, these are all characteristics which exist everywhere. It is regrettably the
way human nature functions, whether we like it or not. What successful economies do is to keep
it to a minimum. No one has ever eliminated any of that stuff”.
It was just an introduction to today’s topic, in criminology, the blue collar crime is a crime
committed by an individual at the lower class while white collar crime is associated with the
crime committed by individual at the higher level.
White Collar Crime is a crime that is committed by salaried professional workers or persons in
business and that usually involves a form of financial theft or fraud. The term “White Collar
Crime” was defined by sociologist Edwin Sutherland in 1939.
These crimes are non-violent crimes committed by business people through deceptive activities
who are able to access large amounts of money for the purpose of financial gain. White Collar
Crimes are committed by people who are involved in otherwise, lawful businesses and covers a
wide range of activities. The perpetrators hold respectable positions in the businesses unless their
crime is discovered
The general perception is that the white collar crimes are committed because of greed or
economic instability. But these crimes are also committed because of situational pressure or the
inherent characteristic of getting more than others. However, there are various reasons for white
collar crimes.


Not really a crime: Some offenders convince themselves that the actions performed by
them are not crimes as the acts involved do not resemble street crimes.
Not realizable: Some people justify themselves in committing crimes as they feel that
the government regulations do not understand the practical problems of competing in the
free enterprise system.



Lack of awareness: One of the main reasons of white collar crime is the lack of
awareness of people. The nature of the crime is different from the traditional crimes and
people rarely understand it though they are the worst victims of crime.
Greed: Greed is another motivation of the commission of crime. Some people think that
others are also violating the laws and so it is not bad if they will do the same.
Necessity: Necessity is another factor of committing crimes. People commit white collar
crimes in order to satisfy their ego or support their family
Example
Mr. Sole Bribery Case
In Mr.Sole bribery cases, he was convicted of 13 counts of bribery. Mr. Sole was jailed for
taking M5, Million in kickbacks from Canada Acres International and German Based Lahmeyer
International.
Mr. Sole was the technical adviser to the Lesotho Highlands Water Commission. He was at the
higher level at LHWP, as individual, he was financially motivated and he committed non-violet
crime. This is typical kind of white collar crime we commit as professionals. More often than
not, our professional or business status can lead to white collar crime, abusing your managerial
powers or status can lead to crime.
The Ethics Institute said about Mr. Sole, “Masupha Sole is a shattered man. Once a high flying
engineer in charge of constructing a series of huge dams in the highlands of Mountain Kingdom
of Lesotho, he got greedy and accepted bribes worth US$1.1 million from multinational
companies in returns for lucrative work contracts”.
According to the Ethics Institute, Mr. Sole was greedy citing that others are violating the laws so it will be not
bad if he do the same. There is element of Not realizable that the government regulation do not understand the
practical problems.