White vs. Blue Collar Crimes:
White Collar Crimes: Defined as those illegal acts which are
characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and which are
not dependent upon the application or threat of physical force or
violence".
Traditionally, white-collar criminals were prosecuted sporadically, if at
all, and were rarely subjected to jail sentences or any meaningful
sanctions. A major obstacle to effective prosecution is said to be the
complexity of the crimes.
Blue Collar Crime: Because there are fewer opportunities to use skill,
more blue-collar crime may involve the use of force and, because more
people are injured, there is a greater chance that the victim will report
the crime.
Blue-collar crime tends to be more obvious and attract more active police
attention (e.g. for crimes such as vandalism or shoplifting which protect
property interests), whereas white-collar employees can intermingle
legitimate and criminal behavior and be less obvious when committing
the crime. Thus, blue-collar crime will more often use physical force
whereas white-collar crime will tend to be more technical in nature, e.g.
in the manipulation of accountancy or inventory records.
Why do you think white collar crimes go unreported more often
than blue collar crimes?
Provide 5 examples of both blue and white collar crimes?
Why (in general) are more people fascinated and invested in the
cases that involve blue collar crimes, than white collar crimes?