A,N,Nuckchady PGCE 09-10 Social Sciences
Types of Crime
There are many types of crime in the society and as the society is more complex so would be the
complexity of crimes. Crimes are visible or having victims and invisible or victimless, or crimes
which are unreported.
Visible crimes are crimes which everybody is acquainted with and which are regularly shown on
the Mass Media. They consist of murder, violent assault, burglary, robbery, speeding, parking
on a no waiting area etc. Thus crimes can range from minor(less severe) to major ones(very
severe). For example parking on a no waiting area is a crime according to the law but is
victimless and thus a minor offence, however murder, killing, is a serious crime because it does
not only has a victim but somebody has lost his/her life during such a situation. The punishment
for minor crimes is minor ones like paying fines and for major crimes it is very severe like life
sentence or death penalty. Such crime whether minor or major ones do appear on the official
statistics if they are reported.
Together with visible crimes other types of crimes are being committed but they are not easily
detectible as most often they are victimless and easily dissimulated. They are crimes which are
likely to be committed by middle class and upper class people. This changes the image projected
by official statistics that all crimes are committed by lower class group. Such invisible crimes
are listed below:
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White collar crime
Corporate crime
Government crime
White Collar Crime
White collar crimes are crimes committed by people in middle-class jobs like in businesses,
offices and so on, which are related to their jobs. Another term used by sociologists which refer
to the same situation is called occupational crime. Sociologists say that people have
opportunities to commit crimes at their work place. These opportunities vary between jobs,
often depending on how much the worker is supervised and how much contact s/he has with
money or valuable goods. Middle class people are have greater trust from the part of the own of
companies and they are more liable to commit white collar crimes. The amount of money that
can be stolen as white collar crimes depend on the category of job the person performs, for
example in jobs where the person deals with little amount of money, less money will be fiddle
whereas in cases of a person working in big companies, huge sum of money will be stolen.
White Collar Crimes involve people stealing for their personal gain.
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A,N,Nuckchady PGCE 09-10 Social Sciences
Below are some examples of White Collar Crimes:
Types of White Collar Crimes
Embezzlement
Fraud
Explanation
Stealing money from
company
Falsifying documents
Example
a Falsifying accounts
Fiddling
Changing amount of money to
be claimed
Pilfering
Stealing from the company
Tax Evasion
Declaring less income
in
order to pay less amount of tax
Obtaining
or
providing
favours in return of money
Bribery and Corruption
Claiming qualification one
don’t have
When buying article for the
company a person claim the
double amount
Taking things from the
company without permission
Falsifying
income
and
expenses
Striking a deal so that no one
loses
Why are White Collar Crimes thought of as being unimportant ones?
White Collar crimes are thought to be unimportant because different words are use to picture this
form of activity like fiddle, perk etc and not crime as such.
It is thought of as being acceptable because everyone does it for example bribery is acceptable
because even head of state does it.
White Collar Crimes are not registered in the official statistics and the criminal does not go to
prison because it is the company which deals with the white collar criminals so as to protect the
company’s image. Thus offenders will be disciplined or sacked; the police will not be involved
as far as possible to prevent bad publicity of the company.
Corporate Crime
Corporate crime is committed in the interest of the company, with often the knowledge and
approval of those running the company.
Corporate crime may have huge impact on the life of many people in the society and yet they are
very difficult to be disclosed because high professionals are involved.
However, when they are discovered the company will be requested to pay only a fine. It is very
rare that directors and chief inspectors are sentences or jailed.
Corporate crimes usually have more victims than white collar crimes.
Examples of Corporate Crimes:
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
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Sale of goods known to be dangerous
Breaking health and safety laws
Polluting the environment and dumping poisonous waste
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A,N,Nuckchady PGCE 09-10 Social Sciences
Why do companies engage in corporate crimes?
Companies engage themselves in corporate crimes for the same reasons as individuals do, for
money. They do it in order to increase their surplus value or profits.
Who are the victims of Corporate Crimes?
The first group of victims of corporate crimes is Consumers, who may be misled by false
advertisement, example prices shown may not include VAT and can be in the following range
R999.90. The products put on the market may be faulty, dangerous (expired product) or poor
quality goods. The cost claimed by certain services providers may be overcharged or wrongly
charged. Food or medicine may be dangerous for the health rather than improving it.
The second group of victims of corporate crimes is Employees, who may lost their life or who
may suffer from health problems. Employees who are killed are referred to as ‘work accidents’
whereas those who are not suffers from health problems. This situation can be termed as
corporate killing.
The third group of victims of corporate crimes are the Public,
environmental pollution or victims of high budget deficits.
as we are all victims of
In cases of corporate crimes it is difficult to pinpoint anyone as the criminal. Though the cost in
terms of money and lives is very high, court cases are very rare.
However it is public opinion which can decrease corporate crimes because if people know their
health is being endangered they will try to sue big companies and this will have a butterfly effect
on other companies.
Government Crimes
Like individuals, companies, government also commit crimes, thus they make law and also break
law. Government can break international treaties and agreements they have signed.
In some countries where there are dictators, the government is responsible for torture,
imprisoning and executing their opponents for the general elections. In countries like Africa,
atrocities are committed against minority ethnic groups (Tutsi/Uttu clash)
Most often such actions will be acceptable by the citizen but will be found criminal by
international agencies. Sanctions in most cases are not applied.
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