Organized (White Collar?) Crime
Defining the concept:
The term “white collar crime” coined by Sutherland (1939)
Significant because it moved the field away from crimes of the
street towards ”upper-world” crime and interest in complexity of
social organizations as criminal resources
“Crime committed by a person of respectability and high social
status in the course of his occupation”
Sutherland focused on “crimes of business;” acts that were
violations of federal economic regulations (as opposed to
embezzlement, etc.)
Social Organization and Power
Organization as a weapon to cause harm
• Organized Crime (IOC groups)
• State Organized Crime (Value Jet Crash)
• Occupational Crime (Physician Fraud)
2 Scales to consider:
1. Organizational Complexity
2. Victimization: More serious (often
sophisticated) white collar offenses produce
greater levels of victimization
Social Organization and Power
Organizational Complexity provides power to do
more criminal/financial harm
Common Crimes
White Collar Crimes
% with a Pattern
24.0%
52.9%
% Lasting more than 1 year
6.8%
49.9%
% which use Organization
2.5%
22.1%
% involving 5 or more
People
8.0%
13.0%
From Weisburd, Wheeler, Waring and Bode (1988)
White Collar Crime
• The Cost of White Collar Crime
– WC far outstrips losses from street crime
• Financial Costs
–
–
–
–
–
–
Average take for a robbery $434 (1978); $4 billion total
Bribery $3-15 billion
Price-fixing Anti-trust: up to $350 billion
Welfare fraud $1 billion
Enron losses estimated at $50-100 billion (2002)
Unnecessary surgeries: $4 billion
• Health/Life Costs
– Roughly 20,000 homicides annually in the US
– National Safety Council estimates 14,000 deaths/year due to
workplace accidents
– 100,000 deaths/year due to occupationally related disease
– Estimates of 40-50% of all work-related deaths are the result of
legal violations (as opposed to hazardous work conditions not in
violation of the law)
Explaining White Collar Crime
• Merton’s Anomie Theory (Ch. 5)
– Legacy of Durkheim
– Anomie - normlessness
– No regulation on individual desires
– R.K. Merton’s Anomie/Strain
• Individual Adaptation to Social Conditions
• Social Condition/Structure composed of two elements:
– Cultural Goals
– Institutional Means
Explaining White Collar Crime
Type of
Adaptation
Cultural
Goals
Institutional
Means
Conformity
+
+
Innovation
+
-
Ritualistic
-
+
Retreatist
-
-
Rebellion
-/+
-/+
Implications:
1. Structural Distribution of Institutional Means is Unequal
2. Cultural emphasis on $ success leaves individual aspirations unchecked
-One of the elements of the bond (regulation) is not accomplished
-This is the result of people being successfully attached (or integrated)
-This is truly “Anomic” – a culture that does not provide its members with
the social elements necessary to bond and control their behavior.
Relevant Chapters:
32.
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•
•
•
International Organized Crime
Narcotics as a money-making venture
Often links to legitimate businesses
Different from street gangs?
Globalization of deviant/criminal enterprise
33.
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•
•
The Crash of Valuejet Flight 592
Typical of Sutherland’s definition of White Collar Crime: Corporate Crime
New idea: State-Corporate Crime >> Govt. as criminal actor
What is the role of the government (or regulating agencies charged with protecting the
public)?
38. Opportunity and Crime in Medical Professions
•
Protective Cloak
–
•
Status
•
Altruism
•
Autonomy
Types of Crime
•
Kickbacks
•
Prescription Violations
•
Unnecessary Treatment
•
Sexual Misconduct
•
Medicaid Fraud & Abuse