Compare And Contrast White Collar Crime Vs Street Crime

Crime occurs almost every day in the United States. Many crimes that occur have motives and there are countless types of crimes such as armed robbery, murder, and embezzlement. Crimes can be categorized as street crime or as white-collar crime. Street crime does more harm than white-collar crime. Street crime is more harmful than white-collar crime due to the amount of violence that possibly takes place. No matter what monetary amount might be taken from a person, nothing is more harmful than taking a person’s life. There are multiple ways in which either street crime or white-collar crime can cause harm to people. There are multitudinous ways in which street crime can cause harm those include violence, as well as losing money or other valuable
Street crime occurs more often than white-collar crime does. Street crime is any criminal action that occurs in a public area. Mugging can also be called street crime. Mugging is the act of stealing any type of personal possession or property from another person. Mugging can happen as a result of urgency mainly for money. Several people are truly desperate and will sometimes take desperate measures just to glean some money. Other than being desperate, another motive that could serve as a reason for committing a street crime could be that a person may want personal revenge or are jealous of another person and their successful situation. With motives being the root of most street crime, there are many other crimes that fall under the categorization of street crime. Crimes include arson, battery, driving under the influence (DUI),multiple degrees of murder charges, rape, sexual assault, stalking, vandalism and many others. Not only are the people who commit these crimes responsible, the national government in recent years has also been responsible for some crimes. The national government is responsible for any criminal activity committed by an
Professor Edwin Sutherland, who was a sociologist is credited with creating the term white-collar crime (Baker). In 1939 the term white-collar crime became official as it was then deemed as part of the English language. It became official when Edwin Sutherland gave his Presidential Address to the A.S.S (American Sociological Society). The address was titled "The White Collar Criminal" and it went against many theories about crime. Theories that the speech went against include some that placed blame on poverty, unstable homes, and distraught character. White-collar crime was defined by Sutherland as a crime that was committed by an individual of properness and had a high social class position where they worked. There was controversy over this definition. The controversy was that a crime could not be classified as a white-collar crime, unless the individual that committed the crime was in a high social class. The controversy has placed blame on Sutherland for his inability to distinguish between definition and explanation in his definition of white-collar crime (Braithwaite 2-3). There are many types of white-collar crimes. Some include, bank fraud, cell phone fraud, credit card fraud, counterfeiting, embezzlement, and money laundering. Embezzlement appears to be the most common that is heard about either on the local evening news or if it is severe embezzlement