White Collar Crime
WHITE COLLAR CRIME
White Collar Crime
Aphrodite N Tzemopoulos
Rasmussen
Sociology
June 15, 2010
Crime is just plain crime. Fraud, the art of deliberated deception for unlawful gain, has been around forever. Since 1939 a term, “white collar crime,” has surfaced. These crimes are almost looked at as a different type of crime with different and often less severe forms of punishment. These crimes should be treated as other crimes. White collar crime is a serious social issue. White collar crimes are on the rise; they are committed by all types of Americans whether they are business people, celebrities, or law enforcement and range from embezzlement, public corruption, or even health care fraud. Society needs to understand what exactly white collar crime is, why these crimes are on the rise, why people commit these crimes, who commits them, and the different types of white collar crimes as well as how white collar crime is a growing sociological issue. The rates of murder, robbery, and assault and other types of violent and property crimes has declined or flattened in the last decade and there has been a noted increase in accounting and corporate infractions, fraud in health care, identity theft, etc (New York Times, 2002). White collar crime among the new generation seems to be the crime of choice. Considering the need and more frequent use of technology such as computers and cell phones, this is a society that are becoming more prone to white collar crimes such as identity theft. Many people bay bills online and have bank account information or updates of their checking account and credit card information sent to their computers or cell phones. The poor economic situations in this country also play a large part in these crimes. Unemployment rates are skyrocketing and everyone is being affected. Now more than ever people are more likely to commit these crimes to continue their lifestyles or to improve their financial situations. People commit fraud
White Collar Crime
Aphrodite N Tzemopoulos
Rasmussen
Sociology
June 15, 2010
Crime is just plain crime. Fraud, the art of deliberated deception for unlawful gain, has been around forever. Since 1939 a term, “white collar crime,” has surfaced. These crimes are almost looked at as a different type of crime with different and often less severe forms of punishment. These crimes should be treated as other crimes. White collar crime is a serious social issue. White collar crimes are on the rise; they are committed by all types of Americans whether they are business people, celebrities, or law enforcement and range from embezzlement, public corruption, or even health care fraud. Society needs to understand what exactly white collar crime is, why these crimes are on the rise, why people commit these crimes, who commits them, and the different types of white collar crimes as well as how white collar crime is a growing sociological issue. The rates of murder, robbery, and assault and other types of violent and property crimes has declined or flattened in the last decade and there has been a noted increase in accounting and corporate infractions, fraud in health care, identity theft, etc (New York Times, 2002). White collar crime among the new generation seems to be the crime of choice. Considering the need and more frequent use of technology such as computers and cell phones, this is a society that are becoming more prone to white collar crimes such as identity theft. Many people bay bills online and have bank account information or updates of their checking account and credit card information sent to their computers or cell phones. The poor economic situations in this country also play a large part in these crimes. Unemployment rates are skyrocketing and everyone is being affected. Now more than ever people are more likely to commit these crimes to continue their lifestyles or to improve their financial situations. People commit fraud
References: Federal Bureau of Investigation (2010) White Collar Crime US Federal Government, US Department of Justice Also online: www.biography.com/notorious/crimefiles Cornell University Law School (May 7, 2002) Legal Information Institute White Collar Crime: An Overview Cox, L. (2008) ABC News, What Was Madoff Thinking? New York Times (2002) Downturn and Shift in Population Feed Boom in White Collar Crime Reiman, J. (1998) The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice Zarka, H. (June 5, 2007) The Causes Of White Collar Crime Associated Content