NCJ Number
74721
Date Published
1977
Length
65 pages
Annotation
Theoretical and methodological problems related to criminological research on white-collar crime and aspects of the contemporary socioeconomic system affecting definitions of legality are examined.
Abstract
Early literature on white-collar crime suffered from such shortcomings as failure to distinguish between the crimes of businessmen and those of criminal professions, failure to distinguish differences in crime committed by various classes and professions, failure to separate individuals from organizations, and failure to recognize that the privileges of power frequently cloak the activities of white-collar criminals. Indeed, research on white-collar crime has been most inhibited by the question of whether white-collar offenses are really crimes at all. The most recent definitions of white-collar crime emphasize that such crimes are committed in the course of business transactions, when participating individuals or organizations resort to misrepresentation, fraud, and abuse of power and position to obtain financial or property gains by victimization of other parties involved. Business crimes can be classified broadly as offenses by people operating on an individual basis, professional offenses of persons operating in business or government in violation of duty to employers or clients, offenses central to a business. A principal problem in dealing with white-collar crime is gathering enough information to prove illegality. Formulating a theory of business crime is complicated by the variability of the offenses involved, the role of the victims, public attitudes toward deviant behavior, difficulties in detecting illegal activities, organization and mechanisms available for social control, and questions regarding the effectiveness of penal sanctions for dissuasion. Special attention should be devoted to research on corporate crime and to government policies on prosecution of white-collar crime. Researchers should establish a good working relationship with public and private law enforcement and control agencies and consider the legitimacy of actions by economic institutions in the light of public interests according to the new legitimacy theories of G. Cabot Lodge and John Rawles. Equality and self-respect, defined on the community scale, are the basis of the new legitimacy concept, according to which the profit motive of corporations does not adequately justify their actions in terms of the communal good, necessitating a regulatory system. A 44-item bibliography and a figure are supplied.