NCJ Number
82022
Journal
Kriminalist Volume: 13 Issue: 9 Dated: (September 1981) Pages: 458-464
Date Published
1981
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This continuation of the Max Planck Institute's overview of white-collar crime in West Germany reports the losses incurred from economic crimes and the number of cases prosecuted.
Abstract
The total economic loss from white-collar crime rose from 1,380.6 million German marks in 1974 to 5,477.4 million in 1978. About 30 percent of the prosecuted cases involved between 10,000 and 100,000 German marks. Cases prosecuted numbered 1,452 in 1974 and 1,881 in 1979; these constitute respectively 50.5 and 60.9 percent of the indictments handed down in those years. In terms of loss, the 1976 prosecutions dealt with the highest percentage of the total yearly amount -- 63.9 percent. The most frequently prosecuted cases have concerned tax evasion offenses; subsidy abuses were the second most common type of case to be prosecuted. Criticism of the statistical analysis procedures of this project have pointed to the unknown extent of successfully concealed fraud and the difficulty of distinguishing a statistically reflected increase in crime incidence from one due to improved detection, enforcement, and prosecution procedures. Extensive tables and 17 bibliographic references are given.