NCJ Number
74520
Journal
Australian Crime Prevention Council Quarterly Journal Volume: 3 Issue: 4 Dated: (1980) Pages: 9,11,13,15,17-19
Date Published
1980
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This Australian paper explores some of the issues involved in the lack of successful prosecution of white-collar criminals, as well as the lack of restitution payments being imposed on these criminals.
Abstract
White-collar crime is responsible to some extent for inflation, for unemployment, for the collapse of many small businesses, and for a lack of confidence in investment. Even though the amounts of money stolen in white-collar criminal activity dwarfs all other crimes combined, only a tiny percentage of the offenders are caught, most of their crimes are not even detected, and nobody seems to care. Very few of those caught in white-collar criminal activities are successfully prosecuted. Legislators and judges seem to bend over backwards to protect the legal rights of the white-collar criminal. English and American law reflect the notion that while the law should protect people against forcible deprivations of their property, people ought to protect themselves against breaches of trust and deception. The primary emphasis of the criminal law has been on offenses involving actual or potential violence and on upholding specific social values of morality. Civil laws and regulations allow parties bringing suit to seek legal redress in a personal interest, with less regard for fault and punishment. Most crime detection techniques are not applicable to white-collar offenses. For effective detection and investigation of white-collar crimes, cooperation between enforcement and regulatory agencies is needed, and more public attention should be directed to assisting such agencies in their efforts to stop white-collar crime. A bibliography is available upon request.