White Collar Crime

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to whom it was promised, for their own

personal benefit. Where “personal” benefit may be certifiable personal gain or that of an

organization or corporation as a whole. White collar crimes are unethical and illegal dealings

of people in a certain social sphere, that have used that status to gain the trust of the public,

only to take advantage of them for financial gain.

3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the various terms such as “white collar

crime”, “crimes of the powerful”, and “elite deviance”, that are used to describe the type of

crimes discussed in the textbook?

The disadvantages to the various terms used to describe the types of crimes discussed in the

textbook, is that there are different terms that refer to the same type of activity. This can lead

to a lot of confusion in knowing how to categorize the types of typical crime pattern. With so

many various deviations, there has been a consensus of conflicting views on the actual

definition of what white collar crime is. The advantages of having so many various terms for

white collar crime, is that closely linking it with other terms such as elite deviance, commercial

crime, economic crime, etc. to name a few, gives white collar crime a much broader spectrum.

I believe in doing so, there is less chance for these offenders to get away with the commission

of their crimes. So, albeit confusing, the many facets of white collar crime allows the emphasis

to be on “crime”, and not deviate from terms more closely associated with terms of lesser

offense, such as “deviance”, for example. The many connotations, I believe, is essential to

awareness to the public, of what is actually considered to be a white collar crime.

4. Why have white collar crime offenders traditionally received lighter sentences than

conventional crime offenders?

There are several reasons to explain why white collar offenders are not pursued more

rigorously. One reason being that most of them, by virtue of their affluence, can afford the

best of legal defense. They are also known to have influences amongst the elite, politicians,

and law enforcement agencies, if you will. Theses connections allow for favorable treatment at

times, based on the individual, and even for lighter policies and laws to be written in favor of

more lenient sentences for white collar crimes. Another factor is that historically, penalties for

conventional crimes tend to be based on the degree of violence or force used during the

commission of the crime, thus justifying harsher sentencing than crimes of a less violent nature.

White collar crime offenders by statistic, are also more likely to present the virtues of a

“normal” family life than that of conventional crime offenders, thus less likely also to be repeat

offenders.