White Collar Crime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

tweed Collar Crime - Essay ExampleWhite collar crimes atomic number 18 a major threat to economic development in any country or society, as they are much more effortful to track and prevent. This is due to the fact that they are perpetrated by men and women of steep social status and integrity, who use situations entrusted to them to facilitate nefarious activities either for soulfulnessal or corporate gains. much(prenominal) crimes include and not limited to corruption, identity theft, tax evasion and embezzlement among an early(a)(prenominal)s such as funds laundering (Simon & Eitzen, 2000). This paper is a critical evaluation of white collar crimes as compared to conventional crimes. White Collar Crimes White-collar crime is a terminology which was first used by Edwin Sutherland to define criminal activities perpetrated by men and women of high social status, whose occupations facilitate them with an avenue to commit crime (Friedrichs, 2003). In this context, these wad use their positions and influence to attain financial gains at the expense of their employers. For lesson, a government minister may use his position to influence the awarding of tenders in his or her ministry, so as to favor received individuals who would be allow foring to reward the minister for doing so. This may be done at the expense of other more deserving and experienced contractors. In such a circumstance, the minister will have move a serious white-collar crime punishable by law i.e. corruption. One of the major characteristics of this character of crime is that it is nonviolent. This is due to the fact that it occurs in a legitimate environment in which the perpetrator will seem to be conducting normal business (Pontell, 2002). For example, a traffic patrol officer carries out the duties of ensuring that street users obey and observe traffic rules. In the course of performing his duties, he may be forced to hold on a driver for breaking one of the rules. In this context, the officer by virtue of his position as a law enforcer has two choices which he can make i.e. either to arrest and detain the driver or to come to an agreement which may entail accepting money in exchange with the drivers freedom i.e. accepting bribery. This is as opposed to conventional crimes, such as robbery, murder, rape among others, which are committed with a sense of violence in them. This is due to the fact that in such crimes, perpetrators have to contest with their victims so as to benefit from the process. A bank robber for example will have to use a gun so as to scare his victims and if he feels threatened, he may be forced to shoot. The same case happens to rapists and carjackers, who must use force so as to subdue their victims. Based on these issues, it becomes much easier for these crimes to be detected as they will always adopt witnesses, who in turn will report to the authorities (Reiman, 1998). On the contrary, white collar crimes are difficult to dete ct and therefore will mostly go unreported maybe until when it is too late. For example, a person may not have to appear physically in a bank so as to commit robbery. In this computer era, one may use his technical knowledge to access accounts online by the way of hacking, mostly on credit cards, and make purchases without the knowledge of the card holder (Newman & Clarke, 2003). This makes it difficult for the police to arrest the culprits unlike when they are confronted with a hostage situation. In this context, white collar crimes are perpetrated by people with opportunity and technical knowhow, thus making them much more complex as compared to other conventional crimes. As the rate of white collar crimes continue to increase, the society at large continues to keep the consequences. For example, it is estimated that the US government loses more than $300 billion, on annual basis, to these crimes, which include tax evasion by wealthy individuals (Pontell, 2002). Such money could be used to improve the lives of