White Collar Crime

6 Pages 1426 Words

A term becoming more frequently heard in societies around the world is “White Collar Crime.” White collar crime affects each and everyone one of us every single day. White collar crime can be conducted by multibillion-dollar companies such as Enron, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems, and or local mom and pop shops. This research paper will discuss the discovery of white collar crime it will define what white collar crime is; analyze the history of it, discuss the different types of white collar crimes, and lastly its victims.
In order to understand what white collar crime is we must first define it. Throughout the years various definitions of white collar crime have been attempted. Many of these definitions have found to be vague and inconsistent with concept of the founder of “white collar crimes” Edward Sutherland. After several hours of research, I have found that the most accurate definition of white collar crime is described by Professor Julie O’ Sullivan. O’Sullivan (2002) states that, “White Collar Crime offenses shall constitute those classes of non-violent illegal activities which principally involve traditional notions of deceit, deception, concealment, manipulation, breach of trust, subterfuge or illegal circumvention”. Furthermore, “It should be noted that while ‘street crimes’ of physical violence, such as burglary, robbery or assault, are not included, some white collar offenses such as violations of laws protecting the environment or the purity and healthfulness of our foods and drugs, can cause serious physical harm, and even death” (O’Sullivan 2002). After examining the definition, we can conclude that even if white collar crimes are that of a non-violent nature they can still inflict serious physical health problems and or even death.
The discovery of white collar crimes can be much admired by the founder Edward H. Sutherland. Edward H. Sutherland discovered the concept of what is no...