Street Crime V. White Collar Crime

10 Pages 2526 Words

Does Street Crime Pose More of a Threat to the
Public’s Well-Being Than White Collar Crime?

Computer Crimes versus Robbery

Computer crime is a relatively new phenomenon with its conception being in the last half of the twentieth century. A computer crime is “any offense where the modus operandi or signature involves the use of a computer network in any way” (Casey, 2003, p259). The latter is a broad definition including many offenses such as social security fraud, embezzlement, piracy, and many more. Robbery, on the other hand, has been around much longer and more people are familiar with it. The Bureau of Justice Statistics defines robbery as “the completed or attempted theft, directly from a person, of property or cash by force or threat of force, with or without a weapon, and with or without injury” (2002). To determine the detriment to society of either computer crime or robbery, several aspects must be taken into consideration, including the victims, offenses, laws set forth for both, deterrence, punishments, and cost. In all, after discussing the previous issues involved in computer crimes and robbery, it will be apparent that the greater detriment to society comes from computer crimes.
Victims of computer crimes are very different from victims of robberies. Computer crimes, because of the very nature of computers, have the ability to affect more people than any one robbery. Although the effects are more personal in robberies, the effects are much more widespread and serious with computer crimes. Not only do computer crimes affect people in the area they occur; their effects can be seen throughout the state, country, and sometimes even internationally. In his speech, Senator Biden stated that “if we are unable to preserve investors confidence, the markets will plunge and with them the health of our economy” (2002). From this it is apparent the severity of computer crimes and other white-collar...