white-collar crime
a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of their occupation
Clinard and Quinney: 2 types of white collar crime
occupational crime: committed by indus in the course of their occupation for personal gain
corporate/organized crime: committed by corporations to benefit the corporation
Pilferage
type of employee theft that involves stealing of merchandize or tools
reason for pilfering
employee's dissatisfaction with pay, working conditions, and treatment by supervisors/company
workplace culture- less important property is up for grabs
embezzlement
theft of cash/misuse of funds
collective embezzlement
the stealing of company funds by top management.
health care professional fraud
1. exaggerating charges
2. billing for services not provided for a real patient
3. billing for services for fictional patients
4. sending patients to other doctors unnecessarily
5. family 'ganging"
6. "churning"- asking patients to come in necessarily
7.
insider trading
someone with special knowledge of a company's economic fortunes buys or sells stock before this info is shared to the public
police and political corruption
accept bribes and occasionally engage in extortion or blackmail
2 forms of corporate/organized crime
1. financial
2.violent
corporate financial crime
fraud, cheating, and bribery performed for the CORPORATION'S benefit
Enron
overestimated earnings and hid losses, totaling $1 billion.
price fixing
businesses conspire to fix prices on goods and services rather than let the free market operate-- consumers pay more than they should
restraint of trade
a company buys out all the others so it can raise the prices without worrying abut losing consumers to the competition
anticompetitive agreements
manufacturer sells its products only to retailers who promise not to sell competitors products
false advertising
making false and illegal claims
bait-and-switch advertising
store advertises low price item that isn't there/low in stock-- allows sale clerk to switch them to a more expensive product
corporate violence
actions by corporations that cause injury, illness, or death
why is it difficult ti have exact data on workplace injury?
1. hard to prove illness or death are work related
2. statistics are only gathered from corporations with at least 11 employees
3. hide workplace injury and illnesses
automobile industry
complexity of motor vehicles means that some defects are inevitable but there have been many cases in which manufactures knew about safety defects but didn't do anything to save money.
Ford
-put Ford Pinto on the market even though Ford knew its gas tank could easily explode in minor rear-end collisions.
-faulty automatic transgression would slip from park to reverse
-blamed problems on driver's failure
pharmaceutical industry
knowingly marketing dangerous drugs
Eli Lilly and Company
put out a new arthritis drug. people began dying and they kept the deaths a secret
AH Robins Company and its intrauterine device
falsified safety tests. device's "tail-string" carried bacteria from the vagina to the uterus where it caused pelvic inflammatory disease. People still got pregnant-- 60% miscarried and those who didn't had children with severe birth defects. finally reca
the meatpacking industry
Sinclair's muck-racking novel "The Jungle"
rats would get in to meatpacking plants--> workers used poisoned bread to kill the rats--> meat sold to the public included dead rats, rat feces, and poisoned bread
the public and environmental pollution
federal environmental laws are weak/nonexistent, corporations often violate the laws that do exist, federal monitoring of these laws are lax, and penalties are minimal
air pollution
contributes to both heart disease and lung cancer
kills btw 50,00-100,000 americans each year-- 35,000 lives could be spared if corporations acted responsibly
BP gasoline
2010- an oil rig exploded in the gulf of mexico. largest oi spill in US history. BP officials may have chosen to save money by using a bad type of casing for the oil well
similarities between corporate and street crime
1. involve stealing and violence
2. don't usually break the law unless they the opportunity and motivation to do so
3. techniques of neutralization
4. men
differences between corporate and street crime
1. street crime lacks self-control
2. can't contribute corporate crime to economic deprivation
Sutherland's explanation of corporate crime
stems from differential association in which business offenders learn shared views on the desirability of their criminal conduct
explanations for corporate crime
1. greed
2. lenient treatment
3. weak/absent regulations-- corporations are powerful and are able to prevent legislation
4. difficulty in proving crime occurred
5. weak punishment
6. lack of media coverage
stereotypical white collar criminal
wealthy whites
-lack of opportunity explains when women are less involved-- they are not corporate execs and therefore don;t have the opportunity
reducing white-collar crime
1. federal and state regulatory agencies are being given larger budgets
2. media will focus more attention
3. more severe punishment
organized crime's primary source of income
illegal activities and products: drugs, prostitution, gambling
piracy
earliest organized crime
pirates roamed the seas and plundered ships
organized crime during the prohibition
-organized crime groups in different cities now had to coordinate their activities in order maximize profits.
-rival gangs fought each other to control bootlegging turf
-politicians easily accepted bribes
-prohibition fueled the rise of organized crime
organized crime after prohibition
-gambling became primary source of income
-1960s-- moved more in to illegal drug trade
alien conspiracy model
1950s
"mafia mystique"
belief that a small number of italian american "families" controlled organized crime in the US
---regarded as a myth bc it 1. disregards years of organized crime pre-italian immigration 2. overlooks involvement of other groups
controlling organized crime
1. arresting the "bosses"
2. must reduce public demand to illicit its goods and services
3. provide alternate economic opportunity for the young people that become involved in it each year