White Collar Crimes Sociology YouTube Lecture Handouts

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Definitions

  • โ€œWhite-collar crime is a crime committed by a person of respect-ability and high social status in the course of his occupation.โ€ - Sutherland
  • Edwin Sutherland used this term for the first time in 1939 โ€œDeceptive practices for financial gains.โ€

Introduction

  • Public welfare offences
  • Socio-economic crimes
  • Violation of rules and law
  • High losses

Broad Classification

  • Occupational crime โ€“ crimes committed by professionals in the course of their occupation
  • Corporate crime โ€“ crimes committed by companies or businesses, e. g. pollution, fraud, corporate manslaughter
  • Crimes of the powerful
  • Crimes of the state โ€“ Muncie and McLaughlin โ€“ war crimes, genocide, pollution, human rights violations

Types of White Collar Crimes โ€“ Sutherland

  • Selling adulterated goods
  • Manipulation in stock exchange
  • Commercial bribery
  • Bribery of public officials
  • Tax frauds
  • Illegal sale of alcohol and narcotics
  • Illegal abortions
  • Unfair labor practices
  • Illegal services to criminals
  • Trademarks and copyrights infringement
  • Exploitation of employees
  • Mislabeling of goods
  • Violation of measures statutes

Characteristics

  • Crime by people who hold status
    • Not traditional criminals
    • Methods adopted by them are:
    • Fraud, misrepresentation, adulteration, irregularity etc.
    • Deliberate and planned conspiracies
    • Such crimes are more tolerant by people of a status because they relate with them
    • Victims are usually the entire community or society for example Nirav Modi case, Ponzi Scheme
  • Hard to detect
  • Expert knowledge to identify this crime
  • Considered less serious
    • Impacts social life and not very easy to curb
    • In 1964, Government introduced the Santharam Committee on the Prevention of Corruption

Santharam Committee

White collar crimes include:

  • Smuggling
  • Profiteering
  • Violation of standards, measures, weights
  • Professional misconduct
  • Under or over invoicing
  • Violation of foreign exchange rules
  • Election malpractices
  • Misuse of position
  • Theft and frauds
  • Tax evasion, etc.

Way Ahead

According to the committee there is a need to:

  • Include administrative, legal, socio-economic and educative measures
  • Study the scope and motive of corruption
  • Check existing practices
  • Avoid delays
  • Strict enforcement of rules and laws
  • Educate citizens in regards to their rights
  • Codes of conduct to be followed religiously
  • Detailed accounts of expenditure of the company
  • Modification of taxation laws
  • Reduction of bureaucratic corruption
  • Corruption trials
  • Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947

MCQs

Q.1. What type of crime is committed by a Chartered Accountant who manipulates accounts of a business corporation?

(A) Smuggling

(B) Cyber Crime

(C) White Collar Crime

(D) Money Laundering

Answer: (C)

Q.2. The concepts associated with E. H. Sutherland are:

I. Crime is learned.

II. Born Criminal

III. White Collar Crime

IV. All of the above

Choose the correct combination using the codes given below:

(A) I and III are correct.

(B) II and III are correct.

(C) I and II are correct.

(D) IV is correct.

Answer: (A)

Q.3. Assertion (A) : It is impossible to know the extent of White Collar Crime.

Reason (R) : The extent of White Collar Crime remains unknown because White Collar Crime rarely occurs in educated population groups.

Codes:

(A) (A) is correct, but (R) is wrong.

(B) Both (A) and (R) are correct.

(C) (A) is wrong, but (R) is correct.

(D) Both (A) and (R) are wrong.

Answer: (A)

#Issues Pertaining to Deviance

#White collar crime and corruption

#UGC-NET

โœ Manishika