White Collar Crimes Sociology YouTube Lecture Handouts
Get unlimited access to the best preparation resource for competitive exams : get questions, notes, tests, video lectures and more- for all subjects of your exam.
Definitions
- โWhite-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 โDeceptive 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
โ Manishika