Corporate criminals constructing white-collar crime: or why there is no corporate crime on the USA Network’s White Collar series

1990 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kitty Calavita ◽  
Henry N. Pontell

This study examines fraud in the savings and loan industry as a case study of white-collar crime. Drawing from extensive government reports, Congressional hearings, and media accounts, the study categorizes three types of savings and loan crime and traces them to the competitive pressures unleashed by deregulation in the early 1980s, within the context of a federally protected, insured industry. In addition, the study delineates the limitations of the enforcement process, focusing on the ideological, political, and structural forces constraining regulators. Although savings and loan crime is in many respects similar to corporate crime in the manufacturing sector, a relatively new form of white-collar crime, referred to as “collective embezzlement,” permeates the thrift industry. The study links the proliferation of collective embezzlement and other forms of thrift crime, as well as the structural dilemmas that constrain the enforcement process, to the distinctive qualities of finance capitalism.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 145
Author(s):  
Mohammad Arief Amrullah ◽  
Revency Vania Rugebregt

Narcotics crimes that are part of organized crime are essentially one of crimes against development and crimes against social welfare that are central to national and international concerns and concerns. It is very reasonable, given the scope and dimensions so vast, that its activities contain features as organized crime, white-collar crime, corporate crime, and transnational crime. In fact, by means of technology can be one form of cyber crime. Based on such characteristics, the impacts and casualties are also very wide for the development and welfare of the community. It can even weaken national resilience.


Author(s):  
Eugene Schofield-Georgeson

This study investigates the use of coercive investigation powers in the context of corporate crime, based on a series of interviews with former Australian Securities and Investments Commission (‘ASIC’) enforcement officials and corporate lawyers. It argues that ASIC’s powers are well equipped to investigate corporate crime, but that ASIC rarely exercises these powers. In this respect, the article draws similar conclusions to the recent Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, but delves further, revealing how coercive powers are used and why they are seldom exercised in corporate criminal investigations. In accounting for this institutional failure, this study implicates a neoliberal agenda of deregulation and austerity that has permitted the regulator to be ‘captured’ by wealthy and powerful regulatees. The analysis is informed by a critical regulation approach to corporate crime that explains corporate or ‘white-collar’ crime and its enforcement through a sociological lens: as a result of unequal social relationships, primarily that of social class, that create disparities in legal and political power.


Author(s):  
Wim Huisman

Corporate and white-collar crimes are crimes committed by managers or other professionals acting in an occupational or business-related context. These crimes are generally viewed as outcomes of rational decision making rather than opportunistic or impulsive behavior. This chapter addresses offender decision making in corporate and white-collar crimes. It builds from, as well as critically reflects on, the rationality paradigm of white-collar decision making. It discusses sociodemographic and psychological characteristics of the managers who commit these crimes and the organizational structures and corporate cultures of the firms that are involved. The chapter also describes the situations in which these crimes are committed, and it reviews research on the perception and evaluation of choice in white-collar and corporate crime settings. The chapter discusses implications of research on white-collar decision making for prevention and intervention of white-collar and corporate crime.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Pusch ◽  
Kristy Holtfreter

Studying white-collar crime presents challenges due to definitional disputes, variation in units of analysis, lack of data, and the use of proxy measures. This study employed multilevel meta-analytic methods to shed light on these issues. A total of 602 effect sizes using occupational or corporate crime as the dependent variable were included ( N = 54,205 individuals and 6,425 corporations), with predictor domains reflecting individual and organizational characteristics. Deterrence and positive personal traits showed the largest significant bivariate and multivariate effect sizes, respectively. Moderator analyses suggest that effects are largely stable regardless of whether the dependent variable reflects behavioral intentions or actual behavior, or cross-sectional or longitudinal designs are used.


Author(s):  
Mary Dodge

Women appear as white-collar offenders with far less frequency than do men, despite a contemporary workplace that offers more opportunities for female crime. High-level corporate positions for women that are conducive to elite deviance, however, remain relatively rare. Research on whether women are committing more white-collar crimes is inconclusive. On the victimization side of the equation, evidence is less equivocal. Both women and men are victimized by white-collar crime, but the nature of victimization is gendered. For some types of fraud, particularly reproductive medicine, women are more likely to be targets for illegal or unethical behavior. Occupational segregation increases the relative victimization risks for men and women in unique ways. This essay provides an in-depth exploration of female offending and victimization in occupational and corporate crime.


Author(s):  
Michael Levi ◽  
Nicholas Lord

This chapter presents a succinct overview of key debates and ideas associated with theory, research, and practice in the area of white-collar and corporate crimes. First, it considers white-collar and corporate crimes in the twenty-first century, contextualizing these phenomena and reinforcing their criminological significance. Second, it revisits on-going conceptual debates, identifying central analytical features of white-collar and corporate crimes before going on to argue in favour of shifting attention towards understanding how white-collar crimes are organized and the conditions that shape this over time. Third, it reviews ways of explaining these behaviours, ranging from consideration of individual propensities and rationality through organizational context and culture to wider social conditions. Fourth, it examines current policing and regulation strategies, concluding with a discussion of key themes in white-collar crime research and scholarship.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 1213-1220
Author(s):  
Tage Alalehto

Purpose In 1988, Donald Cressey published a previously overlooked article. According to Cressey, there was a lack in the agenda of corporate crime research concerning theory and conceptual precision of what exactly the scientific object was and how it could reinforce the understanding of white-collar criminality. Cressey stated the idea that a fictitious person, such as a corporation, upon which were bestowed properties such as a will of its own (intentions and motivations) and a consciousness to act morally and ethically have a responsibility to follow the order of law, leds to a fundamental theoretical problem in terms of discovering the causes of crimes committed by such a fictitious person. I follow this line of thought about the arguments made by representatives of corporate crime. Specifically, I follow the concept of “decoupling,” by using various techniques of formal logic. The conclusion is that the concept of corporate crime is a logical contradiction (an eternal false statement), but the research has one analytical point which must be incorporated into the research of white-collar criminality: how structural conditions of a corporation’s policy and strategy “produce” or influence the individuals within the corporation to make decisions. The aim of the paper is to prove on logical grounds that the direction of research on corporate crime is on the wrong track to find the truth (basic elements and mechanisms) about white-collar crime. Design/methodology/approach Using formal logic, specifically modal logic. Findings The concept “corporate crime” is a logical contradiction. Research limitations/implications Concerning the conclusion, the implications has to be that corporate crime is a misleading concept in the research agenda of white-collar crime. Practical implications The authors have to reconsider the whole research field of corporate crime research. Originality/value To best of my knowledge, no one has before done a critic of corporate crime concept by formal logic.


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