White Collar Crime: Theories, Definitions, and Examples, Exams of Nursing

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WCC Exam 1|99 Questions with Verified Answers

Lombroso - CORRECT ANSWER referred to born criminals and atavists which just happened to share traits with certain ethnic minorities (darwinism meets racism) Shaw and McKay - CORRECT ANSWER found that lower class neighborhoods, not the "type" of people living there were criminogenic Ross (1907) Sins and Society - CORRECT ANSWER switched the focus to businessmen who committed harmful acts under the cloak of responsibility noted that they were society's most dangerous foe, far more dangerous than the plain criminal Edwin Sutherland - CORRECT ANSWER defined white collar crime as: "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation" Sutherland - CORRECT ANSWER who agreed with ross that white collar offenders were the real threat to society Sutherland (and many others) - CORRECT ANSWER who argues that many "offenses" committed by white collar criminals are treated as civil or regulatory matters and the criminality of their conduct is obscured by these special procedures which are unjustified, shield perpetrators fro the stigma of criminality and are the result of discriminatory lawmaking conceptual ambiguity - CORRECT ANSWER white collar crime was defined in vaguely and loosely defined terms empirical ambiguity - CORRECT ANSWER underestimates the influence of poverty on other forms of crimes or so say critics, by focusing on the offender's status and the location of the crime rather than the offense itself the concept does not accurately reflect the behaviors that needs to be addressed

methodological ambiguity - CORRECT ANSWER defines white collar as offenses committed by the upper class but his research focused on all sorts of offenses including workplace theft, fraud by mechanics, deception by shoe salesman, and crimes by corporations Legal Ambiguity - CORRECT ANSWER the concept is too sociological at the expense of the legal definitions of white collar offending. white collar crime should be narrowly defined to include certain behaviors Policy Ambiguity - CORRECT ANSWER vagueness of the definition coupled with its purely academic focus creates a disconnect between those developing policies and procedures to respond to white-collar crime and those studying white collar crime Clinard and Quinney (1973) - CORRECT ANSWER attempted to bring more precise to the definition, bifurcated the concept to include corporate crime and occupational crime corporate crime - CORRECT ANSWER illegal behaviors committed by employees of the corporation to benefit the corporate or business occupational crime - CORRECT ANSWER any act punishable by law that is committed through opportunity created in the course of an occupation that is legitimate organizational deviance - CORRECT ANSWER actions which are contrary to norms maintained by others outside the corporation but supported by the internal operating norms of the organization Herbert Edelhertz - CORRECT ANSWER "white collar crime is democratic and can be committed by a bank clerk or the head of the institution" Thought Sutherland's definition was too restrictive, proposed the following: an illegal act or series of acts committed by a nonphysical means and by concealment or guile, to obtain money or property, to avoid payment or loss of money or property or to obtain business or person advantage

4 subdivisions of white collar crime (Edelhertz) - CORRECT ANSWER 1. crimes by persons operating on an individual, ad hoc basis, for personal gain in a non business context

2. crimes in the course of their occupation by those operating inside business, government, or other professional capacity in violation of their duty of loyalty and fidelity to their employer or clients
3. crimes incidental to and in furtherance of business operations, but not the central purpose of such business operations.
4. white-collar crime as a business or central activity of the business Harold Pepinsky - CORRECT ANSWER Believed Sutherland's definition was not broad enough and thought that social injury and exploitation should be used as touchstones in defining WCC WCC should be defined as any act which cases social injury and is accomplished through exploitation All property should be held in common and denying someone the use of property you weren't using was a form of exploitation Yale Law School Project (1982-1991) - CORRECT ANSWER Settled on 8 federal offenses that they believed represented the range of white collar crime (securities fraud, antitrust violations, bribery, tax offenses, bank embezzlement, postal and wire fraud, false claims and statements, and credit and lending institution fraud) Findings of Yale law school project - CORRECT ANSWER most of defendants were middle class not elites female offenders were characterized by occupational marginality offenders were unemployed at the time of the crime white collar offenders were sentenced more harshly than street offenders Elite deviance - CORRECT ANSWER harmful acts committed by persons from the highest strata of society. some of the acts are crimes, so elite deviance may be criminal or noncriminal C. Wright Mills - CORRECT ANSWER a small group of wealthy and power individuals "the power elite" controls America's dominant institutions and include:

1. The highest political leaders, including the president and a few key cabinet members and advisors
2. major corporate owners and directors
3. the highest ranking military officers Simon's expansion of Mills 1990s - CORRECT ANSWER elite deviance is the deviant behavior of societal elites that makes them negative role models who encourage distrust, cynicism, and alienation among non-elites acts of elite deviance take place in part because of the way corporate, political, and military intelligence institutions are structured bureaucratic organizations are structured in ways that regularize crime and deviance because they are goal-oriented, amoral entities which exist to maximize profits and/or expand their power encourages and ends over means mentality organizational crime - CORRECT ANSWER illegal acts of omission or commission of an individual or group of individuals in a formal organization in accordance with the operative goal of the organization which have serious physical or economic impacts on employees, consumers, or the public workplace deviance - CORRECT ANSWER broader of white collar corm and includes all acts that violate the norms and standards of the workplace regardless of whether they are illegal or not. 3 factors that typically distinguish most WCC definitions - CORRECT ANSWER Crime is committed during the course of the defendant's job The defendant's occupational role plays a central feature in the perpetration of the crime The defendant's occupation is viewed as legitimate by society studying white collar crime from a scientific perspective requires - CORRECT ANSWER objectivity parsimony determinism skepticism relativism

white collar criminals are more likely to be: - CORRECT ANSWER college educated white males older have a job commit fewer offenses start their criminal career later jewish micro level theories - CORRECT ANSWER focus on individuals (mental illness causes crime) macro level theories - CORRECT ANSWER focus on structural or societal causes (e.g. racism causes crime) James Coleman (1987) - CORRECT ANSWER -Focused on the confluence of appropriate motivation and opportunity -Capitalism promotes a culture of competition -Motivation for white-collar crime is associated with the social structure of industrial capitalism and the culture of competition it has given rise to motive - CORRECT ANSWER set of symbolic constructs, defining certain kinds of goals and activities as appropriate and desirable and others as lacking those qualities 4 components of opportunity - CORRECT ANSWER -Actor's perception how great a gain they might expect to reap -Actor's perception of potential risks, like probability of getting caught and severity of likely sanctions -compatibility of the opportunity with the ideas, rationalizations, and beliefs of the actor -evaluation of the illicit opportunity in comparison with other opportunities the actor is aware of Hirschi and Gottfredson's critique - CORRECT ANSWER white collar crime is pretty rare, you would expect it to be a lot more common if it was really caused by culture

Rational Choice Theory - CORRECT ANSWER -Reject positivist notions of causality (e.g. people commit crimes because of biological, psychological, or environmental factors acting on the person, pushing them to commit crimes) -people have agency to act (i.e. they have free will) -criminal acts are the product of voluntary choice, which means that people make decisions about whether to commit crimes or not -people make this determination based upon perceived costs and benefits Shover and Hochstetler (2006) - CORRECT ANSWER -choice has supplanted deterministic explanations for crime and they embrace this because according to them: choice not deterministic explanations, crime is the product of at least somewhat rational decision-making -many if not most WC criminals are economically privileged and are well-placed within the hierarchy of respectability Lure - CORRECT ANSWER refers to a thing or situation that is attractive or desirable, in the sense that it can be taken or used to one's advantage. attracts potential criminals. new sources of lure - CORRECT ANSWER -increasing state largesse -a revolution in financial services -evolving technology and globalization Oversight - CORRECT ANSWER effective government regulators, co-workers who are likely to inform authorities, electronic forms of surveillance, well-known and harsh punishments regularly inflicted upon transgressors the predisposed - CORRECT ANSWER organizations that are predisposed to exploit criminal opportunities are distinguished by structural, cultural, or procedural characteristics that increase the odds that their personnel will recognize and exploit lure the tempted - CORRECT ANSWER tempted individuals possess qualities or experiences that make them more likely than their peers to consider exploitation of lure

what makes people tempted - CORRECT ANSWER -generative worlds from which middle and upper class individuals come -middle class upbringing produced a sense of entitlement -middle class culture is characterized by competition, which breeds cheating, a need to win at all costs, and a pervasive sense of insecurity arrogance - CORRECT ANSWER comes from privilege (material security and respectability) which creates a sense among potential offenders that the rules do not apply to me or at least not this time what could stop individuals and organizations from succumbing to lure - CORRECT ANSWER self restraint and private forms of oversight public oversight - CORRECT ANSWER potentially the most effective but often falls short due to variability across time, type of offense, and type of industry rational choice in a nutshell - CORRECT ANSWER -sees people as rational calculators (pleasure maximizers and pain minimizers) -WC criminals act because they think the crime is worth it, it will bring them more pleasure than pain so they do it -rational choice is related to deterrence theory Deterrence Theory - CORRECT ANSWER -assumes punishment can stop crime so long as it is swift, certain, and severe -punishment should be no more severe than necessary to stop crime - in other words severe enough to shift the rational calculus such that the crime won't be worth it white collar crime and deterrence - CORRECT ANSWER -WC crimes often seem calculated and committed by people exercising rational judgment (rather than just resting to a volatile situation) -WC criminals also generally have a lot more to lose though criminal sanctions (relative deprivation) -thus WC criminals should be highly deterrable -Critique: some research suggests recidivism among corporations is more a function of industry type than sanction severity

Modern rational choice - CORRECT ANSWER -offenders will weigh the benefits of offending against perceived possible negative consequences associated with offending before deciding to offend -some research suggests that a desire for control increases the likelihood that a person will offend: some posit that white collar crime is committed to gain control over uncertain or irrational environments strain theory - CORRECT ANSWER -developed to explain higher rates of offending among lower classes conformists - CORRECT ANSWER accept both goal of economic success and the proscribed means, hard work, education, they are non-criminal innovators - CORRECT ANSWER -accept the goal of economic success but their access to legitimate means is blocked so they innovate, some of these innovations may be illegal ritualist - CORRECT ANSWER rejects the goal but adhere rigorously to the means - book argues that companies that repeatedly break the rules and just pay the fines as a cost of doing business retreatists - CORRECT ANSWER accept neither the goals or the means - traditionally drug using drop outs - in white collar context might be someone who shows up to work but doesn't do any work or shows up under the influence and finds a place to sleep rebels - CORRECT ANSWER reject both goals and means and replace them with their own goals and means - a communist revolutionary or collective embezzlement where workers deliberately make the corporation fail so they can get a government bailout or receive government insurance Institutional anomie - CORRECT ANSWER -argues that financial success is primary goal in our society and that our institutions of social control which used to socialize people into using the right means have become weakened (increasing subordination to the economic system) -these institutions (schools, churches, etc.) are no longer socializing people to use the right means as rigorously as they need to be

values central to the American dream - CORRECT ANSWER -achievement -universalism -individualism -materialism general strain theory (Robert Agnew) - CORRECT ANSWER -Sources of strain: failure to achieve positively valued goal, removal of positively valued stimuli, confronting negative stimuli -strain that leads to a negative affective state like anger or fear leads to crime (anger or fear is the mediator/catalyst): high status securities violator may commit crimes because they fear losing their status as top seller Sutherland's differential association - CORRECT ANSWER -argues that his theory applies to all kinds of crime including white-collar crime -all behavior, including criminal behavior, is learned (people learn how to act, behavior is not inborn or otherwise pre-destined) differential association suggests: - CORRECT ANSWER -criminal learning occurs in interaction with other persons in a process of communication -learning takes place primarily in intimate personal groups and includes not only the techniques of committing crime but the motives, rationalizations, and attitudes which accompany crime. -differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity, and a person becomes deviant because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of law -the learning process involves the same mechanisms whether a person is learning criminality or conformity neutralization theory - CORRECT ANSWER developed by Sykes and Matza to explain how people drift in and out of criminality five major techniques of neutralization - CORRECT ANSWER -denial of responsibility -denial of injury -denial of the victim -condemn the condemners

-appeal to higher loyalties 3 new techniques of neutralization - CORRECT ANSWER -defense of necessity implying an emergency caused one to commit a crime -claim of normality proclaiming that everyone else is carrying out similar behaviors -claim of entitlement insisting that one is owed or deserves something key findings of Denying the Guilty Mind - CORRECT ANSWER -conceptualizes WC prosecutions as degradation ceremonies that attempt to transform the offender's status from law-abiding citizen to felon and posits that WC offenders attempt to defeat this status change through accounts that affirm their essentially non- criminal nature -white collar criminals consistently denied they had guilty intent (lacked mens Rea) findings of Revisiting the Guilty Mind - CORRECT ANSWER -contrary to expectations, few significant differences were found between white collar and non white collar offending groups with respect to the use of these neutralization techniques -no statistically significant associations between offender type and expressing any of the four neutralizations complete denial - CORRECT ANSWER -when asked directly about their offending, 21% of the WC offenders denied any involvement in the wrongdoing that led to their imprisonment conclusion of Guilty Mind pt. 1 - CORRECT ANSWER -inmates sentences for white- collar crimes and those sentenced for more traditional offenses exhibit remarkable similarity in using neutralizing behaviors -both groups were most likely to use denial of victim/injury or denial of responsibility or criminal intent in accounting for crimes at approximately equal levels (low 30- low 40 percent) conclusion of Guilty Mind pt. 2 - CORRECT ANSWER -in contrast, both groups of inmates were far less likely to condemn their condemners or appeal to higher loyalties in accounting for, excusing, or justifying their crimes (<5%)

-past research found white-collar offenders often cited their involvement in crime as being necessary or for the good of others or a company -white collar offenders may not be as different (or may be becoming less different) from other types of offenders with respect to neutralizing as previously thought/found conclusion of Guilty Mind pt. 3 - CORRECT ANSWER -white collar inmates were significantly less likely to express guilt over their offense, believe that they deserve a prison sentence, or accept being labeled a criminal -findings suggest that white-collar offenders differ from non white collar offenders mainly in regard to how they view themselves as opposed to how they view their offenses social bond/social control theory - CORRECT ANSWER -asks why not? -bond to society made up of attachment to significant others, especially family, commitment to social norms and institutions (school, employment), involvement in conventional vs deviant or criminal activities and belief in society's laws, values, and goals -stakes in conformity: investment in conventionality threatened by crime -WC offenses are normally committed by middle class or wealthy people, they have lots of stakes in conformity, suggests this should inhibit criminality, why doesn't it for these offenders? Toward a Control Theory of White-Collar Offending, James Lasley - CORRECT ANSWER examined 435 executives employed by a multinational auto manufacturers found that executives with stronger attachment to their corp, commitment to corp lines of action, involvement in corp activities, and believe in organizational rules were less likely to commit WC offenses. general theory of crime - Gottfredson and Hirschi - CORRECT ANSWER -the absence of self control, combined with opportunity, is adequate to explain all crime and other forms of deviance at all times and in all places -people with low self control are impulsive, risk seeking, short sighted, physical, insensitive to others, and short sighted, desiring immediate gratification -low self control is caused by poor parenting that fails to monitor children, recognize bad behavior, and correct bad behavior

-white collar crime provides relatively quick, relatively certain benefits with minimum effort Critiques of general theory of crime - CORRECT ANSWER -high functioning, often skilled at delaying gratification -circular reasoning: seem to argue that if you commit crime that proves you have low self control Routine Activities Theory - CORRECT ANSWER -when a motivated offender and an attractive victim collide in time and space in the absence of a capable guardian, crime will occur -recognizes the importance of opportunity to committing crime Women and routine activities - CORRECT ANSWER -number of theorists have posited that the reason why so few women are white collar criminals is not because they are morally or ethically superior or more risk adverse but rather they have less opportunity -discrimination in the workplace which has limited women's legitimate opportunities have also limited their illegitimate opportunities -as women achieve equality in work world so will their workplace crimes: analogous to Freda Adler's liberation hypothesis integrated approaches - CORRECT ANSWER -bring together multiple perspectives in an effort to explain crime -hope to increase explanatory power of theory -human behavior multidimensional and variable Cressey's explanation of embezzlement - CORRECT ANSWER -an unsharable financial problem (strain theory) -embezzlement is defined as a means of fixing the problem (cultural theory, values that suggest stealing is ok) -offender has the skills to commit crime (learning theory) -offender is in a position to commit crime (opportunity theory) -neutralizations give the offender the mental strength to commit the crime (neutralization theory)

Cressey's embezzlement work - CORRECT ANSWER -hypothesizes that if the "adjustive" rationalizations were nonexistent in one's environment or if they had not been exposed to such socially accepted justifications regarding this type of illegal behavior, the "trust violator" may have proceeded differently when attempting to resolve their "non-shareable" financial predicament -neutralization or rationalizations are casual and the product of learning which occurs in a social context -each trusted person does not invent a new rationalization for his violation of trust, but instead applies to his own situation a verbalization which has been made available to him by virtue of his having come into contact with a culture in which such verbalizations are present -they are not just made up, they are leaned and internalized then acted upon Coleman - CORRECT ANSWER -deviant subcultures need not be confined to a single employer or even a single profession. the business culture that is shared to one degree or another by most business people not only provides incentives for illicit activities but also contains justifications that can be used to neutralize ethical restraints -inconsistent with work that suggest rationalization/neutralizations are industry specific Systems theory - CORRECT ANSWER explains interconnections between societal systems and the ways various systems influence white collar crime, not individual level explanation conflict theory - CORRECT ANSWER -marxist most common (class-based) -reiman's analysis is similar to Quinney's propositions discussed in the text book which basically says that the criminal law is the product of the elites and targets acts of lower classes while shielding the acts of the upper class Callahan's argument in a nutshell - CORRECT ANSWER -Contention: American are cheating more and feeling less guilty about it -why? economic upheavals of the 1970s (inflation, currency instability, etc.) mobilized the business community to get leaner and meaner and to begin a far reaching assault on government regulation and labor unions. -rise of Reaganism, "government is the problem not the solution." deregulation is inherently good

-basically blames the conservatives and the sanctification of the free market making it the primary driver of society market era - CORRECT ANSWER -america's laissez-faire revolution has caused money and the bottom line to be the focus of nearly all areas of American life -income inequality has soared weakening the social fabric: ideas about fairness have been replaced by single minded focus of the winning class on accruing benefits of globalization and technological change for themselves Callahan's fix - CORRECT ANSWER -new social contract that gives people faith that anyone who plays by the rules can get ahead, everyone has some say in how the rules are made, everyone who breaks the rules suffers the same penalties and all of us are in the same boat living in the same moral community and striving to build a society that confers respect on people based on a wide variety of accomplishments -tame the free market -advocates for big spending liberal policies to get there limits of rationality - CORRECT ANSWER some criminologists have argued that rational choice theory which emphasizes wealth maximization as the casual paradigm, fails to give due weight to extent to which white collar criminals have their rationality compromised by errors in judgement, biases, and misperceptions Campana (2016) - CORRECT ANSWER -suggest that managerial hubris, self deception (magical thinking), emotions, and endowment effect can all have decisive impact on a white collar criminal decision to offend and interfere with purely rational wealth maximizing decision making -the endowment effect is the tendency for individuals to demand much more to give up an object than they would be willing to pay to acquire it. Who first coined the term "White-Collar Crime?" - CORRECT ANSWER Edwin Sutherland On whom was the original definition focused? - CORRECT ANSWER Immoralities of powerful, privileged, and wealthy

Why is WCC often less visible than conventional or street crime? - CORRECT ANSWER It is more difficult to estimate, there is a lack of official data, not recognized as a big threat In what ways are white-collar crimes costs to society? - CORRECT ANSWER Direct financial costs (FBI estimates about 500 billion annually compared to about 16 billion for personal property crimes) Indirect financial costs - (ex. employee theft: causes retail markup of 8-16% to make up for inventory) Physical costs- stress, pollution Moral costs? Understand the differences between primary, secondary, and tertiary victims of WCC. - CORRECT ANSWER primary: directly secondary: organizations tertiary: society What kinds of factors are considered when determining criminality of WCC? - CORRECT ANSWER intent or willful negligence responsibility/liability time frame extent of losses organizations of victims suffering Of the different types of research strategies for WCC, which is the most common? What are its advantages and disadvantages? - CORRECT ANSWER What is the current status of a definition of white-collar crime? - CORRECT ANSWER What are the primary forms of information about WCC? What is the difference between informers and whistleblowers? - CORRECT ANSWER informers whistleblowers investigative journalism consumer/public interest groups politicians and political institution

department of justice informers - CORRECT ANSWER whistleblowers - CORRECT ANSWER What was the general subject and information gleaned from the "Who is Jack Abramoff?" video? (We may or may not get to watch this). - CORRECT ANSWER Lobbying and illegal tactics What is the National White-Collar Crime Center (NW3C)? - CORRECT ANSWER