unit 1 ac 1.1-1.6

AC 1.1

White collar crime

White collar crimes are crimes that are committed by people who are in a position of power or authority. The typical offenders are professionals with power or authority, and the typical victims are consumers, taxpayers, the government, employees, and the government.

Public awareness is relatively low compared to street crimes, there is very limited media coverage, the cases are often too complex and hard to detect and criminals with higher status are less likely to be suspected.

White collar crime is both deviant and criminal because there are different forms of white collar crime which can all vary in severity.

Criminal Offences

The criminal offences cover a wide range of offences that are take out by businesses and professionals, these include defrauding customers, tax evasion, breaking health and safety laws, polluting the environment and illegally discriminating against their employees. The term ‘White Collar crime’ was associated with Edwin Sutherland who was an American criminologist. He challenged society’s perception of crime that it was an activity associated with working class people. He believed that this behaviour could be shown by those of a higher social standing as well.

Moral Crimes

Moral crimes are acts that go against societies norms or moral code (its accepted and valued rules of behaviour). The typical offenders are varied according to the crime. It may be a source of income whilst others may be forced into it through personal circumstances. These crimes are mostly victimless (committed against consenting adults)

There is a small amount of public awareness, this is because typically the victim and the offender want to conceal the offence and there is little reporting of the offences.

these are both criminal and deviant. However, there may be disagreement about whether some of the acts should be illegal or a matter of personal choice.

Criminal Offences

Examples include prostitution, selling or possessing illegal drugs, begging, vagrancy. Often these involve supplying goods or services to another person for example, drugs and prostitution. These are thought as victimless especially when they are committed against other consenting adults.

Some groups (utilitarianists) believe that these activities should be decriminalised while others (natural lawyers) would argue that there is no such thing as a victimless crime because of the impact that they have on society.

State Crime

State crimes are illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by state agencies including crime by other individuals or groups when carried out with the backing of the state. Typical offenders are mostly people who are in a position of power (state officials, politicians, civil servants, police officers, and security forces). Typical victims are people of the specific state that is in question, or people of the state that has been subject to aggression or occupation of a foreign state. They are often people of a religious or an ethnic minority.

The scale of state crime in some countries can be huge and therefore the public are likely to be aware if there is sufficient media coverage. States…