white collar crime revision notes

The term white-collar crime refers to financially motivated, non-violent crimes. Reportedly coined in 1939, white-collar crime is now synonymous with a full range of frauds committed by businesses and government professionals.

Edwin Sutherland, an American sociologist, printed white-collar crime as "crimes committed by peoples of honourableness and high position inside the course of their occupations".

White-collar crimes are separated into two types of crime:

corporate - White collar corporate crimes are crimes committed by individuals on behalf of their organization, or by an organization itself. Corporate crimes are perpetrated in order of financial gain towards the business - for example: in the 1970s, the Ford Motor company rushed the pinto into production creating a poorly designed car with an exposed vulnerable gas tank, the car had no rear bumper to cushion the car in crashes. The pinto's gas tank suffered severe damage when involved in a crash due to these misconceptions which lead the tank…