UNITED STATES V. CIANCI

White Collar Crime: United States vs. Cianci

White Collar Crime: United States vs. Cianci

The Meaning of White Collar Crime

The major significance of white-collar crime as a category in sociological analysis has been the perception that white-collar criminals tend to be middle- and upper-middle-class and that because of a class bias in the criminal justice system, their crimes are generally viewed as less serious and less deserving of punishment. The concept of white-collar crime has figured prominently in the study of both social stratification and deviance.

Concept and Beginning

A concept first introduced by the sociologist Edwin Sutherland, white-collar crime describes the concept of criminal acts that arise from opportunities created by a person's social position, especially occupation. Embezzlement, for example, can be committed only by employees such as bank officers and accountants, and it is therefore a white-collar crime. Other examples include expense account padding, corporate price-fixing, tax fraud, violation of employee safety regulations, illegal discrimination, false advertising, stealing copyrighted ideas from other companies, the use of insider information in stock market trading, and unfair labor practices.

Discussion and analysis

There are many reasons for our two-tier criminal justice system. For one thing, in most cases, corporate criminals tend to look a lot like those who are prosecuting them, sentencing them, and making the laws that deal with them. Street criminals do not. White-collar defendants can also usually afford better lawyers and lobbyists. At every stage of criminal law development and enforcement, white-collar criminals benefit over their blue-collar counterparts. Corporate crime does not usually enter the public's consciousness, because the media focus their attention on street crime. It is far less time-consuming for a reporter to simply check the daily police blotter than it is to pore through the complexities of business transactions to understand white-collar misdeeds. White-collar criminals also invest significant sums in lawyers and media spin doctors to minimize their bad press. Street criminals generally do not avail themselves of these tools.

The Case Analysis

United States vs. Cianci

District court entered judgments of acquittal on eight charges, but the rest remain with the jury. Between April 23 and June 24, 2002, three were convicted together in an indictment that ascribed them and other ones from the forty-six violations of government regulations prohibiting corruption. Vincent A. Cianci was head of Providence, Rhode Island, Frank E. Corrente was the controller of municipal management, and Richard E. Autiello was a constituent of the Providence City Towing Association, personal organizations. The three defendants were discovered at fault of one ascribe by conspiring to violate RICO (Racketeer leveraged and Corrupt Organizations) statute. June 24, 2002 the jury rendered a total of eight convictions, but was acquitted on charges of the residual thirty, 1963 (a) (1), and punished the defendants to jail periods of sixty-four months (Cianci), sixty-three months (Corrente), forty-six months (Autiello) the District court subsequently punished to one enumerate of racketeering conspiracy, who was convicted Corrente, organized the seizure of $ 250,000 in crusade finance controlled by Cianci and Corrente under the forfeiture provisions of ...