WHITE COLLAR OFFENDER

White Collar Offender



White Collar Offender

Introduction

According to Weisburd and Waring (2001), the term “white collar crime” was by Edwin Sutherland in 1939. White collar crime varies from ordinary crimes, but there are several characteristics that are common. Some of the characteristics of white collar crimes are that they involve the use of deceit and concealment, rather than the application of force or violence. This is done to gain services, property or money in an illegitimate way. A white collar criminal can be someone who makes false statements in order to obtain a government contract. Additionally, white collar crimes constitute of abuse of power and trust. Officials who give or take bribes are considered to be white collar criminals. People in the corporate world who fix the prices of goods in order to drive out their competition are abusing the power of their position; therefore, they are considered to be white collar criminals.

Discussion

Edwin used the concept of white collar crime to challenge the conventional stereotypes and theories that exist in society. In the late 1930s, crime was typically looked at as the work of disadvantaged young men from broken homes and decaying neighborhoods. A criminal, at the time, was a tough guy who grew up on the wrong side of town. The moral of the movies or books was that the criminal was saved by the church of the community. In the case that he was not saved, he would be condemned to a sad fate, which attributed to the difficult circumstances of his upbringing. The upbringing of the criminal is shown to be full of misery; therefore, he or she becomes a criminal in the first place.

Many researchers categorize white collar and non-white collar crimes as to be discrete in clinical and theoretical aspects. According to Gottfredson and Hirschi ...