White Collar Crimes – Charges and Penalties
White collar crime is a unique type of crime that is considered different in many ways from the more traditional, usually violent, blue collar crime. The term was coined by Professor Edwin Hardin Sutherland in 1939 to describe crimes committed by professionals in the workplace. “White collar” refers to the white collared shirts typically worn by individuals in administrative, business, and managerial positions. These crimes are usually non-violent and often involve an abuse of power to steal money for personal gain.
types of crimes
These business related crimes come in many forms. Anyone who obtains money through illegal fraud or other illegal means is guilty of committing a white collar crime. Entrepreneurs create schemes to “take the top off” a pool of assets or may steal large amounts of money from investors or companies to finance a lavish lifestyle. Some of the common schemes that are classified as white collar crimes include:
- Bribery
- Computer Hacking or Internet Crime
- Credit card theft or identity theft
- Embezzlement
- Extortion
- Falsification
- Health care, investment, mortgage or securities fraud
- Use of privileged information
- Money laundering
Beliefs and Sanctions
Many critics point out that there is a wide disparity between convictions and sentences for white-collar crime suspects versus blue-collar crime suspects. They claim that because the crimes are typically non-violent and involve people of a higher class, convicts receive shorter sentences and more pleasant prison accommodations than their blue-collar counterparts. While this may be true for smaller cases, major criminals involved in fraud, Ponzi schemes, and other business-related fraud have been aggressively prosecuted recently. Some have received life sentences in prison, along with huge court-ordered fines and restitution payments.
While the charge depends on the size of the illegal operation and the degree of involvement of each individual, committing a white collar crime generally results in a felony charge. This may seem exaggerated since no one is physically hurt, but these types of crimes can cause considerable financial damage to hundreds or even thousands of people. Very large cases may even have an impact on the regional or national economy to some degree.