NCJ Number
101359
Date Published
1985
Length
268 pages
Annotation
This overview text presents a typology of white-collar crimes and then discusses legislation; enforcement efforts; and social, psychological, and structural causes.
Abstract
Organizational white-collar crimes are discussed under five categories: fraud and deception, attempts to control the marketplace, violent white-collar crimes such as corporate irresponsibility with toxic chemicals, bribery and corruption, and violation of civil liberties. A survey of occupational crimes addresses employee theft; embezzlement and computer crime; bribery; tax evasion; power brokering; conflict of interest; and crimes in the legal, financial, and medical professions. The book examines laws that define white-collar crimes and social forces that led to their enactment, as well as the effectiveness of professional self-regulation, government regulation, and the justice system in enforcing their rules and laws. A review of etiological theories concludes that white-collar crime is caused by the coincidence of motivation, opportunity, and neutralization of ethnical restraints that inhibit criminal behavior. Case studies, footnotes, and index.