NCJ Number
94338
Date Published
1984
Length
4 pages
Annotation
White-collar crime in West Germany can best be prevented by limiting opportunity through victim education, increasing the energy required to commit a white-collar crime, legislation, increasing the risk of apprehension, and reducing profitability.
Abstract
White-collar crime can be made more difficult by educating potential victims in how to avoid being victimized. An increase in security measures requiring more energy to defeat them and providing an increased risk of apprehension can be effective in preventing white-collar crime. The streamlining of legislation and regulations can curb business abuses such as bankruptcy fraud and fraud in the construction industry. Since most white-collar offenders commit rational, calculated crimes, accelerating that rate at which suspects are charged and sentenced could deter crime. Better education of the public also could produce increased reporting of white-collar crime. Denying the criminal any material gain from the crime could have a deterrent effect. More use should be made of the remedies offered in existing legislation for compensating victims from the illicit gains of white-collar offenders.