How did the term white collar crime originate?
A criminologist by the name of E.H. Sutherland coined the term in 1940, and it quickly caught on with the public.
What are the categories of white collar crime?
My experiences have led me to categorize the activities into the following:
- Personal or ad hoc crimes – Offender has no face to face contact with the victim, e.g., income tax violations, credit card fraud, fraud against government programs, etc.
- Abuses of trust – Offender is in a position of trust or power over assets and violates the trust, e.g., embezzlement, creating ghosts on the payroll, using one’s employer’s property or information for private profit, etc.
- The con man and the con game – A business, venture or service that victimizes another vulnerable individual.
- White collar organized criminals – This is an extremely troublesome problem in our society. Organized crime is defined as when two or more individuals get together to commit a criminal activity that offers them the maximum profit with the least amount of detection.
- White collar organized community – This is a community that operates like a corporation composed of white collar organized criminals. Broad webs of bribery and intimidation have been spinning for generations which have altered the social and moral values of these communities. “Heavy-hitting” is the code for resolving problems. These communities are more rare than they are common.
Is white collar organized crime the same as the mafia?
No, white collar organized criminals have their own set of behavioral characteristics that differ from the mafia.
How are the two groups different? How are they similar?
There are many ways that they are different, but the most profoundly different characteristic is the way the two groups manage the concept of “good.” The white collar folks want to destroy “good.” The mafia, in many cases, displays a code by which purity and goodness is honored. I have personally experienced the difference.
They are similar in that they control by fear, bribes and influence.
What are the specific challenges to exposing white collar organized crime?
These folks are very slippery characters who are expert at pathological lying and cover-up activities. They work extremely hard to remain in the gray areas of the law. They pride themselves in being smooth manipulators.
“The strongest of all warriors are these two — time and patience.” – Tolstoi