WHITE COLLAR CRIME

Lecture 2: Studying White Collar Crime and Assessing Its Costs

Shared Fundamental

Characteristics And Beliefs

Many approaches, many sharedcharacteristics and beliefs:

• Assumptions about the nature of reality,human nature, the basis of morality, and thecharacter of society.

• More privileged members of society havemore influence than less privilegedmembers.

• Moral hypocrisy permeates the realm ofWCC

• Power and conflict play a role in shapinglaw and maintaining social order.

• Humans are fundamentally rational but self-interested, and are capable of making freechoices for which they can be heldaccountable.

2 Major Approaches

• Posivistic – assumes that WCC can bestudied “scientifically”

• Humanistic – believes best way to studyWCC is through interpretive observationand qualitative methods.

Challenges To Study Of Wcc

• Complexity – lack of consensus on definitions andcore concepts

• Gaining access for research – cannot appear tothreaten the corporation; use familiar terminology;provide a benefit

• Obtaining statistics – no uniform crime data

• Obtaining research support – most funding tends togo to projects exploring conventional crime

Case Study

• In-depth study of a single case.

• Goal is to provide a comprehensive exploration of aparticular case, to ultimately explain theunderlying reason the event occurred.

• Provides a concrete understanding of the dynamicsand realities of a particular case.

• Major limitation: case may be atypical.

Experiments

• Posivistic Approach

• Examines the effects, if any, of an independentvariable on a dependent variable.

• Requirements: (1) control group; (2) experimentalgroup.

Surveys

• Typically used to study opinions, attitudes, andbeliefs.

• Often difficult to obtain a representative sample.

• Often difficult to obtain a high enough responserate.

• Contribute to study of WCC by identifyingpatterns of involvement, rationalizations, andattitudes related to WCC issues.

Observational Research

• Direct observation of individuals, a group, or anorganization over a period of time.

• Limited application due to difficulty gainingaccess to criminal enterprises and social controlagencies.

• Most commonly used in studies of regulatoryagencies.

Secondary Data Analysis/Statistical

Data

• Commonly statistical information collected byvarious official agencies (e.g., Department ofHealth data, Environmental Protection Agencydata, etc.)

• Use is limited by the quality and accuracy of thedata.

• The use of statistical data is problematic becausecan be open to a variety of interpretations.

Archival Data (Written Document)

Analysis

• Large amount of records (e.g., investigative files).

• Limited by the selective nature of what is recorded and incompleteness.

• Single most credible source of information.

Content Analysis

• Systematically analyzes the representation ofsomething in the media to find underlying formsand structures in social communications.

• Easily accessible.

Cross-cultural Comparative Studies

• Compares the treatment of WCC in two or morecountries.

• Sensitizes to parallels and differences in theresponse to WCC in different countries.

Co$t$ & Consequences

Direct Costs

– Usually economic (e.g., market value, originalcost, replacement cost, etc.)

– Defined in terms of the victim’s losses.

– Direct economic losses from WCC aremeasurably greater than direct economiclosses attributable to conventional criminalbehavior.

Indirect Costs

– Costs proximately caused by WCC (e.g.,higher taxes, increased cost of goods).

Physical Costs

– Typically associated with conventional crime(e.g., injuries suffered due to an assault).

– Physical costs of WCC include death and injuryfrom polluting the environment, malnutritioncaused by fraud involving aid agencies in third-world countries, development of fatal conditions,and birth defects.

Victims Of WCC

Workers/Employees

• Hazardous/illegal conditions in the workplace

• Practices that deprive of just compensation andother labor-related rights

Consumers

• Price-fixing

• Unsafe products

• Fraudulent/unethical practices

Taxpayers

• Defense contract fraud

Governmental Entities and Organizations

• Overbilling (e.g., Medicare/Medicaid fraud)

Business Competitors/ Partners/ Shareholders/ Investors/ Pension Holders