Understanding White Collar Crime

by Croall, Hazell

• ISBN13: 9780335204274
• ISBN10: 0335204279
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-06-01
• Publisher: Open University Press

Summary

* What is the extent and impact of white collar crime? * How can white collar crime be explained? * How is white collar crime controlled? This comprehensive overview of white collar crime begins by introducing the concept, looking at its definition, its identification with class and status, and its development within criminology. The problems of estimating the vast extent of white collar and corporate crime are explored, and some of its major forms are outlined, including fraud, corruption, employment, consumer and environmental crime. Hazel Croall looks at the kinds of offenders who are convicted for white collar offences and at patterns of victimization which involve class, gender and age. She examines the various ways in which white collar crime has been explained and analysed, including individual, organizational and social structural perspectives. The issues surrounding regulation and punishment are explored, focusing on the contrast between white collar and other crimes, and on alternative approaches to its control. This new book is a revised, updated and readily accessible replacement for the author's highly successful White Collar Crime (Open UP, 1992). It includes expanded coverage of corporate crime, and provides an essential text for undergraduate courses in criminology, sociology and law.

Author Biography

Hazel Croall is currently Senior Lecturer and Head of Division of Sociology at Strathclyde University. She teaches the sociology of crime and social control and has published a number of articles on aspects of white collar crime. She is the author of Crime and Society in Britain (1998), and a previous text on white collar crime published by Open University Press.

Table of Contents

Series editor's foreword	ix
Acknowledgements	xi
Conceptualizing white collar crime	1	(19)
White collar crime and criminology	2	(4)
What is white collar crime?	6	(2)
Are white collar crimes distinct from other crimes?	8	(3)
Varieties of white collar crime	11	(2)
Is white collar crime, crime?	13	(1)
Researching white collar crime	14	(3)
Concluding comments	17	(1)
Further reading	18	(2)
Exposing white collar crime	20	(25)
`Counting' the uncountable: quantifying white collar crime	21	(3)
Patterns of white collar crime	24	(1)
Theft at work	25	(1)
Fraud	26	(5)
Fraud in the public sector	27	(1)
Fraud in the NHS	28	(1)
`Euro frauds'	28	(1)
Tax fraud	29	(1)
Pensions `misselling'	30	(1)
Corruption	31	(3)
Corruption in local authorities	32	(1)
Public sector corruption	32	(1)
Corruption in commercial organizations	33	(1)
Employment offences	34	(2)
Occupational health and safety	35	(1)
Consumer offences	36	(3)
Car safety	37	(1)
`Cowboy' builders	37	(1)
Pricing offences	37	(1)
Marketing malpractice	38	(1)
Deceptive packaging	38	(1)
Counterfeit goods	38	(1)
Food offences	39	(1)
Food frauds	39	(1)
Food labelling offences	40	(1)
Food poisoning	40	(1)
Environmental crime	40	(2)
Waste dumping	41	(1)
Pollution	41	(1)
Concluding comments	42	(1)
Further reading	43	(2)
White collar offenders	45	(17)
Representations of the white collar offender	47	(2)
Crimes of the powerless and powerful? Social status and respectability	49	(5)
Elite offenders	50	(1)
Crimes of the middle classes	51	(1)
Crimes of white collar workers	51	(1)
The corporate offenders	52	(1)
`Petty bourgeois' and small business offenders	52	(1)
`Entrepreneurs and mavericks'	53	(1)
`Rogue' and `cowboy' businesses	53	(1)
Crimes of white, middle-class older men? Gender, age, race and white collar crime	54	(3)
Gender	54	(2)
Age	56	(1)
Race	57	(1)
Class bias and law enforcement? Accounting for the distribution of offenders	57	(3)
Concluding comments	60	(1)
Further reading	61	(1)
White collar crime and victimization	62	(17)
Constructing white collar victimization	63	(2)
Exposing the impact of white collar crime	65	(3)
Direct, individual victimization	65	(2)
Communities and the quality of life	67	(1)
Institutional and organizational victimization	67	(1)
National and global impact	68	(1)
Who are the victims of white collar crime? Gender, age, class and victimization	68	(8)
Victimization and gender	69	(1)
Gender and physical victimization	69	(2)
Gender and economic harms	71	(1)
Age and Victimization	72	(1)
Age and physical victimization	72	(1)
Age and economic harms	73	(1)
Socioeconomic status, cultural capital and victimization	74	(2)
Victim responses to white collar crime	76	(2)
Concluding comments	78	(1)
Further reading	78	(1)
Explaining white collar crime	79	(23)
General theories of crime	81	(2)
`Rotten apples in the barrel': individualizing white collar crime	83	(2)
`The buck stops here': criminogenic organizations?	85	(6)
Organizational pathology	85	(1)
Criminogenic occupations and organizations	86	(1)
The search for profits	87	(1)
Organizational cultures	88	(1)
Individuals and organizations	89	(2)
Social structure: `the needy and the greedy'	91	(3)
Cultural sources of white collar crime	94	(3)
Is white collar crime endemic to capitalism?	97	(3)
Concluding comments	100	(1)
Further reading	101	(1)
Regulating white collar crime: law and policing	102	(20)
The development of regulation	104	(4)
White collar law enforcement	108	(4)
Prosecution as a `last resort'	108	(1)
Compliance strategies	109	(1)
Out of court settlements	109	(1)
Cost-effectiveness	110	(1)
Who is prosecuted?	110	(2)
Issues in regulatory enforcement	112	(5)
Criminalization, regulation and self-regulation	117	(2)
Concluding comments	119	(2)
Further reading	121	(1)
Regulating white collar crime: punishment	122	(21)
White collar sentences: slaps on the wrist?	123	(3)
Understanding sentencing	126	(6)
The seriousness of offences	129	(1)
Characteristics of offenders	129	(2)
Class, status and sentencing	131	(1)
White collar crime and punishment	132	(4)
Deterring white collar crime	133	(1)
`Just deserts' for white collar offenders	134	(1)
Rehabilitating white collar offenders	134	(1)
Incapacitating white collar offenders	135	(1)
`Shaming' white collar offenders	135	(1)
Alternative approaches to sentencing white collar offenders	136	(4)
Monetary penalties	136	(2)
Community sentences for white collar offenders?	138	(1)
Shaming strategies	139	(1)
Incapacitation	140	(1)
Concluding comments	140	(2)
Further reading	142	(1)
White collar crime and criminology	143	(17)
The concept of white collar crime	144	(5)
One law for the rich? Class, power and the role of criminal law	149	(3)
Criminology and white collar crime	152	(8)
Glossary	160	(4)
References	164	(11)
Index	175