Street Crime versus WhiteCollar

1
Street Crime versusWhite-Collar Corporate
Crime
Dr. Matt Robinson CJ 3532 Injustice in
America Appalachian State University
2
What is Crime?

• Something that is fundamentally wrong and
  deserving of punishment?
• natural definition of crime
• These are violations of natural law
• Examples?

3
What is Crime?

• Legally a crime must ALSO violate the criminal
  law
• (legal definition of crime)
• Legally, a crime occurs when a person acts,
  fails to act, attempts to act, or agrees to act
  in a way that is in violation of the criminal
  law (see p. 87).

4
What Makes a Crime Serious?

• What does serious mean to you?
• Harmful (hurts people or property)
• Frequent (happens a lot)
• Pervasive (happens everywhere)
• See page 90 for serious crimes

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Serious crimes dont include

• Fraud - obtaining money or property through false
  pretenses (lies, tricks, deceit)
• Theft Lie!
• There are entire industries based on fraud!
• e.g., weight loss industry, stretch mark
  removing cream, cellulite removing cream, cough
  syrups for small children
• Product shrinkage?

6
Serious crimes dont include

• Embezzlement -- obtaining money or property and
  then misappropriating it
• Theft Violation of Trust!
• (see pp. 93-94)

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So?

• Are the serious crimes
• The most harmful crimes?
• The most frequently occurring crimes?
• The most pervasive crimes?

8
Total Serious Crimes Indicated in NCVS (2007)

• Property Crimes 17.5 million
• Theft 13.3 million
• Burglary 3.2 million
• Auto theft .98 million
• Violent Crimes 5.2 million
• Assault 4.3 million
• Robbery 0.60 million
• Rape 0.25 million
• TOTAL 22.9 million
• and 15,700 murders no negligent manslaughters
  (UCR)

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Less-serious crime???

• Elite deviance is not viewed as serious
• includes illegal acts by corporations, wealthy
  individuals
• includes unethical acts, civil and regulatory
  violations)
• Harmful acts committed intentionally,
  recklessly, negligently, or knowingly.
• (e.g., white-collar crimes and corporate
  crime)
• Cause tremendous physical, financial, and moral
  harms to Americans.

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Some examples

• Recent corporate scandals include Enron, Global
  Crossing, Tyco, Qwest, WorldCom ETC
• Total loss in market value caused by Enron,
  Global Crossing, Tyco, Qwest, and WorldCom alone
  was 427 billion.
• Tens of thousands of people lost their jobs
• Hundreds of thousands of employees lost money
  from their retirement accounts
• Millions lost money from stock market downturn

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What did they do?

• Inflated their profits.
• Cooked the books to hide debts so investors
  would invest more money.
• Treated debts as revenue to look more
  profitable.
• Invented false identities to whom they
  attributed their losses.
• Insider trading.
• Fraud.
• Promoted worthless stocks.

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Pigs at the Trough

• K Mart CEO Charles Conaway received 23 million
  compensation over two years, after which K Mart
  filed for bankruptcy, 283 stores closed and
  22,000 people lost their jobs
• Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski received 467 million
  compensation over four years, after which Tycos
  stock holders lost 92 billion
• Enron CEO Kenneth Lay earned 100 million the
  year before Enrons collapse, after which Enron
  lost 68 billion, 5,000 people lost their jobs,
  and workers lost 800 million

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Pigs at the Trough

• Corporate executives earned 66 billion by
  selling company stocks even while their
  companies crashed and burned.
• Some forbade their employees from selling their
  stocks.
• This could buy 66,000 homeless people houses,
  each worth 100,000.
• The 427 billion in losses could get every state
  in the country out of debt or we could give every
  man, woman, and child living in poverty on the
  Earth 356!

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Costs of elite deviance

• Corporate and white-collar crimes cost at least
  1 trillion annually, far more than all street
  crimes combined
• Health care fraud 80 billion
• Insurance fraud -- 80 billion
• Computer fraud -- 67 billion
• Securities and commodities fraud -- 40 billion
• Telemarketing fraud -- 40 billion
• Automotive repair fraud -- 22 billion
• Check fraud -- 10 billion
• Defective products -- 700 billion!
• Serious street crime costs about 20 billion
  annually

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Less serious?

• Elite deviance also causes more physical damage
  than all eight serious crimes combined.
• Tobacco use kills more people (approximately
  443,000) than murder (approximately 16,000) and
  causes more financial loss (96 billion in direct
  health care costs) than all street crime combined
  (20 billion).
• See http//www.cdc.gov/tobacco/
• Intentional? Negligent? Reckless? Knowingly?
• See http//www.tobaccofreedom.org/issues/document
  s/

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Violence too!!!

• Far more people are killed and injured by
  preventable occupational diseases and hazards
  than by crime every year.
• 55,000 deaths and 3 million injuries
• (as much beyond the control of the workers as
  being murdered is beyond the control of the
  murder victim)
• Many of these deaths and injuries result from
  the negligence or recklessness of people who work
  for corporations

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Violence too!!!

• Another 20-30,000 people die from unsafe and
  defective merchandise.
• Another 40,000 die from car crashes.
• Tens of thousands die from hospital error.
• At least 300,000 from poor diets and
  inactivity!!!

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Why is it calledthe Monster Thick Burger?
Contents Two-thirds of a pound of beef
(fat) Three slices of cheese (fat) Four pieces of
bacon (fat) Mayonnaise (fat) Butter (fat) Bun
(fat)
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Why is it calledthe Monster Thick Burger?
http//www.youtube.com/watch?va68SrzBiHhY http//
www.youtube.com/watch?vWuc2IXdQGTk http//www.you
tube.com/watch?vyv7eAzVL-Po
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Why is it calledthe Monster Thick Burger?

• Nutrition Facts

• Calories 1417.6

• Calories from Fat 965.2 (68 from fat)

• Total Fat 107.2g (165 DV)

• Saturated Fat 45.8g (229 DV)

• Cholesterol 229.6mg (77 DV)

• Sodium 2651.3 mg (110 DV)

• http//www.dietfacts.com/html/items/28853.htm
• http//www.dietfacts.com/item.asp?itemid692

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Why is it calledthe Monster Thick Burger?

• Why is it legal to eat this burger?
• What is the purpose of the criminal law?
• (protect citizens from harm)
• So, why is it legal???

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Possible Reasons Elite Deviance is Not Viewed as
Serious

• Acts done by an individual against an individual
  are deemed most serious
• Indirect nature of harm instead of direct
• Invisible instead of visible
• Not intentional in nature but negligently,
  recklessly, knowingly committed
• The people who do it are different too!

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Possible Reasons Elite Deviance is Not Viewed as
Serious
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Possible Reasons Elite Deviance is Not Viewed as
Serious
These are the people who make the law and own the
mainstream press!!!