Use of the term “white collar crime” to refer to some category of illegal, or at least deviant, conduct is now a common feature of our linguistic landscape. Sociologists and criminologists, though disagreeing among themselves about exactly what the term means, have been talking about white collar crime for more than sixty years.

Most people shrug white collar crime off as a rare event, fooling themselves into believing that the damage is small. In actuality, the cost is over $44 billion per year for fraud based white collar crime just in the United States.

The term "white-collar crime" refers to the corrupt business practices of individuals in powerful positions, especially corporate leaders and government officials. Edwin Sutherland first coined the phrase during the 1939 annual meeting of the American Sociological Society. He argued that corporate and governmental officials regularly commit crimes that are as destructive to society as those of violent blue-collar criminals. This same concept is the root of federal white-collar crimes, as well as international anti-corruption initiatives.

Although it is acceptable to use socioeconomic characteristics of the offender to define white-collar crime, it is impossible to measure white-collar crime with UCR data if the working definition revolves around the type of offender. There are no socioeconomic or occupational indicators of the offender in the data. Additionally, there are no measures of corporate structure in UCR data elements. Given that, research using UCR data must approach white-collar crime in terms of type of offense.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is the preeminent organization in the United States advancing the mission of the nation's criminal defense lawyers to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or other misconduct.

The mission of NW3C is to provide a nationwide support system for agencies involved in the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of economic and high-tech crimes and to support and partner with other appropriate entities in addressing homeland security initiatives, as they relate to economic and high-tech crimes.

According to the Department of Justice, "White-collar offenses shall constitute those classes of non-violent illegal activities which principally involve traditional notions of deceit, deception, concealment, manipulation, breach of trust, subterfuge or illegal circumvention." Under that definition, the illegal purchase of preions and music pirating clearly qualify.

By the National Check Fraud Center.

Sutherland’s definition is now somewhat outdated for students of the criminal law. As white collar crime began to capture the attention of prosecutors and the public in the mid-1970s, the term came to have definitions quite different from the one Sutherland used. Indeed, studies have shown that crimes we generally consider “white collar,” such as securities fraud and tax fraud, are committed not just by persons of “high social status” but by people of divergent backgrounds.

White-collar crimes are crimes committed by the affluent in the course of normal business activities: Conspiracies==>use position for gain; Expanded by some to include a wider range of "middle-class" criminality and "high-tech" crimes; Legitimate business, deviant activity; Internal versus external judgements; Secrecy; Opportunity structures; Institutional climate.

The phrase "white-collar crime" was coined in 1939 during a speech given by Edwin Sutherland to the American Sociological Society. Sutherland defined the term as "crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation." Although there has been some debate as to what qualifies as a white-collar crime, the term today generally encompasses a variety of nonviolent crimes usually committed in commercial situations for financial gain.

Fraud—the art of deliberate deception for unlawful gain—is as old as history; the term "white-collar crime" was reportedly coined in 1939 by Professor Edwin Sutherland and has since become synonymous with the full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals. Today's con artists are more savvy and sophisticated than ever, engineering everything from slick online scams to complex stock and health care frauds. Here you can learn about the many white-collar crimes we investigate, how to protect yourself from common scams, and what to do if you think you've been victimized.

Within the field of criminology, white-collar crime or 'incorporated governance' has been defined by Edwin Sutherland as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation" (1949). Sutherland was a proponent of Symbolic Interactionism, and believed that criminal behaviour was learned from interpersonal interaction with others. White-collar crime therefore overlaps with corporate crime because the opportunity for fraud, bribery, insider trading, embezzlement, computer crime, and forgery is more available to white-collar employees.

Corporate criminals are punished more harshly today than in the '80s, but hands-off executives may still face better odds.

The Chinese government is cracking down on white-collar crime. New legislation aimed at strengthening the criminal code is being reviewed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature. The newly-amended draft will deal with emerging crime, such as evading debts through filing bankruptcy, credit card fraud, and deliberately interfering or harming national military communications.

One trend I am observing is the huge interest in Hong Kong in rogue traders and white collar crime – and how CEP can be used to detect and prevent this – before it moves the market. Obviously the original rogue trader, Nick Leeson, is well known here. But there has been a great deal of interest in more recent goings-on, at firms such as SocGen. Amazingly, until a couple of years ago, insider trading was not illegal in Hong Kong.

Tackling bribery and corruption has become a key focus for many prosecuting authorities around the world. The World Bank estimates that more than $1trn (£503m) is paid in bribes worldwide. As the global markets open up, governments want to ensure that companies are operating on a level playing field.

The preamble to the 2003 United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) states corruption “is no longer a local matter but a transnational phenomenon that affects all societies and economies”. Other international instruments such as the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business similarly acknowledge the need for international co-operation to combat corruption and note its corrosive effect on individuals and society.

Omitted from most of the recent discussions on the federalization of criminal law is the impact of federal investigations and prosecutions involving international activities. This essay specifically focuses on the international flavor developing in the prosecution of white collar crime. It discusses statutes with clear legislative language indicating extraterritoriality through either a direct international focus (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act), or through the specific incorporation of an extraterritorial provision in the statute.

Canada isn’t having much luck cleaning up its image as A country that is soft on white-collar crime. While Conrad Black faces up to 35 years in prison after his recent conviction in a Chicago courtroom, Canadian authorities are still licking their wounds after the recent acquittal of former Bre-X chief geologist John Felderhof on civil charges of insider trading.

This paper will comment on some general things about the state of penalties not just for fraud in particular, but for white-collar crime in general. There are two simple reasons for this. First, the problem of unsatisfactory penalties for fraud is part of a more general problem of limp or inappropriate penalties for white-collar crime. Second, fraud is a serious part of the problem in almost every area of white-collar crime.

Although the violent nature of crime in SA is often highlighted, white collar crimes are rampant and impact negatively on citizens' rights, an SA Human Rights Commission report released on Thursday said. "The scourge of crime in South Africa is by no means limited to violent crime," researchers wrote in the Human Rights Development Report.

White collar crime or commercial crime involves crimes such as fraud, bribery, corruption and the like. Although it does not receive as much publicity as other forms of crime, it costs South Africa and all its people dearly. This internet site will try to help people understand and recognise white collar crime and teach them what to do to help put a stop to it. It is a joint project between the South African Police Service's KwaZulu Natal Commercial Crime Branch, Business Against Crime's KwaZulu Natal White Collar Crime Task Group and J Blindell.

While law-abiding citizens enjoy numerous benefits from the European single market, white collar criminals see advantages that they can exploit for their own selfish and anti-social behaviour. Furthermore, they perceive a low risk of being caught and punished under an elaborate network of different legislative systems, which are easier to dodge than a judicial complex set up for a single nation State.

An inevitable consequence of globalisation is a reassessment of the traditional principles of international law, which are founded upon the concept of sovereign nation states. In deference to this concept, UK courts have eschewed the assumption of any universal jurisdiction to try a civil or criminal case. Furthermore, they have upheld a policy of non-interference in a foreign state’s conduct of its affairs, particularly within its territorial jurisdiction.

This paper describes how a systematic analysis of economic incentives and social context factors can be provided through an interdisciplinary approach which combines the analytical powers of microeconomics (game theory) and criminology (control theories). The approach is discussed with regard to food quality and safety threatened by moral hazard.

Euler Hermes publishes the first representative study on German small and medium-sized companies – 86 percent of respondents regard white-collar crime as a serious problem – employees are involved in three quarters of all cases – the tendency is rising.

Then there are the men in the City in virtual tights. The world's financial capital leaks money like a fishnet. When the flow of cash is not measured in lorry-loads but in electronic trillions, you don't need a disguise; an inside job is much easier.

The White Collar Crime Investigation Team's mission is to provide, through the exchange of information and intelligence, an enhanced service to the law enforcement agencies of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories, United States of America, and United Kingdom in the investigation of significant fraud and financial crime, including money laundering and seizure of criminal assets.

Because white collar crime covers such a broad category of behaviours it was decided that a sharper focus was needed. For that reason, professional practice was chosen. This is also in itself very wide-ranging. It could include, for example, medical negligence, police corruption, solicitor dishonesty, musicians' breach of copyright, plagiarism, and the misrepresentation of scientific findings.

Articles written by attorneys and experts worldwide discussing legal aspects related to Criminal Law including: arson, assault, battery, bribery, burglary, child abuse, child pornography, computer crime, controlled substances, credit card fraud, criminal defense, criminal law, drugs and narcotics, DUI, DWI, embezzlement, fraud, expungements, felonies, homicide, identity theft, manslaughter, money laundering, murder, perjury, prostitution, rape, RICO, robbery, sex crimes, shoplifting, theft, weapons, white collar crime and wire fraud.

Criminal Law or penal law, involves prosecution by the government of a person for an act that has been classified as a crime.