Crimes of the powerfull

Question 1

Reiman and Leightons book

Answer 1

The rich get richer and the poor get prison. More likely, a crime is to be committed by higher class people, the less likely it is to be treated and it’s an offence. There is much higher prosecutions with a typical street crimes like a sultan burglary yet with the crimes, committed by higher class, such as tax evasion criminal justice system, take some more forgiving view.

Question 2

Sutherland white-collar crime definition

Answer 2

A crime committed by a person of respectability and high social class. In the course of his occupation, is a must to challenge the stereotype that crime is purely a lower class phenomenon.

Question 3

Sutherlands definition fails to distinguish between two different types of crime, what are these?

Answer 3

Occupational crime which is crime committed by employees that own personal gain against the organisation for example, stealing from the company
Corporate crime committed by employees for their organisation in pursuit of its goal, for example, deliberately mis-selling products

Question 4

Pearce Tombs , How did they overcome the problem that many of the harm thats caused by the powerful Do not break the criminal law. So maybe Administrative offences, such as a company, failing to comply with codes of practice

Answer 4

They widen the definition of corporate crime As any illegal act or omission, that is the result of deliberate decisions, or culpable negligence by a legitimate business organisation, and that it is intended to benefit the business. This includes breaches of civil and administrative law, not just criminal law. tombs Argues that the difference between these types of offence is more about who has the power to define it as criminal.

Question 5

White-collar and corporate crime, too far more harm than ordinary or street crime for example…

Answer 5

tombs Notes that corporate crime has enormous, cost, physical, environmental and economic. He concludes that corporate crime is not just the work of a few bad apples, but is rather widespread routine and pervasive.

Question 6

Corporate crime covers a wide range of acts and omissions, including…
Financial crimes

Answer 6

Such as tax evasion, bribery, money, laundering, and illegal accounting. Victims include other companies, shareholders, taxpayers, and government.

Question 7

Corporate crime covers a wide range of acts and omissions, including…
Crimes against consumers

Answer 7

Such as false labelling and selling unfit goods. In 2011, the French government recommended that women with breast implants from one manufacturer had them removed because they were filled with dangerous silicone rather than expensive medical silicone.

Question 8

Corporate crime covers a wide range of acts and omissions, including…
Crimes against employees (tombs) (palmer)

Answer 8

Such as sexual and radical discrimination, violations of wage laws, the right to join a union, or take industrial action, and of health and safety laws. Tombs calculates that up to 1100 were related deaths a year involved employers breaking the law. This is more than the annual total of homicides. Parma estimates the occupational diseases caused 50,000 deaths a year in uk

Question 9

Corporate crime covers a wide range of acts and omissions, including…
Crimes against the environment

Answer 9

Include a legal pollution of air, water and land, such as toxic waste dumping. Following an investigation by US authorities in 2015, Volkswagen admitted installing software and 11 million of its diesel vehicles globally. The software could detect when the engines are being tested in disguise emissions level. They were 40 times above the US legal limit.

Question 10

Corporate crime covers a wide range of acts and omissions, including…
State, corporate crime

Answer 10

Refers to the harm is committed when government institutions and businesses cooperate to pursue their goals. Private companies contracted to the US military have been accused of involvement in the torture of detainees during the American occupation of Iraq

Question 11

The abuse of trust… High status professionals up to 5 positions of trust and respectability (carrabine et al)

Answer 11

Note, we interesting with our finances, health and security and personal information however, the position and status give them opportunity to abuse this trust

Question 12

Example of abuse of trust

Answer 12

The multinational accountancy firm kpmg Admitted in the USA to criminal wrongdoing and paid a fine for its role in tax fraud. Similarly, Lawyers can be employed by criminal organisations to launder funds into a ilegitimate businesses. Their respective status make it easier for them to do this. UK dentists have claimed payments from the NHS for treatment they have not carried out.

Question 13

shipman (Abuse of trust)

Answer 13

He is the most notorious case of abuse of trust. He was convicted of the murder of 15 of his patients, but it’s believed to have been over 200.

Question 14

sutherlands view on Abuse of trust

Answer 14

Crime of this crime violates the truth, society, places, and professionals. It makes white-collar crime a greater threat to society than street crime because it promotes cynicism.

Question 15

The invisibility of corporate crime (Small definition)

Answer 15

When compare to Street crime, the crimes of the power for a relatively invisible: and even visible there, after not seen as real crime at all 

Question 16

reasons for crimes of the powerful to be seen as not real crime?
Media

Answer 16

It gives very limited coverage to corporate crime. Reinforcing the stereotype that it’s a phenomenon. They use different language. For example, embezzlement becomes accounting irregularities.

Question 17

reasons for crimes of the powerful to be seen as not real crime?
Lack of political will

Answer 17

To tackle corporate crime, politicians rhetoric of being tough on crime Focus instead on street crime, for example, while the home office uses crime surveys to discover the true extent of ordinary crime, it does not do so for corporate crime

Question 18

reasons for crimes of the powerful to be seen as not real crime?
crimes are often complex

Answer 18

Law and forces are often understaffed, under resourced and lacking technical expertise to investigate effectively

Question 19

reasons for crimes of the powerful to be seen as not real crime?
de labelling

Answer 19

At the level of laws and legal regulation, corporate crime is filtered out from the process of criminalisation. For example, offences are often defined as civil, not criminal penalties are often given rather than jail
An example of this can be the French authorities.

Question 20

reasons for crimes of the powerful to be seen as not real crime?
Underreporting

Answer 20

Often, the victim is society at large, Or the environment rather than The identifiable individual. People may be unaware that they are being victimised. And when they are aware, they may not see it as a real crime.

Question 21

Partial visibility to corporate crime

Answer 21

Since the financial crisis of 2008, the activities of a range of different people may have made corporate crime more visible such as campaigns. Neoliberal policies such as the marketisation and privatisation of public services mean, large corporations are more involved in peoples lives and exposed to scrutiny

Question 22

Exclamations of corporate crime (short definition)

Answer 22

Sociologist of put forward a variety of explanations for this. They are often general theories of crime that sociologists have applied. Sometimes it combine different theories in the explanations.

Question 23

Differential a association, sutherland

Answer 23

He sees crime as a behaviour, learn from others in a social contact. The less that we associate with people who hold attitudes favourable for the law, and the movie associate with people with criminal attitudes, the more likely we are to become deviant ourselves.

Question 24

Differential Association. Geis

Answer 24

Found the individuals joining companies were where ilegal price-fixing was Practice became involved in it as part of their socialisation.

Question 25

We can link the idea of differential Association with two concepts
First one being deviant subcultures

Answer 25

These are groups who share a set of norms and values at odds with those of wider society. Offering deviant subcultures to problems. The culture of business may also favour and promote competitive, aggressive personality types, who are willing to commit crimes to achieve success.

Question 26

We can link the idea of differential Association with two concepts
Techniques of neutralisation (sykes & Matza)

Answer 26

Argue, the individuals can deviate more easily if they can produce justification. For example, white-collar crimes may say they carry out orders from above and blame the victim. They may also normalise it by saying that everyone is doing it.

Question 27

Labelling theory:def &cicourel

Answer 27

Weather in act Counts as a crime depends on whether it’s been successfully labelled. Working-class are more likely to have their actions defined as crime. As this sociologist Points out, the middle-class, and more likely able to negotiate noncriminal labels for their behaviour.

Question 28

De labelling (nelken)

Answer 28

Sociologists have applied this to white-collar and corporate crime. They can afford expensive experts such as lawyers and accountants. They can get rid of any criminal libel or to get the seriousness of charges reduced. This also reduces the number of offences recorded

Question 29

Labelling theory clinard & yeager : Sociologists have a line, official records and statistics will inevitably underestimate the extent of offences

Answer 29

They are criticised for taking law-enforcement agency records as true measurements

Question 30

marxism view on crime of powerfull (small def)

Answer 30

corporate crime as a result of the normal functioning of capitalism. Its goals is to maximise profits and causes harm such as deaths and injury amongst employers and consumers.

Question 31

(box) marx mystification

Answer 31

It has spread the ideology that corporate crime is less widespread or harmful than working class crime. Whilst some corporate crime is prosecuted, this is only ever the tip of the iceberg.

Question 32

Pearce (marx)

Answer 32

Argue that it’s the stain illusion that it is the exception rather than the norm, and this avoids causing a crisis of legitimacy for capitalism

Question 33

so I’m sociologists have combined Marxism with other approaches such as

Answer 33

Box, sees corporate crimes as chromogenic because if they find legitimate opportunities for profit blocked, they resorted illegal techniques aimed at computers, consumers or the public.
Other approaches like strange theory

Question 34

companies comply with the law only if they see in for strictly, where effective controls are lacking. For example…

Answer 34

 in developing countries, capitalism shows its true face, selling unsafe products, paying low wages for work and dangerous conditions.

Question 35

Evaluation

Answer 35

both strain theory and Marxism seem to overpredict the account of business crime. It is unrealistic to assume that all businesses would offend.
Even if capitalist pursuit of profit is a cause of corporate crime this doesn’t explain crime and nonprofit making agencies like the police
Law abiding may also be more profitable than lawbreaking for example US pharmaceutical companies couldn’t afford their own drug testing facilities and relied on the FDA’s licensing procedures as a guarantee of quality

Question 36

summary of Marxist view

Answer 36

Crime is inevitable, because it breeds poverty and greed. The ruling class control the state and enforce laws in their own interests.

Question 37

criticism of Marxist

Answer 37

The law also performs an ideological function by giving capitalism occurring faith. Marxism is criticised for ignoring non-class inequalities that affect crime and determinism