class on crime

• reasons why WC commit

  -social construction of statistics

  -strain theory

  -invisibility of white collar crime & corporate crime
• social construction of statistics


  Newburn: the MC are in power when publishing & labelling crime statistics. These statistics may be inaccurate/unreliable and the MC may present the WC as more criminal/deviant
• strain theory in relation to class differences in crime


  -the WC do not have the means to achieve the goals so have to turn to crime to do so (typically utilitarian crime)

  -WC are innovators

  -corporate crime stems from companies using illegal means to achieve their goals if they cannot achieve the goals legally
• invisibility of white collar crime & corporate crime


  -the media does not heavily report on these crimes and when they do they word it in a way that makes it seem less criminal

  -lack of political will to tackle corporate crime

  -these crimes are complex so are hard to understand

  -these crimes are de-labelled

  -these crimes are under-reported

  -corporate crime is more likely to be victimless

  -Clarke & Croall: these crimes are hidden from view & hard to detect

  -these crimes are hard to investigate

  -these crimes can benefit both parties involved
• white collar crime - Croall


  -professionals who abuse their position and commit crime for their gain (financial) e.g., fraud
• corporate crime - Slapper & Tombs


  -organisational crime committed by organisations/people on behalf of an organisation which benefits the company e.g., labour laws
• corporate crime - AO2


  Ford pinto: a design flaw in the car, engine failure, car set on fire, caused 500 burn deaths, did not recall the car, just payed the family.

  Post office scandal: made it seem like post officers were committing fraud when they were not, this was due to faulty horizon, many were criminalised when they did not commit crime.
• white collar crime - AO2


  Nicholas Levene: ponzi scheme, left investors £32 million short, was punished
• AO3


  -theories of WC committing crime = deterministic (strain theory)

  -subcultures: may turn to religion, not crime

  -labelling does not explain why the folk devils committed crime in the first place
• criminogenic capitalism


  -the capitalistic foci (greed, competition, materialism & profit) cause WCC & corporate crime

  -live in a dog-eat-dog society which means WCC & CC will happen as they want to be the best
• edgework - Katz


  -commit crime as they get a thrill from it, live on the edge so commit crime

  -influenced to commit crime by the thrill, don't need to do it for the cost benefits
• Messerschmidt: hegemonic masculinity


  -dominant form of masculinity

  -WCC & CC happens as men compete against each other to prove their dominance and success
• differential association - Sutherland


  -people learn from others, they learn and then commit this criminal behaviour

  -can be seen as a form of subculture and relates to workplace ethic
• Matza - neutralisation


  -WCC/CC offenders ways of neutraling their crime/getting away with it/justifying crimes

  -do this through denial/blaming of victims; denial of responsibility; condemning of condemnors; appeal to higher loyalty
• post office scandal and neutralisation


  -the company/post office blamed the victims, not the faulty computer software (horizon)

  -they also denied responsibility of the offence
• is the CJS fair?


  No, the CJS favours the MC and heavily punishes the WC. The MC/UC run the CJS.

  Examples: Nicholas Robinson - student with no criminal record was imprisoned for 6 months for stealing a £3.50 bottle of water during the London riots 2011. Michael Frost got 60 hours of community service for evading £65k