Crime and Deviance

I.  Article - White-Collar Crime: an Overview

     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. Many white-collar crimes are especially difficult to prosecute because the perpetrators use sophisticated means to conceal their activities through a series of complex transactions. The most common white-collar offenses include: antitrust violations, computer and internet fraud, credit card fraud, phone and telemarketing fraud, bankruptcy fraud, healthcare fraud, environmental law violations, insurance fraud, mail fraud, government fraud, tax evasion, financial fraud, securities fraud, insider trading, bribery, kickbacks, counterfeiting, public corruption, money laundering, embezzlement, economic espionage and trade secret theft. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, white-collar crime is estimated to cost the United States more than $300 billion annually. Although typically the government charges individuals for white-collar crimes, the government has the power to sanction corporations as well for these offenses. The penalties for white-collar offenses include fines, home detention, community confinement, paying the cost of prosecution, forfeitures, restitution, supervised release, and imprisonment. However, sanctions can be lessened if the defendant takes responsibility for the crime and assists the authorities in their investigation. Any defenses available to non-white-collar defendants in criminal court are also available to those accused of white-collar crimes. A common refrain of individuals or organizations facing white-collar criminal charges is the defense of entrapment. For instance, in United States v. Williams, 705 F.2d 603 (2nd Cir. 1983), one of the cases arising from "Operation Abscam," Senator Harrison Williams attempted unsuccessfully to argue that the government induced him into accepting a bribe.

     Both state and federal legislation enumerate the activities that constitute white-collar criminal offenses. The Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives the federal government the authority to regulate white-collar crime, and a number of federal agencies (see sidebar), including the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the Secret Service, U.S. Customs, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, participate in the enforcement of federal white-collar crime legislation. In addition, most states employ their own agencies to enforce white-collar crime laws at the state level.

Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary

A variety of nonviolent financial crimes, generally committed by businesspeople or public officials,involving commercial fraud, consumer fraud, swindles, insider trading on the stock market, embezzlement, bribery, or other dishonest schemes.

* Article retrieved from http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/White-collar_crime

II.  Growing concern: overcrowding in the U.S. prison system

III.  The ultimate Ponzi scheme - Bernard Madoff

IV: Resources

• Introduction to the Sociology of Deviance
• This website is a short and concise version of Stephen Phofl's Images of Deviance and social Control: A Sociological History. Simply put, society's reactions create social norms; deviance from those norms occurs and elicits another reaction from society, which sometimes leads to a revision of social norms, and further deviance. 
•  http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/200/intrdev.html

•  Sociological Theories to Explain Deviance
• This website gives a short breakdown of the theories behind the social deviance. The theories summarized are cultural transmission/differential associations theory, control theory, labeling theory, structural strain/anomie theory, subcultural theories, and medicalization of deviance.
• http://www.valdosta.edu/~klowney/devtheories.htm

V.  Quote

"There is no such thing as a value-free concept of deviance; to say homosexuals are deviant because they are a statistical minority is, in practice, to stigmatize them. Nuns are rarely classed as deviants for the same reason, although if they obey their vows they clearly differ very significantly from the great majority of people." 

- Dennis Altman 

* Quote retrieved from http://quotes.dictionary.com/search/deviance

VI.  Explanation 

     The chapter on crime and deviance interested me for two reasons; first of all, the sociological definition of deviance seems to vary greatly from society's perception of who we actually consider deviants. This is just one of the many examples of how society and culture is ever-changing; when the definition was developed, the acts that were considered deviant were no doubt very different than the acts we consider deviant today. The second part of the chapter that interests me is the section white collar crime. I agree strongly with conflict theory in the belief that elite and corporate deviance go largely unrecognized and unpunished. I believe that this is a huge problem, especially due to the fact that the people participating in these crimes are largely the people holding political power and are therefore somewhat protected by their status. White collar crime costs the nation billions of dollars per year and many Americans are unaware of the destruction being caused by the people we trust to "call the shot"s in this country.

     I chose the article because I believe it gives a great breakdown of the white collar crime epidemic that Americans need to be aware of. The photo of the crowded prison speaks volumes to me, society has an idea of what they consider to be deviant activity, and the law has another idea; laws are generally in place for good reason, and therefore they should generally be followed, but I don't know that locking everyone up for minor offenses is the best way to cope with society's deviants. Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme is such an extreme case that I wanted to include a video that summarizes his 20-year con game. I really liked the quote from Dennis Altman, it's a great example of what I mentioned earlier where the sociological definition of deviance and the public understanding of the word differ greatly.

     Crime has existed, in one form or another, since the beginning of civilization, and will undoubtedly continue until the end of time. For this reason it is important that we continue to strive to understand more about crime and the deviant individuals who commit these crimes.

VII.  Crime and Deviance Word Search

A C A P W U B P O A Q C N T M Y E 
I S Y X W B S V I J B J C A Y D U 
W E A B Q O M F L D S O S S I B W 
B M N J E W D C J U E T W C Z V K 
I I O F O R M A L D E V I A N C E 
O R M O P H T J P R U U I S Y Y O 
T C I Y O E Q E S O S H T A K F P 
E X E F V T Q T R C K I R B N L I 
R E H M W E A L I R G S X V K C R 
R D B P L T M T W M O U L B R A E 
O N C Q U W S A A Q R R B S W A T 
R I L S L I Y G O L O N I M I R C 
I J D M U E M I R C A R D S U I I 
S V B R V P O N Z I S C H E M E C 
M X T Z C P O Q G Y Q N N N V I J 
J L H H Q H O T Z R M U N J S J Y 
A T E Q N C X G T L B I X E N I B 

altruistic suicide
anomie
bioterrorism
crime
criminology
cyberterrorism
deviance
formal deviance
index crimes
master status
Ponzi scheme
stigma