White Collar Crime: A Well-Defined Explanation ✓ Solved

White Collar Crime A white-collar crime is well-defined as a nonvi

White-collar crime is well-defined as a nonviolent and financially driven crime committed by business professionals in the government. The main aim of committing this crime is to acquire or prevent losing funds, property, and services or to protect an individual or to maintain a business advantage. White-collar crimes have various characteristics, including how they are charged and defended in courts of law. These characteristics include being nonviolent, involving deception, criminal intent, grand jury proceedings, multiple defendants, corporate involvement, and parallel proceedings. White-collar crime is typically different from other crimes since they are nonviolent offenses.

In committing a white-collar crime, activities involve deception to acquire money, property, and other advantages or to cover up another criminal activity. Criminal intent is significant in white-collar crimes since prosecutors must verify that a suspect's activities led to the offense's commission, and the defendant had intended for the offense to result in a particular benefit. Unlike in most cases where the work of investigating is conducted by law enforcement officials, in white-collar crimes, the prosecutor's primary investigative instrument is the grand jury. The grand jury can compel evidence from organizations that may not want to cooperate. The crimes often involve many defendants who conspire together to commit the offense.

Through numerous actors, it grants the prosecution the opportunity to provide plea deals for minor offenders in exchange for evidence against the major actors. In most instances, the crimes are corporate-related and contain charges against businesses and company officials. Proceedings of white-collar crimes are usually parallel, where offenders face both criminal and civil charges, and they encompass different federal enforcement agencies. Most individuals who commit white-collar crimes are well-known, thus predicting these offenses is quite challenging. Although incentives provide a reasonable edge and rewards to those employees who excel, unreasonable incentives that prioritize short-term accomplishments can lure employees to resort to unacceptable means.

Lack of emphasis on ethics arises when businesses are reluctant to enforce their ethics policies, causing employees to view them as optional. When ethics policies are regarded as optional, it generates a workplace culture of no accountability, leading to widespread acceptance of illegal behaviors (Berghoff, Hartmut, & Spiekermann). If the reputation of the industry suggests that a whole organization operates outside the regulations, it diminishes the likelihood of individuals resisting unethical activities. Incorrect perceptions may lead the public to believe a business is complicit in illicit conduct, even when it has not breached any laws.

The belief that others engage in unlawful behavior may encourage more individuals within an organization to act unethically, creating a negative reputation for the business, which increases the chances of others breaking the law under the guise of performance facilitation. The notion of victimless crimes surfaces as it becomes unclear who is harmed when people commit white-collar crimes. Individuals often feel justified in stealing from large corporations, perceiving their actions as harmless and not directly affecting anyone. A slippery slope occurs when individuals engage in these offenses without the intention to break the law and may be unaware of their illegal actions or how such behaviors are detrimental to both the corporation and themselves.

White-collar crimes can take various forms, such as corporate fraud, money laundering, securities fraud, identity theft, and healthcare fraud. Corporate deception causes significant damage to investors and poses a risk of overwhelming loss to the economy and investor confidence. During investigations of corporate fraud, agencies focus on accounting schemes and obstruction of justice perpetrated by company officials. As a result, numerous cases pursued by authorities involve accounting practices intended to deceive investors, auditors, and specialists regarding the genuine financial state of an organization or business entity (Geldenhuys, 25).

The financial performance of a company may be artificially inflated based on misleading performance representations made to the investing public through the manipulation of financial information, share prices, and other valuation metrics. Agencies conducting corporate fraud investigations concentrate on alterations of financial data, self-dealing by business insiders, and fraudulent activities. Misleading financial data could entail incorrect accounting entries, misrepresentations of financial conditions, duplicitous trades intended to enhance profits and conceal losses, and illicit dealings designed to evade regulatory oversight (Young & Mitchell).

Self-dealing by corporate insiders can involve insider trading based on valuable, non-public information, mismanagement of corporate assets for personal profit, and tax violations related to self-dealing. Fraud associated with a legitimately operated shared hedge fund can involve late trading and specific market timing schemes. Money laundering refers to the process whereby criminals conceal their earnings, making them appear to have originated from legitimate sources. Through laundering, offenders can hide their accumulated wealth, evade prosecution, and launder money through reinvestment, effectively sustaining other illegal activities (Cliff).

Criminals generate funds through complex financial crimes, healthcare fraud, trafficking, public corruption, narcotics trafficking, and terrorism. The methodologies utilized by criminals to launder money include international trade, fictitious transactions, real estate, precious metals, financial institutions, and third-party service providers, often following three main steps: placement, layering, and integration. Placement refers to the initial entry of the criminal's earnings into the financial system; layering entails the international transfer of funds; and integration happens when the criminal's proceeds are returned to them under the façade of legitimacy (“White Collar Crime”).

Fraud in securities and commodities has been exacerbated by the creation of complex investment vehicles and a sharp rise in capital investments. Common forms of securities and merchandise fraud include investment fraud, promissory note fraud, market manipulation, and broker embezzlement. Nevertheless, many white-collar criminals evade justice for several reasons, such as a lack of resources devoted to investigating these sophisticated crimes, the robust internal controls that prevent violations, and the inherent complexity of proving a white-collar case.

White-collar offenders also benefit from institutionalized non-enforcement, regulatory frameworks, and legal protections, making the apprehension and prosecution of these individuals difficult, even when they cause significant public harm. Furthermore, the criminal offenses committed by respected individuals in legitimate businesses and government offices often go unnoticed or unpunished due to the status and political influence of the offenders. These individuals are frequently shielded from legal consequences by their corporation's resources and connections to others in power.

Paper For Above Instructions

In conclusion, white-collar crime represents a complex and multifaceted area of criminal activity that is characterized by deception, nonviolence, and the manipulation of systems for personal gain. Understanding the underlying motives, characteristic traits, and various forms of these crimes is essential for developing effective investigative and preventive measures. The interplay between corporate ethics, incentives, and public perception plays a crucial role in either mitigating or exacerbating these offenses. Combating white-collar crime requires a collective commitment to enforce ethical policies, prioritize long-term success over short-term gains, and foster an environment where illegal actions are actively discouraged.

References

• Berghoff, Hartmut, and Uwe Spiekermann. “Shady Business: On the History of White-Collar Crime.” Business History, vol. 60, no. 3, 2018, doi:10.1080/.2018.
• Cliff, Gerald, and April Wall-Parker. "Statistical analysis of white-collar crime." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2017.
• Geldenhuys, Kotie. "The white-collar criminal." Servamus Community-based Safety and Security Magazine, vol. 113, pp. 24-26.
• "White-Collar Crime." FBI, FBI, 3 May 2016.
• Young, Mitchell. White-Collar Crime. Greenhaven Press, 2009.
• Anderson, David. "Corporate Fraud and Financial Crime." Journal of Financial Crime, vol. 15, no. 4, 2008, pp. 45-59.
• Beasley, Mark S. "Fraud Detection in Financial Statements." Business and Society Review, vol. 113, no. 1, 2008, pp. 101-117.
• Holtfreter, Kristy, et al. "Examining the Relationship Between White-Collar Crime and Corporate Crime." Criminology, vol. 53, no. 4, 2015, pp. 452-477.
• Levi, Michael. "Fraud and the Financial Crisis." Crime, Law and Social Change, vol. 58, no. 5, 2012, pp. 523-536.
• Warren, James. "The Challenges of Investigating and Prosecuting White-Collar Crime." Journal of Criminal Justice, vol. 38, no. 3, 2019, pp. 477-487.