Perspectives on the White-Collar Criminal – Take I

Edwin H. Sutherland introduced the idea of "white-collar crime." In a speech to the American Sociological Society in December 1939. According to Sutherland, the phrase refers to a crime that was committed in the course of employment by a person of respectability and high social status. Today's "white-collar crime" often refers to a wide range of non-violent crimes frequently conducted in professional settings for financial profit.

In the summer of 2007, I spent countless hours examining “Patterns in the Mindset and Motivation of the White-Collar Criminal” to fulfil my Research Project for the Emerging Issues/Advanced Topics Course for the Diploma in Investigative and Forensic Program at the University of Toronto. With the exception of scale and complexity, the perspectives of these acts are quite similar today to when the phrase was coined.

White-collar crimes are challenging to prosecute because the perpetrators are often sophisticated criminals who attempt to conceal their activities through a series of complex transactions. White-collar criminals achieve immunity from criminal prosecution for this deviance because:

• White-collar crime is an invisible crime. The public does not have the ability, capacity, or information to monitor white-collar criminality.

• White-collar criminals are usually powerful people. They can obstruct the course of law and justice due to their position, power, connections, and influence.

There is a view that the most powerful and sophisticated white-collar criminals are corporations rather than individuals, even though individuals are the controlling minds of corporations. Furthermore, the size and complexity of an organization may allow it to frustrate the law in detecting, prosecuting, adjudicating, and sanctioning organizational deviance. Of even more significance, corporate organizations can influence and/or define the regulatory framework under which they operate.

Managing the risk of white-collar crime requires answers to questions such as:

• What is the profile of a white-collar criminal?

• What is the likelihood of recruiting a white-collar criminal to a position of trust?

We can only prosecute and convict a perpetrator of a crime when a crime is detected, there is sufficient evidence, and the perpetrator is caught. For white-collar crimes that go undetected, there is a lack of evidence, or the perpetrator has long departed, there can be no conviction or punishment. Therefore, we cannot hope to control white-collar crime through mere prosecution and long prison terms. We must prevent white-collar crimes by creating barriers such as robust internal controls and effective oversight.

- Joan Brown