Types of crime:
White-collar crime
Description - White collar crimes are often crimes committed by people in power. These
crimes are non-violent and have a range of victims. The crimes are committed due to
potential monetary gain. Examples of such are embezzlement, money laundering, tax
fraud and employee discrimination. Perpetrators would often be trusted people in a
position of power usually working in a business. Scams such as money laundering can be
a white-collar crime as by definition, it is a non-violent crime often committed by an
individual, group or business with the aims for financial gain through the exploitation of
others.
Types of victims - Victims of these crimes are not only people below the social class but
are also people who are working with the perpetrators, the government, and investors.
Victims such as investors are victims because they have blind trust in the criminals
oblivious of what actually is going on with their money. This means that they are
vulnerable to the exploitations that occur and ultimately this makes the chances of the
offenders being caught very slim while also raising the chance of them committing
crimes to other victims.
Types of offenders - Perpetrators knowledge far exceed the victims meaning the victims
are often oblivious to what is going on with their assets. (add some more lines)
Level of public awareness - The level of public awareness of these types of crimes are
very low as they are not as conspicuous as individual crimes or moral crimes. This is due
to the fact that white collar crime involves money, goods and job position, and the
illegal possession/abuse thereof, the persecutors keep their criminal circle close as
otherwise there would be a risk that their crimes would be leaked to the public and law
enforcement could potentially be involved; this makes the crimes difficult to act against
and could mean that white collar crimes are undetectable.
White collar crimes often have multiple in a group working together to achieve the
crime being committed. Most offenders in a circle are often not found as there would be
no law enforcement could only do so much to find each and every one of the criminals.
Therefore, some of the participants get away scot-free.
Deviant or criminal - White collar crimes would not be classed as deviant crimes
compared to individual crimes (e.g., theft and assault). White collar crimes often have
more than one victim as the level of public awareness is relatively low and the victims
themselves are oblivious therefore, they can’t warn others about the scam with no
knowledge of it happening.
A case of a white-collar crime occurring would be the Harold Shipman. Shipman was a
British surgeon who had killed an estimated amount of 250 patients. He had exploited
, the lack of knowledge his patients had. Shipman had often targeted the elderly, often
women.
Another case of a crime like this occurring would be the infamous case of Bernie
Madoff. In this case, Bernie Madoff – an American businessman – who had used a Ponzi
scheme (a type of scam) to swindle $50 Billion (around $69 Billion in today’s money)
from investors. He had used money of new investors to pay other investors the money
they had thought they had invested. Madoff had been caught due to his son turning him
in to authorities, though Madoff had been released on bail for $10 Billion. The chain of
crimes may have not been discovered if not for Madoffs’ son. This is further evidence
that white collar crimes are undetectable.
Moral crime
Description - Moral crimes often involve the possession or distribution of illegal goods,
begging and illicit activities (e.g., underaged drinking). It is often a crime that goes
against societies norms/what is deemed normal.
Types of victims – These types of crimes are often seen as victimless as most of moral
crimes don’t harm anyone but the perpetrator. There could also be victims who
Types of offenders – Offenders could people being forced into unfortunate situations
such as being begging (due to homelessness consequently due to bad financial situation)
or prostitutes in a difficult financial situation. Others could be reckless people (typically
teens) when it comes to illegal underaged drinking and possession of drugs.
Level of public awareness – The level of public awareness is very low on some cases, for
example with the cases of drug distribution and possession. This is because both parties
are aware of the illegal nature of their actions, so they decide not to report anything.
There would be an unspoken mutual agreement not to disclose any information to
authorities or anyone in general. While other moral crimes awareness levels such as
begging would be relatively high as the amount of homeless people in society as of right
now.
Deviant or criminal – Moral crimes such as illegal possession of drugs could be argued
to be illegal as there is a set consequence of selling and distributing the narcotics while
crimes such as begging wouldn’t be seen as either due to people knowing that the
beggars are in a bad situation financially so it would be morally wrong to claim begging
as a crime, same can be said with prostitution. Others could argue some moral crimes
could be deviant behaviour rather than criminal in cases such as underaged drinking.
This is because not many people would go out of their way to try and prosecute minors
for drinking, it isn’t seen as serious. Ultimately, different moral crimes could be seen as
deviant, criminal or neither depending on the scenario or situation.
State crime
White-collar crime
Description - White collar crimes are often crimes committed by people in power. These
crimes are non-violent and have a range of victims. The crimes are committed due to
potential monetary gain. Examples of such are embezzlement, money laundering, tax
fraud and employee discrimination. Perpetrators would often be trusted people in a
position of power usually working in a business. Scams such as money laundering can be
a white-collar crime as by definition, it is a non-violent crime often committed by an
individual, group or business with the aims for financial gain through the exploitation of
others.
Types of victims - Victims of these crimes are not only people below the social class but
are also people who are working with the perpetrators, the government, and investors.
Victims such as investors are victims because they have blind trust in the criminals
oblivious of what actually is going on with their money. This means that they are
vulnerable to the exploitations that occur and ultimately this makes the chances of the
offenders being caught very slim while also raising the chance of them committing
crimes to other victims.
Types of offenders - Perpetrators knowledge far exceed the victims meaning the victims
are often oblivious to what is going on with their assets. (add some more lines)
Level of public awareness - The level of public awareness of these types of crimes are
very low as they are not as conspicuous as individual crimes or moral crimes. This is due
to the fact that white collar crime involves money, goods and job position, and the
illegal possession/abuse thereof, the persecutors keep their criminal circle close as
otherwise there would be a risk that their crimes would be leaked to the public and law
enforcement could potentially be involved; this makes the crimes difficult to act against
and could mean that white collar crimes are undetectable.
White collar crimes often have multiple in a group working together to achieve the
crime being committed. Most offenders in a circle are often not found as there would be
no law enforcement could only do so much to find each and every one of the criminals.
Therefore, some of the participants get away scot-free.
Deviant or criminal - White collar crimes would not be classed as deviant crimes
compared to individual crimes (e.g., theft and assault). White collar crimes often have
more than one victim as the level of public awareness is relatively low and the victims
themselves are oblivious therefore, they can’t warn others about the scam with no
knowledge of it happening.
A case of a white-collar crime occurring would be the Harold Shipman. Shipman was a
British surgeon who had killed an estimated amount of 250 patients. He had exploited
, the lack of knowledge his patients had. Shipman had often targeted the elderly, often
women.
Another case of a crime like this occurring would be the infamous case of Bernie
Madoff. In this case, Bernie Madoff – an American businessman – who had used a Ponzi
scheme (a type of scam) to swindle $50 Billion (around $69 Billion in today’s money)
from investors. He had used money of new investors to pay other investors the money
they had thought they had invested. Madoff had been caught due to his son turning him
in to authorities, though Madoff had been released on bail for $10 Billion. The chain of
crimes may have not been discovered if not for Madoffs’ son. This is further evidence
that white collar crimes are undetectable.
Moral crime
Description - Moral crimes often involve the possession or distribution of illegal goods,
begging and illicit activities (e.g., underaged drinking). It is often a crime that goes
against societies norms/what is deemed normal.
Types of victims – These types of crimes are often seen as victimless as most of moral
crimes don’t harm anyone but the perpetrator. There could also be victims who
Types of offenders – Offenders could people being forced into unfortunate situations
such as being begging (due to homelessness consequently due to bad financial situation)
or prostitutes in a difficult financial situation. Others could be reckless people (typically
teens) when it comes to illegal underaged drinking and possession of drugs.
Level of public awareness – The level of public awareness is very low on some cases, for
example with the cases of drug distribution and possession. This is because both parties
are aware of the illegal nature of their actions, so they decide not to report anything.
There would be an unspoken mutual agreement not to disclose any information to
authorities or anyone in general. While other moral crimes awareness levels such as
begging would be relatively high as the amount of homeless people in society as of right
now.
Deviant or criminal – Moral crimes such as illegal possession of drugs could be argued
to be illegal as there is a set consequence of selling and distributing the narcotics while
crimes such as begging wouldn’t be seen as either due to people knowing that the
beggars are in a bad situation financially so it would be morally wrong to claim begging
as a crime, same can be said with prostitution. Others could argue some moral crimes
could be deviant behaviour rather than criminal in cases such as underaged drinking.
This is because not many people would go out of their way to try and prosecute minors
for drinking, it isn’t seen as serious. Ultimately, different moral crimes could be seen as
deviant, criminal or neither depending on the scenario or situation.
State crime
