AC1.1
1. Definition of a given crime
2. Types of offences
3. Victim
4. Offender
5. Public awareness/ media coverage
6. Is it a crime or a deviant act - i must justify it, why it goes against our moral
code and the law and case study
7. Statistics
Criminology - a complex subject, the study of crime and deviant behaviour, draws primarily
upon the research of sociologists but also psychology, history, law and geography.
Crime - an act that goes against the law and is punishable by law. e.g shoplifting, burglary,
fraud, breaking and entering. Crime is punished by formal agencies of control (court, police,
probation) Crime is being met by formal sanctions such as prison, community service, house
arrest, compensation, curfew, youth offenders team, social services, deportation.
Deviance - acting unusually from accepted social norms specifically regarding social or
sexual behaviour. e.g standing too close to someone, skipping the queue, not giving up your
seat for an elderly or disabled person. Deviance is a social construct, so is what is
considered a crime.
Formal deviance - punishable by law e.g murder, rape, robbery.
Informal deviance - result in social sanctions and stigma, for example stares, shouting,
judgement.
Social Construct - something we as people created and integrated it within our society,
something that doesn’t occur naturally. It is something that is flexible, changes over time,
place and culture.
WHITE COLLAR CRIME
1 - DEFINITION - White collar crime - a crime committed by a person of respectability and
high social status in the course of his occupation. Generally white collar crimes are
non-violent crimes committed for commercial gain. E.g fraud, embezzlement, defrauding
customers, tax evasion, breaking health and safety laws, polluting the environment, illegally
discriminating against employees, money laundering.
FEATURES OF WHITE COLLAR CRIME :
It often takes place in private
, Offenders present at the scene
Abuse of trust
Insider knowledge
Limited physical threat
Ambiguous legal and criminal status
Determining responsibility difficult
2 - OFFENCES - Types of white collar crimes:
Occupational crime - crime carried out by employees within the workplace who seek to
advantage themselves at the expense of the company for whom they work. CASE STUDY
EXAMPLE: Nick Leeson
Corporate crime - This involves activities carried out by employees of a company whose
prime aim is to benefit the company. CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: Ford Pinto
Organised crime - This involves activities carried out by people of relatively high social status
but not necessarily within the setting of a workplace. CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: Al Capone
3 - VICTIMS of white collar crime - consumers, taxpayers and government, employees and
general public.
4 - OFFENDERS of WCC -
People of high responsibility and social status and most likely to be richer.
5 - PUBLIC AWARENESS of WCC -
Generally public awareness of white collar crime is low. White collar crime is a complex
crime, not everyone is smart enough to commit this crime. You need to have inside
knowledge and you need to know how to investigate this crime. If someone has got power
and is of higher status people may not suspect this person of committing a crime and they
may have enough money to pay people off. Additionally, big corporations can pay for good
lawyers.. White crime is generally very underreported because these crimes are very
sophisticated and offenders use a series of complex transactions to cover up their tracks.
Consequently, public awareness of such crimes is very low.
6 - CRIME OR DEVIANCE -
White collar crime is considered both a crime and deviant because its against our moral
code of stealing and it goes against the law. Another example of a white collar crime is
Harold Shipman, killing up to 218 of his patients, abusing their trust. This makes people
undermine the faith in large organisations such as the NHS.
6 - LAWS against WCC -
Money laundering offences are found in Part 7 of Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
Embezzlement is a crime under Theft Act of 1968 or the Fraud Act of 2006
7- STATISTICS:
3.7 million instances of fraud in the year 2022 in England and Wales - based on Crime
Survey of England and Wales
1. Definition of a given crime
2. Types of offences
3. Victim
4. Offender
5. Public awareness/ media coverage
6. Is it a crime or a deviant act - i must justify it, why it goes against our moral
code and the law and case study
7. Statistics
Criminology - a complex subject, the study of crime and deviant behaviour, draws primarily
upon the research of sociologists but also psychology, history, law and geography.
Crime - an act that goes against the law and is punishable by law. e.g shoplifting, burglary,
fraud, breaking and entering. Crime is punished by formal agencies of control (court, police,
probation) Crime is being met by formal sanctions such as prison, community service, house
arrest, compensation, curfew, youth offenders team, social services, deportation.
Deviance - acting unusually from accepted social norms specifically regarding social or
sexual behaviour. e.g standing too close to someone, skipping the queue, not giving up your
seat for an elderly or disabled person. Deviance is a social construct, so is what is
considered a crime.
Formal deviance - punishable by law e.g murder, rape, robbery.
Informal deviance - result in social sanctions and stigma, for example stares, shouting,
judgement.
Social Construct - something we as people created and integrated it within our society,
something that doesn’t occur naturally. It is something that is flexible, changes over time,
place and culture.
WHITE COLLAR CRIME
1 - DEFINITION - White collar crime - a crime committed by a person of respectability and
high social status in the course of his occupation. Generally white collar crimes are
non-violent crimes committed for commercial gain. E.g fraud, embezzlement, defrauding
customers, tax evasion, breaking health and safety laws, polluting the environment, illegally
discriminating against employees, money laundering.
FEATURES OF WHITE COLLAR CRIME :
It often takes place in private
, Offenders present at the scene
Abuse of trust
Insider knowledge
Limited physical threat
Ambiguous legal and criminal status
Determining responsibility difficult
2 - OFFENCES - Types of white collar crimes:
Occupational crime - crime carried out by employees within the workplace who seek to
advantage themselves at the expense of the company for whom they work. CASE STUDY
EXAMPLE: Nick Leeson
Corporate crime - This involves activities carried out by employees of a company whose
prime aim is to benefit the company. CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: Ford Pinto
Organised crime - This involves activities carried out by people of relatively high social status
but not necessarily within the setting of a workplace. CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: Al Capone
3 - VICTIMS of white collar crime - consumers, taxpayers and government, employees and
general public.
4 - OFFENDERS of WCC -
People of high responsibility and social status and most likely to be richer.
5 - PUBLIC AWARENESS of WCC -
Generally public awareness of white collar crime is low. White collar crime is a complex
crime, not everyone is smart enough to commit this crime. You need to have inside
knowledge and you need to know how to investigate this crime. If someone has got power
and is of higher status people may not suspect this person of committing a crime and they
may have enough money to pay people off. Additionally, big corporations can pay for good
lawyers.. White crime is generally very underreported because these crimes are very
sophisticated and offenders use a series of complex transactions to cover up their tracks.
Consequently, public awareness of such crimes is very low.
6 - CRIME OR DEVIANCE -
White collar crime is considered both a crime and deviant because its against our moral
code of stealing and it goes against the law. Another example of a white collar crime is
Harold Shipman, killing up to 218 of his patients, abusing their trust. This makes people
undermine the faith in large organisations such as the NHS.
6 - LAWS against WCC -
Money laundering offences are found in Part 7 of Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
Embezzlement is a crime under Theft Act of 1968 or the Fraud Act of 2006
7- STATISTICS:
3.7 million instances of fraud in the year 2022 in England and Wales - based on Crime
Survey of England and Wales
