White Collar Crime Research Paper

Corporate Criminal Liability and White-Collar Crime
Glory Finley
Nur Kanburoglu
Patrina Mohabir
Rebecca Saxon
Julie Stoltz
Suzanne Witkowski
University of Phoenix
BUS 421: Business Law
Mark Goodman
June 1, 2009 Corporate Criminal Liability and White-Collar Crime
White-collar crimes are non-violent criminal actions done through a business operation. These types of crimes usually do not affect one particular person, but a large number of individuals such as employees and investors. This paper will show the history of white-collar crimes. There are different forms of white-collar crimes. We will illustrate the forms and characteristics of white-collar crimes as well as different legal positions focused in white- collar crimes.
Specific criticisms point out his use of arbitrary terms that cannot be quantified, such as "high socio-economic status,” "respectable,” and "business activities.” The sociological community widely considers that Sutherland 's 1939 definition of white-collar crime was intended to draw attention to the idea that there is no difference between elite crime and street crime, as well as highlight the discrepancies in the application of law and justice between the rich and the poor. In subsequent writings, Sutherland clarified his use of “high socio-economic status” to include persons of the middle and upper classes (Sutherland, 1949). Sutherland 's elucidation had little to no effect in quelling the arguments related to his original work. A study by Cressey, an American penologist, sociologist and criminologist, based on the interviews of federal prisoners convicted of embezzlement concluded that although none of the subjects were poor, only a scant few could be considered as being of a high socio-economic status (Cressey, 1953). Cressey 's findings led to other criminologists questioning if an offense such as embezzlement could even be considered white-collar crime under the Sutherland definition. Even the term "business activity" was the subject of debate with Quinney, an American
It is almost impossible to believe that corporate executives can claim ignorance of underlings’ actions. Executives are responsible for company policies and procedures, including those for reporting and filing documents as well as ensuring a healthy culture (i.e.: environment when employees feel open to report wrongdoings, no unauthorized or excessive loans to company executives). Another duty is to ensure strong internal controls are in place and maintained and under sections 302 and 404 of SOX must evaluate it and produce a report stating the results. "Corporate crime is organizational in nature" (Robinson and Murphy, 2008), and thus is a product of weak procedures and poor supervision. If procedures are not sufficient, their duty is to institute changes. Top officers have access to all company information and must sign their names to all corporate financial statements, as Title III of SOX states that senior executives take individual responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of corporate financial reports. Being in such a high position of control, these top officers are assumed to have the competence to understand every aspect of their business and should always be aware of what is going on. If criminal activities are being undertaken within the corporation, those responsible for supervising work