White Collar Crime: W1 main post

During the first week of your job training, the topic of white-collar crime is reviewed from an historical perspective.

There has been much debate regarding the definition of white-collar crime. Edwin Sutherland noted that white-collar crime is crimes committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his or her occupation. The FBI includes a very board definition on its Web site.

Discuss the following:

• Search for definitions of white-collar-crime used by enforcement agencies (other than the FBI) or a professional organization, and note the commonality of the definitions. If you are not able to find many definitions, develop your own definition.
• What types of white-collar-crimes would not be included in Sutherland's definition?
• Search the news and Web for an example a case of a white-collar crime. Briefly describe this case in a few sentences and identify some of the common elements of white-collar crime in your example. How would you classify your example of white collar crime?