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Why White-Collar Crimes Committed Within Organizational Settings Are Different from Other Types of White-Collar Crime or from Crime in General

White-collar crime is defined as nonviolent crimes that are done to gain finances. As outlined by Berghoff and Spiekermann (2018), white-collar crimes entail deceit, concealment, or trust violation. The main reason why white-collar crimes occur is either for obtaining or avoiding loss of money, properties, or services. Also, white-collar crimes arise to get a personal or company’s benefits. However, these crimes are not heard daily, but they are increasing in different nations. According to a 2010 report released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in America, White collar crimes amount to $300 billion annually (Berghoff & Spiekermann, 2018). These crimes are comparatively new concepts and have existed in the court of laws for a long time, although it can still be unclear. In this case, the essay will outline why white-collar crimes committed within an organizational background need to be considered different than other typical crimes committed individually.

First, business personnel and officials committing nonviolent crimes insides an organizational setting to get finances charged with white-collar crimes. However, it becomes a challenge to prosecute these crimes since the perpetrators can utilize sophisticated techniques that hide their unlawful practices. In other offenses committed outside an organization, individuals have limited methods to commit them, and it becomes easy to prosecute them. Informers, which means individuals are disclosing any crime or evil, should fundamentally identify white-collar crimes since they report anything that cannot be identified outside the company settings. In collaboration with the federal government, the state is mandated to identify any activity relating to white collar crimes. Examples of white-collar crimes committed within an organizational setting comprise embezzlement, fraud, bribery, tax evasion, and money laundering. According to Gottschalk (2017), embezzlement entails converting properties that are possessed by the perpetrator. Embezzlement has numerous examples, like when an individual has access rights to a friend’s money to monitor but then misuse it for their gain. In this case, White collar crime occurs when an employee or a manager misuses the company’s finances for personal gains.

The second reason why white-collar crimes committed within a company’s settings are different from others is that they intend to make individuals feel pleasure and avoid pain. People commit them for personal gains. Crimes committed within an organizational setting should be treated differently because they can be rational, and therefore the crime rates will reduce when punishments are higher than the benefits. Also, this can be explained as present gains versus imminent expenses. White-collar crimes can be defined as calculated and not out of passion. White-collar crimes committed within an organizational setting have a sense of organization and are concealed in lawful company practices (Craig, 2019). Thus, at times they become hard to detect and prosecute perpetrators. In crimes committed individually and outside an organization, an individual does not have any legal framework or concealment, resulting in more comfortable and faster prosecution. Committing a white-collar crime in an organizational setting is considered to have favorable circumstances that permit the potential application of the course of action. For instance, a manager can embezzle corporate funds using legal frameworks and avoid prosecution. However, in other crimes, embezzlement of funds outside an organization does not have any legal concealment, and the perpetrators are treated as criminals. According to (), white-collar criminals commit these crimes because of the lawful access to the crime scene’s location, which is distant from the victim.

Third, the facet of organizational setting is evident when more parties are involved in criminal activity, and the entire company is generally considered unethical. A crime committed within a corporate environment can be hard to prosecute since it can be significant to fall in the criminal or too powerful to charge. A crime committed within an organization and the perpetrators have not prosecuted acts as the motivation to other employees. When employees learn, for instance, about the embezzlement of funds that went unnoticed, they are motivated to use similar tactics also to gain. Therefore, white-collar crimes within an organizational setting encourage certain behaviors, in that people learn from someone else that a crime is comparatively convenient without feeling any guilt. In crimes committed outside an organization, individuals do them independently without learning or being motivated by others. General crimes are different because people commit them while feeling guilty and fearing that they will be caught, prosecuted, and no one will defend them. Crimes committed in an organization can be protected when an organization wants to secure its reputation. White-collar crimes in an organization also occur when a person is in the capacity of an expert holding a trusted and respected individual in the company (Craig, 2019). Therefore, this professional commits the crime freely because he/she has essential details to facilitate that. In contrast, other general crimes are committed by people outside an organization, and they do not have access to anything required to facilitate such actions at ease. Instead, they access such information illegally.

Often, white-collar crimes within an organization need to be considered differently from other crimes because they occur in the workplace’s private realm, thus making them comparatively invisible and easily concealed. Also, as outlined by Gottschalk (2017), white-collar criminals commit these crimes while they are in employment, causing them to misuse the trust intrinsic in their work. Similarly, these crimes likely occur by using various types of technical or insider knowledge. Because these people understand the company’s information, they hide their criminal acts and can even exploit the expertise, scientific or economic professionalism they have acquired with the company. Therefore, the analysis reveals that these professionals can commit offenses compound and challenge to bright to light. Further, most of the crimes are significantly planned and involve other people with different roles within a company. In this case, it becomes a challenge to establish individuals responsible for the crime due to the company’s distribution of powers. Delegation of authorities makes real offenders start blaming others, which is different from the general crimes whereby offenders do not blame anyone.

In conclusion, companies should create an ethical climate by establishing a culture that emphasizes the essence of law, rules, coordination, and common interest to minimize white-collar crime cases among employees. Companies should also create an ethical climate that will express a statement of the fundamental standards to interpret to employees and management. The organizational code of ethics should act as a personal preservation technique and empower positive conduct within a company. Therefore, an organization should focus on the idea of rules and their implications and outline the vital essentialness of engaging in moral practices instead of focusing on punishable outcomes. From the analysis, it is clear that White collar crimes within an organizational setting are hard to prosecute because some individuals conceal within the company’s legal framework. In contrast, other general crimes are easy to charge because they are executed individually, and perpetrators cannot blame anyone.

References

Berghoff, H., & Spiekermann, U. (2018). Shady business: On the history of white-collar crime.

Craig, J. M. (2019). Extending situational action theory to white-collar crime. Deviant Behavior40(2), 171-186.

Gottschalk, P. (2017). Convenience in white-collar crime: Introducing a core concept. Deviant Behavior38(5), 605-619.