White-Collar Crime

White-Collar Crime in the United States

History

The Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations (U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, Chapter Eight), enacted on September 1, 1991, constituted a turning point in the treatment of white-collar crime in the nation. The U.S. Sentencing Commission is a bipartisan, independent agency located in the judicial branch of government, and was created by Congress in 1984 to reduce sentencing disparities and promote transparency and proportionality in sentencing.
Currently, the Commission collects, analyzes, and distributes a broad array of information on federal sentencing practices, continuously establishing and amending sentencing guidelines for the judicial branch and assisting the other branches in developing effective and efficient crime policy.

Later, Congress enacted the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002.

The “Thompson memo”

The “Yates memo”

Corporate Criminals

Federal Organizational Prosecution Agreements

This entry of the American legal encyclopedia contains a list and information on federal organizational prosecution agreements.

Corporate Criminal Liability

In the United States, a company is criminally liable when corporate agents acting on behalf of the corporation, to benefit the corporation, and within the scope of the agent’s authority commit a federal crime (because the Supreme Court in New York Central & Hudson River Railroad v. United States in 1909 extended the tort doctrine of respondent superior to criminal cases and approved the broad use of criminal sanctions against corporations). In the United States, corporations can be prosecuted and convicted for various kinds of federal crimes including Antitrust; Public Corruption and Bribery; Environmental Crime; Food, Drugs, Agricultural, and Consumer Products; Fraud; Money Laundering; Racketeering; and Tax Evasion.

Corporate Sentencing

A corporation convicted by a federal tribunal may be generally sentenced according to the “Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations” (United States Sentencing Guidelines, Chapter Eight). Judges consult the guidelines when sentencing federal offenders.

White Collar and Organized Crime Explained

White Collar Crime in the Criminal Justice System

Resources

See Also

  • Criminal Law
  • Criminal Procedure
  • Class and Crime
  • Corporate Criminal Responsibility
  • Crime Causation
  • Economic Theories
  • Criminal Justice System
  • Economic Crime
  • Anti-Trust Offenses
  • Tax offenses
  • Federal Criminal Law Enforcement
  • Corporate Fraud
  • Corporations
  • Embezzlement
  • Money Laundering
  • Tax Evasion.

Further Reading (Books)

  • Albonetti, Celesta A. “Avoidance of Punishment: A Legal-Bureaucratic Model of Suspended Sentences in Federal White-Collar Cases Prior to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.” Social Forces 78 (1999): 303-329.
  • Aubert, Vilhelm. “White-Collar Crime and Social Structure.” American Journal of Sociology 58 (1952): 263-271.
  • Clinard, Marshall B., and Quinney, Richard. Criminal Behavior Systems. 2d ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1973.
  • Clinard, Marshall B., Quinney, Richard, and Yeager, Peter C. Corporate Crime. With the collaboration of Ruth B. Clinard. New York: Free Press, 1980.
  • Braithwaite, J. (1984). Corporate crime in the pharmaceutical industry. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
  • Fisse, B., & Braithwaite, J. (1993). Corporations, crime, and accountability. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
  • Garrett, B. (2014). Too big to jail. Cambridge, MA: Belknap.
  • Gruner, R. (2006). Corporate criminal liability and prevention. New York: Law Journal Press.
  • Laufer, W. S. (2006). Corporate bodies and guilty minds: The failure of corporate criminal liability. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
  • Simpson, S. (2002). Corporate crime, law, and social control. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Coffee, John C., Jr. “Beyond the Shut-eyed Sentry: Toward a Theoretical View of Corporate Misconduct and an Effective Legal Response.” Virginia Law Review 63 (1977): 1099-1278.
  • Cohen, Albert K.; Lindesmith, Alfred; and Schuessler, Karl, eds. The Sutherland Papers. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1956.
  • Cressey, Donald R. Other People’s Money: A Study in the Social Psychology of Embezzlement. New York: Free Press, 1953.
  • Edelhertz, Herbert. The Nature, Impact, and Prosecution of White Collar Crime. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, 1970.
  • Ermann, David M., and Lundman, Richard J. Corporate and Governmental Deviance: Problems of Organizational Behavior in Contemporary Society. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.
  • Geis, Gilbert, and Meier, Robert F., eds. White-collar Crime: Offenses in Business, Politics, and the Professions. Rev. ed. New York: Free Press, 1977.
  • Kadish, Sanford H. “Some Observations on the Use of Criminal Sanctions in Enforcing Economic Regulations.” University of Chicago Law Review 30 (1963): 423-449.
  • Katz, Jack. “Legality and Equality: Plea Bargaining in the Prosecution of White-Collar and Common Crime.” Law and Society Review 13, no. 2 (1979): 431-459.
  • Katz, Jack. “The Social Movement against White-Collar Crime.” Criminology Review Yearbook, vol. 2. Edited by Egon Bittner and Sheldon L. Messinger. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage, 1980, pp. 161-184.
  • Lott, John R., Jr. “Do We Punish High Income Criminals Too Heavily?” Econ. Inq. 30 (1992): 583-608.
  • Newman, Donald J. “White-collar Crime.” Law and Contemporary Problems 23 (1958): 735-753.
  • Ross, Edward Alsworth. Sin and Society: An Analysis of Latter-day Iniquity (1907). With a letter from President Roosevelt. Reprint. Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1965.
  • Rothman, Mitchell Lewis. “The Criminaloid Revisited.” Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, 1982.
  • Schrager, Laura Shill, and Short, James F., Jr. “Toward a Sociology of Organizational Crime.” Social Problems 25 (1978): 407-419.
  • Shapiro, Susan P. Thinking about White-Collar Crime: Matters of Conceptualization and Research. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, 1980.
  • Stone, Christopher D. “The Place of Enterprise Liability in the Control of Corporate Conduct.” Yale Law Journal 90 (1980): 1-77.
  • Sutherland, Edwin H. White Collar Crime (1949). Foreword by Donald R. Cressey. New York: Holt, 1961.
  • Weisburd, David; Wheeler, Stanton Waring, Elin; and Bode, Nancy. Crimes of the Middle Classes: White-Collar Offenders in the Federal Courts. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1991.
  • Wheeler, Stanton; Mann, Kenneth; and Sarat, Austin. Sitting in Judgment: The Sentencing of White-Collar Criminals. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1988.

Further Reading (Articles)

White Collar Crime Representation in the Criminological Literature Revisited, 2001-2010, Western Criminology Review; August 1, 2013; McGurrin, Danielle Jarrell, Melissa Jahn, Amber Cochrane, Brandy

The battle against white-collar crime, USA TODAY; January 1, 2002; Johnston, Richard

White-Collar Crime, Crime and Punishment in America Reference Library; January 1, 2005

100 Years of White Collar Crime in “Twitter”, The Review of Litigation; April 1, 2011; Podgor, Ellen S.

Public Perceptions of White Collar Crime Culpability: Bribery, Perjury, and Fraud, Law and Contemporary Problems; March 22, 2012; Green, Stuart P. Kugler, Matthew B.

New Southern California U.S. District Attorney Attacks White-Collar Crime., Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News; February 2, 2003

White-Collar Crime: Those Dirty Rings, The Washington Post; January 17, 1991; ART BUCHWALD

The Lure of White-Collar Crime, Security Management; February 1, 1993; Turner, Dana L. Stephenson, Richard G.

White Collar Crime, the Emerging Devil for Cops: HM Chaithanya Swamy L Bangalore, DNA : Daily News & Analysis; December 15, 2012

White-Collar Crime Increases in Value, Complexity; FBI Is Busy with Referrals., Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News; June 22, 2003

White Collar Crime Spree, Multinational Monitor; August 1, 2000; Mokhiber, Russell

Analysis: White-collar crime, NPR Talk of the Nation; March 18, 2002; NEAL CONAN

Investigating White-Collar Crime: Embezzlement and Financial Fraud. (book reviews), The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin; November 1, 1997; Bowker, Arthur L.

White-Collar and Organized Crime, Crime and Punishment in America Reference Library; January 1, 2005

NO ONE prosecuted for white-collar crime by the corporate watchdog has been jailed in the 10-year history of the office., Irish Independent (Dublin, Republic of Ireland); July 5, 2010

The defenders: 9 Arkansas lawyers who know white-collar crime., Arkansas Business; July 4, 2011; Knable, Kate

‘White-Collar Crime Does a Lot More Damage Than Conventional Crime’, The Irish Times; August 24, 2012; Keena, Colm

White-Collar Crime Picks Your Pocket // Credibility Takes Severe Beating in the Public Sector, Chicago Sun-Times; October 15, 1994; Thomas Scorza

Birkett says no shortage of white-collar crimes in DuPage, The Sun – Naperville (IL); October 14, 2004; Larry Avila

White Collar Crime, Law & Order; May 1, 2003; Scuro, Joseph, Jr.

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