White-Collar Crime

Crimes committed by persons of relatively high social or economic status such as business people, professionals, and politicians in the course of their occupation are known as “white-collar” crimes, after the typical attire of their perpetrators.

White-collar crimes fall broadly into two categories: those illegal actions undertaken by perpetrators to make money for themselves; and those illegal actions undertaken principally to further the aims of their company or other organization. The most common crimes falling into the first category are embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, securities theft, bribery and kickbacks, insider trading, computer crime, and some types of fraud. The second category of crimes comprises a vast variety of illegal practices by corporations and other organizations: restraint of trade (i.e., monopolies and price-fixing), misrepresentation in advertising, unfair labour practices, health or safety violations in the workplace, income-tax law violations, and various financial manipulations.

Contrary to popular usage, criminologists tend to restrict the term to the second category of crimes, that is to those illegal actions intended by the perpetrators principally to further the aims of their organizations rather than to make money for themselves personally. Examples include conspiring with other corporations to fix prices of goods or services in order to make artificially high profits or to drive a particular competitor out of the market; bribing officials or falsifying reports of tests on pharmaceutical products to obtain manufacturing licenses; and constructing buildings or roads with cheap, defective materials while charging for components meeting full specifications. acting on their own initiative, but sometimes they represent a form of "upperworld" organized crime.

The cost of corporate crime in the United States has been estimated at $200,000,000,000 a year ‑ three times the cost of organized crime. Such crimes have a huge impact upon the safety of workers, consumers, and the environment, but they are seldom detected. Compared with crimes committed by juveniles or the poor, corporate crimes are very rarely prosecuted in the criminal courts, and executives seldom go to jail, though companies may pay large fines.

The term white-collar crime is also used in another sense, by the public and academics, to describe fraud and embezzlement. Rather than being crime “by the firm, for the firm,” this constitutes crime for profit by the individual against the organization, the public, or the government. (Tax fraud costs at least 5 percent of the gross national product in most developed countries.) Because of the concealed nature of many frauds and the fact that few are reported even when discovered, the cost is impossible to estimate precisely, but the economic cost of white-collar crime in most industrial societies is thought to be much greater than the combined cost of larceny, burglary, auto theft, forgery, and robbery.

5. Rewrite the sentences using the Passive Voice:

1. Juveniles and the poor commit crimes.

2. They used the term white-collar crime also in another sense.

3. He will include examples of conspiring with other corporations to fix prices of goods or services.

4. They have driven a competitor out of the market.

5. Often people attribute such activities to over-enthusiastic employees or executives.

6. Match the following English and Russian equivalents:

1) illegal actions	a) лицензия на производство
2) securities theft	b) подкупать должностных лиц
3) artificially high profits	c) огромное влияние
4) to bribe officials	d) совокупная стоимость
5) manufacturing license	e) платить большие штрафы
6) a huge impact	f) зарабатывать (делать) деньги
7) to pay large fines	g) точно оценить
8) the concealed nature	h) незаконные деяния
9) to estimate precisely	i) составлять преступление
10) the combined cost	j) скрытый характер
11) to constitute crime	k) хищение ценных бумаг
12) to make money	l) искусственно завышенная прибыль

7. Translate the sentences paying attention to the underlined words and phrases:

1. This term has so far been also used in another sense to describe fraud and embezzlement.

2. Many frauds were reported in this industry a few years ago.

3. The economic cost of white-collar crime in most industrial societies was thought to be less than it turned out to be.

4. Most criminologists tend to restrict the term to those illegal actions intended by the perpetrators principally to defraud customers.

SPEAKING

Discussion:

17 Why do many white-collar crimes remain unpunished?

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14