White collar and corporate crimes Research Paper

White collar and corporate crimes - Research Paper Example According to Edwin Sutherland, a researcher who studied the particular subject for many years, the term corporate crime is used for reflecting the ‘criminal activity of persons high social status and in the context of their profession’ (Sutherland 1939, cited in Simpson, 2002, p.6). From another point of view, white-collar crime has been related strictly to business, being considered as the violation of rules that regulate business activities, and not of rules related to other sectors (Geis, 2006, p.176). The specific issue has been considered as of critical importance due to the following fact: the recent financial crisis, of 2008, has severely affected economic activities worldwide. The crisis has been caused mostly because of the lack of effective control on the corporate governance practices of firms in the financial services sector. However, it has been made clear that many firms that controlled a major part of the global market were unable to monitor the activities of their CEO’s. In other words, white collar and corporate crimes had a key role in the crisis of 2008. ... The findings of the empirical research developed in regard to this subject verify the critical role of white collar and corporate crimes in social and economic life. According to Allen (2010) the increase of corruption, as related to the recent recession, has led to the radical increase of fraud, with a particular emphasis on collar crime (Allen, 2010). In 2009 about ‘160 cases of serious fraud were reported’ (Allen, 2010). These cases reveal the relationship between fraud and business activity. However, it seems that corruption can be also related to geography, as revealed in a report of Corporate Crime Reporter (2007) where reference is made to Louisiana, as the region with the highest level of corruption in USA. At this point, reference should be made to the following problem: there is no mechanism monitoring and managing the collection of data related to white collar and corporate crime. As a result, the exact level of damages caused because of white collar and corpo rate crime cannot be estimated (Center for Corporate Policy 2004). The above problem is highlighted in a report of the USA Department of Justice, involving in the years 2001-2006 (Center for Corporate Policy 2004). It is clear that corporate and white-collar crime is a complex phenomenon; its review would help to identify all its aspects and retrieve the measures that would help towards its limitation. References Allen, K. (2009, December 31). Recession pushes white-collar crime to new highs. The Guardian. Retrieved 2012, March 10 from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/dec/31/fraud-recession-kpmg-report Benson, M. & Simpson, S. (2009). White-collar crime: