CHAPTER –II
WHITE COLLAR CRIMES
White Collar Crimes:–
For a warrior, nothing is higher than against evil. The Warrior confronted
with such a war should be pleased. Arjuna, for it comes as an open gate to heaven.
But if you do not participate in this battle against evil, you will incur sin, violating
your Dharma & Your Honour.1
Necessity is not always the motive behind the commission of a crime.
This ideal evolved with the criminologist and sociologist Edwin H. Sutherland, in
the year 1939, who popularized the term ‘White collar Crime’ by defining such a
crime as one ‘committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the
course of his occupation’. Sutherland also included crime committed by
corporations and other legal entities within his definition.
Sutherland’s study of White Collar Crime was prompted by the view that
criminology had incorrectly focused on social and economic determinants of crime,
such as family background and level of wealth. Sutherland was of a view that
crime is committed at every level of society and by person of widely divergent
socio-economic backgrounds. In particular, according to Sutherland, crime is
often committed by persons operating through large and powerful organizations.
White Collar Crime, as Sutherland concluded, has a greatly underestimated impact
upon our society.
It is true to the common knowledge that there are certain professions which
offer lucrative opportunities for criminal acts and unethical practices which is
very often overlooked by the general mass of the society. There have been crooks
and unethical persons in business, various other professions, who tend to become
unscrupulous because of no reason apart from the thirst of gaining more and more
for themselves. These deviants have least regard for ethical and moral human
values. Therefore, they carry on their illegal activities with impunity without the
fear of loss of respect and prestige. These crimes are of the nature of ‘White
Collar Crimes’ which is essential outcome of the development of the competent
economy of the twenty-first century. Talking about the prevalence of White Collar
Crimes in India, they are spreading like a rapid fire in every sphere of society.
Though corruption, one of the species of White Collar Crimes, has been the most
talked about issue in all spheres – social economic and political, not much has
stringent actions had been taken to curb these menace. 2.
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2.1 Meaning and Definition of White Collar Crime:–
White Collar Crime is difficult to define because it can be committed by
anyone with money and apply to many different activities. White Collar Crime is
illegal activity carried on within normally legal business transactions. For example,
White Collar Crime comes from within legal businesses such as banking stock
trading or insurance claims White Collar Crime is also nonviolent.
“White collar violations are those violations of law to which penalties are
attached that involve the use of significant power, influence or trust in the legitimate
economic or political institutional order for the purpose of illegal gain or to commit
an illegal act for personal or organizational gain”.—Albert Reiss and Albert
Biderman...
As Prof. Hugh Barlow on White-Collar crime was of the opinion that White
Collar crime is not only committed by the people of high social status in their
occupational capacity but also is committed by the people of lower strata. Thereafter
Sutherland’s definition of White Collar crime faced a lot of criticisms as many
Criminologists were of the opinion that Sutherland himself creates lots of confusion
regarding the concept of White Collar Crime. Sometimes he stressed crimes
committed by individuals of high status, while at other times he stressed crimes
carried out in the course of one’s occupation. He used various definitions and
among them most frequently cited definition gained the importance of Occupational
status as an important tool for the White Collar criminals.
The main motives behind these White Collar Crimes are personal gain. Individuals
or groups may use and abuse their positions within a company to hide of steal
money. White Collar Crime can be committed by one individual or it can involve
a number of individuals in a large corporation who deceive investors.
i) The term “White Collar Crime” describes non-violent criminal activity in
the commercial or business realm, usually committed for financial gain. Examples
of White Collar Crime include embezzlement, securities fraud tax evasion, and
money laundering. White Collar offences can be committed by individuals or
corporations and criminal statutes governing White Collar Crime are found at
both the state and Federal level.3
As has been mentioned earlier. Sutherland defined White Collar Crime as
“crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course
of his occupation”. A white collar criminal therefore is a socially and economically
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sound person who violates the criminal laws in due course of his performing
professional qualities. Misrepresentation through fraudulent advertisements,
infringement of trademark copyright by the industrialist, hoarding, black –
marketing, food adulteration etc. are considered to be some of the instances of
White Collar Crimes. However, the definition given by Sutherland is considered
to be wide and imprecise and therefore it is subjected to vehement criticism in all
quarters. It is wide in the sense that he did not define since he does not specifically
mentions what he means by a person of respectability, nor does he describes the
scope and ambit of the term ‘occupation’. Coleman and Maynihan4 pointed out
that the lack of definite criteria for determining who are the ‘persons of
respectability and status’ has made Sutherland’s definition of crime the most
controversial.
The term ‘high social status’ as used in the definition also leads to
discrepancy, since the term is a relative one and therefore not specific. As
mentioned earlier, the ‘occupation’ term used in his definition leads to ambiguity
as he does not categorize what occupation should come within its ambit. Another
criticism put against Sutherland’s definition is that White Collar Crimes, in the
general sense of term, also includes those violations which are not committed in
the course of occupation or profession and at the same time, white collar crimes
are not strictly committed by the members of the higher socio-economic strata.
For e.g. the White Collar Crime of tax-evasion is not only committed only by
persons belonging to the higher strata but also committed by persons belonging to
middle or even lower strata of the society.
However, it was not only Sutherland, but many others who preferred to
define White Collar Crimes on the status basis. Hartung5 defines a White Collar
offence as a violation of law regulating business, which is committed for a firm
by the firm or its agents in the conduct of its business. Cressey5 seems implicitly
to be using a wider concept broad enough to include also embezzlement. Moreover
there are some who argue that differentials of power and influence are the keys to
identify, satisfactorily frame, and unravel fundamental questions about crime and
crime control. For example, investigations of sexual harassment have shown there
the offender has always been of a superior status than that of victim. Therefore
the principle reason propounded behind the commission of White Collar Crimes
through light on the diverse criminal behaviour generally. The status based
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definition of White Collar Crime draws on and reaffirms criminological ties to
macro level analysis of social and political processes.
However, there are others who refuse to give much emphasis on offender’s
social position and repute as the only basis of classifying White Collar Crimes.
They advocate that collaring should be done not of the criminals but of the crimes.
The concept of abuse of trust, for example, can be considered to be a White Collar
Crime. Abuse of trust means exploitation of fiduciary position of the agents
responsible for the safe custody discretion, information or for property rights.
Here since the trust crime is being committed by citizens wearing both blue collars
and white collars. Similar instance can be done as that of adulteration of food,
where this type of offence is committed not only by the upper class people but
also by middle class businessmen involved in the food business. Therefore we
should not always peep into the offender’s wardrobe and his official position but
consider the modus operandi of his misdeeds and the way he exploit. Whatever
the merits of the position, they hold strong that in White Collar Crimes the offenders
are not always powerful and the victims are ordinary citizens.
Therefore, Sutherland’s restriction of White Collar Crime to acts committed
by men/ women in the course of their operation, excludes extra vocational crime
whereas some other view refused to restrict themselves within the circumference
of the elite class and tried go deep into it. However, whatever definitions have
been offered, it failed to acquire general acceptance as it did not seem to be
adequate. Despite of its fundamental awkwardness, the term ‘White Collar Crime’
has now been deeply embedded within our legal, moral, and social science
vocabularies. The term persists and proliferates not so much in spite of its back
of definition precision, but because of it speakers attribute to those meanings that
correspond to their own particulars analytical or ideological concerns.
Not surprisingly, this is the approach taken by various lawyers and
enforcement officials interested in formulating a standard definition of White
Collar Crime. For example, in 1970 U.S. Departments of Justice official Herbert
Edlehertz described White Collar Crime as ‘an illegal act or series of illegal acts
committed by non physical money or property or to obtain business advantage’.
Therefore in his definition he made an attempt to shed out the tag of person of
High Social responsibility from the concept of White Collar Crime and tried to
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concise its definition concentrating solely on the nature of acts that constitutes
White Collar Crimes.
2.2 White Collar Crime in various Domains in India:–
2.2.1 Legal System in India:–
Currently number of cases are pending in High Courts and Supreme Court,
which can be checked online using e-governance, also the dates for next hearing
are available to the parties e.g. Telgi Scam of bogus stamp papers was having
impact of Rs. 80,000 crores, yet no effective remedies are adopted and the matter
is dangling in legal system. Also, in some countries provisions are made to make
hearing using Webcam, wherein the terrorist are in Jail where they are and no risk
and extra incurred for carrying to court.
2.2.2 In trade and Industry:-
Santhanam committee gives detailed report of criminal behaviour of so
called respectable men, e.g. big business tycoons, industrialists, public servant
etc. Main point is ‘Corruption exists if there is someone willing to corrupt and
capable of corrupting which is found in industrial and commercial classes, they
indulge in evasion and avoidance of taxes, accumulate huge black money, dirty
money by various methods for instance, suppressing profits by manipulation of
transactions of immovable property by liason or men who live and spend and
entertain beyond their means of income disproportionately.’
2.2.3 Financial Institutional fraud:–
Financial Institution Fraud (FIR) continues to be a significant White Collar
Crime problem throughout the country. After the deluge of 26/11 in Mumbai, the
CBI has refocused its programme of the same and is now investigating higher
priority cases to a much greater degree. Large-scale mortgage fraud and identity
theft operations, many perpetrated by organized criminal enterprises, also continue
to plague India.
2.2.4 Corruption in Government and politics:–
This is global phenomena. Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 amended
in 1988 is in practice. Yet, unscrupulous public servants amaze wealth and posses
disproportionate assets to their known sources of income e.g. An encounter
specialist police official, ordinary sub-inspector of police of Mumbai crime branch
amassed Rs. 225 crores property in India and abroad. An officer attached to Narcotic
Drugs and psychopathic Substances Act implementation amassed 250 crores of
rupees assets and now settled in USA. One of the best examples of e-governnance
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is that the Central Vigilance Commission’s famous case when it published on its
website the name of 34 IAS Officers against whom charges of corruption were
proved. The information percolated to millions on the net and led to the social
outcaste of those corrupt officers. Public servants have meager salary and they
have pressing needs of life and greed offices. Only its magnitude, degree and
proportion vary. Similarly, political corruption includes grafts right from stage of
giving ticket to election, abuse of political offices i.e. 1 Dozen MP’s (members of
Parliament) were punished for asking question in parliament, at cost, proven by
sting operation. There is rampant violation of election laws (representation of
People Act) Tul Mohanram Episode, Mundra Sirajuddin affairs involves high
ranking officials like cabinet ministers etc. In short, it can be said that the criminal
justice system is not delivering property and there is serious erosion of people’s
faith in its efficacy. It is commonly accepted that corruption is dysfunction to the
system of governance and to society as a whole.
2.2.5 Forgery:–
Another growing form of White Collar Crime includes all sorts of forgery,
varying from land record papers to Supreme Court judgments.
2.2.6 Violations of Foreign Exchange regulations and Import Export :–
This is more prevalent among businessmen who do under invoicing of
export goods and over invoicing of import goods thereby harming National
economy. This can be avoided by adding transparency to the process which is the
key to the problem.
2.2.7 Violation of Tax Laws:–
Tax evasion and tax avoidance, demarcation line is thin i.e. non payment
of tax which is to be paid and spreading of total income in such a manner that it
does not incur tax liability legally, respectively. The loss incurred to state exchequer
due to violation of tax is tremendous. Actual tax paid is only a fraction of total
income, remaining of which goes to black money is converted to white money by
various methods which adversely hamper economy of the country.
2.3. White Collar Crimes in various professions in India:–
2.3.1 Legal Profession:–
Preparing false and fabricated claims, fabricating evidence delaying
litigation by colluding with opposite party, adopting unscrupulous tactics, violation
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of ethical norms of legal profession i.e. Advocate Act, 1961 converting “Criminal
lawyer to lawyer criminal”.
2.3.2 Engineering:–
The underhand dealing in getting tenders passed for contractors, suppliers
showing oversight of the use of sub-standard materials for constructions and
thereby building are collapsing prematurely say within 25 years. Falsification of
records, frauds, if the original tender of a lowest bidder is ‘X’ the completion
costs of the project is usually ‘3X / 4X’ which proves there are totally time-overrun
and cost – overrun of the projects and social cost of delay of project are very
huge.
2.3.3 Educational Institutions:–
Private educational institutes e.g. not even approved by Delhi AICTE, run
private engineering colleges admission to which is given without merit, also
institutes running on government aid make fake and bogus enrolment of students,
give meager salary to teachers while getting signature for full salary defrauding
large sums of government grants. Large sums of Government grants, issues of
fictitious bogus manipulative certificates, collection of unauthorized donation in
the name of building fund, issuance of fake degrees and diplomas by unrecognized
institutes’ even professors are taking bogus Ph.Ds cost and getting enhanced
salaries.
2.3.4 Money Laundering Techniques:–
Black / dirty money converted into White. Black money means not obtained
from legal activities i.e. obtained by corruption/ held in secrecy to avoid income
tax liability and dirty money is obtained through completely illegal means i.e. it
can be hidden in Swiss banks but can not be used by the holder until there is
special scheme declared by government like amnesty scheme thus is converted to
clean money e.g. trafficking illegal drugs generate enormous qty and dirty moneys,
concealing its origin, ownership and other potentially embarrassing factors by
investing it to benami properties. (Unfortunately legitimate in India.)
2.4. Distinction between White Collar Crimes and Blue Collar Crimes.
Generally speaking, the traditional attire of the person committed that style
of crime defines the crime’s classification. White collar refers to the dress shirts
worn by these types of office workers wear, with white of collars and ties. Blue
collar would refer to the standard uniforms worn by many working class
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individuals. These are very general terms, and there is no law that states that a
working class person cannot commit a white collar crime and vice versa. The
classifications refer more to the crime itself as a general definition than the actual
perpetrators. Also, these are generalized classifications coined by the media and
are not codified as crimes in the classic sense in our judicial system.
2.5 Definition of Blue Collar Crimes:-
A blue collar crime is a highly visible crime committed by the average
working class or poor individual from violent crimes to thievery and even drug-
related crimes. Most are perpetrated by people who believe that they have nothing
to lose, and everything to gain, by the success or failure of the crime and the crime
is committed due to a lack of hope, environmental pressures, peer pressure, or a
simple feeling that there are no other options.6
Blue collar crimes are typically associated with Americans who work for a living,
heading to day jobs or night shifts in order to earn an income and support a family
the hard way. According to experts, the unemployed are at highest risk for
committing what is classified as a blue collar crime. Crimes in this category
typically include theft, drug charges and violent crimes. Keep in mind that many
high- powered executives get charged without, crimes of violence and drug crimes.
The difference is that they aren’t charged with these types of crimes at the same
high rate as blue collar workers.
2.6 White Collar Crimes:-
Opposite of blue collar crimes, white collar criminals are typically the high
class people who inherited money or earn a lot of money at upper level jobs, such
as management, business or corporate bigwigs, et cetera, The types of crimes
committed are generally technical or money-related in nature, such as computer-
based crimes or embezzlement, and these crimes are steadily increasing as more
people discover the negative aspects of doing business primarily online.’
There are many different sophisticated crimes that are classified as white
collar crimes according to legal precedent. They include, but are not limited to:
embezzlement, money laundering, identity theft, credit card fraud, hacking, forgery,
and similar crimes. The punishments for the white collar crimes are drastically
different as well, often incurring probation or community service in conjunction
with high monetary fines instead of focusing solely on incarceration, as is the
case with many blue collar crimes. However, with the Satyam Computer Scam as
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well as the other recent Wall Street crimes, more and more white collar criminals
are facing stiff criminal penalties that include long periods of incarceration in
federal prisons. This is due is large part to the severe societal and economic impact
of these crimes as well and the attention brought to these crimes by the media.
1. In blue collar crimes victim is immediately located and is himself aware
that a wrong has been committed against him which is not so in case of
white collar crimes. Victims often do not know that what resulted in sudden
crash of market or why that bank or company closed down all of a sudden.
Here the impact may be so indirect that the victim does not realizes the
implications of a news and is unaware until some tells him that the relation
in news and his loss.
2. Second difference is due to judging of Mens rea in both cases. In case of
Blue collar crime it is seen that mens rea has to be there essentially whereas
in case of white collar crime it has been that arguments of many sociologists
that even if it is proved that there was no mens rea in case of any white
collar crimes it has to be punished severely so as to give signal to such
criminals that society has become aware of such crimes and stern action
would be taken to refrain the repetition of the same.
Going on such lines there have been certain steps in Indian legal reforms
like making a mere dishonoring of any negotiable instrument punishable
without looking in the mens rea aspect of the same.
3. In case of any blue collar crime, it can be done due to need or for greed but
it is seen in case of white collar crimes that as these are done mainly by
people from high social status so these are essentially done for greed and
not for need.
4. If we look towards the financial losses occurring to the economy of the
country and society then it is quite evident that society suffers in a much
severe manner in case of white collar crime than all blue collar crimes
taken together. The cost of one big white collar crime may cover the total
cost of all blue collar crimes happening in the country in same time period.
For example if we see the share scam of 1992 done by Harshad Mehta
which was so big and its victims were so large in number that it become
quite impossible to identify them all.
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5. In case of white collar crime an aspect of constructive mens rea is taken up
by sociologists to enable the judiciary to punish the white collar criminals
where as in case of blue collar crimes both, judiciary and sociologists,
look for the absolute mens rea to prove a person as guilty.
2.7. White Collar Crime & Traditional Crime:–
The term “white-collar crime”, strictly speaking, has no legal significance.
However, it was coined and popularized by Edwin H. Sutherland, 7 an American
sociologist, in his classic paper ‘White Collar Criminality” some sixty five years
ago. In the paper he defined this crime as “one committed by a person of
respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation”. By such
definition Sutherland hoped to point out weaknesses in the typical crime theory
by bringing into sharp focus the sociological differences that existed between
traditional crimes such as murder, rape and theft where the crimes were defined
without reference to the social status or occupation of the offender, and other
crimes such as embezzlement, fraud, antitrust violations, price-fixing by cartels,
of public and corporate funds, income tax evasion, abuse of political and legal
processes and widespread violations of administrative regulations, all which were
nearly always, according to his studies, committed by those with power, high
social status and occupation, i.e. the respectable citizen. Sutherland noted that
those who administered justice spared the well-off and influential by postulating
that many of such offences were victimless or the victims did not see themselves
as victims of crime; that offenders were not really criminals or that the offences
were of a non-violent nature or that a mere implication of a person of high status
in an illegal act was provided with sufficient punishment as such person would
lose his status or his professional hence or privilege. Imposition of a jail sentence
was rare. He also saw in most cases typical concealment of offences within the
organizational routine leading-to difficulties in detecting the offences by the victims
and the police. Some of the blame, he conceded, no doubt, lay in the law of the
state which had until the 20th century rendered corporations immune from criminal
liability.
Sutherland, therefore, in challenging the paradigm of traditional criminality
which blamed crime on the underprivileged and the lower class were considered
dangerous elements of society, required that the general theory of crime explain
white-collar crime so that the foundation for fairness and equal justice for all
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could result. Sutherland’s definition, though, had a weakness as it was predicted
on the status of the offender and not the characteristics of the offence. Arival
School of sociologists clamoured for a new definition that could emphasize this
latter aspect of the offence. This was necessary so that White-collar crime would
be better understood in all its ramifications and attempts made to control it. In
1970 Edelhertz, 8 a sociologist offered a redefinition of white-collar crime by not
identifying it with any social class. His definition gained favour with the US
Justice Department and reshaped thinking on the subject. Edelhertz’s definition
emphasized on illegal acts committed by non-physical means and by concealment
in order to obtain property or to obtain business or personal advantage.” Relevance
and usefulness of this concept is very important as a tool to show the continual
shift of crime to the white-collar type amongst the educated and privileged social
classes on an even larger scale than before, especially in the light of technologically-
savvy perpetrators amongst these classes. It draws attention to the unmitigated
consequences of such crime on the public, White-collar crime is regarded much
more as a broad umbrella that denotes ‘business crime’, ‘commercial crime’ or
‘economic crime’, all terms that hay titled great currency and usage at both the
national and international level. Nevertheless, whatever the descriptive terms that
are used, the overriding concepts common to these offences are fraud, cheating,
dishonesty and corruption committed by businessmen, conmen, political or public
officials by both sophisticated and crass methods.
For convenience of discussion, white-collar crime described by its other
names has been broadly divided into two categories by the sociologists Appelbaurn
and Chambliss, namely:
(a) Occupational crime
(b) corporate or organizational crime.
a) Occupational crime is more of an ‘ad hoc’ nature and is committed by an
offender in his occupation or taking advantage of his occupation to promote
his, selfish interests. In such a crime, the offender seldom has to face his
victim and the typical offence would cover acts of insider trading,
corruption, altering of accounts by accountants, overcharging by
professional men, cheating on taxes, committing credit card frauds and
abuse of trust by those who have custody over others’ properties.
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b) Corporate or organizational crime is committed by corporate personnel to
benefit their company rather than themselves and covers a plethora of illegal
acts and wrongdoings such as price fixing, violating antitrust laws,
producing shoddy or inferior goods, endangering the environment through
pollution and nonobservance of regulatory industry standards, engaging
in false and misleading descriptions and the stating of false weights. This
category of crime has been described by Edelhertz as the “most
troublesome” of all categories. These types of crime are nearly always
contested. Again, the bull market in the 1990s in our country has added
new categories of crime to the above with the currently ongoing disclosures
of large scale deception practices by stock brokerage and investment
bankers.
Finally, there may be added a category of white-collar crime that stands all
by itself, that is conducted as a business by a full-time conman or a group of
conmen covering all types of scams and swindles.
2.8 The Scope of White Collar Crime:-
As it is important to distinguish between two distinct forms of white-collar
offences. The first type of offence is, classically, fraud by any other name. Business
certainly differ in the details of how they are executed, in the sophistication of
those who execute them and, candidly, in the difficulty that prosecutors in
unraveling them. But at their core, business frauds are no different in kind from
any fraud occurring on the street. They are called white-collar offences simply
because of the socio-economic status of the actors and the means they have chosen
for committing their criminal offences- not because of anything unique or inherently
different in the nature of their conduct. This sort of white-collar crime has been
around for a long while. Fraudulent white-collar crime is no less serious today.
This kind of blatant fraudulent white-collar crime is a drain on the economy and
a significant concern. When it goes unpunished, respect for the rule of law is
diminished.
The second type of white-collar offence is, however, quite different. It
involves prosecutions for violations of rules and regulations that are part of a
larger statutory structure. They involve violations of the regulations of the
Companies Act, MRTP Act and various other statutes. Three doctrinal
developments define this second type of white-collar offence and differentiate it
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from the classic frauds first, this type of white-collar offences involves the
criminalization of conduct in most instances, is not inherently wrongful in the
same way that fraud and bribery are. Rather there is a growth in the category of
“public welfare involve first created with modest penalties and now increasingly
feloniezed Second and of special significance in weighing moral culpability the
statutes involves offences where the mental element (or mens rea requirement) is
substantially diminished, if not eliminated. For example, we not punish as strict
liability offenses like dishonour of negotiable instruments- even if done utterly by
accident. Third, this type of white-collar offense increasingly involves criminal
prosecutions of managerial officers for, in effect, vicarious liability. As a result,
for this category of white-collar offenses, the criminal law is increasingly being
used interchangeably with civil remedies.
If all ingredients are same in traditional and white collar crimes, then why
are two considered as different. Is there a disparity in enforcement and sentencing
for’ white-collar crimes (of both types) and ‘street” or blue-collar crimes in the
legal system of the country. In other words, do judges ignore the guidelines and
reduce the sentences in white-collar offences or are the guidelines sentences for
white-collar crimes regularly imposed? The answer is that the courts do not appear
to depart from the guidelines with any greater frequency in white-collar cases
than in street-crime cases.
If we see the emergence of both traditional and white collar crimes then
we find that both owe their emergence to common law principles and are adaptation
of principles of theft, fraud etc to modern socio-economic institutions.9
2.9 Causes of White Collar Crimes in India:-
The causes of white collar crimes are many and complex. Following are
some of the causes of white collar crimes. Emergence of political elite who believe
in interest-oriented rather than nation-oriented programmes and policies. Artificial
scarcity created by the people with malevolent intentions wrecks the fabric of the
economy White collar crime is caused as well as increased because of the change
in the value system and ethical qualities of men who administer. The old ideals of
morality, service and honesty are regarded as anachronistic. Tolerance of people
towards white collar crimes, complete lack of intense public outcry against white
collar crime and the absence of strong public forum to oppose white collar crimes
allow white collar crime to reign over people. Vast size of population coupled
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with widespread illiteracy and the poor economic infrastructure lead to endemic
corruption in public life. In a highly inflationary economy, low salaries of
government officials compel them to resort to the road of corruption. Graduates
from IIMs with no experience draw a far handsome salary than what government
secretaries draw. Complex laws and procedures alienate common people to ask
for any help from government. Election time is a time when white collar crime is
at its peak level. Big industrialist fund politicians to meet high cost of election
and ultimately to seek personal favour. Bribery to politicians buys influence, and
bribery by politicians buys votes. In order to get elected, politicians bribe poor
illiterate people, who are slogging for two times meal.
2.10 Victims of White Collar Crimes:–
A Major feature of White Collar Crime is its ambiguous criminal status
and it often not deal with by criminal law should these activities be regarded as
‘Crime’ to critical criminologist, the role of class and power is crucial in
understanding differences in criminalization.
Compared to what are often described as ‘Convention, non-white-collar
crimes, there is less systematic research on victimization, the distribution of risk
factors, repeats victimization and the impact of offences on victims. A major
reason for this often criticized neglect is ideological. Offences are not generally
seen as part of the ‘crime problem’ and the high status of offender is generally
assumed to lead to their being able to avoid the criminalization of their activities
alongwith indirectly influencing the direction of criminological research through
control over funding. In short, ‘the powerful’ are less likely to fund research
critical of their own activities.10
2.11 Technical and methodological problems deriving from the nature of
offences:–
a. Many victims are unaware of any harm and can not detect it themselves as
happens, for example, with some major Frauds, pollution, foods adulteration
and descriptions of consumer goods.
b. Victimisation is often indirect and impersonal, affecting entities such as
‘The Government’ although there are indirect affects on individual – tax
payer, for example, have to pay more and receive fewer benefits due to tax
evasion.
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c. Individual victims may loss very little yet the ‘illegal’ profits may be large
as in cases in which a bank employee takes one penny out of thousand of
accounts or a firm sells goods which weigh less than indicated.
The victims of socio economic offences are normally the entire community.
Society or even the entire nation besides the individuals.
While this does not apply to offences, many are difficult to capture in
standard victim surveys. Some such frauds are covered by United States National
Victim Survey, but information is limited to only frauds of which victims are
aware. This means that different source of information must be used, often lying
outside criminological and victim logical research. Although they may not be
seen as ‘Crime’, many of activities involved are associated with harm, they are
subject to regulation and lined to wider social issues such as work place safety,
the environment, consumerism of financial regulation. They are subject to
investigation and research and useful sources of information include regulatory
agencies, investigative journalism relevant interest groups? along with a small
amount of criminological research largely restricted to fraud.
”There is hardly anybody in India who has not been a victim of the practice
of hoarding, cornering and profiteering. Whenever there is a slight shortage even
temporary in any consumer goods for which the demand is urgent and inelastic,
almost every trader it is perhaps unnecessary to use the qualification ‘almost’
conceals his stock and blindly tells the customers that he has not got the commodity
in stock.”
In the course of their research Prof. Hugh Barlow and Sutherland repeatedly
pointed out that White Collar crime was more dangerous than any ordinary street
crime because the financial loss to the society from White Collar crimes is probably
greater than the financial loss from ordinary burglary, theft or robberies. It was
very much advent from their opinion that they were more concerned on the
economic welfare of a country.11
While computing the quantum of loss in India it was estimated that the
average loss per theft or burglary is less than Rs. 5000/- or so is rare and the same
amounted to lakh is unknown. But on the other hand embezzlement and frauds of
lakhs and millions of rupees are very much advent.
After discussing all above ingredients it seems that white collar crimes are
not only in business but also equally in profession, only the corruption is not
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white collar crime but various types manipulations and even improper services,
dishonesty with professions, illegal activities in normal business course.
Victims of white collar crimes are not a particular person or group but it
directly harms the National wealth, which is loss of whole country. We can say in
some cases whole country becomes victim and loses which occurred by these
crimes are really incurable. From above discussion one more thing is going to
clear that if any person appointed at job or contested election by paying huge
amount whether he/she will do their job with honesty, these practices are main
causes of white collar crimes.
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References
1. Shri Mad Bhagawat Gita. Geeta press, 2008.pg.no.107
2. Sutherland, E. H. (1940). The white collar criminal. American Sociological Review 5, 1-15
3. Sykes, G. M. and Matza, D. (1957) Techniques of neutralization: A theory of delinquency. American
Sociological Review 22, 667-670.
4. Tappan, P. (1977). Who is the criminal? In G. Geis and R.F. Maier (Eds.), White collar crime: Offenses in
business, politics, and the professions — classic and contemporary views. New York: Collier and
Macmillan.
The Free Dictionary: Definition of criminogenic. Retrieved 04/01/2006, from The Free Dictionary. com
Web site:http://www.thefreedictionary.com/criminogenic
5 Paranjpe N.V. Criminology & Penology, 1994,pg,no.195
6 Siddique Ahmad, Criminology Problems & perspective,1993 pg.no.198
7 Paranjpe N.V Criminology & Penology, 1994, pg.no.197
8. http://www.aponline.gov.in/apportal/departments.
9. http://www.pefa.org/index2.htm
10 http://www.uh.no/themes/pfm/front
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