Why white-collar crimes are committed (criminology theory) Essay

wherefore professional crimes are committed (criminology hypothesis) - Essay ExampleEdwin H. Sutherland coined the term professional crime in 1940 and his theory states that skilled crime occurs because of exposure to other white-collar criminals, called the Differential Association Theory. This holds true today, although theories of criminology have been broadened and do more complex due to the advent of new technologies that enable new kinds of white-collar crime. Still, Sutherlands theory seems to assume the most sense in terms of why white-collar crime has become so prevalent.The unbiased pain vs. pleasure theory also applies, to a point. White-collar crime is often committed with a systematic deployment of certain trans make outions, either personal or electronic, that shifts assets from peerless place to another (the white-collar criminals hands).If we look at the more common views of white collar crime that have come to popular attention in recent years, we can star t with Ford Motors in the 1970s three young women were killed in an accident involving a Ford Pinto it was found that the gas tank feeder tube in the bole was in a vulnerable position and prone to explode upon impact in a rear collision. Ford saw that re-fitting the tubes would increase the production cost of each car by about 11 dollars, so the company refrained from making any changes for seven years finally, Ford was forced to recall the cars (W. action Feinstein, 1996). This would be one profile of white-collar crime negligence with the motivation to retain profits. In this case, the victims were the d or so people who died as a result of the defective gas feed tubes.In addition to the Differential Association theory is the Self Control Theory Of Delinquency, also applied to white-collar criminals. Defined as acts of force or fraud undertaken in pursuit of self hobby (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990, p. 15), one can see where the Ford crime fit within this theory, the corpor ation being the self in self-interest.A look at the famed S&L scandal in the 1980s is an example of how white-collar crime affects the economy. The basic chronology of events began when deregulation enabled S&L corporations to lend money to themselves. In 1980, the FDIC insurance was embossed from $40,000 to $100,000. While there were several factors that doomed the S&L industry, such as fixed interest rates on home loans and sudden inflation. The most notorious white-collar criminal involved in the S&L failures was Charles Keating of Lincoln Savings in Irvine, California. He allegedly duped customers into buying junk bonds and extracted $1 million from Lincoln Savings in anticipation of the companys collapse, which happened weeks later (Wikipedia). All convictions were later overturned with plea-bargaining and other legal maneuvers, and Keating maintained that the blame for the downfall of Lincoln Savings was with the government regulators and not his actions. This act of white-c ollar crime fits the bill for both theories named above Keating was acting in self-interest without regard for the swell being of Lincoln or its customers. Of course, we cannot overlook Enron. The story is complex and frightening with the implications for the