White Collar Crime: What it is and Where it’s Going

Abstract

We present this work to help clarify the concept of white collar crime, discuss what it has traditionally been perceived to be and what it is becoming in the age of computers, the Internet, and rapidly advancing technology. In the end, the reader will hopefully have a better understanding of the nature of white collar crime, its impact on our society and the direction in which it seems to be heading. We begin with a brief discussion of the term “white collar crime,” first coined in 1939 by Edwin Sutherland, and further explored, refined, and redefined by a number of successors in various fields. We examine various definitions, as well as the reasons why so many different definitions exist, and discuss both efforts to unify these definitions and to work with terminology that means different things to different criminal justice stakeholders. We then move on to discussing the general shape of white collar crime in America, the relevant data for various types of activities that meet the criteria for at least some of the most prevalent white collar crime definitions, and how to interpret that data. Finally, we examine two areas of emerging concern in the field of white collar crime—social media and privacy. [CVRL Note: originally presented at a symposium, White Collar Crime: The Moral, Ethical, and Legal Implications of White Collar Crime in the 21st Century.] (Author Abstract)