Criminology

Crimes are against the law and should be punished. The previous statement should be upheld at all times to achieve justice. Putting aside the status quo that some fail to achieve justice, the law enforcers should not give up instead should devise ways in order to trap the violators. The crimes may be obvious or not some directly attack physical bodies but other seems to be more sophisticated in a way. But if we look into a larger picture, all crimes have negative effects on the society thus crime-doers should be punished accordingly. White-collar crime is becoming a talked-about issue in social sciences and criminology and there is an increasing sense that doers of this crime should receive same or even heavier punishments than other types of crime. The topic has gone out of obscure, that white-collar crimes are now becoming observable and obvious. However, there are contradicting views on the definition of white-collar crimes itself. Definitions of crimes are important and the nature of them should be studied carefully in order for law enforcers determine the extent of damage it causes and the corresponding punishments violators deserve. This essay aims to provide a better understanding of white-collar crimes and to assess the current sanctions in comparison with other types of crimes and to prove that the these sanctions are relatively light compared with the traditional crimes that we know.

White-collar crime was a term first coined by Edwin Sutherland about 70 years ago. The public became more aware of this concept and law enforcers react in a way that they seek more understanding of the nature of this type of crime. According to Green (2004), white-collar crimes have critical issues over the meaning of white collar crime particularly the non-criminal deviance of white-collar crimes, the basis of the crime (by particular kinds of actors or by particular kinds of acts), and the factors that differentiate it with other types of crime (assuming the crime is by kinds of acts). These issues will be used to assess whether the current sanctions to such crimes fairly deserve.

In the point of view of lawyers, white-collar crimes belong to about some subcategory of conduct that reflects criminal law-like characteristics. On the other hand, social scientists treat white-collar crimes as a behavior in which they are more concerned with describing the patterns of the behavior, the causes that trigger such behavior and the societys attitudes towards it. At this point, it can be deducted that social scientists and criminologists try hard to differentiate white-collar crimes against the traditional crimes. Decades ago, white-collar crimes such as patent violations, unfair labor practices, misbranding of food and drugs and the likes receive little or no punishment at all. But with the help of studies of social scientist that discuss the nature of this type of crime, punishment became a concern. Unfortunately, the point of view of social scientists is in contrast from that of the criminal law. Lawyers insist that only those acts that are deemed to be criminal by the law should be the only ones considered to be white-collar crimes. From here, there is already a problem because what if the laws fail to include crimes considered being white-collar If this is the case, then white-collar crimes can not be punished at all. Another reaction is that the term white-collar crime should be set aside and be replaced by elite deviance because some lawyers see the white-collar crimes as not crimes but deviant activities of the elites which do not violate the criminal law in any sense. This point of view of lawyers is critical on our discussion on the fairness of the sanctions received by white-collar crimes because sanctions are done in response to the crimes, so if white-collar crimes are not regarded as actual crimes, then it may mean that there should be no sanctions against this type of activities. And if considered as mere deviance, the weight of sanctions must be only light. This point of view of legal practitioners is evidence that the law once considered white-collar crimes not so serious and that some see that these activities should only receive minimal sanctions. But some law practitioners and law-makers are not totally agree with this argument because there were laws made such as Truth in Lending Act and Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that encloses the issue of white-collar crimes being just an example of deviant behavior. These laws provide sanctions but are not enough in comparison with the traditional crimes maybe because the law still reconsider the idea that white-collar crimes are also deviant behaviors as well. (Green, 2004, p.4-8).

Next issue is the reference to determine white-collar crimes. In studying crime, the qualities and characteristics of the offender is critical in determining the root causes of violations or crimes. There is an argument that poverty is the main cause of crimes because the focus of attention is on the traditional crimes such as property and statutory crimes. But this does not always hold because there are stories wherein the offenders are wealthy and respectable people. Thus to differentiate white-collar crimes from others according to the characteristics, primarily economic status, of offenders is nonsense. An alternative was to turn from social class to occupation, as suggested by Marshall Clinard and Richard Quinney (1973). They suggested using corporate crime and occupational crime instead of white-collar crimes because they observed that these crimes are done by corporations and workers at their workplace. The two criminologists support one point of this essay that white-collar crimes are existent and not just mere deviance from the normal. It is just that there are conflicting suggestions on how to call those crime. And this is a very good approach because this concept is not alien to the criminal law. According to these corporate and occupational crimes, the characteristics of the offender that must be considered are their occupation and the existence of their corporate entity. One can be charged with bribery if the offender has certain position in the government like Congress. In this case, we already have a picture of the offenders and thus make it easier for them to be identified (Green, 2004, p.8-10).

Last critical issue is the factors that will determine the offenses or acts that will be included under the category of white-collar crime. In the lawyers efforts to standardize the definition of white-collar crimes, they refer to these crimes as to offenses that reveal some particular group of moral or legal characteristics. The US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics defined closely defined white-collar crimes as

Nonviolent crime for financial gain committed by means of deception by persons
whose occupational status is entrepreneurial, professional or semi-professional and utilizing their special occupational skills and opportunities also, nonviolent crimes
for financial gain utilizing deception and committed by anyone having special
technical and professional knowledge of business and government, irrespective
of the persons occupation.

From this definition, we can infer that white-collar crimes all involve money and finances. It is normal for people to think of themselves first for their personal gains and comfort maybe at the expense of something. This discussion is also critical in support to one of our points because here we will be able to see the acts deemed to be white-collar crimes then eventually will be able to assess if the current sanctions are light compared with the traditional crimes (Green, 2004, p.8-10).

Professionals and scholars indeed have differing point of views on white-collar crimes but it is more important to focus on the definition by the criminal law. But even if white-collar crimes are now accepted as a wrongdoing, the laws made it unclear whether it is really in-line with other crimes in terms of the weight of sanctions. Property, statutory and physical crimes are the most common types of crime the public know and usually commit. Rape, murder, theft and the likes receive sanctions that extend from 25 years up to reclusion perpetua, and worse, capital punishment. These crimes can be easily sensationalized as the effects to the victims are direct. A killing ends a life, robbery results to losses, and rape steals dignity. The victims losses and damages are sympathized by the government through giving them justice. The effects are direct thus the damage comes one time big time. And this is what the victims see and what the justice system is concerned with the damages that crimes cause to the society. Sanctions must be according to the weight or degree of severity of the crime but in case of white-collar crimes where the effects are often miscalculated, justice may be difficult to achieve.

Property, statutory and violent crimes contribute a large portion to the list of incidences filed to the police. During 2004, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that every 23.1 seconds, one violent crime is happening and for every 3.1 seconds, one property crime is committed. These crime clocks imply that traditional crimes are committed often. But does this leave white-collar crime unpopular in terms of number of incidence We only hear few stories of white-collar crime committers such as Martha Stewart, Bernard Ebbers of WorldCom and Jeffrey Skilling of Enron. But this does not mean white-collar crimes are less committed than the others because this type of crime is sophisticated. The effects of white-collar crimes may be indirect but may be more diversified compared from that of the traditional crimes.

In 1984, the creation of Federal Sentencing Guidelines intended to standardize the sentencing of white-collar crimes. But these guidelines did not bring white-collar offenders into the prison not until the Congress reformed the sentencing through Sarbanes-Oxley Act (the Act).  The recent version of this Act dramatically increased the range of sentencing of white collar offenders. From minimal years to a longer imprisonment and quadrupled fines await white-collar offenders. However, the Act failed to specify the guidelines in determining the weight of sentence to be laid down. This Act passed during years when corporate scandals are increasing fails to standardize the sentencing as the punishments will be absolutely on the judges discretion. It sounds appealing that the US government tries to give justice to the people but the Act itself may fail to give right and sufficient justice (Harvard Law Review, 2009, p. 1728-1731).

White-collar offenders may now face twenty years of imprisonment but the question on how many years will the offender actually be charged should be according to the degree of impact to their victims. Who are the victims of white-collar crimes and how can we measure the impact The group of people affected actually may be extended up to the general public. Unlike with other types of crime wherein the number of victims can be easily counted and can be intentionally limited, white-collar crimes can affect a number of people at many ways. A rapist can limit the number of his victims and the victim is the person whom the rapist did his act. But white-collar crime is much complicated in a way. For example, fraud in security SEC filings benefits a corporation in a way that the taxes they pay can be lowered. It is not only the SEC who is the victim and if we will extend our point of view, it is the public who will also suffer because of foregone government revenue that must have been used for public works, economic development and social services. In this case, fraud can be compared with theft, a property crime. Another example is on unfair labor practices. A death of an employee or worker due to doing dangerous jobs without proper safety is nothing but a serious crime. The intention of a company to not spend on the safety of their workers is just like holding a gun ready to shoot at anytime. The problem is that the companies and other white-collar offenders are educated they know about laws and they plan their actions accordingly to receive no sanctions. Going back to our example, the companies may put up stories that the death incidences happening on their workplace are accidents. In this light, unfair labor practices resulting to deaths is just like murder, a violent crime (Harvard Law Review, 2009, p. 1728-1731).
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Quadrupled fines and twenty years of imprisonment are not enough to give justice for white-collar victims. It should not be on how obvious and direct crimes have done to their victims in order to have more serious sanctions it should be always based on the impact on the victims. Even if white-collar crime victims are extending in number and that the effects are indirect and can be obscure in a way, the sentencing should be heavier because white-collar crimes can be compared with the traditional crimes.

Having discussed the point of views of scholars regarding the issues surrounding white-collar crimes, we can conclude that white-collar crimes are become elusive in nature and without the understanding of its impact on its victims justice will be hard to achieve. This is supported by the recent fail of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act inn providing guidelines in measuring the impact of these crimes because it just shows that even the current legal laws can not completely define white-collar crimes in terms of its impact on its victims. The impact on victims is the critical point in determining the sanctions. Unlike the traditional crimes, sentence on white-collar crimes are extremely flexible (sanctions are subject to judges decisions). Traditional crimes have standardized sentencing system because the impacts are easily measured, unlike the white-collar crimes.

At this point, we are also able to provide logic on how extensive the impacts of white-collar crimes can be into its victims. And we will bravely say that white-collar crimes should have heavier sentencing than the traditional crimes because of the number of victims white-collar crimes could affect, though they may be impossible to enumerate. The legal justice system should review the nature of white-collar crimes especially the impacts on their victims and provide a detail on the procedures on determining the right sanctions.