White Collar Crimes
Problems
White-collar crimes refer to non-violent crimes committed by individuals in high-end respectable positions or a high-level society social status. It ranges from fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion, and money laundering. Notably, factors such as attitude in perception, limitation of jurisdiction, and leniency are some of the contemporary problems facing the fight against this unethical activity while solutions may include changing perception, the imposition of substantial penalties, and developing proper jurisdiction of operation.
Attitudes in Perceptions
According to Michel et al. (2016), white-collar crime can be termed as a violation of the morals and ethics of the society, desecration of trust or just disrespecting corporate regulations. The difference in the points of view has made it difficult to precisely define these non-violent crimes as no sufficient opinion is acceptable by society. Additionally, offenders of these crimes have the belief that they are immune from different laws and authorities in place and regard their victims to perceive them with respect and courtesy rather than fear (Dearden et al., 2017).
Limit of Jurisdiction
Various law enforcers have been faced with the dilemma of lack of clear boundaries of their operations. Agencies may have adequate resources to stop frauds, bribery, freeze assets and provide redress to the aggrieved parties but their authority can be limited to one state or region thereby cannot investigate trans-border crimes (Mugellini et al., 2017). Lack of clear jurisdiction has led to misunderstandings and confusion in implementing rules or performing persecution procedures when persecuting white collar criminals
Leniency
Lawmaking bodies and judicial sectors have given low penalty punishments to white-collar crime offenders compared to the crimes committed due to tolerance. Low penalties given such as probation sentences, several warning, and low-cost bonds and fines leaves the white-collar criminals to harvest the spoils of others other than teaching the offenders that crime does not pay (Mugellini et al., 2017). Additionally, Laws made by the government have often left a gap in clearly defining the rules to deal with white collar crimes enabling the individuals to exploit this situation to commit their crimes.
Solutions
Changing Perceptions
Educating the society about the dangers of white collar crimes as it is a vice and not acceptable in society at all costs. The community should have a broad view of the extent of damages caused by these crimes such as depleting the economy of its valuable resources. Perception change will include reporting of cases such as fraud, embezzlement and money laundering situations (Gottschalk et al., 2017). The lawmaking agencies should work hand in hand with the members of the society, employees and corporate organizations to address issues regarding white collar crimes.
Proper Jurisdictions of Operations
Correctly assigning different responsibilities and roles to specific law enforcement agencies will ensure every department knows their roles in curbing the white collar crimes. Clear functions and jurisdiction will reduce overlapping and confusion of duties to perform in apprehending criminals and investigating cases of committed offenses. Every department will be responsible for carrying out its duties thereby reduce chances of white collar crimes being committed (Gottschalk et al., 2017).
Heavy Punishments
Strict punishment of white-collar crime offenders by the courts will reduce cases of financial misuse or embezzlement thereby reducing occurrences of the crimes committed. Payment of heavy fines, long jail terms, recovering public assets and freezing of both corporate and individual assets are some measures to put in place to punish the offenders. Leniency to such offenders will reduce such cases and thereby help to promote accountability at work (Henning et al., 2015).
References
Dearden, T. E. (2017). An assessment of adults’ views on white-collar crime. Journal of Financial Crime, 24(2), 309-321.
Henning, P. J. (2015). Is deterrence relevant in sentencing white-collar criminals. Wayne L. Rev., 61, 27. Gottschalk, P. (2017). Convenience in white-collar crime: Introducing a core concept. Deviant Behavior, 38(5), 605-619.
Michel, C., Cochran, J. K., & Heide, K. M. (2016). Public knowledge about white-collar crime: an exploratory study. Crime, law and social change, 65(1-2), 67-91.
Mugellini, G., Isenring, G. L., & Killias, M. (2017). Employee offences: What strategy of prevention for what business? Security journal, 30(3), 825-843.