An Overview of White Collar Crime

Are you wondering what white collar crime is? Well, this term was coined by Sutherland in the year 1939. As defined by Edwin Sutherland white collar crimes refers to “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation”. Edwin Sutherland used the term ‘white collar crime’ in his speech at the American Sociology Society.

Though there have been lots of disputes as to which crimes can be covered by this term, usually non-violent crimes committed for financial gain are known as white collar crimes. These crimes are usually take place in commercial situations. White collar crimes can be very hard to prosecute especially because the people use sophisticated means for committing the crimes as well as conceal them.

Some of the very regular white collar crimes include:

•  Credit card fraud
•  Internet fraud
•  Telemarketing fraud
•  Violations of environmental law
•  Healthcare fraud
•  Bankruptcy fraud
•  Government fraud
•  Insider trading
•  Mail fraud
•  Security fraud
•  Financial fraud
•  Bribery

Some other offenses including money laundering, counterfeiting, kickbacks, public corruption, economic espionage, insurance fraud, tax evasion, antitrust violations, trade secret burglary and embezzlement are also known as white collar crimes.

As the report of Federal Bureau of Investigation show, these crimes cost the US government $ 300 billion per year. White collar crimes are very common in Miami. In most of the cases the government charges an individual for committing the crime. However corporations can be also sanctioned by the government for being involved in illegal financial transactions.

If you have been arrested for such a crime you can expect harsh penalties such as home detention, restitution, fines, supervised release, paying the cost of prosecution, community confinement, forfeitures as well as imprisonment. But the penalties can be narrowed only if the defendant admits his or her crime and help the authorities throughout the investigation procedure. Hiring a Miami white collar attorney can be of much help. Your lawyer will convince the judge and try to minimize the penalty.

Both federal and state laws count the behaviors that fall under white-collar crimes. The national government has the authority to control this kind of crime. Many other government agencies including the IRS or Internal Revenue Service, the FBI, the Secret Service, the EPA or Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Customs, the Securities and the Exchange Commission can help the federal government in implementing the laws. All the states of U.S also employ their own agencies to implement their own laws dedicated to white collar crime.