Chapter No.

3
CRIME AND CRIMINALS

CLASSIFICATIONS OF CRIMINALS
Criminal is a person one who has committed a crime. There are three classifications of criminals
1. Habitual Criminal
2. Occasional Criminals
3. Professional Criminals
1. HABITUAL CRIMINAL
Habitual criminal or offender is person who has been have been convicted of a crime
several times. The term “habitual offender” may imply that the person has been convicted of the
same crime many times, but it may also refer to a person who has many convictions for different
crimes on their record.
Habitual offender, person who frequently has been convicted of criminal behavior and is
presumed to be a danger to society. In an attempt to protect society from such criminals, penal
systems throughout the world provide for lengthier terms of imprisonment for them than for first-
time offenders.
The nature, scope and type of habitual offender statutes vary, but generally they apply
when a person has been convicted twice for various crimes. Some codes may differentiate
between classes of crimes (for example, some codes only deal with violent crime) and the
length of time between convictions. Usually the sentence is greatly enhanced, in some
circumstances it may be substantially more than the maximum sentence for the crime.
The idea of habitual-offender legislation reflects the basic assumption of positivist
criminology that crime is similar to disease and should be treated by comparably flexible
measures. According to this view, a person with persistent tendencies to commit crimes should
be quarantined from society as would someone with a seriously infectious disease. During the
first half of the 20th century, advocates of habitual-offender legislation appealed to then-popular
biological theories of crime to argue that if a person committed several major crimes, it was
reasonable to assume that he was criminal by nature and needed to be imprisoned indefinitely.
Section 75 of the Pakistan Penal Code deals with Habitual Offenders. The provisions are
activated upon a second conviction for a crime with a minimum sentence of three years
imprisonment. The Guidelines for sentencing given to criminal court indicate that the discretion
lies with the judge, and an enhanced sentence is not mandatory, and should usually not be
given in less serious criminal cases (such as petty theft) or where the convictions are old. The
judge is expected to adopt an individualized view and tailor both the decision of awarding an
enhanced sentence and the length of it to the case at hand. For this the transcripts of the
previous trials can be used.
Examples of Habitual offences
 DUI (driving under the influence of intoxicants);
 Driving with a suspended or revoked license;
 Reckless driving; or
 Homicide (including murder, manslaughter, negligent homicide, or vehicular homicide).
2. THE OCCASIONAL CRIMINAL
Occasional criminals are not persons belonging to a crime career. It means they are not
professional but they commit crime due to drift in the middle of conventional and criminal
behavior. They only perform the act if the opportunity occurs in his/her routine of daily life. Ex.
someone is walking by a car & it happens to be unlocked & the person notices they might take
their car stereo.
 Most crime committed by amateurs whose acts are unskilled, and unplanned
 Occasional crime occurs when there is a situational inducement
 Frequency of occasional crime varies according to age, class, race, and gender
 Occasional criminals have little group support for the crimes
There is a class of occasional criminals, who do not exhibit, or who exhibit in slighter
degrees, the anatomical, physiological, and psychological characteristics which constitute the
type described by Lombroso as “the criminal man.”
There are occasional criminals who commit the offences characteristic of habitual
criminality, such as homicides, robberies, rapes, etc., so there are born criminals who
sometimes commit crimes out of their ordinary course.
Occasional criminals, who without any inborn and active tendency to crime lapse into
crime at an early age through the temptation of their personal condition, and of their physical
and social environment, and who do not lapse into it, or do not relapse, if these temptations
disappear.
Thus they commit those crimes and offences which do not indicate natural criminality, or
else crimes and offences against person or property, but under personal and social conditions
altogether different from those in which they are committed by born and habitual criminals.
There is no doubt that, even with the occasional criminal, some of the causes which lead
him into crime belong to the anthropological class; for external causes would not suffice without
individual predispositions. For instance, during a scarcity or a hard winter, not all of those who
experience privation have recourse to theft, but some prefer to endure want, however
undeserved, without ceasing to be honest, whilst others are at the utmost driven to beg their
food; and amongst those who yield to the suggestion of crime, some stop short at simple theft,
whilst others go as far as robbery with violence. Of millions of property and theft related crimes
are done by occasional criminals.
3. PROFESSIONAL CRIMINAL
Professional Criminal is a person who pursues crime as a day-to-day occupation,
developing skilled techniques and enjoying a certain degree of status among other criminals.
The concept of a professional criminal developed primarily in the United States during the latter
half of the 20th century. It proposed the existence of a population of habitual offenders whose
approach to offending included a degree of organization, repeated offending, and specialism
into certain forms of offending.
Characteristics of professional crime and criminals
Sutherland has given the following six characteristics of professional crime:
1. Regularity, i.e., continuity in work as crime.
2. Technical skill, i.e., use of complex techniques for committing crime which have been
used in crime over a long period of time.
3. Status, i.e., enjoying a position of high prestige in the world of crime.
4. Consensus, i.e., sharing of common values, beliefs, and attitudes with other criminals.
5. Organisation, i.e., pursuing activities through an informal information and assistance
system.
6. Differential association, i.e., association with other professional criminals to the exclusion
of ordinary criminals as well as law-abiding persons.
Caldwell has given the following characteristics of a professional criminal:
1. Crime is his main source of livelihood: He devotes his full working time and energy to it
and constantly attempts to improve his skills. He tries to specialise in one or two crimes.
He normally obeys the law, except when it interferes with his crime.
2. Crime is his way of life: The professional criminal develops a philosophy of his own and
organizes his life and activities around new values, attitudes, and beliefs.
3. He operates with proficiency and carefully plans his activities: He takes calculated risks
and dislikes those who bungle and fail.
4. He is a product of a process of development: He acquires his specialized knowledge,
attitudes, and skills gradually. Usually, he acquires skills under instruction from and
guidance of somebody who has already achieved proficiency and status in his criminal
specialty. However, no formal process of recruitment and training is involved in the
development.
5. He identifies himself with the world of crime and criminals.

TYPES OF CRIMES
Crime has various forms and types but here we discuss three major types of crime which
include
1. Organized Crime
2. White Collar Crime
3. Corporate Crime
ORGANIZED CRIME
Organized crime is a group of individuals, local, national or international, that engage in
criminal enterprises for profit. The rationale behind why they are formed varies because they
may be politically motivated, financially motivated or an organized criminal 'gang.' We will look
at the makeup of these organizations in this lesson. Any group having a corporate structure
whose primary objective is to obtain money through illegal activities, often surviving on fear and
corruption.
Types of organized crime
Organised crime has three major types:
1. Gang criminality,
2. Racketeering,
3. Syndicated crime.
The first has simple characteristics while the last one has a fully developed form
because of which it is considered to be most dangerous to society.
1. Gang Criminality
This type of criminality includes kidnapping, extortion, robbery, vehicle theft, etc. on a
large scale. Gangs are composed of tough and hardened criminals who do not hesitate to kill,
assault, or use violence. They are equipped with modern pistols, bullet-proof vests, cars, etc.
The gang criminals are efficient, disciplined but dangerous.
Barnes and Teeters (1951: 36) have said: “they live violently and expect violence.” Their
activities are spread over a large geographical area, moving from place to place but reuniting at
prearranged hideouts. They are registered as hardened and habitual criminals in police records.
These criminals are recruited from among ex-convicts, escaped murderers, professional
gangsters, and high-powered robbers.
These notorious gangs operating in different parts of our country, and, are engaged in
robberies, kidnapping small children and wealthy individuals for obtaining ransoms, murder,
extortion, and smuggling. There exist inter-rivalries among most of these gangs. Some of the
gangs are also affiliated to the syndicates, operating on a very large scale.
Some gangs organise activities and furnish brains to individuals and groups engaged in
anti-social activities, taking a cut of the loot or a fixed amount of money for the help rendered.
The gangs float a score of satellites including restaurants, gambling dens, underworld
messengers, women and children, and hangers-on. In December 2012, a boy was arrested at
Lahore railway station in travelling by train and carrying Rs. 45,000 in cash in his especially
stitched vest-pockets. He revealed working for a gang.
From time to time, these gangs are hunted down by the police and destroyed, though
most often the gangs operate with the active co-operation of the police. Occasionally, the law
enforcement officers arrest some members and even kill some others, claiming the liquidation of
an underworld empire.
2. Racketeering
Racketeering, often associated with organized crime, is the act of getting involved in a
dishonest and fraudulent business dealing or offering a service to solve a problem that wouldn't
otherwise exist. The law defines 35 different offenses that constitute racketeering, and the list
includes gambling, kidnap, murder, arson, drug dealing and bribery. Law provisions a
racketeering convict to serve up to 20 years in prison, in addition to a fine.
Racketeering also refers to a criminal offense in which someone commits an illegal
activity in order to advance the role of an organization, or on behalf of an illegal enterprise.
Many different types of crimes can fall under racketeering, as long as the defendant committed
them with the intent to advance someone’s role or to aid a criminal organization.
Racketeering works on a similar theme, and involves malpractices of offering a deceitful
service to fix a problem that otherwise won’t exist. Derived from the word racket - which refers to
a planned or organized criminal act that may involve more than one person acting in a group
and is a repeated or ongoing criminal activity - racketeering involves criminal act as a form of
business or a means to make illicit gains quickly, regularly, and repeatedly.
A racket is an organized unlawful act to earn money illegally. In most cases,
racketeering refers to repeated or continuous criminal enterprises, in which one or more
persons commit criminal acts as a form of business. For example, a racket could be a service
someone fraudulently offers to solve a non-existent problem, or a problem that wouldn’t exist
were it not for the racket. “Racketeering” refers to the act of conducting a racket. Racketeering
doesn’t always have to mean organized crime or fraud. It can describe many different criminal
activities, whereby racketeers use the income they derive through the activities to help a
criminal enterprise.
There are hundreds of other crimes that could qualify as racketeering activity depending
on the circumstances.
Racketeering is an activity of an organised criminal gang engaged in extortion of money
from both legitimate and illegitimate business through intimidation of force. It also involves
dishonest way of getting money by deceiving or cheating people, selling worthless goods and
articles, adulterated commodities, spurious drugs and so forth. The racketeers, unlike organised
criminal gangs do not take away all the profits but allow the owners of the illegitimate business
to continue their operations like prostitution, gambling, liquor trafficking, drug peddling, etc., but
give them (racketeers) regular fixed money.
Sometimes, businessmen engaged in fierce competition in legitimate business,
employers and labour unions involved in conflicts, landlords unable to get their houses/shops
vacated from tenants, and politicians trying to eliminate their rivals hire the services of gangsters
and seek their ‘help’ by paying them their ‘fees’. In some cases, these racketeers refuse to
leave and continue to extort ‘fees’ from their former ‘employers’.
A favourite approach of these racketeers is to approach a businessman, suggesting that
he needed protection and that it could be furnished at a stipulated monthly fee. The
businessman, even if he does not need protection, is forced to accept racketeers’ ‘suggestion’.
Once he starts paying the ‘fee’, he continues to pay till the racketeer functions.
The racketeers thus do nothing but live on the blood and labour of others, collecting
tribute by intimidation, force and terrorism. Assault and destruction of property often accompany
the organisation of the racket.
 The racketeering gang is divided in two groups-the ‘brains’ and the ‘muscles’. The
former do the thinking, issue orders, solicit new business and arrange for protection. The latter
do the beating, destroying, plundering and even killing, i.e., all what is called the ‘rough stuff. It
has stated that sometimes the ‘brains’ also do the jobs of the ‘muscles’ to maintain their
leadership, enforce their authority, demonstrate proper techniques, to preserve their reputation.
3. Syndicate Crime
A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities
formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Crime
syndicates are formed to coordinate, promote, and engage in organized crime, running common
illegal businesses on a large, national, or international scale. The subunit of the syndicate is a
crime family or clan, organized by blood relationships, as seen in the Italian Mafia and the Italian
American Mafia crime families, Sicilian Mafia, Yakuza and ISIS etc.
This is furnishing illegal goods and services by an organised criminal gang, often called
‘mafia’. The illegal goods could be drugs, liquor, etc. while the illegal services could be call-girls,
gambling and so forth. The syndicates create their own ‘business’ procedures, usually operating
from established headquarters.
They avoid using violence which differentiates them from organised criminal gangs, who
frequently use violence or threat of violence. Society knows the members of these syndicates as
respectable citizens living in posh residential areas, freely associating with high-status persons
and engaged in lawful earning pursuits. They syndicates generally operate in big metropolitan
areas which happen to be big centres of communication, transportation and distribution of
goods.
The leaders of big crime syndicates periodically gather at fixed places to discuss
problems of mutual interest and concern. While the scope and effect of the criminal operations
of syndicates vary from one area to another, the wealthiest and most influential groups operate.
Each syndicate has a boss and an underboss. The underboss collects information and relays
messages to the boss and passes instructions down to underlings. In some cases, there is no
underboss but the boss has an advisor or a counselor.
Below the level of the underboss are criminals who act as ‘intermediaries’ between the
upper and the lower level personnel. Some of these intermediaries act as chiefs of operating
units. The lowest level members are ordinary criminals who report to the ‘intermediaries’.
Outside the structure of the syndicate are a large number of employees and agents who do
most of the actual work in various criminal enterprises.
WHITE COLLAR CRIMES
White-collar crime refers to financially motivated non-violent crime committed by
business and government professionals. Within criminology, it was first defined by sociologist
Edwin Sutherland in 1939 as “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social
status in the course of his occupation”.
The Types of White Collar Crimes
 Far and away the most common type of white collar crime, fraud involves the intentional
misrepresentation or omission of a material fact. That misrepresentation must be reasonably
relied on, and someone must suffer a monetary loss as a result. The most prevalent types of
fraud that is associated with the white collar crime include:
 Computer fraud: Stealing bank, credit card or proprietary information from a computer.
 Bankruptcy fraud: Concealing assets, misleading creditors or illegally pressuring
debtors.
 Health care fraud: Accepting kickbacks or billing for services not performed,
unnecessary equipment and/or services performed by a less qualified person; applies to
all areas of health care, including hospitals, home health care, ambulance services,
doctors, chiropractors, psychiatric hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies and nursing
homes.
 Telemarketing fraud: Using the telephone as the primary means of communicating with
potential victims.
 Credit card fraud: Using someone’s credit card information to make unauthorized
purchases.
 Insurance fraud: Falsifying, inflating or “padding” claims.
 Mail fraud: Using the mail to commit a crime.
 Government fraud: Engaging in fraudulent activities in relation to public housing,
agricultural programs, defense procurement, educational programs or other government
activities, including bribery in contracts, collusion among contractors, false or double
billing, false certification of the quality of parts and substitution of bogus parts.
 Financial fraud: Engaging in fraudulent activities relating to commercial loans, check
forgery, counterfeit negotiable instruments, and mortgage fraud, check-kiting and false
applications.
 Securities fraud: Manipulating the market and stealing from securities accounts.
 Counterfeiting: Printing counterfeit money or manufacturing counterfeit designer
apparel or accessories.
 Embezzlement or Misappropriation of Property: Theft of money, goods or services by
an employee
 Blackmail: Demanding money in exchange for not causing physical harm, damaging
property, accusing someone of a crime or exposing secrets.
 Anti-trust violations: Fixing prices and building monopolies.
 Environmental law violations: Discharging a toxic substance into the air, water or soil
that harms people, property or the environment, including air pollution, water pollution
and illegal dumping.
 Tax evasion: Filing false tax returns or not filing tax returns at all.
 Kickbacks: Compensating an individual or company in order to influence and gain
profit. Kickbacks result in an unearned advantage, benefit or opportunity, even if others
are more qualified or offer better prices. Kickbacks hurt business by interfering with
competition in the marketplace.
 Insider trading: Trading stock or other securities with knowledge of confidential
information about important events that is unavailable to the general public.
  Bribery: Offering money, goods, services or information with the intent to influence the
actions or decisions of the recipient.
 Money laundering: Concealing income raised through illegal activity in order to evade
detection. Illicit proceeds are laundered to appear as though the funds were generated
through legitimate means.
 Public corruption: Breaching the public trust and/or abusing a government position,
usually in connection with private-sector accomplices. A government official violates the
law when he or she asks for or agrees to receive something of value in return for being
influenced in the performance of official duties.
White Collar Crime: a great threat to the economy
White-collar crimes are crimes that committed by people of high social status who
commit their crimes in the context of their occupation. This includes embezzling (stealing money
from one’s employer), insider trading, and tax evasion and other violations of income tax laws.
White-collar crimes generally generate less concern in the public mind than other types of
crime, however in terms of total dollars, white-collar crimes are even more consequential for
society. Nonetheless, these crimes are generally the least investigated and least prosecuted.
Panama Leaks is one of the main example of white collar crime. White Collar occurs when the
four components are present Money, Trust, Greed and Opportunity.
Some falsely believe that White Collar-Crime is a victimless crime. In fact, white collar-
crime is synonymous with the full range of frauds committed by business and government
professionals. These crimes are characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust. The
white collar-crimes are not dependent on the application or threat of physical force or violence.
The motivation behind these crimes is always financial to obtain or avoid losing money,
property, or services or to secure a personal or business advantage.
The ambiguity arises when we are told that these crimes does not pose physical threat
or violence against person or property. But, a single scam can destroy a company, devastate
families by wiping out their life savings, or cost investors billions of rupees or even all three.
Now-a-days fraud schemes are turning more sophisticated than ever, and law enforcement
agencies across the world are using their skills to track down the culprits and stop scams before
they start.
Unfortunately, we are still clueless in this regard. We have a tendency to react, rather
adopting proactive approach to fight criminal activity. We are training our officers how to solute
and carry guns. We are not inclined to recruit professionals across different fields including,
software engineers, fraud investigators, forensic science technicians, computer forensic
investigators, blood spatter analyst, etc. Besides, there is a need to enhance the capacity of
micro-level law enforcement officers as they play a crucial role in the investigation of any case.
The white collar-crime work integrates the analysis of intelligence with its investigations
of criminal activities such as public corruption, money laundering, corporate fraud, securities
and commodities fraud, financial institutions fraud, bank fraud and embezzlement, fraud against
the government, election law violations and mass marketing fraud etc. There is a need to focus
on complex investigations often with a nexus of organized crime activities that are international,
national, or regional in scope. The law enforcement agencies have to acquire unique expertise
or capabilities that increase the likelihood of successful investigations. The investigators have to
work closely with partner law enforcement and regulatory agencies such as the Security and
Exchange Commission, the FBR, Health Ministry, Customs, Provincial Excise and Anti-
Narcotics for targeting sophisticated, multi-layered fraud cases that harm the economy.
The frauds mentioned in the preceding paragraph require particular expertise in each of
the category. For example, the corporate crime has the potential to cause significant financial
losses to investors, corporate fraud can cause immeasurable damage to economy and
investor’s confidence. The investigators have to focus their efforts on cases involving
accounting schemes, self-dealing by corporate executives, and obstruction of justice. The
objectives could be achieved by including the specialists of the field into the law enforcement
units. The regular police will remain unable to bring measures to combat white collar-crimes like,
Corporate Fraud, Money Laundering and Securities and Commodities Fraud, blackmailing and
counterfeiting, embezzlement, extortion and forgery.
If we try to dissect the nature of white collar-crime, we came to know that each type of
these crimes have different dynamics and peculiar expertise. The process will also disclose that
to what extent we lack the ability to counter the situation. The majority of corporate frauds
involve schemes designed to deceive not only investors but to auditors and analyst as well. This
is done to conceal the true financial condition of a corporation or business entities through
manipulation of financial data, the share price, or other valuation measurements of a
corporation, financial performance. While money laundering is the process by which criminals
conceal or disguise their proceeds and make them appear to have come from legitimate
sources.
It allows criminals to hide and accumulate wealth, avoid prosecution, evade taxes,
increase profits through reinvestment, and fund further criminal activity. But, many define money
laundering simply as turning “dirty” money into “clean” money. In fact, money laundering
undermines the integrity and stability of financial institutions and systems by discouraging
foreign investment and can distort international capital flows. The process can be monitored by
targeting professional money launderers, key facilitators, gatekeepers and complicit financial
institutions. By keeping an eye on the methods in use by the criminals of money laundering like
complex financial crimes, human trafficking, international and domestic public corruption,
narcotics trafficking and terrorism.
The explanation of white collar-crimes would definitely help to understand that our law
enforcement agencies are lacking sufficient tools to combat these types of crimes both in
capacity and in professionalism. Only two examples would elaborate the point. The money
laundering process consist of three steps placement, layering, and integration. Placement
represents the initial entry of the criminal’s proceeds into the financial system. Layering is the
most complex and often entails the international movement of funds. Layering separates the
criminal’s proceeds from their original source and creates a complex audit trail through a series
of financial transactions. And integration occurs when the criminal’s proceeds are returned to
the criminal from what appear to be legitimate sources.
While the Securities and Commodities Fraud is another form of white collar-crime. The
continuing integration of global capital markets has created unprecedented opportunities for the
businesses to access capital and investors to diversify their portfolios. Whether through
individual brokerage accounts or savings plans, more and more people are choosing to invest in
the securities and commodities markets. This growth has led to a corresponding rise in the
amount of fraud and misconduct seen in these markets. The creation of complex investment
vehicles and the tremendous increase in the amount of money being invested have created
greater opportunities for individuals and businesses to perpetrate fraudulent investment
schemes.
Normally, white collar-crime investigative activities are reactive in nature. They are
principally stimulated by victim complaints or occasionally by informants or violation targeting
programs implemented by the law enforcement agencies. The intelligence process can act as a
stimulant to such investigations, and in addition provide output which will effectively guide
investigations results. If the intelligence process is effectively implemented as a component of
overall white-collar crime enforcement activities, it should result in a reduction of expensive
investigative and prosecutorial time, while not decreasing the overall effectiveness of the effort.
Police have to form partnerships with numerous agencies to capitalize on their
experiences in specific areas such as securities, taxes, energy and commodities as it is obvious
that the kind of knowledge and training required to implement strategies needed investigate
white collar-crime is lacked by them. The majority of investigation is conducted by the micro-
level officers. It is difficult for them to understand the complexity of trade policy, accounts and to
unearth the layering process adopted to conceal the facts as they are generally trained to fight
the criminal cases. They never possess the higher education nor they are encouraged to train
themselves to understand the complexity of white collar-crimes.
There is still a lot of emphasis on the physical training. The agencies have no room for
the people of higher caliber or have never introduced a window of opportunity for highly skilled
professionals like, chartered accountants, forensic experts, computer programmers,
pathologists, criminal profilers etc. In white collar-crimes the initial investigation must be
conducted by the highly qualified investigators otherwise the process would run on a wrong
track signifying nothing.
Recommendations to Control White Collar Crime
Fighting white-collar crime is one of the main problems of modern society. This struggle
must be carried out in all possible ways. Since the damage from such crimes is huge, the end
justifies any means.
Every institution, private or public should have in place anti-fraud mechanisms that are
operational, effective and efficient to combat economic crime. Internal controls must be
strengthened and all loopholes plugged to prevent fraudulent deals from manifesting.
 Internal auditors must be trained and motivated to perform their duties without fear or
favour. The training they receive should make them capable, effective and efficient
auditors.
 External auditors must also be well paid so that they will not take bribes and cover up
economic crimes they discover during audit operations.
  The judiciary must be made truly independent, sufficiently motivated with good salaries
and better working conditions so that they are not easily influenced when performing
their legitimate duties.
 A severe penalty should be meted out to those found guilty of white collar crime so as to
deter others.
 Ensuring political and economic stability in the society
 Creating legal framework necessary for effective fight against economic crimes
 Improving the system of government agencies dealing with economic crimes
 Increasing control of the public authorities for the activities of enterprises, which commit
most economic crimes, including the activities of their officers and materially responsible
person.
 Strengthening preventive, precautionary actions of authorities fighting with economic
crimes (in particular, explore conditions that contributed to the commission of crimes and
take measures to prevent further similar crimes).
 There is the need for a moral crusade in the country to instill important work values such
as diligence, hard work, integrity and honesty, self-discipline, a high sense of
responsibility and a commitment to excellence.
 The media has an important role to play in our national moral recovery efforts. Just as
the media has been giving wide publicity to street crimes, it must do so with white collar
crime. They must report white collar crimes irrespective of who is involved.
 Workers who exhibit a lifestyle of honesty and integrity must be motivated so as to
encourage others to follow suit. There is also the need to maintain confidentiality for the
whistle blower apart from motivating him/her.
 There is also the need for us to collaborate with the international community to
effectively combat cross-border crimes that include economic crimes.
In conclusion, white collar crime is as detrimental to the economic well-being of a nation
as is street crime and therefore requires stringent measures to uproot it. Stamping out white
collar crime must be the concern of all.
CORPORATE CRIME
Corporate crime means crimes committed either by a business entity or corporation, or
by individuals that may be identified with a corporation or other business entity. A corporate
crime is the act of its personnel and need not be authorized or ratified by its officials. It is
sufficient if the officials were exercising customary powers on behalf of the corporation. Thus, to
a substantial degree, the crime of the corporation is interwoven with the acts of its officials. Such
criminal acts are reflective of the character of the persons who manage the corporation.
Consequently, it would seem reasonable to utilize a corporate crime to impeach a corporate
official's credibility if the official is connected to the crime.
Hundreds of companies routinely commit crimes that injure the public much more than
street crimes in many ways: economically, socially, physically and environmentally. Yet
corporate crimes are generally dealt with by civil and administrative law, with penalties such as
fines but not prison. In environmental law, e.g., many industries control themselves. The law is
applied differently for different people.
 White collar crimes are committed by individuals for themselves in the course of their
occupations for personal gain. It is committed without the knowledge. The most common white
collar crime is when an employee steals from the employer or who cheats customers and
pockets the difference.
Corporate crimes are offenses committed by corporate officials for their corporation and
the offenses of the corporation themselves for corporate gain. Typically a corporate criminal
bribes a government, dumps toxic industrial waste into rivers. Corporate crimes are often called
quiet acts because people not only don’t know whom to blame but may not even know that they
have been victimized. There are data collection problems also.
Types of corporate crimes:
1. Corporate Violence
 Violence against workers: 6 million workers injured on the job in the US and
10,000 people die in the workplace from injuries and 10,000 from long term
effects of occupational diseases. Corporate executives are responsible for the
vast majority of deaths because they have violated occupational health and
safety standards or have chosen not to create adequate standards. So, workers
are safer on the streets than on their job. For every person murdered by a
stranger on the street, two are murdered by their employees.
 Violence against consumers: thousands of unsafe products injure or kill
consumers every year. 100,000 people are permanently disabled each year and
30,000 die.
 Another important factor to take into account is dumping of products in the third
world.
 Corporate pollution: The general public also experiences violence in the form of
pollution and other green crimes. There are many different green crimes but they
are all committed for the sake of profit and they all harm the environment.
2. Economic Corporate Crimes
 Price fixing: tacit price fixing occurs when a limited number of controlling
companies in a particular market follow the lead of their competitors in price
increases. Overt price fixing involves secret meetings and subtle communications
between competitors in given industries. Most common forms:
a. Setting prices at predetermined, similar levels,
b. Dividing the market into regions, with each firm agreeing to stay out of the other’s
territory,
c. Agreeing to take turns submitting winning competitive bids for contracts, often
from government agencies.
3. False advertising: when companies use false advertisements to entice consumers to buy
products or services that offer few, if any, of the publicized benefits. Two forms:
a. Blatantly false and
b. Puffery, which is a legal, more subtle form of false advertising that typically involves
making exaggerated claims for a product or service. It does not violate criminal or civil
 laws, but it is designed to mislead consumers. Air Canada sale of seats would give it a
$10,000 profit and the cost of one single ad in the Toronto Star cost $10,000. Criminal
penalties are rarely used. Companies are ordered to refrain from using the advertising
campaign.
Corporate crimes may be similar to white collar crimes in many respects. They can also
include the types of crimes listed above. One main difference, however, is that with corporate
crimes, the person (or people) committing the crimes are working on behalf of the company they
work for. Their goal is to financially benefit the company or its shareholders. It is worth noting
that to be considered a corporate crime, the company in question does not need to be aware of
or condone such criminal activity.