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Theoretical Contributions To The Powerful: Crimes Of The Powerful

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Crimes of the Powerful Background Crimes of the powerful are ill-defined, as the powerful are the ones who define crimes and decide punishments, and they are not likely to punish themselves or their cohorts. Theorists have tried to conceptualize crimes of the powerful through anomie (normless corporations) and control (general theory of crime) (Ruggiero, 2015). Sutherland has been frequently cited for his definition of crimes of the powerful that considers crime as a norm infraction: The essential characteristic of crime is that it is a behavior which is prohibited by the state as an injury to the state…The two abstract criteria… as necessary elements in a definition of crime are legal descriptions of an act as socially harmful, and legal …show more content…

Theoretical contributions to white collar crime conceptualization have been drawn from sociology and psychology, starting with Freud and his discussions of conflict of desires and needs that cause people to commit crime (Friedrichs, 2010). According to this framework, white collar criminals desire conventional success, and they need to achieve this success by any means necessary. With this, Sutherland discusses personality traits of white collar criminals, claiming that they have normal personality types with more tendency toward risk- taking, ambition, and egocentrism, which would explain their “subtle” criminality that doesn’t follow typical norm infractions (Friedrichs, 2010). Next, Gottfredson and Hirschi offer sociogenic explanations, that criminals have lower self-control and therefore make conscious choices to commit crimes (Friedrichs, 2010). White collar crimes are not crimes of passion; they are calculated, conscious decisions people make as a means to an …show more content…

Lawmakers and government officials are not likely to criminalize activities that their cohorts may partake in, so legislation here is thin (Friedrichs, 2010). Dealing with these crimes in the justice system is therefore just as ambiguous as theorizing and conceptualizing. However, some notable contributions have been made in the 20th century, including the expansion of federal criminal law and reach of federal fraud statutes (Anello & Glaser, 2016). The Second Circuit has contributed to the development of white collar jurisprudence over the last century, finally allowing for national conversations, court decisions, law, practice, procedure, and punishment of white collar crimes (Anello & Glaser, 2016). Contributions from empirical research have also let to the creation of white collar crime units, as well as more grant money and publicly available systemic data for in-depth research (Reurink, 2016). Finally, criminological contributions have brought about discussion of the separation between individual and group rights (Michalowski, 1979). For white collar offenders, this could make prosecutions and conceptualization much clearer, leading to better research and outcomes to tackle this

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