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Introduction
During 1939, crime is commonly perceived as the work of disadvantaged young men who are from broken homes as well as decaying neighborhoods. It can be seen in different books and movies where in criminals were being portrayed as a dangerous and strong guy who’s growing up on the wrong side of town. The story will eventually lead to the brand new life of the young man by the help of the church or the community or lead to the bad ending where in he will be condemned to a sad faith that is determined by different hard circumstances where in he was raised (Weisburd & Waring 2001, p. 1).
In addition to that, there have been series of enduring empirical inquiries, sociologists at the University of Chicago during the 1920s and the 1930s. The study focuses on the link between the social disorganization and poverty in the different areas within a city as well as high rates of the criminal behavior (Weisburd & Waring 2001, p. 1).
During the end of the twentieth century, there have been dramatic changes that had happened in the way that the policy makers as well as different elite academics talk about the crime and what should be done regarding it (Shover & Hochstetler 2005, p. 1).
White-collar had been one of the most important topics and has a great impact to the British history. The said type of crime, specifically the business fraud, embezzlement as well as financial chicanery of different kinds had affected huge amounts of properties as well as threatened many savings or even broke the lives of many individual investors (Robb 1992, p. 2).
What is White Collar Crime?
The real origins of white-collar crime lie from 200 years ago, during the tremendous financial growth that was caused by the British Industrial Revolution (Robb 1992, p. 1). The Industrial Revolution has been the cause of the complexity in the economy as well as the dependency of the economy on different finance as well as investment. The economy during that time can be seen as having a vast banking network, a burgeoning commercial nexus of insurance, stocks and credit that eventually lead to a more complicated legal system. The said phenomena, together with the affiliated growing numbers of lawyers, brokers as well as financiers had helped to increase the potential for the white-collar crime (Robb 1992, p. 2).
The term white collar crime was coined by Criminology Expert and sociologist, Edward Sutherland in order to describe nonviolent crimes that are committed by the corporations or the individual like office workers as well as sales personnel during the track of their business activities and tasks (The Columbia Encyclopedia 2007, p. 51465). It defines the crimes that are committed at a business by a businessman or business woman. The primary reason of Sutherland for coining the term is that he believed that people are more likely to be more committed to the crimes if they are surrounded by different criminal behaviors of other people (Ellis-Christensen 2008). The said term had been used in order to expand the boundaries of the study of the crime, by including the criminal acts of different respectable individuals in the process of their occupation or profession (Schlegel & Weishurd 1992, p. 3). It includes crimes such as embezzlement, false advertising, bribery, unfair competition, tax evasion, as well as unfair labor practices (The Columbia Encyclopedia 2007, p. 51465).
The reasons or factors that push Sutherland to study about the white collar crime is that he sees that criminology had been focused on the social and economic determinants of crime, like the family background and the wealth level of a person, in incorrect manner. In addition to that, Sutherland believed that all crimes are committed at all levels of the society as well as by the person with a wide divergent of background in terms of socio-economic. Furthermore, he believed that crime is often committed by the persons that operate through a large as well as powerful organization. On the other hand, he concluded that white collar crime has its greatly-underestimated effect on the society (Strader 2002, p. 4).
The said definition of Sutherland can be considered as outdated for the students of the criminal law nowadays. During the mid-1970s, the white collar crime had capture the attention of many prosecutors as well as the public, and the definition of the said term had evolved and gained its different meaning. There have been many studies that show that crimes like security fraud as well as tax fraud are not just committed by persons who belong to the high social status but also by those people who has a divergent background (Strader 2002, p. 4).
Reiss and Biderman describe white-collar crime as the violations of law that pertains to the use of a violators; position as well as power in order to influence as well as to trust, for the purpose of the illegal gain, or to commend an illegal act for the sake of personal or organization gain (cited in United States, Bureau of Justice Statistics 1988, p. 9).
The United States Department of Justice define white collar crime as a nonviolent crime for the purpose of financial gain that had been committed and done by doing deceptions by those people that belongs to the entrepreneurial, professional and semi-professional occupational status. In addition to that it is being done by utilizing the special occupational skills as well as opportunities by those people who belong to the said occupational status. Furthermore, it can also be considered as a crime that focuses on the financial gain that uses deception and committed by anyone that has a special technical as well as professional knowledge of business as well as government, regardless of the occupation of the person (cited in Strader 2002, p. 5).
On the other hand, white collar prosecutor and defense attorney define white collar crime as crime that does not: essentially engage in force against a person or property; directly linked to the ownership, deal, or even circulation of narcotics; directly linked to the prearranged crime activities; directly linked to a definite national policies like immigration, civil rights as well as national security; or directly engage in different vice crimes or the common theft of property (Strader 2002, p. 5).
Shapiro also argues that white-collar crime should be perceived as an abuse of one’s trust. This is due to the fact that the white collar criminals are holding monopolies of information that cannot be verified by their client or by their target. The said situation makes the client separated from the perpetrators in physical and social manner (Vito & Maahs 2006, p. 415).
The man difference between the white-collar crimes and violent crimes is that the first do not necessarily caused physical injury to the identifiable person. Instead, it can cause loss and damage to the society as a whole, that is why it is hard to detect and difficult to investigate the white-collar crime than the violent crime (United States, Bureau of Justice Statistics 1988, p. 9).
Categories of White-collar Crime
The definition of white-collar crime can be divided into two categories: the occupational crime and the corporate crime.
Gary Green had defined occupational crime as the acts that are punishable by law that had been committed and done via the opportunities that had been brought and created within the course of an occupation that is considered as legal (cited in Vito & Maahs 2006, p. 415). It excludes the crimes that are committed in the context as well as in the pursuit of the goals of an avowedly illegal organization. It is committed by the individuals as well as groups of different individuals that has no relationship or connection with any legitimate organization or whose organizational positions do not figure in their crimes (Tonry 1998, p. 138).
In addition to that, Green also sets up a typology that center on the beneficiary of the crime as well as separates all the offenders who are motivated by their desire for own gain from those that act on behalf of the organization (Vito & Maahs 2006, p. 415).
The pervasiveness and the power of corporations as well as corporate form are considered as important in order to treat as a subtype of the white-collar crime (Tonry 1998, p. 139). Corporate crime is a white-collar crime that occurs during the context of the complicated relationships as well as expectations between the boards of directors, executives as well as the managers. It can also occur between the relationship of the parent corporations, corporate divisions as well as subsidiaries (Clinard & Yeager 2005, p. 17).
Primarily, corporate crime is recognized as the misconduct that is done by different corporations that is punishable by the state, in spite of, whether it is punishable under the administrative, civil or even criminal law (cited in Spencer & Sims 1995, p. 24).
Corporate crime can be considered as a crime that is performed or acted out by the collectivities or the groups of disconnected individuals and hardly equivalent to the action of an isolated individual (cited in Clinard & Yeager 2005, p. 18). It is the crime that had been committed and done by an individual for the duration his or her lawful occupation for the benefit or advantage of the organization (Levinson 2002, p. 319).
In general, the main difference between the organizational crime and corporate crime is that the first one that had been mentioned focus on the bad acts of an individual in order to gain or to obtain something for his or her own sake. On the other hand, the corporate crime pertains to the bad doings of an individual or groups in order to gain or obtain advantage or profit for the whole organization or company that he or she is into. A white-collar crime can only be said as corporate crime if it had benefited the organization or company by the acts that had been done by an individual or group.
Part II: The Modernization of Organized Crime: The Entrepreneurial Model
Introduction
There have been many studies and seminars that question the changes and evolvement of organized crime over the years. It follows the question about how did it happened. The focus of the studies pertains to the growing social phenomena of globalization, migration as well as the fast development in technology. The two most important phenomenons that enlighten the world regarding the issue of organized crime is the event of the September 11, 2001 attacks in USA as well as the war in Iraq (Siegel & van de Bunt 2003, p. 3).
As of now, the term organized crime is often preceded by the word transnational. This is due to the fact that the increase of organized crime is in entirely geographical terms. Furthermore, it also involves that the organized crime is already in real meaning of cross-boarder crime (Siegel & van de Bunt 2003, p. 3).
Organized crime can also be called global due to the fact that most of the events that are connected with the global consequences are all influenced and affected by the nature as well as form of the organized crime (Siegel & van de Bunt 2003, p. 4).
There is no doubt that organized crime had already evolved and change with connection to the improvement of different economies of different industrialized as well as the continuing negative impact of globalization to the developing country or third world. Furthermore, the presence of new and improved technologies and innovation, particularly the help of the Internet had a great impact to the organized crime.
What is Organized Crime?
Organized crime can be considered as a non-ideological enterprise that involves number of persons that are into close social interaction, organized on the basis of hierarchical manner that has three levels or rank, the purpose of securing profit as well as power by means of engaging different illegal and even legal activities (Abadinsky 1990, p. 6). It is any criminal activities and tasks that involves two or more persons, that can be specialized or non-specialized, that is compose of some form of social structure, has a form of leadership, making use of different modes of operation, where in the primary purpose is to found in the enterprises of a specific group (Albini, 197, p. 37).
Organized crime is considered as both a social system as well as social world. This is due to the fact that the system is composed of different relationships that connect the professionals, criminals, law enforcers as well as the different entrepreneurs (Block 1983, p. vii). It can also be considered as a technique of violence, intimidation as well as corruption where in the default of the effective law enforcement, can be successful applied, via the use of those sufficiently unscrupulous, to any of the business or industry that can produce large profit. It focuses on the main motive, which is the secure as well as hold and maintain the monopoly of different activities that will reduce huge profits. The activities can be illegal and legal (Special Crime Study Commission on Organized Crime 1953, p. 11).
Furthermore, organized crime is considered as a syndicated crime, the violation of the law about the large-scale basis by the ongoing, tightly structured groups that are devoted in pushing and gathering profit via different means of criminal activities.
Organized crime is syndicated crime, the violation of the law on a large-scale basis by ongoing, tightly structured groups devoted to the pursuit of profit through criminal. The main difference between the organized crime from other type or categories of crime is that it shows durability as well as complexity of the syndicates that uses and shows some of the traits of a formal organization such as division of labor, organizational structure, power distribution as well as the process of coordinating different statuses (Conklin 2007, p. 315).
In general, organized crime can be describe as a identifiable, monopolistic, self-perpetuating, hierarchical organization that is keen use different violence as well as fraud of the officials of the government in order to connect in the traditional or legal activities as well as different complicated criminal enterprises. Another thing is that, it operates like the usual organizational where in it ensures that the organizational longevity by different ritualistic practices, rules and regulations, organizational tithing as well as investments in different legal businesses (Grenna & Britz 2006, p. 15).
Human and Drug trafficking are the most important organized crime in the world. The said two crimes are always visible in any country, in any region no matter how strict a given government is.
In US, there is what they call the US-based Tongs; where in some of the members are working together with the heroine traffickers, triad member as well as the gang leaders in order to import heroin and other types of drugs inside the US. There are also some members of the Tong members, more specifically those who are involved in the Fujianese organizations are engaged in the smuggling of Chinese citizens to the US (Wright 2006, p. 114).
On the other hand, some of the gang leaders in the US-based gangs are working together with the different heroin traffickers, triad members as well as the Tong members that are involved in the importation of heroine in the US. The gang members are also into the tasks of helping the different snakeheads in order to collect the human smuggling fee (Wright 2006, p. 114).
Evolution of Organized Crime
Crime is becoming and increasingly international. With the exception of the high homicide rates that are considered as unique to the US, the rates for the crimes in many developed countries of the West are considered as quite similar as well as appear during the recent years, to rise and fall in the tandem (National Research Council 1999, p. ix).
There have been many factors that had affected the development of the organized crime, the integration of the economic systems and institutions of the world, the easing of different barriers to the trade, travel as well as migration as well as the technology that enables easy global communication (National Research Council 1999, p. ix).
Like the legal companies, organized crime is also affected and influenced by globalization as well as the use of modern technologies in terms of communications as well as file sharing. Furthermore, most of the organized crime is also being done in terms of thinking global but acting local. It can cause a global effect on the organized crime but the modus operandi of the organized crime can affect and caused local problems. Those criminals who are running their international operations are often relying on the local powers that are based on their respective country. The said power had been propped up by the friendships of many years that stands or close-knit family. One of the most fascinating factors of the global organized crime is that proximity is a condition that is used in order to succeed in the long distance operations (Siegel & van de Bunt 2003, p. 4).
There have been many developments that had happened in the organized crime. The explosion of the drug markets since the 1980s, the waves of illegal migration as well as the increasing numbers of different conflicts that are fueled by the large-scale criminal activities had been the most important and significant issues that are included in the transnational criminal networks (Berdal & Serrano 2002, p. 13).
As the globalization had helped and enabled to expand the international trade and international communication, it had also increase the range of the organized crime activities by making it broader as well as more diverse. The common or the conventional hierarchical forms of the organized crime groups have already disappear and was replaced with the different approach, which is the loose network that works together for them to exploit new and larger opportunities in other market (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2008).
One of the most important and the most common organized crime is the market of drugs. Due to the impact of globalization, the said market had gone through several changes. For the last fifteen years, Spain as well as the Netherlands has been considered as the two most important countries in importing cocaine from South America and its distribution to the rest of the Europe, however, there are huge differences in terms of trafficking networks as well as competitive advantages. However, the said scenario had change since the development of the XTC or ecstasy culture and XTC market in Israel. The said change and development in the culture and market of Israel had resulted to the change of the organized crime in the global industry (Siegel & van de Bunt 2003, p. 5).
In terms of the organized crime groups that are involved in the activities of drug trafficking, they are more commonly engaged in smuggling other illegal goods. Therefore, the link or the relationship between the drug trafficking as well as other form of the transnational organized crime is in a great call for a more integrated or connected approach in order to be addressed (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2008).
Organized Crime in USA and UK
Both Europe and America have a common background that focuses on the factors that had affected the rise of the groups that had been engaged in different illegal activities. The rise of the outlaw gangs had been showed in the America with the rise of the cities. On the other hand, the Mafia arouse in the different part of Europe. Both of the regions show the different social, political as well as economic factors that are the reason for the emergence of the growth of the said type of crime (Larson & Garrett 1996, p. 143).
One of the primary reasons for the emergence of the secret societies and gangs is due to the unorganized or disorganized social milieu lacking of the effective means of the social control like the establishments of respected and fair law, rules and regulation as well as the governing and controlling structure. In the case of the US, different governmental structure commonly follows as well as a respond to the social and economic changes as well as development, rather than being lead. Furthermore, disorganization is not the primary problem in the country but the total absence of the organization that will handle the different process of generating the milieu that is behind the rise of the outlaw gangs (Larson & Garrett 1996, p. 143). The said absence of organization or governing structure that will handle the different needs as well as the different demands of the citizens with accordance to the different violence as well as gangs and illegal associations that are emerging during that time.
On the other hand, in Europe, disorganization is the one that affected the presence of different social disorganization due to the impact of the feudal heritage, due to that fact that Europe is a region that is dominated by different independent city-states that are engaged in different internecine warfare as well as the periodic occupation by the neighboring powers. Furthermore, the unification also add up to the factors that affected the overall impact of organized crime in the region, there have been a widespread of the absentee ownership of the landed stats that resulted to the conducive environment to the overseers’ use of any means or method at their disposal in order to control as well as to exploit the peasants (Larson & Garrett 1996, p. 143).
Unlike US, that is failing to pay attention to the terror-crime nexus in the serious way, UK had been one of the most active countries in focusing in the said phenomenon. The UK has refurbished it police human resources practices groups in order to improve their ability in order to collect different intelligence as well as to examine it. The said country also established its National Criminal Intelligence Services or NCIS in 1992 in order to unify the collection, processing as well as analyzing of the criminal intelligence that is inside the policing system (Orttung, & Makarychev 2006, p. 11).
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