White-Collar Crime vs.

Street Crime

Devin J Parent Mrs. Verdun English IV 5b 22 February 2014 Research Paper

Parent 2 Devin Parent Mrs. Verdun English IV 5B 22 February 2014 Research Paper White-Collar Crime vs. Street Crime Which do you believe is worse: white-collar crime or street crime? An issue that many are uncertain on is that one may or may not be more severe than the other. Most would argue that street crimes are worse because they are more common. That is untrue. White-collar crime is more vicious and harmful than street crime because it can affect us all. Street crimes are often considered more harmful because they are violent, whereas whitecollar crimes are not. White-collar crimes are done by your big businessman and government professionals. Their victims are scammed into ruining their companies; they take away peoples life savings, and owe investors millions of dollars. As society progresses, these crimes become more deliberate and calculated. Government agencies, like the FBI, are focused on ending these schemes before they come into fruition. (White-Collar Crime Stories 1) Have you ever wondered how a politician gains popularity or become elected? The candidate that is running must campaign and raise money to be successful in an election. The more money that is raised the better their chances are at winning. Who do you think they pitch ideas to in the hopes to raise money? How do you think they earn their financial backing? In order for a candidate to make the money they need to earn the favor of big businesses and other

Parent 3 people in high places. This is why who you know is important because association is key in financial gain. Most politicians become dirty because they need to offer something in return for the business to put money into their campaign. Some officials will let their contributors have some political backing during their time in office. They may procure a position for a person or offer them a job as payment for their contribution. For example, there are places in the city that the government pays to have landscaped and the grass cut. Along comes a landscaping company that says they would contribute to the campaign if they can be the citys new landscaper. If the candidate agrees, this action becomes illegal. Now, lets say that the candidate gets into office and doesnt come through on the deal, what can happen? Its not very often that a person whos contributed to a campaign that has been promised something in return will let something like this slide. If they decide to go to authorities on the situation they can get into trouble, too. There are some people that are afraid to come forward about crimes at this grand of scale being committed. This why authoritative officials have a hard time pinning down on the wrong being done because no one will come forth with tangible evidence. If no one comes forth then the authorities cant build a case against the person. In this case, the wrong will not be amended and itll continue to happen until authorities can find a cooperative witness to illegal situations like these. Bribery, at its core, is when you gift or pay a sort of fee in order to reap the benefits later. People do this to gain autonomy from the government so they can produce whatever it is they want without too much government interference. There are several types of bribery, but one of the most recognized ones is bribery of an official. Bribing an official is when you payoff a

Parent 4 person of authority in order to get what you want or keep them off your back. There are several famous court cases that have dealt with this and it is oddly common amongst politicians. Most recently, former mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, has been tried and convicted on twenty counts of bribing an official and fraud. (Robertson 1) As we can see with former Mayor Nagins case, whoever was caught with bribery ratted him out to get out of trouble. If the federal agents can get people to come forward with evidence that a government official has done something illegal they begin to cut deals with the witnesses. The witnesses may get off with minor charges because the government official was the one they were targeting. Fraud is another widely known white-collar crime. This is when you purposely deceive someone to earn unlawful profit. Computer hacking is considered a type of fraud because you can impersonate another person electronically to learn their information. An act placed to prevent and check hacking through the computer is called Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. (Hendler 1) David L. Smith created the Melissa virus, an emailed virus that affects word documents of any type. They are especially known to cause severe damage to Microsoft Excel documents and strategically delete the data inside your computer. There isnt very much to the email other than an attachment that upon opening unleashes the virus into your computer. Smith was given ten years in prison, but he only served twenty months and paid a fine of five-thousand dollars. ("TJX Hacker Gets 20 Years in Prison" 1) A white-collar crime that is mostly seen in organized illegal activity is racketeering. Racketeering is when you offer to help fix a problem for someone when there is no problem to be fixed. ( "Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization" 1) What makes it illegal is that there

Parent 5 is often a price for the fixing of the fraudulent problem. Often times the problem is caused by the people that desire to fix it for you. They set the trap in order to make money off a problem theyve caused. To prevent these situations, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) was established. The act made it a crime to be identified as a member of a group that partakes in illegal activities and was made when the American mafia was at its peak. It has, since then, damaged the mafia severely. ("Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization" 1) Even though I believe white collar crime to be worse, street crimes are still bad. They are any type of criminal offense done in a public space. They are not as grand and bold as the crimes described above but you can still serve a plethora of time for them. Organized crimes are planned and well thought out, but these crimes are more immediate and spur of the moment. They arent carefully planned; the main goal is to make quick money. While white-collar crime affects us all, the media mainly recognizes the everyday crimes more often. We are more likely to watch on the news a case of little influence on societal matters. Crimes like graffiti. Graffiti is the street artwork done with spray paint or other substances, it is legally known as vandalism. This petty crime doesnt affect us much and by now it has become a cultural norm to see it. Many buildings have been tagged with different sayings and pictures all over that not very many people pay attention to them any longer. Most people who get caught end up paying fines for the crime, but depending on the severity it can be a misdemeanor or a felony. (Graffiti 1) Street crimes like solicitation and prostitution are popular as well. Solicitation is when pay someone to commit a crime that you were going to commit anyway. The charges that you are convicted with, if caught, are inspired by other crimes charges like conspiracy. Often you

Parent 6 will see signs warning not to solicit on a site or near a place of business because they are legally obligated to report any suspicions they may have. Prostitution, however, is engaging in any form of sexual conduct for a fee. Many describe this as selling yourself for money. Prostitution can be done virtually, not just in real life. (Hermann. Peter. Keith. 1) Illegal drug trade is a crime as well. If the substance you are selling is illegal or is not apart of a government regulated business then it is a crime. If caught, you can earn up to ten to twenty-five years in a federal prison. I do not mean drug trafficking or smuggling because those are white-collar offenses. Those crimes cross city and country borders to distribute in a network run by organized crime. Drug trade is the man on the street that sells the drug to earn quick money. Whether you are selling alcohol, marijuana, or crack cocaine, if its an illegal substance and it isnt government regulated. If you are caught you will serve several years of jail time and this is in most countries. (Illegal Drug Trade 1) Typically, street crimes cause a lot of outbursts locally. Obviously, people get angry when something happens near their homes. This is why street crimes are more displayed in the media because the places where they are happening tend to make them a bigger deal with their reactions. Where white-collar crimes affect our economy, street crimes effect of peace of mind which is why this topic is highly debated. All crime is bad, but when a person feels that their immediate safety is at stake they may speak out against it so that something can be done instantly. Crimes involving big business and politics come to light gradually, but street crimes not so much. They are seen and heard every day in newspapers, on the television, and through word-of-mouth. You cant speak out about a crime if you dont really notice it being committed. Which do you believe is worse: white-collar crime or street crime? They both are major

Parent 7 offense and have major consequences. They are both generally done to gain profit off other peoples weaknesses. You can see a street crime happening everyday and are often petty offenses. Only sometimes are street crimes big deal crimes. White collar crimes, however, are not as visible. They hurt us because they take away our money and are strategically schemed to do so. These crimes become worse over the years as technology progresses. White-collar crime is worse because they can ruin our sense of stability.

Parent 8

Works Cited FBI. "White-Collar Crime Stories." FBI.gov. FBI.gov, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. Hendler, James. "It's Time to Reform The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act." ScientificAmerican.com. ScienticAmerican.com, 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. Hermann, Peter, and Keith L. Alexander. "D.C. Officer Arrested in Prostitution Case." Nytimes.com. Nytimes.com, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. "Graffiti." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Mar. 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. "Illegal Drug Trade." Wikipedia.org. Wikipedia.org, 17 Feb. 2014. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. "Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization." Wikipedia.org. Wikipedia.org, 16 Feb. 2014. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. Robertson, Campbell. "Nagin Guilty of 20 Counts of Bribery and Fraud." Nytimes.com. Nytimes.com, 12 Feb. 2014. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. "TJX Hacker Gets 20 Years in Prison." Wired.com. Wired.com, 25 Mar. 2010. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. Trex, Ethan. "4 More Examples of Political Corruption." MentalFloss.com. MentalFloss.com, 11 Dec. 2008. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.