Following the recent increase in the cases of crime in society, laws need to be enforced so that organizations and other criminal justice groups are adequately empowered. Of much interest is a corporate crime or white-collar crime, which despite its often huge negative economic and social impact, continues to the public as well as judicial leniency. Resources from the state, police, and other judicial systems should aim at crime prevention and criminal justice. The Australian Institute of criminology (AIC) of 1973 operates under the criminology research act of 1971 as a statutory authority for the commonwealth AIC is responsible for criminology research and gives its results as well as arranging conferences and publishing its works.
Companies have obeyed LawLaw, but the use of criminal LawLaw in punishing could be one of the effective strategies that can control illegal behavior in corporate bodies. Corporate crime will include crimes by a corporation such as a business firm or by individuals under vicarious or corporate liability. Corporate crime has been found to cause some overlap with white-collar crime since the employees normally represent the interest of a corporation. Organized crime is seen through corporate arrangement and criminal acts of illegal business, which has resulted in making huge sums of money.
State corporate crime has been a corporate crime when links between the corporation and the state create a chance for criminal activities between the two groups. Corporate crime has brought political debates, especially in countries like the United Kingdom, where corporate manslaughter is linked to disaster in rail and sea networks. It also addresses the corporate crime on industries and business enterprises that pose technological hazards. This means that corporate crime poses a threat to the community at large in which their actions and impact on personal injury and cause economic and physical impacts (Glasbeek Harny, 141).
Criminal LawLaw is in place to regulate behavior and makes a ruling on the penalty to give. Thus the legislative makes all considerations to justify an act as a crime or offense punishable by LawLaw or to be termed as a corporate crime. Identify the extent of crime committed should follow behavior is a potential threat to loss and damage. Crime and criminal justice should be approached in a very professional manner because businesses are the major strongholds of many states. Due to the mutual relationship of providing a stable economy then the political influence of a decision regarding is very crucial. All in all, LawLaw should be applicable to all and enforced at all times.
Crime occurs due to the opportunity and thought that it would be committed and go unnoticed. Corporations turn out to be the only means by which crime can be committed, such as fraudulent activities in the accounts department, stores, and control, inventory and acquisition transactions. Crime may also occur where a legitimate business engages in illegal and criminal activity. However, these activities survive due to high levels of secrecy among the top managers and other stakeholders in this activity. Bribery and corporation is a crime in developing societies, especially with public officials. The media has not been explicit in giving reports on corporate crime, mostly due to the weighty issues surrounding companies, the government, and the public.
Persons of high profile commit a white-collar crime; a respectable person with high social status, with white-collar crime, there is a possibility of fraud, bribery, and other criminal activities on white-collar employees. They also suffer insider trading, online crime, and fraud, as well as forgery of documents. Most of these crimes may be detected and not reported or may not detect at all for a very long period. White-collar crime will involve the manipulation of records in the accounts and inventory department.
White-collar offenders are financially supported to get good lawyers, those with some political influence, or are in judicial systems. Such contacts make them have favor on an individual basis without strict measures being taken against them. United States environmental protection agency is a government agency that enforces many corporate crimes when they discover abuse. According to the Law reform commission New South Wales, white-collar crimes have been enforced, with financial fraud receiving higher penalties and punishment than crimes related to drugs and killing. This has been seen in the change from 5 to 20 years in jail for wire and mail fraud. It was made tougher with a rule that a 50 cent drop in a company’s billion share float would see a man serving an 11 years jail term of the chief executives as a result of a material misstatement.
Law at times shields corporate wrongdoers. For example, the huge multinational corporation, shell, is known to be an environmental hazard that has risked and even caused the death of human beings, and yet the directors and stakeholders continue to be free. Some companies that mine asbestos have posed a danger to human life and have caused health risks to many people, yet they have gone scot-free without any justice. This is to means that criminal justice systems are not for such offenders who are insensitive to the life and survival of human beings (Wong K.C. 110).
The working groups are not considered as the owners of the production and labor and thus, what they get is their wage which is in most cases too little to care for all their needs. The criminal justice systems have no relevance to the anti-social behavior of such employers who have total disregard to the need to conserve the environment, provide a working environment for their employees as well as provide enough salary to cater for all their needs. The severe punishment that the poor in society receive cannot be compared to the fair treatment of the rich who inflict harm to employees.
With corporate wrongdoers, civil liability over death and other injuries should e use. Prosecution and punishment by the criminal LawLaw would be the alternative solution for the company rather than an individual. This can be achieved through corporate doctrine, vicarious liability, and management models that take concern of specific corporate offenses. With the powers in a company and the political influence it has on the state, it must be responsible for the society not to harm or injure it, and if not, they should be criminally liable.
When policies and practices of a company are the results of corporate crime rather than an individual’s fault, corporate criminal liability should be on the company itself. It, therefore, cannot be direct to the individual wrongdoer or determine where the fault lies. This is attributed to the fact that corporate hierarchy cannot be veiled; hence the single individual or individuals is hard to be identified. Corporate criminal liability aims at improving the work and company practices to improve the working and safety standards. When there is no means for corporate persecution, the practices would still continue and would be a shield for the company to engage and carry out criminal activities. Another advantage would be for the large structured companies where third parties such as media and other outsiders may be able to have evidence or justify a committed crime.
According to Freiberg Arie, 62, Criminal justice systems should be to provide a due process where criminals are apprehended and punished by the system. It also aims at protecting victims of crime and offering protection to children who are vulnerable to crime. The police force, together with the criminal justice system, detects and brings to criminal scrutiny various crimes committed. Public confidence has been on the decrease for the pile-up of cases in court. Media has a substantial role in creating fear in committing the crime. This is because they have no comprehensive coverage on crime and related stories, and hence people will create the notion that crime is still increasing in society.
Criminalization is a process that ascertains major acts as criminal and against the LawLaw. It, therefore, causes the legislature to regulate and control and give punishment. Consumerism and economic deprivation have been associated with the globalization of crime. In this, there have been criminal activities in the world that have resulted in political crime and related links to committed crime. Crime statistics from the reported cases of crime by police and crime victim surveys are major sources of the statistics. These reports are fundamental in the formation of government policies. The international crime victim survey is a program that surveys the extent of crime, makes policies, and also crime prevention measures necessary to reduce cases of crime.
The British crime survey in England and Wales carries out random interviews with a research group. It has been reported in this survey that a 12% decrease in crime was noted from 1998 to 2000. From 2000 to 2004, it dropped by 33%. Crime and accountability is the major challenge that large-scale organizations have to meet. Decision or negligence of a legitimate organization may lead to acts or omission which civil LawLaw or state punishes the organization. Corporate crime is distanced from organized crime despite certain similarities between them.
Occupational crime may occur where an individual of groups abuse their legal occupational positions for illegal and personal gain. This can lead to direct victimization of consumers or to the entire institution. Corporate crime hence addresses business crime in terms of finances, capital, power, management, and intellectual property. Corporate crimes lead to enormous economic losses by the government, consumers, and workers of the company. It can lead to physical and social costs in illegal deals of pensions and issues concerning the health and environment of the labor force. The corporate crimes further lead to social effects due to unsatisfactory provision of the social needs of the workers while working in the organization.
The economic and physical impact felt by the society ranges from low pay, poor working conditions, polluted environs, among others. This puts to risk the workers and consumers to be victims of corporate crime. The result is bad company reputation, low productivity, lack of motivation by workers, and social injustice. In the course of financial transactions, the selling of financial products may involve some criminal activities (Spalek, B. 79). Tax evasions, bribery, illegal shares, and merges are major illegal accounting activities that can lead to the downfall of an organization. Financial crime has been committed in banks with fraud money transfers, bribery, and money laundering while a company as Guinness and illegal share deals during the 1980s.
Corporate war crime has an illegal connection with the use of military violence. This is seen through the support of corporations to state violence when there is opposition and may seek to be directly linked to military undertakings. Overpricing, well-related illnesses, and other crimes are again consumers (Karstedt, Susanne 86). The defrauding activities include the illegal sale of goods, price conspiracies, illegal labels, and goods not fit for purpose and use. The standard of most products is not checked, and as a result, there is fraudulent use and application of safety testing and leads to death and illness to many consumers (Victoria parliament. Drugs and crime prevention committee).
Work-related illnesses are also occupational health crimes that expose the workforce to fatal substances, diseases, and work patterns that risk health complications. Economic crime regarding misappropriation of funds, cheques, credit card fraud, identity theft, and other criminal issues can lead to the economic instability of innocent persons. In America, in 1977, the economic losses went to $40 billion due to corporate crime. As e-commerce has taken root, online shopping and banking have been interfered with by online fraud and manipulations. Non-existing organizations open web pages and conduct their trading. Furthermore, others are after the intellectual property of the organizations, and they use this to their own advantage.
Criminal activity has interfered with the trust in finance, commerce, and government due to the irresponsible behavior of entrepreneurs, politicians, and financiers. Corporate crime has led to 3759 sudden deaths and over 205,000 due to major injuries in the last ten years. Twenty thousand industrial workers suffer diseases, with 3-12000 suffering occupational concerns. Home-based consumer products lead to 1100 deaths and 1,390,000 injuries. Of great concern is the lack of criminal investigations taking place due to corporate harm (Rudolf J, & Bartle B. 38, 43)
Despite the fact that corporate crime and the criminal circles engaged in, it is often seen as a lesser crime. From a social perspective, it inflicts damage to the entire society where the property is stolen, injured, and death through corporate violence. In the United States, a crime includes burglary, theft, and other fraudulent activities that undermine the efforts of working individuals. Violation of the environment, health, and safety are expensive in that diseases, death, and related illnesses are a social challenge to the community. The economic growth of a country is affected by such activities, and the living standards continue to fall below expectation (Simpson Sally S.153).
Fear, social unrest, and worry are effects that the society feels burdened to plan and organize for their security needs. Corporate crime leads to customer dissatisfaction, organizational crisis, and the general fall in the publicity and company’s reputation to the public. This translates to a loss of business contracts and partner’s financial collapse of the company, and a major decline in production and labor wastage. Fraudulent activities are a social crisis that pollutes the social maturity of the entire society. Greed for easy earned money without originality is a ruining factor to the morality of a society.
Lack of accountability at work and to the organizational passions is an abuse of professionalism, corporate crime, puts into suffering parties that were not involved, partners that were uninformed, as well as innocent customers who are unaware of the happening criminal activities. Corporate crime is criminal behavior. All individuals in the corporate organization should demonstrate maturity, accountability, and transparency in the activity engaged in. the LawLaw should be followed strictly so that social relations are enhanced and maintained. Organizational cultures that scrutinize any corporate crime demonstrate goodwill to their business partners, government and the society at large.
Works Cited
Australian Institute of Criminology. Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics. Freiberg Arie. Sentencing white-collar criminals. (2000).
Glasbeek Harny. “shielded by law: why corporate wrongs and wrongdoers are privileged” University of Western Sydney Law Review. (2002)
Karstedt, Susanne. Inequality, power and morality. Canberra: Australian institute of criminology (1997).
Law reform commission New South Wales. Sentencing – corporate offenders report 102 (2003).
Rudolf J, Bartle B. Criminal liability of organizations, Hobart: Law Reform Institute. (2005).
Simpson Sally S. Corporate crime, LawLaw and social control, Cambridge University Press. (2002)
Spalek, B. White-collar crime victims and the issue of trust. (2001).
Victoria parliament. Drugs and crime prevention committee. Inquiry into white-collar crime. Discussion paper. (2006).
Wong K.C. From white-collar crime to organizational crime. An intellectual history Murdock university electronic journal of LawLaw. 12. (2005).