White Collar criminals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

White Collar criminals - Essay Example The problem is that cognitive biases existing in the community prevent people from realizing that white collar criminals are potential threats to the society. Popular perceptions about what constitutes crime can be illustrated if one examines two instances of offenses, one that falls in the stereotypical notion and the other in the white collar crime category, as under: Scenario-1: A mugger waylays a person on a dark, desolated street and demands he parts away with his possessions. The man hands over his wallet and the thug empties it of its contents of 50 dollars and throws the wallet back at the man. He mutters some threats to him, stuffs the bills into his pocket, and sneaks into a murky alley. Terrified but grateful that he is unhurt, the man summons the police, files a report and goes his way, wondering how widespread crimes have become. Scenario 2: An employee of a heating and air conditioning firm attends a complaint at a home which has been damaged in a recent storm. The HVAC unit outside has been battered and the inspection reveals that it requires some minor repairs. However, the employee reports to the homeowner’s insurance company that the entire system needs replacement as it is completely damaged. Thus, his company gains a hefty profit, by fraudulent means. When one considers both these events, it becomes apparent that in the first episode, a thug waylays a person, robs him of 50 dollars. The victim recognizes this act as a crime, and the police register a case against the perpetrator. In the second instance, though the company has gained an undue benefit of a larger sum, the incident has neither been acknowledged as a crime nor has anybody taken cognizance of it. Thus, it transpires that white collar crimes do occur in the society, which is of much greater magnitude than normal crimes, but people hardly recognize this fact. As can be evidenced from the above