What Are the Crimes of the Powerful?

Crimes committed by company employees to make themselves richer are known as:

• White-collar crime

• Corporate crime

• Street crime

• Violent crime

Which example from the notes best illustrates corporate crime?

• A shoplifter stealing designer clothes

• A teenager pirating a film online

• A mugger using a knife for robbery

• A firm dumping toxic waste to cut costs

White-collar crime is hard to measure partly because:

• Victims always notice losses immediately

• Police spend most of their time patrolling streets, not boardrooms

• Offenders usually confess straight away

• Courts hand out automatic prison terms

Which of the following is NOT listed in the hand-out as a reason white-collar crime often stays hidden?

• Offenders hold trusted positions

• Victims may not spot small losses

• Offenders normally brag about their crimes on social media

• Firms prefer sacking staff quietly to calling police

Corporate crime is defined as:

• Offences by politicians for electoral gain

• Any violent act against a business

• Crimes a large company commits to boost profit

• Petty theft by junior staff

Which practice appears in the notes as an example of corporate crime?

• Graffiti on office walls

• Paying workers less than the legal minimum wage

• Joy-riding in a stolen car

• Under-age shoplifting

Corporate crime often goes undetected because:

• CCTV covers every workplace

• Shareholders run frequent audits

• The media reports every minor breach

• Only insiders may realise a crime is happening

One reason white-collar offenders avoid suspicion is that their roles place them in positions of:

• Trust

• Manual labour

Even when exposed, powerful firms can escape punishment mainly by:

• Admitting guilt on social media

• Closing the business immediately

• Hiring expensive lawyers to fight charges

• Blaming junior staff exclusively

The hand-out notes that mainstream media coverage of crime tends to highlight:

• Cyber-fraud by global banks

• Shocking street violence committed by working-class offenders

• Tax evasion by large corporations

• Environmental crimes by multinationals