Occupational, Organizational and Computer Crimes

The past several weeks have been filled with new adventures into the world of white collar crime. The term white collar crime is synonymous with financial crimes. And although "financial crimes" in this context are non-violent, they sure do cause a great deal more of financial loss for the victims'. The forms of white collar crime vary greatly. For example, computer hacking, embezzlement, corruption of politicians, medical fraud and environmental crimes are all considered white collar crimes.

The above paragraph lists only a few examples of white collar crimes. So anyone can imagine that each type does vary on investigations, prevention, and prosecution strategies. However, for the purpose of this discussion we will narrow the field of white collar crimes down into occupational, organizational, and computer crimes. Occupational crimes are "offenses committed by individuals in the course of their occupations and the offenses of employees against their employers" (www.aipca.org). Examples of occupational crimes are embezzlement, and altering accounting books.

Corporate crimes on the other hand crimes committed by the organization. A perfect example of corporate white collar crime is the pollution of the environment. "The EPA estimates that of the 100 billion tons of hazardous waste produced each year in the United States, 90 percent is disposed of in an environmentally unsafe manner" (Rosoff, Pontell, & Tillman, (2007). Technology has led us to the new phenomenon of computer crimes. With the simple click of a mouse, a high school drop-out can steal millions of dollars. Whether it is by stealing credit card numbers, making a for profit child pornography website, or transferring money from my bank account into theirs, a computer literate person can become real rich real quick.