The purpose of this research is to review the white collar crime phenomenon in the United States. White collar crime is non violent in and of itself, although, in some instances, such as money laundering, it may derive from some form of violent crime. White collar crime also involves theft, although not in the forms of burglary, shoplifting, or employee theft of goods.
White collar crime assumes many manifestations. In this research, three forms of white collar crime are examined, as they are representative of the overall problem. The three forms of white collar crime considered are embezzlement, money laundering, and insider stock trading.
Embezzlement is the "unlawful, fradulent taking of money or property by a person to whom said money or property had been entrusted" (Rothenberg, 1985, p. 110). Embezzlement is a criminal offense, and, as the term is most often used, it is "synonymous with misappropriation of funds" (Rothenberg, 1985, p. 110).
The stereotypical conception of an embezzler is either that of an individual who "skims" from cash collections or that of an individual who is able to manipulate the "books"
1 2in a manual record keeping system to conceal checks fraudu lently issued to one's self (Richter, 1985). Neither of these stereotypical situations is of particular relevance in the contemporary large business environment. First, in the large contemporary business, few payments are received in cash. Second, the automation of financial records systems in large contemporary businesses has all but eliminated the stereotypi cal records manipulating bookkeeper as a significant embezzler.
Embezzlement in the contemporary large business environ ment is, thus, very much a part of the contemporary computer crime problem (Atkins, 1985). A report issued by the American Bar Association stated that annual losses resulting from com puter crime app...