White-Collar Crime, Criminology Of

David O. Friedrichs

White-collar crime has not been a primary focus of criminology through most of its history. Rather, conventional forms of crime have received the largest proportion of attention from criminologists. This is somewhat paradoxical insofar as the harm caused by white-collar crime far exceeds that caused by conventional crime (and juvenile delinquency), at least by some measures. Financial losses due to white-collar crimes dwarf such losses from conventional forms of crime. In addition, white-collar crimes are complicit in a range of physical costs to human beings, including illness, disabling injury, and premature death. Such physical costs of white-collar crime are especially associated with corporate polluting of the environment, unsafe working conditions, and dangerous products inflicted on consumers. Several factors explain the relative neglect of whitecollar crime. First, both the personal and professional socialization of criminologists has not historically privileged white-collar crime over conventional forms of crime. Second, financial and other support ...

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