Certain aspects of economic crime

Abstract

Possibly the most significant recent development, especially since World War II has been the emergence of the concept of economic crime, or as it is also known, 'white collar crime' or 'occupational crime.' It is true, of course, that this crime in itself is not wholly new, in fact one of the earliest and hardiest explanations of economic crime is suggested by Aristotle in POLITICS: Men may desire superfluities in order to enjoy pleasure unaccompanied with pain, and therefore they commit crimes," He noted: "The greatest crimes are caused by excess and not by necessity." But the generalisation of such phenomena and the incorporation of facts concerning illegal behaviour of the higher classes into theories of crime causation is a product of recent effort. The fact that economic crimes constitute a large proportion of the 'dark figure' of unreported or insufficiently reported crimes causing economic and social institutions and the public much greater harm than is suggested by the small number of crimes which are successfully prosecuted, because they trigger off chain reactions, has caused a growing concern and awareness of economic crime. Generally speaking, there are far fewer prosecutions for economic than there are for ordinary crime. Economic crime, costs the community far more on the whole, and it should be added that its victims are far more numerous. In fact some countries go so far as to state that the number of prosecutions is ten times smaller and the cost ten times higher.