Type of Crimes Posted on January 11, 2008 at 11:44:14 AM by Jefferson
There are several typologies (or categorizations) of crimes. Here is one typology with the list of types of crimes.
- Professional crime: when crime is pursued as a career, a day to day occupation
- Organized crime: groups which regulate relations between various criminal enterprises, e.g. smuggling & sale of drugs, prostitution, gambling, money laundering and other illegal activities; it is secret and conspiratorial
- White-collar crime or index crimes (individuals and businesses): illegal acts committed in the course of business activities, e.g. individual – income tax evasion, stock manipulation, consumer fraud, bribery & extraction of kick backs, embezzlement, misrepresentation in advertising, corporation – anticompetitive behaviour, environmental pollution, tax fraud, stock fraud & manipulation, production of unsafe goods, bribery & corruption, worker health & safety violations
- Technology-based or computer crime
- Victimless crime: willing exchange among adults of desired but illegal goods and services, supposedly no victim other than the offender
OR
1) Blue collar (otherwise known as crimes in the streets): tends to be criminal law (individual’s moral responsibility to society), easier to detect, values of US influenced by dominant groups & institutions so public’s attention is directed towards crimes committed by those in subordinate groups, people more afraid of these crimes, more sensational crimes, pressure on police due to fear
Types of blue collar crime:
1.1) Juvenile
1.2) Crimes against the person: involves violence or the threat of violence against others, violent including homicide and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault;
1.3) Crimes against property: involve theft of goods belonging to others, including burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson;
1.4) Victimless crime: violation of laws in which there are no readily apparent victims, a misnomer, including prostitution, gambling and drug abuse;
2) White collar crime (otherwise known as crime in suits): also known as business/economic and political crime, tends to be civil law (regulates economic affairs between private parties), crimes committed by people of high social position in the course of their occupations, rarely involve violence, involve significant public harm, victimizes everyone and no one, economic costs spread over large population; estimate of cost: 200 billion, 14 x cost of street crime
Types of white collar crime:
2.1) Workplace crime: crimes against employers by employees for individual gain
occupational crime: an individual or group’s illegal use of their professional position to secure something of value, found at all levels of the labour force, e.g. fraud;
2.2) Organizational crime: decision-makers of a corporation or government engage in illegal activity for corporate or organizational advantage as opposed to personal gain, terrorism, selling products which are known to be unsafe or defective
2.3) Strategic bankruptcy: company is successfully sued, declares bankruptcy and thus avoids having to pay up and co. is then reorganized into new co. which is clear of personal/co. liabilities (US legal system tends to protect organizations & private property against acts of individuals rather than protecting individuals and nation from organizations;
2.4) Patriotic crime: crimes committed in the name of achieving important national goals, actions taken outside legitimate channels, e.g. violation of international law, "protecting" national security, undeclared warfare, false imprisonment, failure to regulate pollution, tax laws.
Newest category of crimes:
- Hate crimes: criminal act motivated by racial or other bias such as religion, ancestry, sexual orientation or physical disability
- Computer crimes
Crime statistics:
1. FBI’s Uniform Crime reports: arrest and conviction rates are far higher for minorities
2. Victimization surveys
3. FBI’s crime index: includes street crime, e.g. homicide, rape, robbery, assault, larceny, burglary, & auto theft –crimes committed by low socioeconomic status people and with clear and identifiable victims
Types of violence: another way of viewing deviance and crime
- physical – most visible;
- psychological;
- structural – societal institutions violence against people;
- cultural – against a group of people;
- ecological – against the environment
Media and crime
- Most people get their information from TV and thus info on crime
- Reinforce stereotypes
- Equate deviance and crime
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