CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH BIHAR

ASSIGNMENT
SCHOOL OF LAW AND GOVERNANCE
Project Topic:

Submitted By: Guided By:

SAKSHI ANAND
B.A.LL.B (Hons) Assistant Professor
Second Semester

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

You are most welcome in my project work on the topic “Nature of crime in cities, focusing on
the recent crimes like organized /white-collar crime”
This project is given by our honorable subject professor “Dr. Parijat Pradhan” and I would like
to thank him for providing me such a nice topic.

I would like to thank all the Library staffs who helped me to find all the desired books regarding
the topic as the whole project revolves around the doctrinal methodology of research.

Last but not the least, thanks to all who directly or indirectly helped me in completing of this
project. I have made this project with great care and tried to put each and every necessary
information regarding the topic. So at the beginning I hope that if once you will come inside this
project you will be surely glad.

Sakshi Anand

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Chapter1 Introduction
Chapter2 Definition
Chapter3 What is white collar crime?
Chapter4 Nature of crimes in cities.
Chapter5 Characteristics of White Collar crime
Chapter6 Causes of White collar crime
Chapter7 Laws relating to white collar crime
Chapter8 conclusion

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 Chapter- 1.

INTRODUCTION

Certain moral sentiments develop in the history of human society, how they developed is not our
present concern certain of these moral sentiments become of such interest to the whole group
that conduct out ranging then a made a crime. There is a relation between crime and immorality.
In early societies these crimes arrows out of the feeling that conduct that offended the deity
threatened the general security. Crime is a changing concept, dependent upon the social
development of a people that is upon the fundamental interests and values dominating their
common beliefs.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The researcher here is using Research methodology by library, internet, and articles. Qualitative
method is used in this project. With the help of observations, questionnaires, document analysis.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE:

The main objective of this project is on the nature of crime. The number of crimes increasing,
depending upon how far a society or a community is organized or divided. In a social group
where migration, cultural differences, changes in the population and political instability prevail;
there a conflict arises regarding the abatement of social rules.

RESEARCH QUESTION:

Is there any other alternative to prison for white collar crimes?

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 Chapter-2
DEFINITION:

The concept of crime involves the idea of a public as opposed to a private wrong with the
consequent intervention between the criminal and injured party by an agency representing the
community as whole. Crime is thus the international commission of an act deemed socially
harmful; or dangerous and the reason for making any given act a crime is the public injury that
would result from its frequent participation. The society therefore takes steps for its presentation
by prescribing specific punishments for each crime.

 The word ‘crime’ is of origin ‘Crimean’ which means ‘charge’ or ‘offence’ Crime is a
social fact.
 James Anthony Froude (1818-94) wrote, “Crime is not punished as offence against God,
but as prejudicial to society”.
 According to Adler, ‘Crime’ is merely, “an instance of behavior prohibited by criminal
law”.
 Halsbury defines crime as, “an unlawful act or default, which is an offence against the
public and which renders the perpetrator of the act or default liable to legal punishment”.
 Crime in international context-“crime is complex, multidimensional event that occurs
when other law, offender on target (refers to a person in personal crime and or object in
property) converge in time and place (such as a street, corner, address, building or street
segment)”.
 Crime in Indian context-“Crime is an activity that involves breaking the law and
enforcements.
 Crime is phenomenon in human societies, according to Sociologist- Pris and Durkheim,
“Criminality proceeds from the very nature of humanity itself, it is not transcendent but
immanent.” Durkheim emphasized the point further when he says “Crime is normal in
human societies because the fundamental condition of social organization logically imply
it”. “A society exempt from crime would require a standardization of the moral concepts
of all individuals, which is neither possible nor desirable”.

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 Chapter 3
WHAT IS WHITE COLLAR CRIME?

White collar crime describes a group of offenses that involve deceit for the purpose of financial
gain. Fraud, insider trading and bribery are a few examples of white collar crimes. While these
crimes are usually nonviolent, they can have a devastating financial impact on corporations and
families. The individuals who commit white collar crimes usually go to great lengths to conceal
their activities and many cases involve multiple types of white collar crime, which can make the
detection and prosecution of these crimes difficult.

Fraud:

 Fraud means deception or misrepresentation in some way. For something to be classified as

fraud, several things must occur. The offender must intentionally make a statement that he/she
knows is false, and the victim must believe the statement is true and lose money or value because
of the lie.

Corporate Fraud Case Study

Michael Hudson worked for a restaurant in Cincinnati, Ohio from 1992 to 2014. For the last 10
years of his employment there, he worked as an assistant treasurer and would handle company
funds. From 2008 to 2014, he transferred over $3 million of the restaurant's money into his
personal bank account in an act called embezzlement, basically theft of money belonging to an
employer. Hudson also filed a false tax return and failed to file tax returns for multiple years. In
2016, Hudson was sentenced to five years in prison and must repay $3 million to the restaurant
and nearly $1 million to the IRS.

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Health Care Fraud Case Study

Delores Knight, her son Isaac, and two associates incorporated the business Just Like Families to
provide in-home health care for the elderly and disabled in Ohio. The four employee’s forged
documents and falsified medical records, then billed federal health care programs for services
that were never provided. They defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and the Department of Veterans
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www.study.com

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Affairs of more than $8 million and purchased two homes with the profits. In 2017, Delores
Knight was found guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, sentenced to 10 years in
prison, and ordered to pay over $8 million in restitution. Her son Isaac was sentenced to 7 years
in prison with $8 million restitution payments, and the other 2 employees received prison time or
home confinement and must pay restitution as well.

Mortgage Fraud Case Study

Mortgage fraud is a quickly-growing form of white collar crime. It has various forms, but usually
involves lying on a loan application to influence the bank's decision to approve the loan or to
borrow more than the property is actually worth

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 Chapter-4
NATURE OF CRIME IN CITIES:
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At the heart of criminal activity is an individual carrying out illegal activity. Understanding the
processes that move and shape that activity are therefore crucial to any consideration of crime
and society. When the crimes considered are of the most heinous kind, such as the mass
shooting.
A recent issue of Contemporary Social Science is devoted to the many different inequalities that
abound and their wide-ranging consequences. The role of a religious component in influencing
criminality is one aspect of many cultural forces that shape the amount of crime in any country.
It is therefore of value to explore the possibility that a country may have a ‘natural’ crime rate as
this lends support to the view that there are many currents in any social context that support
offending.
WHITE-COLLAR CRIME:
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Although there is a tendency to associate crime with young people, especially young males in
the lower classes, involvement in criminal activity is by no means confined to this part of the
population. The world’s energy trading company, Enron, collapsed in 2001 after the discovery
that false accounting was disguising huge debts. The company’s bankruptcy caused the loss of
thousands of jobs around the world. Several of its senior staff, including the companys founder
Kenneth lay, were arrested.
The term white collar was first introduced by Edwin Sutherland in1949.it teffers to crime that is
carried out by those in the more affluent sectors of society, often against the interests of the
companies they work for.
In America, it has been calculated that the amount of money involved in white collar crime is 40
times as great as that in ordinary crimes against property.
Emile Durkheim
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Durkheim saw crime and deviance as social facts; arguing that both were inevitable and
necessary elements of modern societies.

OTHER CRIMES vs. WHITE COLLAR CRIMES

White collar crime is not a new phenomenon and has been in existence from many centuries. It
can be found in all type of businesses, professions and Industries.

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www.tandfonline.com
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Anthony Giddens
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Anthony Giddens

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The SC of India in State of Gujarat vs. Mohanlal jitamalji Porwal and Anr. has differentiated
between the general crime and white collar crime. In the above mentioned Judgement, justice
Thakker had stated that murder can be committed in heat of moment but these economic
offences committed with a cool calculation and planned strategy to gain personal profits.

Chapter-5
Characteristics of white collar crimes enunciated herein below distinguishes it from other
street crimes.

Direct access to the victim because of offender’s high position:

When a thief commits a theft in a house, he first breaks the door or window, then commits a
crime. Therefore, before committing theft a theft must first gain access to the house by entering
it. Whereas this is not in the case of white collar crimes because the white collar offenders have
easy and valid access to their targets.
No information about the offender:
Most of these crimes are committed by offenders without coming face to face with the victims.
Political connections:

Most of the offenders have big political connections and somewhere the political connections
and somewhere the politicians are also involved in the said crimes. So, it is difficult to take any
action against such offenders.

Harm to society:

These type of offenders can cause great harm to the public as well as the institutions and
organizations.

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 Chapter-6
CAUSES OF WHITE COLLAR CRIMES:

Greed:

High class people are financially stable, however, they still commit crime because f there greed
to earn more. And for this purpose, they even choose illegal ways to have an economic gain.

Competition:

Darwin in his theory of evolution has stated that “Survival of the fittest” it is necessary and thus
there will always be competition for survival. However, some people for their own greed and in
order to get ahead of their peers commit crime.

No Fixed Laws or Punishment:

After committing the crimes most of the offenders get away without any punishment because
there is not enough laws to deal with such kinds of crimes. In many cases, because of supreme
political connections most of the offenders get away without any punishment. In many cases
there is no witnesses for the said offences as such offences are committed in private.

White Collar Crimes in India

White Collar Crimes are rapidly increasing in our country with the advancement of commerce
and technology. The recent developments in the technology have given new dimensions to
computer related crimes known as cybercrimes. As such, the white collar crimes are increasing
with the development of new websites. The areas affected by these crimes are banking and
financial institutions, industry, business etc.

Thus crime is an act or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable under the law.
As the white collar crimes are increasing on daily basis, it injures the society on a large scale
because the laws are not properly administered and therefore there is a need to curb the factors
that are helping in the commission of such crimes.

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 Chapter-7

Laws relating to White Collar Crimes

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The government of India has introduced various regulatory legislations, the breach of which will
amount to white-collar criminality. Some of these legislations are Essential Commodities Act
1955, the Industrial (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951.,The Import and Exports (Control)
Act, 1947, the Foreign Exchange (Regulation) Act, 1974, Companies Act, 1956, Prevention of
Money Laundering Act, 2002.

The Indian Penal Code contains provisions to check crimes such as Bank Fraud, Insurance fraud,
credit card fraud etc. In case of money laundering several steps have been taken by the
government of India to tackle this problem. The Reserve Bank of India has issued directions to
be strictly followed by the banks under KYC (Know Your Customer) guidelines. The banks and
financial institutions are required to maintain the records of transactions for a period of ten years.

In order to tackle with computer-related crimes, Information Technology Act, 2000 has been
enacted to provide legal recognition to the authentication of information exchanged in respect of
commercial transactions.

Section 43 and 44 of Information Technology Act prescribes the penalty for the following
offences:

 Unauthorized copying of an extract from any data.

 Unauthorized access and downloading files.
 Introduction of viruses or malicious programs.
 Damage to computer system or computer network.
 Denial of access to an authorized person to a computer system.
 Providing assistance to any person to facilitate unauthorized access to a computer.

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https://blog.ipleaders.in

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Though the focus of Information Technology Act is not on cybercrime as such, this Act has
certain provisions that deal with white collar crimes. Chapter XI deals with the offence of
cybercrime and chapter IX deals with penalties and adjudication of crime. Apart from this, many
issues are unresolved due to lack of focus. Some of them are:

 Inapplicability
 Qualification for appointment as adjudicating officer not prescribed
 Definition of hacking
 No steps to curb internet piracy
 Lack of international cooperation
 Power of police to enter and search limited to public places
 Absence of guidelines for investigation of cyber crime

There are some measures to deal with white-collar crimes. Some of them are, creating public
awareness of crimes through media or press and other audio-visual aids and legal literacy
programs. Special tribunals should be constituted with power to sentence the offenders for at
least 5 years and conviction should result in heavy fines rather than arrest and detention of
criminals. Unless the people will strongly detest such crimes, it is not possible to control this
growing menace.

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Conclusion

It is clear that due to advancement of science and technology newer form of criminality known
as white-collar crime has arisen. The term “white-collar crime” has not been defined in the code.
But the dimensions of white-collar crime are so wide that after analysing the provisions of Indian
Penal Code 1860, we may conclude that certain offence under Indian Penal Code is closely
linked with white collar crimes such as bribery, corruption and adulteration of food, forgery etc.
The provisions of Indian Penal Code dealing with white-collar crimes should be amended to
enhance punishment particularly fine in tune with changed socio-economic conditions. The
special Acts dealing with white collar crimes and the provisions of Indian Penal Code should be
harmoniously interpreted to control the problem of white-collar crimes.

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REFERENCES

Anthony Giddens

https://blog.ipleaders.in

www.study.com

www.tandfonline.com

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