Criminology Unit 1: Types of Crime

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering types of crime, the Bernard Madoff case study, state crime, moral crime, technological crime, and exam application guidelines for Unit 1 Criminology.

White-collar crime

Crime committed by people in high-status or professional positions, often for financial gain.

Three types of white-collar crime

Organised, corporate and professional crime.

Organised crime

Crime involving an organised group, such as the Mafia, Triad or Yakuza.

Corporate crime

Crime committed through or for a business, such as money laundering or insider trading.

Professional crime

When someone uses specialist skills or their work position to commit crime for extra income; e.g. fraud.

Examples of white-collar crime

Fiddling expenses, bribery and embezzlement.

Ponzi scheme

A fraud where money from newer investors pays earlier investors instead of coming from genuine profits.

Bernard Madoff

A financier and former chairman of Nasdaq who committed crime by running a Ponzi scheme.

Madoff's crime

Running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of investors.

Duration of Madoff's scheme

Stated by Madoff to have been running since the early $1990\text{s}$.

Exposure of Madoff's scheme

Exposed during the global recession when investors tried to withdraw about $\$7\text{ billion}$, but he could not cover the withdrawals.

Reported losses in the Madoff case

Reported as about $\$65\text{ billion}$.

Victims of Madoff's scheme

Thousands of investors and organisations, including wealthy investors and ordinary people such as teachers, farmers and mechanics.

Madoff's sentence

$150\text{ years}$ in prison on $11\text{ charges}$, including securities fraud and money laundering.

Reasons for Madoff's perceived trustworthiness

His respected position in finance and role as former chairman of Nasdaq.

Regulatory implications of the Madoff case

His firm was investigated several times, yet the fraud continued, raising questions about how effective regulation was.

State crime

Crime committed by a state/government, or failure to act where required, breaching criminal law or public international law.

Examples of state crime

Torture/illegal treatment, corruption, assassination or war crimes.

Examples of individual crime

Hate crimes, honour killings and domestic violence.

Moral crime

Crime linked to protest, moral objections to laws or controversial moral topics.

Examples of moral crime

Prostitution, possession of illegal drugs or begging.

Technological crime

Crime where a computer network or internet technology is used to commit the offence.

Examples of technological crime

Computer intrusion, distributing malicious code or internet-enabled fraud.

Reasons white-collar crime is hard to spot

Offenders may be trusted because of their status, and financial crimes can be complex or less visible.

Exam application of the Madoff case

Explain that he used his financial status and reputation to deceive investors for gain, demonstrating that financial crime can cause widespread harm without physical violence.