consensual crimes - Law enforcement
Consensual Crimes: Overview
Definition of Consensual Crimes: Crime involving consenting parties where no one is considered a direct victim.
Debate on Consensual Crimes:
Whether the state should regulate these acts, contrasting views on moral enforcement and causing “social harm”.
Themes of Consensual Crime Laws:
laws are arbitrary and even illogical
Laws may do more harm than good
Drugs as Publicized Consensual Crimes:
Impact on behavior and societal perception.
Two categories for drugs:
Good (e.g., caffeine, legal substances).
Bad (e.g., illicit drugs).
Commonly used substances and their societal implications.
Most publicized consensual crime
Psychoactive drugs: any substance that affects our behavior by changing our mood, emotions, perception, or other mental states
Drugs have been commonly used in the US for a long time
most commonly use = legal/good
“illicit” use = largely mostly weed
key “illicit" usage pattern = “experimental”/ “recreational”
Prevalence of Drug Use
Safest conclusion regarding substance use:
More than 50% of individuals use alcohol monthly.
Approximately 25% of individuals reported binge drinking in the last month.
Annual caffeine consumption amounts to approximately 10-15 pounds per person.
Around 15-20% of the population use tobacco or nicotine products.
Yearly, there are 5.8 billion prescriptions written; 17% of adults received at least one prescription, and 50% took at least one last month.
Around $70 billion spent on marijuana (MJ).
Annual expenditure of $150-200 billion on illicit drugs.
LGB(TQ) populations more likely to use
older but younger groups tend to use more drugs = caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, weed
Race/Ethnicity prevelance: multiracial/ natives (highest)→ white/black people → Hispanic → asians (lowest)
The Drug-Crime Connection
The key question posed: Do drugs cause crime?
Answer: very strong association of drug use and crime
Potential causes for crime related to drug use:
Physiological or psychological effects of drugs leading to criminal behavior.
Association with criminal peers due to drug use.
Criminal activities undertaken to support drug habits.
Drug turf wars between competing dealers.
The relationship between drug use and crime:
The association between drug use and crime may often be spurious, largely influenced by existing laws rather than a direct causal link.
for alcohol and meth yes, they do cause it
Defining White Collar Crime
Definition by Sutherland (1939):
"A crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation."
Key dispute: Should the definition of white-collar crime be limited to those of high social status?
Common characteristics of white-collar crimes include:
Committed by individuals in positions of authority and trust.
Often involve deceit or concealment.
May violate public trust and ethical considerations.
Key Types of White Collar Crime
Occupational Crimes:
Include acts such as:
Pilferage - theft, especially by an employee.
Embezzlement - misappropriation of funds.
Collective embezzlement - organized, collective financial theft within an organization.
Common healthcare fraud practices:
Churning - billing for unnecessary medical procedures.
Ping-ponging - unnecessary repeated tests.
Unbundling - breaking up services into separate bills to inflate costs.
Billing fraud - submitting false claims.
Corporate Crimes:
Involve illegal actions performed by large organizations, often for profit.
Acts include:
Price fixing - colluding to set prices.
Restraint of trade - actions to restrict competition.
False advertising - misleading or deceptive marketing practices.
Environmental crimes - violations impacting natural resources.
Organizational Crime
Differentiation between blue-collar crimes committed by small businesses versus larger corporate crimes:
Corporate crimes have a significantly greater impact.
Types of Organizational/Corporate Crime:
Financial Crimes:
Consist of fraud, accounting fraud, bribery, corruption, and price-fixing schemes.
Violent Crimes:
Cause physical harm, illness, or death through unsafe workplace conditions, unsafe products, or environmental hazards.
Examples of violent organizational crimes include incidents leading to workplace fatalities or major environmental disasters.
Comparison: Street Crime vs. White Collar Crime
Challenges in Study:
Street Crime:
Total financial cost: $16 billion annually.
Annual homicides: estimated between 15,000 and 20,000.
White Collar Crime:
Financial cost is estimated to be significantly higher;
Conservative estimates around $671 billion for all corporate crime.
Health care fraud alone: approximately $68 billion.
Corporate crime: approximately $588 billion.
Differences in Victim Experience
Street Crime:
Victims are often specific individuals or groups; victimization is concentrated and more visible.
High enforcement and legal support for victims.
White Collar Crime:
Diffused victimization affects larger populations but is less visible; associated with "quiet violence".
Often challenges in legal recourse; less visible harm leads to lower arrest and prosecution rates.
Law Enforcement and Prosecution
Street Crime Enforcement:
High arrest, prosecution, conviction rates, often resulting in severe punishment including long imprisonment or hefty fines.
White Collar Crime Enforcement:
Fewer arrests, lower prosecution rates, and less severe punishment typically including light fines or deferred prosecution agreements.
Summary of Economic Impact
Financial Loss Statistics:
Street Crime Financial Loss: $16 billion.
Employee Pilfering: estimated between $15-50 billion.
Health Care Fraud: ranges from $68-300 billion.
Auto Repair Fraud: $20 billion.
Price Fixing: estimated at $60 billion.
Corporate Crime: approximately $588 billion.
Mortality Rates Associated with Crimes:
Street Homicides: annual deaths ranging from 15,000-20,000.
Unnecessary surgeries resulting in estimated deaths of 12,000 to 16,000 per year.
Unsafe products resulting in large mortality numbers:
Asbestos deaths: around 15,000 annually in the U.S. (200,000 globally).
Outdoor air pollution leading to deaths between 66,000-200,000 annually.
Corporate crime leading to approximately 30,000 deaths per year.
Workplace fatalities: around 95,000 per year.