White-collar crime

Crimes committed by business people, professionals, and politicians in the course of their occupation are known as white-collar crimes, after the typical attire of their perpetrators. Criminologists tend to restrict the term to those illegal actions intended by the perpetrators principally to further the aims of their organizations rather than to make money for themselves personally. Examples include conspiring with other corporations to fix prices of goods or services in order to make artificially high profits or to drive particular competitor out of the market; bribing officials or falsifying reports of tests on pharmaceutical products to obtain manufacturing licenses; and constructing buildings or roads with cheap, defective materials.

The cost of corporate crime in the United States has been estimated at 200,000,000 a year. Such crimes have a huge impact upon the safety of workers, consumers, and the environment, but they are seldom detected. Compared with crimes committed by juveniles or the poor, corporate crimes are very rarely prosecuted in the criminal courts, and executives seldom go to jail, though companies may pay large fines.

The term white-collar crime is used in another sense, by the public and academics, to describe fraud and embezzlement. Rather than being crime "by the firm, for the firm," this constitutes crime for profit by the individual against the organization, the public, or the government. Tax fraud, for example, costs at least 5 percent of the gross national product in most developed countries. Because of the concealed nature of many frauds and the fact that few are reported even when discovered, the cost is impossible to estimate precisely. The economic cost of white-collar crime in most industrial societies is thought to be much greater than the combined cost of larceny, burglary, auto theft, forgery, and robbery.

Task 1. Answer the following questions:

1. Who commits white-collar crimes?

2. What are white-collar crimes?

3. What is the cost of corporate crime in the United States?

4. Are corporate crimes prosecuted in the criminal courts?

5. Why do you think executives seldom go to jail?

6. What is another sense of the term white-collar crime?

7. Why is it impossible to estimate the cost precisely?

Task 2. Agree or disagree with the following statements.

1. Crimes committed by business people are known as capital crimes.

2. The perpetrators intend to make money for themselves personally.

3. The perpetrators do their best to drive a particular competitor out of the market.

4. The perpetrators pay money to officials to obtain licenses.

5. White-collar crimes have a huge effect upon the safety of workers.

6. White-collar crimes are detected often.

7. The cost of white-collar crimes is possible to estimate precisely.

Interpol

Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization) ─ organization that exists to facilitate the cooperation of the criminal police forces of more than 125 countries in their fight against international crime. A general secretariat headed by a general secretary controls the everyday workings of Interpol. Each affiliated country has a domestic bureau (called the National Central Bureau, or NCB) through which its individual police forces may communicate either with the general secretariat or with the police of other affiliated countries.

Television and motion pictures have portrayed Interpol agents as wandering from country to country, making arrests wherever they please; such representations are false, since the nations of the world have different legal systems and their criminal laws, practices, and procedures differ substantially from one another. No sovereign state would permit any outside body to bypass its police or disregard its laws. The main weapon in the hands of Interpol is not a universal detective; it is the extradition treaty.

Interpol's principal target is the international criminal, of which there are three main categories: those who operate in more than one country, such as smugglers, dealing mainly in gold and narcotics and other illicit drugs; criminals who do not travel at all but whose crimes affect other countries ─ for example, a counterfeiter of foreign bank notes; and criminals who commit a crime in one country and flee to another.

At its headquarters in Lyon, France, Interpol maintains voluminous files of international criminals and others who may later fall into that category, containing particulars of their identities, nicknames, associates, and methods of working, gathered from the police of the affiliated countries. This information is sent over Interpol's telecommunications network or by confidential circular. There are four types of confidential circular. The first type asks that a particular criminal be detained in order that extradition proceedings can be started. The second does not ask for detention but gives full information about the criminal and his methods. The third describes property that may have been smuggled out of the country in which a crime was committed. The fourth deals with unidentified bodies and attempts to discover their identity.

Task 1. Answer the following questions:

1. What is Interpol?

2. What is the structure of Interpol?

3. How are Interpol agents portrayed in television and motion pictures?

4. What is the main weapon of Interpol?

5. What are the main categories of international criminals?

6. What information do Interpol voluminous files contain?

7. What are the types of confidential circular?

8. What activities does every type deal with?

Task 2. Agree or disagree with the following statements.

1. Interpol exists to hinder the cooperation of criminal police.

2. Television portrays Interpol agents as gentlemen of fortune.

3. The main weapon in the hands of Interpol is a universal detective.

4. Interpol's principle target is the criminal.

5. Interpol's information is sent over by carrier pigeons.

6. The first type of confidential circular does not ask for detention but gives full information about the criminal and his methods.

7. The second type of confidential circular asks that a particular criminal be detained in order that extradition proceeding can be started.

8. The third type of confidential circular deals with unidentified bodies and attempts to discover their identity.

FBI

Federal Bureau of Investigation is the police department in the USA that is controlled by the central government, and is concerned with crimes in more than one state. (Compare CIA. The Central Intelligence Agency is the department of the US government that collects information about other countries, especially secretly.) The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the largest investigative agency of the United States federal government.

Generally speaking, the FBI is responsible for conducting investigations where a federal interest is concerned. In pursuance of its duties, the bureau gathers facts and reports the results of its investigations to the attorney general of the United States and his assistants in Washington, and to the United States attorneys' offices in the federal judicial districts of the country.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the part of the Department of Justice, responsible and subordinate to the attorney general of the United States. The bureau, headquartered in Washington, has field offices in large cities throughout the United States. In addition, the FBI maintains liaisons posts in several major foreign cities to facilitate the exchange of information with foreign agencies on matters relating to international crime and criminals.

The head of the FBI, whose title is director, was appointed by the attorney general until 1968; thereafter, by law, he became subject to appointment by the president of the USA with the advice and consent of the Senate. The bureau has a large staff of employees, including between 6 000 and 7 000 special agents who perform the investigative work. These special agents, the majority of whom have 10 years or more of service with the FBI, are usually required to have either a legal or an accounting education.

Task 1. Answer the following questions:

1. What is FBI?

2. What is the difference between FBI and CIA?

3. What is FBI responsible for?

4. Who is FBI responsible to?

5. What is the structure of FBI?

6. Who is the head of FBI?

7. The head of the FBI is appointed by the Senate, is not he?

8. What education do special agents of FBI usually have?

Task 2. Agree or disagree with the following statements.

1. The CIA is the police department in the US.

2. The FBI is concerned with crimes in Washington.

3. The FBI is the smallest investigative agency of the US federal government.

4. In pursuance of its duties, the bureau conceals the results of its investigations from the attorney general of the US.

5. The bureau is headquartered in the District of Columbia.

6. The FBI maintains international crime and criminals.

7. The FBI's director became subject appointment by the president of the US without the advice and consent of the Senate.

8. The bureau has a large staff of special agents.