Understanding White Collar Crime

* What is the extent and impact of white collar crime? * How can white collar crime be explained? * How is white collar crime controlled? This comprehensive overview of white collar crime begins by introducing the concept, looking at its definition, its identification with class and status, and its development within criminology. The problems of estimating the vast extent of white collar and corporate crime are explored, and some of its major forms are outlined, including fraud, corruption, employment, consumer and environmental crime. Hazel Croall looks at the kinds of offenders who are convicted for white collar offences and at patterns of victimization which involve class, gender and age. She examines the various ways in which white collar crime has been explained and analysed, including individual, organizational and social structural perspectives. The issues surrounding regulation and punishment are explored, focusing on the contrast between white collar and other crimes, and on alternative approaches to its control. This new book is a revised, updated and readily accessible replacement for the author's highly successful White Collar Crime (Open UP, 1992). It includes expanded coverage of corporate crime, and provides an essential text for undergraduate courses in criminology, sociology and law.

Hazel Croall is currently Senior Lecturer and Head of Division of Sociology at Strathclyde University. She teaches the sociology of crime and social control and has published a number of articles on aspects of white collar crime. She is the author of Crime and Society in Britain (1998), and a previous text on white collar crime published by Open University Press.