The Goderich Signal-Star, 1980-01-31, Page 25crime is
BY
ACK RIDDED.
Most people tend to
think of crime in ters. of
m
ce. Yet . over the .
last ten • years, • . violent-
, crime's, have eonsiste tt4r '
been a stnai1;portion of al.l
crixntnal.. activity • in
Canada: Criminal Code
offence's include 75
percent . of • all; crixnes,
including almost all those
categorized as major. In
1977, -`only 6,1 percent of
reported Code offences
were violent; 64.1 percent '
were property crimes.
The vast majority of
violent cases (7'$ percent)
consisted of assaults;
with the major portion of
these arising out of
domestic disputes or
argutnents between
acquaintances.
In the last ten years,
property crimes have
been increasing in
proportion." to other
criminal activity. One
area of particular •con-
cern is what is known as
"white collar crime".
Shoplifting • is estimated
to cost Canadians •$300-
$400 million annually;
vandalism costs over $100
million a year and white
collar crime accounts for
' an enormous $5 billion
annually. In the United
States, the national
Chamber of Commerce in
1974 estimated that white
- H-ar--crime--- -accounted--
for losses of ap-
proxinfately $40 billion
annually. More recent
estimates place the
current figure at $50 •
billion.
• ,-Unlike violent 'crime;
white collar criminal
activities tend to receive .
Tittle i„'pubtkity, ” unless
there is a trial involving a
particularly sensational
corporate swindle or an .
i n'v a s-ty-g a t h -e—m-e-di a
study into computer
fraud.
Yet, as the U.S.
President's Commission
on Law Enforcement and
Administration of Justice
pointed out in 1967,
-- -"White ---cul l a r nriin-e-
affects the -whole moral
climate ' of our society.
Derelictions by cor-
porations and their
managers, who, usually
occupy leadership
positions in their com-
munities, establish an
example which tends to
b.cr erode the moral base of
law."
What can we say to
people in lower socio-
economic levels of our
society, who view law
enforcement as directed
almost exclusively at
criminal of their own
background; when
" crimes of similar and
even greater impact on
the public members of
the managerial and
business world appear to
go unchallenged? It's bad
enough that they feel the
'd'e'ck is stacked against
them - should they be
made to feel that the
system of law - en-
forcement and the ad-
ministration of justice is
stacked against them as
welt:
There are, of course,
special -problems to cope
with in dealing with white
collar crime: impact
tends to be less dramatic
and evident, being spread
Over numerous victims;
perpetrators are usually
in "high places" and
corporations . may
downplay the problem for
fear it may be interpreted
as an indication of poor
managerial judgement
and lack of integrity
among their senior
representatives. Such
criminal activity is often
Highly technical, and is
usually perpetrated by
persons with great
knowledge and ex-
perience of the system
they are trying to beat.
In many cases, the
costs of corporate crime
are invisible to the public
and police eye. There are
no broken windows; no
physically injured vic-
tims to indicate that a
crime has been corn-
mitted. When criminal
activity is suspected, an
investigation may take
months, even years,
taxing the resources and
abilities of the best in-
irestigators. The actual
trial, if one ever results,
Turn to page 10A
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