Blackwell Reference Online

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Any act that is committed by a corporation that is punished by the state, regardless of whether it is punished under administrative, civil, or criminal law ( Clinard and Yeager, 1980: 16 ). While some authors have used the terms white‐collar crime and corporate crime to mean the same thing, the distinction between the two types is important to note. Corporate crime is illegal activity that is undertaken on behalf of the company in order to benefit the organization (such as the manufacture and sale of unsafe products). In contrast, white‐collar crime (such as embezzlement) is crime that is undertaken against the company and solely benefits an individual or individuals. Because government regulatory agencies (e.g., Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, Securities and Exchange Commission, etc.) are the bodies that generally deal with corporate lawbreakers, regulatory reform has been the primary means of controlling corporate wrongdoing. While many companies and their executives are law abiding and socially responsible, the public perception has been that most large corporations and their executives are lawbreakers with little or no concern for the well‐being of the public. The attempt to achieve a balance among business, society, and government has produced the concept of stakeholders – all those individuals and groups who are directly affected by the actions ... log in or subscribe to read full text