A Black Box Warning: The Marginalization of White-Collar Crime Victimization

Abstract

The study of white-collar crime has become a subfield of criminology receiving great attention, though victimization calls for additional research. The black box warning, used by the Food and Drug Administration to denote potential serious hazards of a drug or device, is an apt metaphor for the neglect often associated with the identification, depth, consequences, and, at times, violent nature of white-collar crime victimization. Research on victims is evolving, though compared to street-level crime remains marginalized, despite the serious harms caused by the former. This article offers a review of what researchers have accomplished and identifies topics of concern. White-collar crime targets a wide spectrum of the population and a high number of people, but the black box of victimization demonstrates the need for research that further enhances knowledge and informs policy.

Some Determinants of Crime Reporting Among Economic and Financial Crime Victims: The Case of Azerbaijan

“…In addition, it explores the main reasons behind the non-reporting of crimes. Thus, theoretically, this study contributes to our understanding of victimization through economic and financial offenses, which, as highlighted by several scholars (Dodge, 2020; Kane & Wall, 2006; Levi, 2009) have been mostly ignored in the literature, though some exceptions discussed above exist. In fact, some researchers have argued that victims of white-collar crimes constitute a large majority of crime victims (Button, Lewis, & Tapley, 2014; Deem, 2000).…”

“…Overall, the findings regarding the motives behind non-reporting of this unrepresentative, but randomly generated, sample from Azerbaijan are generally in line with the findings of studies from other post-Soviet societies and from the western jurisdictions discussed above, although the crimes covered are not identical. Dodge (2020) reported that certain factors discourage victims from reporting white-collar crimes, and these factors (namely, the view that the offense was not very serious or that reporting it would be futile) were found to apply in Azerbaijan too, albeit to varying degrees. Furthermore, comparing the current findings with those from the major industrialized nations would better locate the findings within the international context.…”

“…Victimization through economic and financial crimes has several distinctive characteristics relative to street crimes. Individuals and organizations of all sorts can be victimized economically and financially (Hopkins, 2016), as well as physically and emotionally (Dodge, 2020), but they may not be aware of their victimization. Thus, victims are likely to suffer from delayed victimization, which leads to delayed reporting or non-reporting at all (Friedrichs, 2007).…”

“…Levi (2001) notes that victims of fraud rarely receive restitution for their losses, thus, they do not want to expend efforts on reporting their victimization. Similarly, according to Dodge (2020, p. 29), “lower dollar losses may discourage targeted populations from tracking down the correct reporting agency.” Even in the case of reporting, most local law enforcement agencies are unequipped to deal with instances of fraud (Nerenberg, 2000). While some scholars (Van Wyk & Mason, 2001; Vaughan & Carlo, 1976) argue that victims of fraud do not know where to report the victimization, others studying white-collar crime point to feelings of shame, embarrassment, and self-blame as potential reasons for non-reporting (Button et al, 2014; Shover et al, 2003).…”

Corporate Crisis-Response Match

“…Accounts also tend to include more recently suggested neutralization techniques such as the claim of blunder quota (Galvin and Simpson 2020), the claim of legal mistake (Kaptein and Helvoort 2019), and the claim of normality of action (Kennedy 2020). Furthermore, the claim of entitlement to action (Cullen et al 2020;Dodge 2020), the claim of solution to a dilemma (Jordanoska 2018; Rooij and Fine 2020), and the necessity of crime (Cohen 2020) are often present. Finally, the claim of role in society (Bernat and Whyte 2020), and the perception of being a victim (Burns and Meitl 2020;Siponen and Vance 2010) are often present as well.…”