This book introduces a dynamic perspective to study white-collar crime. It argues that as personal motives change over time, so too do organizational opportunities, and willingness for deviant behavior. The work contends that the extent of white-collar crime is dependent on the extent of crime convenience perceived and preferred by potential offenders. It discusses how potential white-collar offenders expand organizational opportunities for financial crime over time. The dynamics are illustrated here by system dynamics models to capture cause and effect relationships. The book also presents a new structural model illustrating the elements of convenience theory along with a new dynamic model illustrating the evolution of white-collar crime. The practical aspects are illustrated with a number of case studies. The book will be of interest to researchers, academics and professionals working in the areas of Criminal Justice, Criminology, Criminal Law and Business Studies.

This book outlines the theory of convenience for white-collar crime to explain what motivates and enables offenders, providing a unique focus on white-collar crime in the business context. The theory of convenience suggests that the extent to which elite members commit and conceal economic crime is dependent on their extent of orientation towards convenience in problematic and attractive situations. Chapters are organized along the main theoretical dimensions of economical motive, organizational opportunity, and personal willingness. In addition, this book: Addresses a business audience by focusing on themes familiar to corporations Documents attitudes towards white-collar crime among business students and future business leaders Analyzes how convenience orientation varies among individuals Analyzes autobiographies of convicted white-collar offenders Demonstrates the various ways in which white-collar crime occurs The Convenience of White-Collar Crime in Business contributes to an increased understanding of white-collar crime, offering valuable insight in business education that supplements the traditional roles of topics like auditing and compliance in education and practice. It is a useful resource for researchers and law enforcement, and those involved in the detection, prosecution, and conviction of white-collar offenders.

The ‘convenience triangle’ is the dynamic relationship between motive, opportunity, and willingness to commit a crime, which culminates in the illegal acts which constitute white-collar crime. This book aims to discuss the role of the ‘convenience triangle’ in white-collar crime, how it affects the perpetration of these crimes, the impact of this on detection and prevention and the effects of the punitive measures taken against white-collar criminals.

This book uses global case studies of white-collar crime to examine offenders in top business positions and their motives. Drawing on the theory of convenience, this book opens up new perspectives of white-collar offenders in terms of their financial motives, their professional opportunities, and their personal willingness for deviant behaviour. It focusses on three groups of privileged individuals who have abused their positions for economic gain: people who occupied the position of chair of the board, people who were chief executive officers, and female offenders in top positions, and the related white-collar crimes. Convenience themes are identified in each case using the structural model for convenience theory. The case studies are from Denmark, Germany, Japan, Moldova, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. This book speaks to those interested in white-collar crime, criminal justice, policing, organizational behaviour and business administration.

Traditionally, corporate control is all about top-down approaches to management of employees. Executives attempt to influence employees toward achieving business goals, and they attempt to prevent and detect wrongdoing, misconduct, and crime among employees. However, top-down approaches to corporate control do not work when executives and other privileged individuals in the business themselves commit and conceal their wrongdoing, misconduct, and crime in organizational settings. Then there is a need for a bottom-up approach in corporate control as outlined in this book. Bottom-up control refers to the manner in which organizational members can use different types of control mechanisms – such as whistleblowing, transparency, resource access, or culture – to monitor, measure, and evaluate executives’ avoidance of deviant behaviors and influence them toward achieving the organization’s goals in efficient and effective ways. The newly emerging perspective of a social license to operate forms part of the bottom-up strategy where criminalization becomes social property independent of the criminal justice system. The social license is predominantly centered on social permission for business activity where the media, social movements, and citizen watchdogs exert pressure, demand change, and bring top management to account. This book presents a novel approach to corporate control of white-collar crime based on the theory of convenience. White-collar crime is financial crime committed by privileged individuals who have legitimate access to resources based on the power and trust inherent through their professional positions. Convenience theory proposes that motive, opportunity, and willingness are the three dimensions that underlie white-collar crime in an organizational context. This book contributes to the study of white-collar criminality through a blend of theoretical discussions and practical materials that illuminate and support the use of convenience theory. The book discusses how bottom-up approaches can overcome the difficulty of detecting white-collar crime and overcome the barriers of preventing executive deviance.

As documented in a number of case studies (from Telia Telecom in Sweden to Wirecard in Germany) in this book, recidivism seems to be of a substantial magnitude in corporate crime. Corporations tend to repeat white-collar offenses such as financial crime and environmental crime in various forms as long as they find it convenient. A minor fine from time to time and dismissal of some executives as scapegoats do not prevent corporations from committing and concealing new offenses as long as there is a convenient financial motive, a convenient organizational opportunity, and a convenient willingness for deviant behavior. Businesses and their executives tend to be recidivists who get away with light punishment in most jurisdictions. The relevant audiences for this book include law students, business students, sociology students, and criminology students. Fraud examiners, defense attorneys, compliance officers, police investigators, as well as prosecutors can find the structural model of convenience to be an ideal template in preparing corporate crime case narratives.

This initiating monograph provides the first thorough examination of the concept of white-collar crime online. Applying an offender-based perspective which considers the central role of convenience, it seeks to inform, improve and develop the current literature on cybercrime, whilst paying particular attention to its founding category within criminology. It argues that white-collar crime has receded from criminological perspectives on cybercrime in recent years and that a detailed, rich re-assessment of white-collar crime in contemporary digital societies is needed. Following a theoretical introduction, the book develops to discuss, inter alia, implications for corporate reputation, the various organizational roles utilized in mitigating external and internal threats, the unique considerations involved in law enforcement efforts, and likely future directions within the field. White-Collar Crime Online recognises the strong lineage and correlation that exists between the study of white-collar crime and cybercrime. Using convenience theory within a comparative analysis which includes case-studies, the book explores both European and American paradigms, perspectives and models to determine where white-collar crime exists within the contemporary workplace and how this might relate to the ongoing discourse on cybercrime. In doing so it revaluates criminological theory within the context of changing patterns of business, the workplace, social rules, systems of governance, decision making, social ordering and control. White-Collar Crime Online will speak to criminologists, sociologists and professionals; including those interested in cyber-security, economics, technology and computer science.

This book investigates how offenders of white-collar crime misuse legal loopholes in the courtroom. From powerful and corrupt alliances to a tough judicial battle, this volume looks at case studies from across the world to shed light on these matters and others, including: • How legal systems work when offenders have deep roots and connections • The courtroom proceedings and how offenders can manipulate the law • Global case studies supporting recommendations for resolving these issues The inside-look into the courtroom and accompanying critical analysis make this volume perfect for new graduate scholars, practitioners, and researchers working with perpetrators of white-collar crime.

Investigation reports are written by fraud examiners after completion of internal reviews in client organizations when there was suspicion of financial wrongdoing. Fraud examiners are expected to answer questions regarding what happened, when it happened, how it happened, and why. This book presents a number of case studies of investigation reports by fraud examiners, offering a framework for studying the report as well as insights into convenience of fraud. The case studies, including KPMG and PwC, focus on two important subjects. First, convenience themes are identified for each case. Themes derive from the theory of convenience, where fraud is a result of financial motives, organizational opportunities, and personal willingness for deviant behaviors. Second, review maturity is identified for each case. Review maturity derives from a stages-of-growth model, where the investigation is assigned a level of maturity based on explicit criteria. The book provides useful insights towards approaching fraud examinations to enable better understanding of the rational explanations for corporate fraud. The book is framed from the perspective of private policing, which contextualizes how investigation reports are examined. This book is a valuable resource for scholars and upper-level students researching and studying auditing and investigation work in the corporate and public sectors. Business and management as well as criminal justice scholars and students will learn from the case studies how to frame a white-collar crime incident by application of convenience theory and how to evaluate a completed internal investigation by fraud examiners.

By examining white-collar crime scandals using the theory of convenience, Petter Gottschalk offers ways to improve the detection of crime signals and investigative skills in fraud examinations, as well as improve change management measures.