15. Crimes of the Powerful
15.7 Challenges Related to White-Collar Crimes
Michael Brandt, MA
The events described in this chapter — the crimes of the powerful — are responsible for enormous financial and physical harm, including widespread injury and death. While the financial and physical damages these events cause may shock you, they have been well-documented (e.g., Reiman & Leighton, 2013). Nonetheless, these and similar events pose unique challenges for the criminal justice system, victims, marginalised groups, academics, and other stakeholders. The following section reviews these challenges.
Officially Labelled Crimes are Not What is Causing Most Harm
A central problem relates to the role of the powerful in determining what is defined as a crime in the first place. A person who sells a drug on a street corner is defined as a criminal, a “drug trafficker”; a pharmaceutical company that spends millions of dollars advertising addictive drugs, and convincing physicians to prescribe these drugs, is not. A man who intentionally injures his wife is defined as a “wife batterer” and a criminal; a company that manufactures a dangerous birth control product (e.g., the Dalkon Shield) responsible for serious injuries to thousands of women is not. A person who kills multiple people is defined as a “serial killer”; a person elected to lead a country who initiates an illegal war resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands is not. These comparisons indicate that “criminal law categories are artful, creative constructs ” (Box, 1983, p. 7). The result is that we pay more attention to some harms than others, namely those more likely to be committed by the marginalised in society than those more likely committed by individuals in the highest positions in government, private industry, and those that work with them. Most of this harm escapes the definition of crime.
Victims are Not Always Aware of Victimisation
The victims of crimes of the powerful are much less likely to realise they are victims compared to victims of street crimes. The case of price-fixing is illustrative. A recent case in Canada involved seven Canadian companies (Loblaws, Metro, Sobeys’, Weston Bakeries, Canada Bread, Walmart and Giant Tiger) and is estimated to have cost consumers across the country millions of dollars. An average consumer, purchasing one loaf of bread a week for a year lost $400 to price-fixing “theft” (Markusoff, 2018; Russell, 2018). Because price-fixing conspiracies have become a standard operating procedure in many industries, virtually everyone in Canada has likely been victimised without their knowledge, and likely will be again. In a sense, many crimes by the powerful could be considered “perfect crimes” in that they are often undetected and remain invisible to the general public.
Racial Minorities are More Likely to be Victims
In terms of white-collar offences, racial minorities have sometimes been specifically targeted by white-collar offenders. The Wells Fargo