ABSTRACT
White-collar crime The first use of the term ‘white-collar crime’ is usually attributed to Edwin H. Sutherland (1940). It subsequently formed the title of a book by him (1949). Whether or not it denotes a specific form or category of conduct of criminological significance is debated. Sutherland regarded the term as covering crime committed by the ‘upper, or white-collar class’ initially, confining his description to ‘the … merchant princes and captains of finance and industry’ (1940). In business, the conduct involved took the form most frequently of misrepresentation and bribery in various contexts, manipulation on the stock exchange, embezzlement and misapplication of funds, short weights and measures and misgrading of commodities. In medicine, he referred to the illegal sale of drugs, abortion, illegal services of various types, and other forms of professional misconduct.
