ABSTRACT
White-collar crime is a technical term that has migrated out of the realms of science and academia to become part of public discourse. This chapter helps the reader to understand the complexities of white-collar crime, a very harmful and ubiquitous form of crime. Edwin H. Sutherland coined the term. In his most well-known formulation, he defined white-collar crime “as a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation”. Another approach to defining white-collar crime was developed by Herbert Edelhertz, who defined it as “an illegal act or series of illegal acts committed by non-physical means and by concealment or guile to obtain money or property, or to avoid the payment or loss of money or property, or to obtain business or personal advantage”. These two different approaches to defining white-collar crime are called offender-based and offense-based, respectively, and are used by many white-collar crime scholars.
