ABSTRACT
From an opportunity perspective, laws and regulations are best viewed as tools that can be used to shape and control white-collar crime opportunities. However, situational crime prevention theory predicts that any intervention that disrupts the crime triad will reduce crime. This chapter explores how situational crime prevention theory can be used to analyze how legal and extralegal control mechanisms influence white-collar crime opportunities. It reviews how different legal systems (criminal, civil, and regulatory) can have different effects on white-collar crime opportunities. The chapter also shows that extralegal factors, especially in conjunction with justice processes, can lower the risk of white-collar crime through their impact on opportunities. It is believed that the best way to pursue this goal is to think about white-collar crime opportunities and then to try to implement strategies and tactics to disrupt or modify those opportunities based on the principles of situational crime prevention.
