After a somewhat lazy search for statistics on white collar crime, I finally came up with a few, which are, unfortunately, not very recent.
In the Oxford Handbook of White-Collar Crime (also 2006), Paul Klenowski and Kimberly Dodson suggest that the great majority of offenders in jail for high-level corporate violations are indeed white.
Assuming this is a) true, and b) continuing to trend this way, this illustrates a clear bias against whites rooted in racism.
There’s a stereotype perpetuated by society that whites are more likely to have high-paying corporate jobs, and therefore, more likely to commit white collar crimes. The theory goes that they’re more likely to be in a position to commit these heinous crimes and don’t have the moral or ethical foundation to resist such temptations.
Pressure from peers in their socioeconomic stratosphere, or simply the communities in which they live, often drive them to these sorts of crimes just to keep up with successful people around them.
Clearly, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies are keeping a sharper eye on whites in corporate environments. And management is watching whites in management with a suspicious eye far more than minorities in similar positions.
The racism surrounding white collar crime is inexcusable. The fact that they call it “white” collar crime, simply bakes in the inherent bias.
Congress must act now to stop this inequality.
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