Corporate Crime and Criminogenic Environments: Lessons from the Wells Fargo and Volkswagen Cases

• In Event: Regulating Under-reported Crimes: White-collar, Cyber, and Medical Offenses

Abstract

The recent cases of fraud at Volkswagen and Wells Fargo provide ample evidence of how criminogenic environments in organizations resulted in illegal decision-making. These companies chose to commit white-collar crime in different ways, but both are profound examples of how organizations continue to provide environments conducive to lawbreaking. Using the rational-choice theories regarding white collar crime provided by criminologists (Shover and Hochstetler), the literature on organizational decision-making (Vaughan), and ideas on regulatory reform and prevention from research and commission finding on major financial crises, this paper deconstructs each case to ascertain pertinent criminological elements related to both prevention, and theory building.

Author

• Henry Pontell, The Graduate Center, John Jay College / CUNY