The differential social reaction to tax evasion in Spain: An approach of Economic Criminology

• In Event: Euroc - Reporting, investigating and prosecuting crimes

Abstract

Since Sutherland coined the concept of white-collar crime, scholarship in the second half of the twentieth century has typically focused on explaining white-collar crime phenomena under an aetiological paradigm. This focus has nonetheless led to the neglect of the scholarship interested in demonstrating the process of the differential implementation of criminal law as applied to white-collar crimes. In this article, which emanates from a larger study examining the prosecution and enforcement of tax evasion in Spain, I argue that the literature focused on enforcement, prosecution and sentencing white-collar and economic crimes has shown how economic elites profit from a differential treatment both in law-making and law-enforcement. By analysing the enforcement and prosecution of tax evasion in Spain, this article argues that white-collar crime is marked by several redemptive opportunities that secure immunity and egress from the criminal justice system.

Author

• Jordi Bonshoms-Guzmán, Pompeu Fabra University