White-Collar Vultures: Examining the Relationship Between White-collar Crime and the Great Recession

• In Event: Roundtable: Social Structure and Crime

Abstract

A great deal of ink has been spilled on the Great Recession that shook the globe in the late 2000’s. Various economists and social scientists have sought to unravel the myriad of different forces that led to the market’s downfall. Many point out that the fatal combination resulted from the gradual deregulation of the market, widespread fraud, and rampant subprime lending. A wake of exposed schemes soon followed, including the infamous Bernie Madoff scandal that cost investors $18 billion dollars. If one of the largest investment firms could run for years on nothing but hot air and lies, it raised questions of how deep corporate crime ran through society. Did the recession push individuals to turn to white-collar crime to make ends meet, or did economic fallout bring to light the crimes that were already there? Furthermore, did decreased regulation from years prior to the recession lead to an increase in white-collar crime? This paper’s goal is to examine the relationship between white-collar crime rates and the years of the Great Recession by using data collected from Chicago’s crime database, the Office of the United States Attorneys at the Department of Justice website, and Ponzitracker.com’s online ponzi scheme database.

Author

• Christopher Douglas Charles, University of Central Florida