Defining corporate, white collar and regulatory crime: offences, defences and procedure

Abstract

New approaches adopted to tackle white-collar crime have unsettled traditional commitments and assumptions about the operation of the criminal process. More nuanced understandings of harm and ‘systems risks’, for example, are emerging, including a growing recognition of the harm done to ordinary citizens through misconduct in the financial and corporate sectors and through misconduct in the political arena. A new governmental approach has emerged in light of the changing nature and perception of security risks, employing a variety of mechanisms (civil, administrative and regulatory) in tandem with criminal law instruments. Technological changes and a recognition that the disequilibrium in power between the State and the accused is no longer as pronounced are also impacting on constructions of State-accused relations. New investigative and prosecutorial networks are also emerging that in part rely on information gathering and information transfer beyond the traditional reach of the police and prosecution agencies. These changes are occurring against the backdrop of a delegation of power to an extensive range of specialist agencies with wide investigative powers and supported by a wide range of criminal sanctions available summarily and on indictment. There is also evidence of an increasing willingness to imprison individuals convicted of serious corporate crime. In this chapter we begin by examining the concept of white-collar crime, including its scope, cause and consequences, before exploring some of the changes which are impacting upon traditional understandings of the criminal process and the changing nature of the power used by the State in its battle against white-collar crime.