PCE2230

Corporate crime and corruption

Proposed to be offered next in 2000

Scott Beattie

8 points - 3 hours per week - First semester - Caulfield

Objectives On completion of this subject, students will be able to understand the nature of white collar crime, particularly examining the motives which drive offenders and the culture which supports corporate malfeasance; understand the problem of public sector corruption with a special interest in governmental (ministerial) and bureaucratic corruption; examine methods of accountability proposed to prevent corporate crime and corruption; understand the relationship between power, law and definitions of criminality.

Synopsis The discipline of criminology has long been primarily concerned with the study of 'street crime'; theft, interpersonal violence and so forth. This is the most visible form of crime and it came to be a primary focus of academic study and law enforcement agencies alike. The mid twentieth century saw the beginning of consciousness regarding the class bias operating behind these institutions. The crimes of the powerful; the professional classes, business interests and government are just as serious forms of social harm. The invisibility comes from the covert nature of their operations, coupled with the fact that they tend to be submerged within a culture which casts a blind eye to corrupt and illegal practices or even gives tacit approval. The purpose of this subject is to examine the linked phenomena of white collar crime and corruption under the general umbrella of 'crimes of the powerful'. To do this it will be necessary to understand the nature of social power, its cultural aspects and how it influences law enforcement and community definitions of criminality.

Assessment Case analysis project: 55% Seminars: 15% Test: 30%

Prescribed texts

A study guide will be available from the centre.

Recommended texts

Grabosky P and Sutton A (eds) Stains on a white collar: Fourteen studies in corporate crime or corporate harm Federation Press, 1989
Grabosky P N Wayward governance: Illegality and its control in the public sector Australian Institute of Criminology, 1989

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