Crime is seemingly everywhere. If it’s not on the news, it’s involved in popular culture, a plot point in your favorite television show, or discussed in the podcast you listen to on your way home from work. Many types of highly publicized crimes include collared crimes, such as the white-collar crime scandal of the college admissions scam or the pink-collar crimes of Rita Crundwell.
Collared crime has been around for tens, if not hundreds, of years. But understanding the types of different collared crimes can be complex; most notably, there are white-collar crimes, blue-collar crimes, pink-collar crimes, red-collar crimes, and green-collar crimes.
White-Collar Crime
Originally coined by sociologist Edwin Sutherland in 1939, white-collar crime refers to financially motivated, nonviolent crimes, often committed by businessmen and government officials. The term “white collar” is in reference to those who wear a suit and white collared shirt to work. White-collar crimes include criminal activity such as money laundering, corporate fraud, mortgage fraud, bribery (extortion), embezzlement, mass marketing fraud, and fraud against the government.
Due to the nature of these crimes, these often fall into the jurisdiction of the federal government. According to George H. Ramos, a criminal defense lawyer in San Diego, “Enforcement of white collar crime laws can be a function of the FBI, the Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Customs Office, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.” This being said, many states do operate programs to handle white collar criminal activity.
Pink-Collar Crime
Pink-collar crime was popularized by Dr. Kathleen Daly, originally mentioned in her 1989 article, “Gender and varieties of white-collar crime,” in the academic journal, Criminology. Pink-collar crime refers to embezzlement-related crimes, which are often times lower- to mid-level office women, who steal from their employers. Examples could include bookkeepers, office managers, and accountants, who have limited opportunity and access to intimate information.
It is important to note pink-collar crimes are not exclusive to women as it’s the position, not the gender that defines pink-collar crimes. Generally speaking, there are more women than men in these roles of opportunity. Though not as publicized, pink collar crime is serious and is growing at an alarming rate, approximately increasing 40% since 1990.
Green-Collar Crime
A seemingly more recent form of crime, some consider “green crimes” to be a subsect of white-collar crimes. Green-collar crimes are defined as crimes committed against the environment for profit.
In 2013, Ian David Macdonald and David John Downes of the U.K. were the two of the first individuals to be charged with a green-collar crime for their involvement with a carbon credit boiler room scam, ultimately defrauding investors out of $9 million dollars (U.S.). The men were charged with 4 and 8 year prison sentences, proving green-collar crimes are considered serious.
Blue Collar Crime
Blue-collar crime is considered to be any crime committed by someone from the working class or lower class of society. These crimes tend to fueled by passion, lust, or rage, in opposition to white collar crimes, which tend to involved extensive planning and are meticulously calculated. Examples of blue-collar crimes include burglary, drug crimes, assault, sexual assault, and theft crimes
Since blue-collar crimes often cause immediate and highly visible injury to society, they tend to be punished more severely than other forms of collared crimes.
Red-Collar Crime
The term “red-collared crime” has been used to describe white-collar crimes that turn horribly violent. After their white-collar crimes have been discovered, red-collar criminals use murder as a method of concealment, also called “fraud concealment homicide”, thus changing the white-collar crime to a red-collar crime. The red-collar criminal usually has a mixed criminal history of white-collar and non-white-collar crimes, that often includes a history of violence.
Frank Perri coined the term “red-collar crime” in a 2015 article in the International Journal of Psychological Studies, stating, “red-collar criminals engage in violence to silence those who are in a position to detect and/or disclose their fraud schemes: hence the name fraud detection homicide describing the motive to classify the murder.
Black-Collar Crime
Though not officially confirmed in criminology studies, the term “black-collar crime” has been used to refer to priests who commit crimes. Often times, these crimes are subsequently covered by the Church.
Blue, pink, red, white, black, and green-collared crimes are different types of crimes unfortunately present in modern-day society. Regardless of the type of crime, being informed can help us understand how and why these crimes are committed. It also can help law enforcement officers, lawyers, and our criminal justice system learn how to properly process individuals convicted of these crimes.