What Is A White-Collar Crime?

The term “white-collar crime” is often used to distinguish from “blue-collar crimes” like burglary and grand theft. Appropriately enough, white-collar crimes are usually associated with people who have white-collar jobs—in other words, a middle- or upper-class job, often in an office. For this reason, white-collar crimes are typically crimes that require access to the resources of a white-collar job: crimes like fraud and embezzlement.

White-collar crimes are often financial ones and are generally not violent. People who have white-collar jobs are often unfamiliar with violence and tend to have established, high-visibility lives and could not afford the risk of a violent crime. On the other hand, because of their higher-status occupations, they have greater access to the means for crimes like embezzlement, which involves secretly taking a company’s earnings as one’s own.

So-called “blue-collar” crimes tend to be associated with lower income, working class people. These crimes tend to be higher visibility, possibly because they are more likely to involve violence. The goals of stealing a car and embezzling money are the same: to make quick money. It just happens that stealing a car can involve violence, while embezzlement requires access to a company’s finances. For this reason, white-collar crimes are often “crimes of opportunity,” only available to people with the means.

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If you have been charged with a crime, an experienced criminal defense attorney can help you protect your legal rights. Contact the Boca Raton criminal defense lawyers of Eric N. Klein & Associates today at 561-353-2800 to discuss the facts of your case.