1.12. Street Crime, Corporate Crime, and White-Collar Crime 
SHANELL SANCHEZ 
As previously demonstrated, crime can be broadly defined, but the two most common types of crime 
discussed are, street crime and corporate or white-collar crime. Most people are familiar with street crime 
since it is the most commonly discussed amongst politicians, media outlets, and members of society. Every 
year the Justice Department puts out an annual report titled “Crime in the United States” which means street 
crime but has yet to publish an annual Corporate Crime in the United States report. Most Americans will 
find little to nothing on price-fixing, corporate fraud, pollution, or public corruption. 
Street Crime 
Street crime is often broken up into different types and can include acts that occur in both public and 
private spaces, as well as interpersonal violence and property crime. According to the Bureau of Justice (BJS), 
street crime can include violent crime such as homicide, rape, assault, robbery, and arson. Street crime also 
includes property crimes such as larceny, arson, breaking-and-entering, burglary, and motor vehicle theft. 
The BJS also collects data on drug crime, hate crimes, and human trafficking, which often fall under the 
larger umbrella of street crime.
1 
Fear of street crime is real in American society; however, street crime may not be as rampant as many 
think. In a 2017 report, the BJS found that the rate of robbery victimization increased from 1.7 per 1,000 
persons in 2016 to 2.3 in 2017. Overall, robbery happens to a small percentage of Americans, which also 
seems to be a similar trend when looking at the portion of persons age 12 or older who were victims 
of violent crime. The BJS noted an increase from 0.98% in 2015 to 1.14% in 2017, but note the small 
percentage overall. Further from 2015 to 2017, the percentage of persons who were victims of violent 
crime increased among males, whites, those ages 25 to 34, those age 50 and over, and those who had never 
married. There are clear risk factors that can be taken into account when attempting to develop policy, 
which discussed in subsequent chapters of the book. There were also areas where the BJS noted a downward 
trend in crime, such as the decline in the rate of overall property crime from 118.6 victimizations per 1,000 
households to 108.4, while the burglary rate fell from 23.7 to 20.6. 
2 
Polls have consistently found that people are worried about crime in the United States, specifically street 
crime. Riffkin (2014) found that people worry about various crimes such as homes getting burglarized 
when they were home, the victim of terrorism, attacked while driving their car, murdered, the victim of a 
1. https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=316 
2. Morgan, R., & Truman,  J., (December, 2018). NCJ 252472 
51