minute. 
5 Although it is crucial to recognize that street crime does occur, and it impacts certain groups 
disproportionately more than others, it is also important to recognize other types of crime less commonly 
talked discussed. In fact, the BJS does not have a link that directs people to the next two types of crime 
discussed when on their main page of crime type. 
Corporate Crime 
When most people think of crime, they think of acts of interpersonal violence or property crime. The 
typical image of a criminal is not someone who is considered a ‘pillar’ in society, especially one who may 
have an excellent career, donate to charity, devote time to the community, and engage in ‘normal’ behavior. 
6 Corporate crime is an offense committed by a corporation’s officers who pursue illegal activity (various 
kinds) in the name of the corporation. The goal is to make money for the business and run a profitable 
business, and the representatives of the business. Corporate crime may also include environmental crime if a 
corporation damages the environment to earn a profit. 
7 As C. Wright Mills (1952) once stated, “corporate 
crime creates higher immorality” in U.S. society. 
8 Corporate crime inflicts far more damage on society than 
all street crime combined, by death, injury, or dollars lost. 
Credit Suisse pled guilty to helping thousands of Americans file false income tax returns, and the company 
got fined $2.6 billion. Last year, BNP Paribas pled guilty to violating trade sanctions and was forced to pay 
$8.9 billion, which exceeds the yearly out of pocket yearly costs of all the burglaries and robberies in the 
United States ($4.5 billion in 2014 according to the FBI). Another example is health care fraud. The estimates 
suggest this costs Americans $100 billion to $400 billion a year. 
9 
In 2001, the energy company Enron committed accounting and corporate fraud, where shareholders lost $74 
billion in the four years leading to its bankruptcy, thousands of employees lost jobs, and billions of dollars 
got lost in pension plans. 
10 
In addition to financial loss, corporate crime can be violent. In 2016, the FBI estimated the number 
of murders in the nation to be 17,250. 
11 Compare 54,000 Americans who die every year on the job or 
from occupational diseases such as black lung and asbestosis and the additional tens of thousands of other 
Americans who fall victim every year to the silent violence of pollution, contaminated foods, hazardous 
consumer products, and hospital malpractice. 
12 A vast majority of these deaths are often the result of criminal 
recklessness. Americans are rarely made aware of them, and they rarely make their way through the criminal 
justice system. 
The last major homicide prosecution brought against a major American corporation was in 1980. A 
Republican Indiana prosecutor charged Ford Motor Co. with homicide for the deaths of three teenaged girls 
who died when their Ford Pinto caught on fire after being rear-ended in northern Indiana. The prosecutor 
alleged that Ford knew that it was marketing a defective product, with a gas tank that crushed when rear-
ended, spilling fuel, where the girls incinerated to death. Ford hired a criminal defense lawyer who in turn 
hired the best friend of the judge as local counsel, and who, as a result, secured a not guilty verdict after 
5. FBI. (2015b), September 28). Latest crime stats released. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice. 
6. Fuller, J.R. (2019). Introduction to criminal justice. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
7. Fuller, J.R. (2019). Introduction to criminal justice. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
8. Horowitz, I. (Ed.) (2008), Power, politics, and people. Wright Mills, C. (1952). A diagnosis of moral uneasiness (pp.330-339). New York: 
Ballantine. 
9. (2000). License To Steal: How Fraud Bleeds America's Health Care System. Westview Press. 
10. Folger, J. (November, 2011). The Enron collapse: A look back. Investopedia. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/updates/
enron-scandal-summary/ 
11. FBI: UCR. 2016. FBI Murder. https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/topic-pages/murder 
12. Mokhiber, R. Corporate crime & violence: Big business power and the abuse of the public trust. Random House, Inc. 
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