White Collar Crime: Victimization, Criminalization, and Police ActionSean MejiasRoberts Wesleyan CollegeWhite Collar Crime: Victimization, Criminalization, and Police ActionWhite collar crime is a complex and diverse field and refers to a long list of crimes. The list contains crimes ranging from embezzlement, corruption, fraud to employee theft. All of these are typically committed by a company or an employee in general. Some forms of crime generate more fear than others. While crimes without direct victims are less scary for people, personal crimes generate more fear. Society seems to be less concerned about white collar crime as it does not have a knowable victim or easily identifiable offender (Isenring, 372). The public often refers to white-collar crime as certain scandals; one scandal in general that has become known to the public is that of Enron (Isenring, 373). In 1997 a company known as Enron bought out a partner's stake, selling that stake to a company it created, thus Enron was allowed to hide its debt. A 2001 FORTUNE story labeled Enron a “largely impenetrable” company that piled up debt while keeping Wall Street in the dark (TIME). Later in the year the company reported a third-quarter loss of $618 million, and soon after admitted accounting errors, inflating revenue by $586 million since 1997. In the months that followed, Enron filed for bankruptcy. A similar company named Andersen, and its CEO, testified that his company had uncovered “possible illegal acts” committed by Enron (TIME). Fear or concern about crime has become an important social phenomenon associated with issues such as unemployment, poverty, and delinquency (Isenring, 371...these crimes, taking into account white collar crimes, are obviously illegal and punishable by law. However, law enforcement often strives to deter crime. These criminal sentences fall within the established legal scope by the legislator for a particular crime. This reference to the legal sphere, which has been carried out throughout much of the history of the United States, reflects the cognitive role played by the trial judge who issued the sentence (Dionne). of the common law is that an appellate court cannot review a judgment issued by the trial court, however, growing trends tend to move away from the strict application of the common law (Dionne).).