Nowadays, people are increasingly facing White Collar Crimes, including structures such as education, religion, and the military. It negatively affects the country’s economic, social, and financial levels, generating uneven cash flows and inequality. The relevance of the study of such crimes is formulated by the possibility of developing methods to fight against them and the creation of preventive measures. Moreover, in the aspect of education, White Collar Crimes create obstacles for talented students, which provokes problems for the country’s intellectual development. Thereby, it is essential to analyze the role of White Collar Crimes in the education system and religious and military structures in the example of the College Admission Scandal.
White Collar Crimes are a well-known concept for most people; however, it has become even more popular after College Admission Scandal. It included investigating and sentencing nearly 50 participants, among which were parents of students and university representatives who were involved in the bribery scheme (VOA News, 2019). Such universities as Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, Northwestern, and the University of Southern California were reported to be connected to the issue (VOA News, 2019). The scandal’s essence was that representatives of rich and famous families used their status and financial resources to make their children enter a prestigious university. Moreover, representatives of universities contributed to the work of all links in the chain of the scheme.
Such crimes harm the status of an educational institution and prevent the development of the country’s academic environment. This is because talented students often do not have the financial means to afford tutors to raise their academic scores. Moreover, it may provoke a decrease in the level of qualifications in certain areas in the future since one cannot receive higher education. White Collar crimes contribute to the development of inequality, as some people have more opportunities than others (VOA News, 2019). Indeed, it is contrary to the US Constitution, which states that everyone is born equal and has the same opportunities. Finally, White Collar crimes contribute to the moral oppression of victims of crime, namely, when one observes the manifestation of injustice, however, one cannot do anything with it.
Studying the notion of such crimes involves analyzing many factors, such as their definitions and concepts. Usually, white-collar crimes are formulated by the fact of participation in them of a representative of the business, law, state, policy, or officials (Payne, 2021). In any case, the broad powers of the participant are used to put pressure on certain individuals to achieve personal goals. In other cases, one uses one’s financial resources to achieve one’s aims that contradict to norms and regulations of a certain area. The influence of such actions on any structure is detrimental since the basic laws of the work of these structures are violated. In other words, inequality and unevenness generate a failure in the mechanism of the work of education, which leads to widespread negative consequences.
Speaking about the current case, namely the scandal when entering a prestige university, one may identify several sources of influence. These include large financial resources, fame, a position in the state structure, or the legislature. Usually, the party that accepts the bribe is often faced with the threat of negative consequences in case of the refusal of the bribe. Some of the parents cover up bribery through financial donations for the interests of the institution, namely repair, restoration, purchase of equipment, etc. However, the very fact of the transfer of such donations implies some privileges to the children of those who made it.
White Collar crimes lead to negative consequences at all levels of a certain structure. Talking about the current case, first of all, it undermines the very concepts of learning and morality. The educational society is divided into the rich and the poor, which provokes conflicts, infringement of rights, inequality, and other negative manifestations of the division of society. Moreover, it is reported that in elite universities, the percentage of students from low-income families ranges from 2% to 30% (VOA News, 2019). Besides, many prestigious institutions are becoming more selective, promoting the development of white-collar crimes (VOA News, 2019). Thus, the trend is increasing, which signals the necessity to highlight such cases to reduce the number of manifestations.
It is also important to note that such crimes also take place in the military and religious structures. White Collar crimes are used there to obtain high positions; moreover, high military or religious positions are also used to put pressure on an object for personal gain. However, the consequences of such actions in the military and religious structure are highly negative. This is because the principle of operation of these objects is violated, which is a threat, especially speaking about the military structure.
To conclude, White Collar crimes are the illegal use of personal official powers or financial resources to achieve profit. After analyzing the example of the scandal at the elite universities, it was found that such actions cause harm on a large scale. In addition, white-collar crimes contribute to inequality and violations of basic human rights. Finally, such crimes in the military and religious structures are a threat since the principles of their work are violated.
References
Payne, B. K. (2021). White-collar crime: A systems approach. (3rd ed.). Sage.
VOA News. (2019). College admissions scandal: The value of a degree. [Video]. YouTube. Web.