White-Collar Crime – Is it a Factual Criminality?

Abstract

The present qualitative and historical study explores the phenomenon of recognizing white-collar criminality in the legal parlance. The white-collar crime is as old as the phenomenon of corruption in society. Nevertheless, until the recent past it was not recognized as a crime. It was commonly asserted that crime could not be perpetrated by the privileged section of the society. The only type of criminality was assumed to be street-criminality. Sociologists and criminologists have long debated over this form of criminality. Those debates followed recognition of the fact that corruption even by the privileged sector of society gives birth to ‘white-collar crime’ necessitating its criminalization. In the context of Pakistan, corruption exists since its birth, therefore, various laws were enacted from time to time to control its devastating effects. This research analyzes the historical recognition of white-collar crimes, the legal structure of Pakistan to control its effects and the proposal for an effective mechanism. This study reveals that Pakistan battled this form of criminality by enacting numerous statutory laws. However,  mere legislations are not sufficient to combat white-collar criminality. The efficacy of administrative institutions is vital to reap the fruits of the given legal framework for controlling white-collar crime.