Piquero, Nicole Leeper; Albanese, Jay S. --- "The Relationship between Corruption and Financial Crime" [2011] ELECD 997; in Graycar, Adam; Smith, G. Russell (eds), "Handbook of Global Research and Practice in Corruption" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Handbook of Global Research and Practice in Corruption

Editor(s): Graycar, Adam; Smith, G. Russell

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849805018

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: The Relationship between Corruption and Financial Crime

Author(s): Piquero, Nicole Leeper; Albanese, Jay S.

Number of pages: 14

Extract:

10 The relationship between corruption
and financial crime
Nicole Leeper Piquero and Jay S.Albanese


INTRODUCTION

The term corruption, much like the phrase white-collar crime,1 is apt to
bring a stereotypical image of the offender to mind. In the case of corrup-
tion, that person is most often thought to be an individual who holds a
political office, while the image of a white-collar offender usually brings
to mind a wealthy high-powered business executive.2 At first glance, these
two concepts seem to operate in two different worlds ­ where one concerns
the public sector and the other the private sector. The two actually have
much in common and in fact could be thought of as two sides to the same
coin. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the similarities between
the two areas of study and to demonstrate that scholars working in both
traditions face similar hurdles in advancing their respective research
agendas.
This chapter will focus on three major areas where the two fields of
study, corruption and white-collar crime, share similarities. First, a
definitional dilemma plagues both areas of inquiry. Much as when Justice
Stewart expressed in a 1964 US Supreme Court decision (Jacobellis v. Ohio)
regarding defining obscenity, `I know it when I see it', the same sentiment
could be expressed by scholars who study either or both white-collar crime
and corruption. Everyone knows what it is when they see it but are hard
pressed to be able to ...