Within criminology, in the late 1930s, the distinguished criminologist Edwin Sutherland first used the phrase “white-collar crime” to describe the criminal activities of the rich and powerful. He defined white-collar crime as “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.” As Sutherland saw it, white-collar crime involved conspiracies by members of the wealthy classes to use their position in commerce and industry for personal gain without regard to the law.
Well said