Not all activity defined as criminal under Michigan law involves violence. Indeed, there is a large category known as white-collar crimes that are not violent in nature. The term is not a legal one, but it typically refers to crimes committed by people in the performance of their professions. The term probably arose during the 1930s and was named for the people most likely to commit such crimes, professionals who usually wore white-collared shirts at their jobs in those days.
Types of crime known as white collar
The list of crimes that fit into the category includes embezzlement, fraud, computer hacking, forgery, bribery, and others. Embezzlement is the appropriation of funds that have been entrusted to the person but belong to someone else, often the business he or she works for. Fraud is usually a financial crime involving using deception to cause someone else to do something they would otherwise not do.
Computer hacking and forgery
Computer crimes are becoming more prevalent as white-collar crimes because of the use of computers in our every day lives becomes more common and important. Hacking generally involves gaining unauthorized access to information stored on a computer. Forgery is the crime of making a false instrument in writing with a fraudulent intent and the instrument being of a type capable of perpetrating a fraud.
Bribery and white-collar criminal punishments
Bribery is the crime of offering or soliciting official benefit, like a vote, government job or political influence, in exchange for financial gain or some other thing of value. Federal and state laws establish penalties for white-collar crimes in the same way as they do for other types of criminal activity.