Crimes of the Rich
| Date | 01 September 1990 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059003700306 |
| Published date | 01 September 1990 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
127
Crimes
of the
Rich
In
the
wake
of
the
’disgraceful
episode’
of
the
Guinness
trial,
and
increased
attention
to
insider-dealing,
computer
fraud
and
company
crime,
the
Service
could
soon
be
dealing
with
an
increasing
number
of
unfamiliar
middle
and
upper
class
offenders.
John
Minkes,
researcher
at
University
College,
Cardiff
and
former
Wiltshire
probation
officer,
argues
that
they
deserve
professional
attention,
not
least
because
acknowledging
the
extent
and
effects
of
their
offending
puts
the
crimes
of
’underclass’
clients
into
context
as
not
only
rational
but
also
usually
trivial
and
tolerable.
n
a
recent
article
in
Probation
Journal1
Bill
Jordan
and
Martyn
Jones
charted
the
development
of
an
underclass
in
modem
Britain
and
described
the
political,
social
and
moral
nature
of
the
links
between
poverty
and
crime.
They
argued
that
members
of
the
underclass
can
have
no
stake
in
a
society
from
much
of
which
they
are
deliberately
excluded,
so
crime
is
a
rational
response
for
them,
the
only
form
of
resistance
available
and
their
only
means
of
acquiring
the
things
that
are
valued
in
our
society.
They
con-
cluded
’that
social
work
and
probation
practice
can
utilise
the
concept
of
the
underclass
to
comprehend
better
the
current
contradictions
of
its
existence
and
to
reconsider
the
expectations
with
which
clients
are
approached’.
Whether
or
not
their
analysis
is
ac-
cepted,
this
article
will
argue
that
they
do
the
underclasss
a
disservice
by
con-
centrating
on
their
crimes
and
overlooking
the
crimes
of
the
rich
and
powerful.
This
is
nothing
new;
when
Western
branch
put
forward
a NAPO
AGM
motion
on
corporate
crime
flour
’.
years
ago,
it
was
balloted
so
low
that
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