Research and development in criminal law and criminology

Research and development in criminal law and criminology

A look at white-collar crimes from the perspective of social harm-centered criminology

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
seyd mahmood mirkhalili 1
mehrdad movahedi 2
1 Faculty of law, Farabi Campus, University of Tehran, Iran
2 Ph.D. Student, the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Faculty of Law, University of Tehran,Qom.Iran
10.22034/jclc.2026.2070307.1243
Abstract
One of the famous classifications of criminals in criminology is their division into white- collar and blue-collar criminals. White-collar criminals, who are considered dangerous criminals, have a well-groomed appearance and are from the middle and upper classes of society. In the science of law, causing damage and the existence of a causal relationship between the harmful act and the result are necessary for the realization of the guarantee, and social damage-oriented criminology, compared to criminal law, deals with social issues from a higher perspective. Failure to comply with work- related and job- related regulations, environmental, economic and trade-related issues by owners of workshops and factories and financial and economic enterprises that impose extensive physical, psychological, etc. damages on members of society, are examples of behaviors studied in social damage-oriented criminology. Despite the adoption of various laws, the criminal justice system does not have a significant ability to prevent the repetition of white-collar social damage-oriented crimes. The present study, in response to the question of what factors cause the spread of white-collar crimes from the perspective of social damage-oriented criminology (sociological damage), and what solutions are proposed to deal with them, has reached the conclusion using the descriptive-analytical method and the library data collection method that the harmful behavior of white-collar workers is not identified and criminalized in the criminal justice system and criminology, and until these behaviors are explicitly criminalized, their detection and prosecution will be more difficult. The multiplicity of parallel organizations for inspection and supervision, lack of coordination and systematic communication for the exchange of information between them, along with the inappropriate administrative structure, are considered to be the most important factors in the spread of white-collar crimes. It is also necessary to formulate and implement a differentiated criminal policy regarding the handling of the aforementioned white-collar crimes.
Keywords
Blue collar
White collar
zemiology
Criminology

Subjects

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Research and development in criminal law and criminology

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 22 February 2026