White-Collar Crime: The British Scene

Abstract

In Great Britain, frauds largely involve checks and credit cards, embezzling, and businesses obtaining money or goods under false pretenses. The relatively rare large-scale frauds typically surface when insolvency occurs. English officials often appear inclined to look the other way when arguable violations of the law take place, perhaps in order not to upset a sensitive political equilibrium that tries to convey the conviction that the marketplace is under control and well regulated. Lengthy, expensive, and inconclusive recent trials of some huge white-collar offenses have raised the question of the efficacy of such prosecutions.