White Collar vs. Blue Collar Crimes: An Overview

It’s not uncommon for people to keep comparing white collar and blue collar jobs. However, the “battle” between these two classes doesn’t just stop at income and type of work. Crimes are yet another domain where we can differentiate between the two.

However, even if you have heard about white collar and blue collar crimes in the past, you might not know what they are about. As such, we’re here to explain the two concepts as best as we can.

Blue Collar Crimes

In lament terms, blue collar crimes are the types of infractions that the majority of the population could willfully commit. The term came from olden times when manual laborers wore blue-collared shirts and dark clothing. These crimes range anywhere from drug trafficking to different types of assault, robbery, and much more.

Depending on the type of blue collar crime, you may only receive a fine or probation. However, a large part of the time, blue collar crimes are punished with jail time, especially when the individual(s) committing them can’t afford to pay the fine(s).

White Collar Crimes

People often commit these crimes for financial gain. The thing is that, due to their nature, these cases of corruption can often only be done by people with more privileged jobs or positions. In addition, the penalties for white collar crime are often different from blue collar crime.

Unlike blue collar crimes, these usually involve healthcare fraud, tax fraud, bribery, insider information, racketeering, forgery, and other similar transgressions. In addition, these cases are a bit more complicated to solve because these laws tend to differ from state to state.

White Collar vs. Blue Collar Crimes: Conviction Possibilities

First off, we are not a lawyer-specialized website, so we cannot possibly offer competent legal advice, nor do we claim to do so. We can only speculate what types of penalties you can receive based on certain white and blue collar crimes.

Also, keep in mind that some laws can differ from state to state or even from one jurisdiction to another. Therefore, we recommend you hire a Blass Law attorney in Houston if you’re from Texas or another lawyer that works in your particular area. With that said, let’s see some examples.

Particularly harsh white collar crimes, such as theft of property exceeding $24,999.99 can earn you a federal conviction instead of a regular one. That can mean a hefty fine and possibly lifetime imprisonment depending on the sum of money and on the number of affected people.

However, blue collar crimes can also carry harsh sentences. Drug trafficking is one of those actions that’s known for putting people in jail for several years. Violent crimes, such as manslaughter, kidnapping, murder, and domestic violence also classify as blue collar crimes and can carry a harsh sentence.

How to Fight White Collar and Blue Collar Crimes

A B.A. in Criminal Justice can do wonders for those who want to become lawyers, prosecutors, and other types of people who are looking forward to fighting crime the legal way. Otherwise, we advise citizens to stay vigilant and always report such crimes to the local authorities.

It is always a good idea to collaborate with those in power instead of doing your own justice. This is because you might accidentally commit a crime without even knowing. Pursuing justice on your own is never a good idea, to put it as simple as possible.

The Bottom Line

White collar and blue collar crimes are quite different in nature. However, in the end, both of them are wrong and both should be combated as much as humanly possible.

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