KAPITALISTIČKE BANKE KAO KRIMINALNI PREDUZETNICI – SLUČAJ VOL STRITA

This article addresses the financial crisis of 2008 as a criminological phenomenon. Analysis of and commentary on the global economic crisis has poured forth from a wide range of sources, and in the academic realm, in particular, from historians, economists, political scientists, law professors and many others. Overall, to date, criminology and criminal justice have not had an especially high profile in the avalanche of analysis and commentary. The specific objectives of this article are as follows: First, to address the financial crisis as crime in conceptual terms. If crime – and, more specifically, white-collar crime – played a central role in this crisis, in what sense of the term “crime” was this the case, and what form of white-collar crime was involved? Second, to address the financial crisis as crime in contextual terms: How should the consequences of crime that occurs within the Wall Street context be understood in relation to the consequences of crime that occurs within the Main Street context? And third, to address the financial crisis as crime in critical terms: what kinds of transformative perspective and policy initiatives are needed if we are to minimize the chances of a future financial crisis on a catastrophic level? The article reviews different attributions of blame for the financial crisis, but then argues for viewing it as reflecting a form of white collar crime, namely finance crime.