A Proposed FBIAddition to the FBI Criminal Classification Manual:
Abstract
Behavioral data were located from 27 homicide cases in which fraud, a white-collar crime, occurred either prior to or contemporaneously with each homicide. The homicide cases in this study were classified as fraud-detection homicides because either white-collar criminals themselves, or assassins they hired, killed the individuals suspected of detecting their fraud. The white-collar criminals who committed murder were sub-classified as red-collar criminals. Both the descriptive homicide data and the literature review lend support to three overriding impressions: red-collar criminals harbor the requisite mens rea, or state of mind, to physically harm someone that may have detected, or is on the verge of detecting, their fraudulent behavior; the victim of a red-collar crime does not have to be someone who profiteered, aided, or abetted in the fraud; and red-collar criminals have a history of antisocial and psychopathic tendencies. Given these conclusions, advocacy for consideration of forensic accountants and fraud examiners as members of homicide investigation teams to assist in the development of a...