2 - Lure

Summary

Rates of white-collar crime vary temporally and spatially. Although we lack data needed to demonstrate this with precision, no one doubts what the outcome would be if adequate data were available. Why rates of crime fluctuate over time and why some geographic regions, occupations, and industries are plagued by more crime than others draws attention to the distribution of 1) criminal opportunities and 2) those predisposed or tempted to exploit them. In this chapter we explore the sources and allocation of lure, one of the twin components of criminal opportunity. Chapter 3 examines the supply of tempted individuals and predisposed organizations.

Lure is arrangements or situations that turn heads. Like tinsel to a child, it draws attention. Lure is a purse left unattended where there is heavy pedestrian traffic. It is cost-plus contracts between government and business firms. And lure is officers and representatives of Fortune 500 corporations doing business with officials of fledgling nations eager for investment and economic development. Lure need not be economic, however. It is also access to dependent and vulnerable populations, whether these be children, prisoners, the sick, the aged or economically marginal workers. Recall the Imperial Food Products fire. Because North Carolina is a right-to-work state, a high proportion of its workforce are not union members. Imperial's employees had little bargaining power with the company, and this probably contributed to the plant's unsafe working conditions.