ORGANISATIONS AS VICTIMS OF FRAUD AND DECEPTION: ENCOURAGING THE USE OF LEGAL REDRESS

This paper examines a group of victims who, traditionally, are excluded from many crime victimisation analyses, namely organisations. Organisations vary in size and scope greatly. They may be small business partnerships, medium-sized corporations, or multi-national enterprises. Each may be victimised through crime with the losses being sustained either by the individual proprietors of an unincorporated association, or by the shareholders of a corporate entity. If the crime is large enough, the business may be forced to close or the company wound up, in which case employees may lose their livelihoods whilst shareholders may lose all or part of their investment. F aud directed at organisations within the public sector clearly have a direct impact on government revenue. In the end, crimes which are directed at organisations have a direct impact on individuals and eventually on all of us in the community. Organisations may be victimised in a wide variety of ways, by a range of people. Rarely they will suffer from crimes of violence such as bombs being used against buildings or staff being victimised through acts of extortion. Most often, their experience of crime will be economic and acts of fraud and deception will constitute the principal type of economic crime fro