NCJ Number
79659
Date Published
1979
Length
11 pages
Annotation
A summary of a series of studies on bankruptcy and its use as part of larger white-collar crime or for illegal gain in Sweden is presented, covering the hypotheses used, the general methodology, and a brief description of major findings.
Abstract
The series of studies was based on the hypotheses that bankruptcy is oftentimes declared either as part of a larger economic crime or as a means of realizing financial gain. An initial qualitative study on bankruptcy as an economic crime was conducted, consisting of analyzing the interview responses of a sample of officials knowledgeable in the area. The subjects responded to questions regarding 13 models of actual bankruptcy cases, most with illegal aspects. These models fell into three types -- bankruptcy which was not integrated into a greater criminal activity and in which the person declaring bankruptcy was not responsible for wrongdoing, bankruptcy perpetrated as an integral part of an illegal activity but for which the person can legally avoid criminal responsibility, and bankruptcy which was part of an illegal transaction and for which the person involved is legally responsible for an offense against bankruptcy laws. A second study involved analysis of data gathered from police reports on cases of debt delinquency registered in 1974. These data were compared with the numbers of bankruptcies filed for the year. A final study involved interviews with court personnel concerning the outcomes of 86 of the 1,029 bankruptcy cases processed in 1974 to establish a data set on characteristics of persons filing for bankruptcy and their financial and social circumstances. A closer analysis was conducted of cases involving persons falling in the extreme low and high income brackets for these 86 cases. Overall, the data indicated that persons filing for bankruptcy, although their 1974 incomes were slightly lower than the average for the general population, were not extraordinary in terms of income, social situations, and kinds of possessions. In fact, those persons in the higher income brackets were better off than the general population and appear to be exploiting the system. Findings show that losses to Stockholm commune in terms of taxes and case processing amount to around 79.5 million crowns annually. Two references are provided.