White collar crime is treated very differently from street crime or other kinds of lower class crime. I'd almost say it's not prosecuted at all. You have to be pretty flagrant or step on the wrong "third rail" to go to jail.
Make a few grams of meth? Go to jail. Launder billions in drug money at a major financial institution? Get a small fine and probably keep your job.
The current president of the United States is a borderline white collar criminal, though most of his past scams are of the "greasy" sort that are just barely on the right side of the law.
It's basically all about the social class of the criminal. The word "villain" comes from the same root as "villager" and means a person of lower social class.
A while back I found a fascinating crime map of white collar crime. It showed the inverse of what you see for street crime, with huge white collar crime hotspots in richer more upscale neighborhoods. In Compton (Los Angeles area) you are more likely to have your wallet stolen. It's safer to walk around in Santa Monica or Newport Beach, but the person you pass on the street is more likely to be stealing your pension.
Make a few grams of meth? Go to jail. Launder billions in drug money at a major financial institution? Get a small fine and probably keep your job.
The current president of the United States is a borderline white collar criminal, though most of his past scams are of the "greasy" sort that are just barely on the right side of the law.
It's basically all about the social class of the criminal. The word "villain" comes from the same root as "villager" and means a person of lower social class.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/villain
A while back I found a fascinating crime map of white collar crime. It showed the inverse of what you see for street crime, with huge white collar crime hotspots in richer more upscale neighborhoods. In Compton (Los Angeles area) you are more likely to have your wallet stolen. It's safer to walk around in Santa Monica or Newport Beach, but the person you pass on the street is more likely to be stealing your pension.