Internal crimes are types of crimes that are committed by employees within an organization. These are fraud, theft, white collar crime, pilferage, and shoplifting. On the other hand, external crimes are those types of crimes that are committed by non-employees which include robbery, vandalism, and burglary. This shows that an internal crime is one of the most singular and biggest problems faced by companies. Staff dishonesty takes place when the opportunity to carry out a crime is less risky and chances of being caught are low.This is more evident in many retails sectors around the world and the results of these problems can be seen in higher prices and sliding profits.
Company employees are trusted and regarded as assets, but over the year’s employees’ thefts in various forms have not only had direct impacts on company profits but also indirectly reduce it. Shrinkages, pilfering, fraud embezzlement are more serious concerns than robbery, burglary, and vandalism. External crimes can be prevented if non-employees of the company are prevented from entering the company premises or being able to access company information either electronically or physically. These unauthorized entries or accesses can detect, delayed and, denied and the same cannot be said for internal crimes. Company employees have unrestricted access to premises and facilities for the performance of their jobs coupled with inadequate supervision by the management which increases theft, fraud, shoplifting, and embezzlement.
Internal crimes are problematic and not easy to detect and punish because of company unwillingness to prosecute employees because it might damage the company’s reputation. Crimes committed by employees of companies, known as internal crimes cause greater harm than crimes that are evident (external crimes) and covered under known criminal laws. Crimes committed by respected employees general termed “white collar or occupational crimes” are committed by individuals or a group of employees in the course of a legitimate occupation for their own financial benefit.
Employees who commit this type of crime try to rationalize their offense by saying that since the company has so much money; it is okay to steal from the company. Even small companies can suffer devastating consequences because other employees might have the same idea. When many employees are siphoning off small amounts of money, the total loss caused by these thefts can ruin the company. These internal crimes are problematic for companies, as little or no valid research data is available to consider future preventive strategy.
