Since its establishment in the early 1970s the Australian Institute of Criminology has always devoted a proportion of its limited research resources to studies of cooperate crime. This interest is in recognition of the now widely accepted fact that the total impact of corporate crime is greater in terms of cost than impact of all individual crimes together.
The prevention and detection of corporate crime are both extraordinarily difficult as much of it is hidden from public gaze, and regulatory agencies are characteristically understaffed. There is also considerable debate about the relative effectiveness of legal or informal approaches to the control of this type of criminality.
This Trends and Issues report, prepared by two of Australia's leading researchers in this field, does not aim to provide solutions to the numerous problems of cooperate crime. It does, however, raise the main issues and thus should contribute to enhancing the quality of public and political debate on this important subject. It should be interest to all who are concerned about the quality of life in Australia.