"The fact is that white-collar criminals are, by and large, incredibly good at fooling themselves into thinking they're good people, even when they clearly aren't." according to Felix Salmon on white-collar crime. The definition of a criminal is a person who has committed a crime but if you asked a white collar criminal they would not consider themselves a criminal. Many of the convicted white-collar criminals compare their actions to those of "real" criminals who commit street crimes. First I will summarize “Denying the Guilty Mind: Accounting for Involvement in White-Collar Crime” written by Micheal L. Benson. So I will use information from my criminology course to better define white collar crimes. Finally, I will define Strain Theory and how it relates to white collar crimes. The rise of certain strains that cause negative emotions such as frustration and anger, better known as Strain Theory, is the cause of white collar crime. Professor and Director of the Distance Learning Master's Program at the University of Cincinnati, Michael L. Benson has a PhD in sociology and is the author of "Denying the Guilty Mind: Accounting for Involvement in White-Collar Crime." In a classic study based on interviews with 30 convicted white-collar offenders, all men, Benson examines the excuses and justifications used by white-collar criminals not only to explain their involvement in the crime but also to claim their innocence. It focuses primarily on techniques used to deny having done anything wrong in separate categories from antitrust violators, tax violators, financial trust violations, and those who commit fraud. Antitrust violators focused on the everyday character and historical continuity of their crimes. They claimed to follow es...... middle of paper ......rimes. Negative emotions such as anger and frustration play an important role in crime in general, whether it is street crime or white collar crime. No theory can explain all crimes, but strain theory can be used to explain white-collar crimes. I first summarized “Denying the Guilty Mind: Accounting for Involvement in White-Collar Crime” written by Micheal L. Benson. So I used information from my criminology course to better define white collar crimes. Finally, I defined strain theory and how it relates to white collar crimes. Committing a crime is an escape route for all criminals, unemployment pushes some people to sell drugs and go into debt to live above their means and living the American dream will cause fraud, money laundering and embezzlement. The simple but complicated question is: "Can eliminating the negative emotions that cause so much stress be the end of all crimes?"?"