The meanings of economical crime in the taxi trade - means for prevention?

A criminological research project that by means of qualitative in-depth interviews, focus-group interviews and open observation in occupational arenas will study the meaning of and the discourse about certain forms of economic crime commited in the occupa tional and corporate context of the taxi-trade. The actors to be recruited for participating in this study are taxi-owners, taxi-drivers and representatives for controlling, enforcing and sanctioning authorities. The taxi-trade in Eastern Norway is for th e most part centred around self-employed taxi-owners or small companies employing one or a small number of drivers, based around a call centre that for a fee administers the matching of clients ordering taxi-rides to the available taxi cabs. There are sev eral reasons to study the disourses and corporate social responsibility found among the owners of small taxi-companies and their employees. The cumulative cost of investigated crimes in this sector is estimated to be in the region of 1.5 billion Norwegian Crowns. In other words - economical crimes cost even if the actions are committed within the context of small companies. The Government´s focus is directed at developing preventive methods by working to increase levels of corporate social responsibility, and this project´s point of departure is that prevention best can be carried through with the trade-actors and controlling institutions participation in the shapening of prevention and responsibility-enforcing means. Since there are several business sect ors in Norway that are largely comprisedof self-employed sole-traders and small companies, findings relating to the meaning of economic crime and the prevention of such crimes within the taxi trade may also be applied, with certain adjustments, to other a reas of the economy. A study of the taxi-trade will add to the existing knowledge about prevention based on co-operation between institutional and trading actors.