Public Support for Getting Tough on Corporate Crime

Abstract

The recent wave of corporate wrongdoing has raised the issue of whether the public is concerned about the control of lawlessness in the business world. Using a national probability sample, we explore whether Americans want to enact stricter regulations of the stock market and advocate more punitive criminal sanctions for corporate executives who conceal their company's true financial condition. The findings reveal that Americans generally favor getting tough on corporate illegality. The analysis also indicates, however, that group differences exist in public support for punitive corporate crime control policies. Although liberals and conservatives equally support punishing corporate criminals more harshly, African Americans are more likely than Whites to endorse more restrictive and more punitive policies toward corporate criminals. We conclude that punitive attitudes are socially constructed beliefs that reflect the dynamics of conflicted class and racial relations.