White-collar Offending Research Articles

Regulatory justice: A re-examination of the influence of class position on the punishment of white-collar crime*

The issue of class bias in response to white-collar crime offenders remains unresolved because of data limitations, research design problems, and debates over the conceptualization of core factors. One problem is that previous research failed to consider the full range of legal actions that can be taken against a violator of regulatory law; it typically focuses only on criminal sanctioning when addressing the issue of bias. Recent data on formal actions taken against federal securities offenders were used to reconsider the issue of bias. This analysis, however, examined the entire range of legal actions taken against offenders—civil, administrative, and criminal. I used a logistic regression analysis to determine the sampled offenders' likelihood of receiving a punitive sanction. Both principals and “contrepreneurs” were significantly less likely to receive a punitive response than managers and other legitimate actors in the workplace. Securities professionals (other than principals) were particularly vulnerable to punitive sanctions if they were affiliated with larger firms in the industry, as opposed to smaller firms. These findings suggest that the relationship between class and the punishment of white-collar offending is more complex than suggested previously.

Are White-Collar and Common Offenders the Same? An Empirical and Theoretical Critique of a Recently Proposed General Theory of Crime

This article addresses two propositions on white-collar crime derived from a general theory of crime recently proposed by Gottfredson and Hirschi. This theory predicts that white-collar offenders are (a) as criminally versatile and (b) as prone to deviance as common offenders. To assess the validity of these propositions, the authors investigate the criminal records of white-collar and common offenders and their respective levels of participation in deviant activities. As the general theory predicts, some white-collar offenders are involved in crime and deviance to much the same degree as typical street criminals. A large majority differ significantly from street criminals in these regards, contradicting the theory and limiting its generality. The authors argue that the theory's rejection of motives as important causal forces is misguided and that a more complex causal structure is needed to account for patterns of white-collar offending.

Family Violence in Perspective

Previous articleNext article No AccessFamily Violence in PerspectiveLloyd Ohlin and Michael TonryLloyd Ohlin Search for more articles by this author and Michael Tonry Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Crime and Justice Volume 111989Family Violence Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/449150 Views: 52Total views on this site Citations: 8Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1989 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Brian K. Payne, Christina Policastro Interventions, Policies, and Future Research Directions in Family Violence, (Jan 2016): 353–369.https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118303092.ch18Christina Policastro, Randy Gainey, Brian K. Payne Conceptualizing crimes against older persons: elder abuse, domestic violence, white-collar offending, or just regular ‘old’ crime, Journal of Crime and Justice 38, no.11 (Feb 2013): 27–41.https://doi.org/10.1080/0735648X.2013.767533J. C. Oleson, Rachael Chappell Self-Reported Violent Offending Among Subjects with Genius-Level IQ Scores, Journal of Family Violence 27, no.88 (Sep 2012): 715–730.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-012-9468-7Anita N. Blowers, Boyd Davis, Dena Shenk, Karel Kalaw, Mary Smith, Kina Jackson A Multidisciplinary Approach to Detecting and Responding to Elder Mistreatment: Creating a University-Community Partnership, American Journal of Criminal Justice 37, no.22 (Feb 2012): 276–290.https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-012-9156-4Brian K. Payne Training Adult Protective Services Workers About Domestic Violence, Violence Against Women 14, no.1010 (Oct 2008): 1199–1213.https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801208322702Brian K Payne An integrated understanding of elder abuse and neglect, Journal of Criminal Justice 30, no.66 (Nov 2002): 535–547.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2352(02)00175-7Mary R. Jackman Violence in Social Life, Annual Review of Sociology 28, no.11 (Aug 2002): 387–415.https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.28.110601.140936Brian K. Payne Understanding Differences in Opinion and ‘Facts’ Between Ombudsmen, Police Chiefs, and Nursing Home Directors, Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect 13, no.33 (Oct 2008): 61–77.https://doi.org/10.1300/J084v13n03_04

Toward a control theory of white-collar offending

In this study, Hirschi's control theory was conceptually developed and empirically tested as a rationale for white-collar offending. The data were gathered from a sample of 435 executives who were employees of a multinational automobile manufacturer. Results suggest that factors within the corporation such as managerial attachments, work commitment and involvement, and belief in corporate rules significantly affect individual rates of executive self-reported offending. In particular, those executives who possessed the strongest bond to their manager, their co-workers, and the corporation itself were least likely to report having engaged in a white-collar crime. Theoretical implications of these findings and how they relate to extant theories of white-collar criminality are discussed.