Substance or Semantics? The Consequences of Definitional Ambiguity for White-collar Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miranda A. Galvin
Keyword(s):  
Justice System ◽  
White Collar Crime ◽  
Past Research ◽  
White Collar ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Sentence Length ◽  
Justice Statistics ◽  
Operational Strategies ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Program Data

Objectives: To determine whether different conceptions (Populist, Patrician) and operationalizations of “white-collar crime” produce different substantive conclusions, using the applied case of sentencing in federal criminal court. Method: Federal Justice Statistics Program data are used to identify white-collar and comparable crimes referred for prosecution in 2009 to 2011 that were also sentenced through 2013. Five different operational strategies are used to identify “white-collar crime” and are employed in separate hurdle regressions jointly capturing incarceration and sentence length. Differences in model coefficients and case composition are discussed across definitions. Results: There are differences in the relationship between “white-collar crime” and incarceration both between and within Populist and Patrician conceptions. These differences are most pronounced at the in/out decision but are also present for sentence length. Conclusions: Contradictory findings from past research are largely able to be replicated within a single sample simply by changing the conception and operationalization of white-collar crime used. This demonstrates that debating what is “truly” white-collar crime is not just an exercise in semantics—it is a conceptual and methodological choice that can have dramatic consequences on what (we think) we know about the treatment of white-collar crime in the criminal justice system.

scholarly journals Corporate fraud as a threat to the company’s economic security

2021 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 04011
Author(s):  
Galina Krokhicheva ◽  
Iulia Mezentseva ◽  
Tian Yu
Keyword(s):  
White Collar Crime ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
White Collar ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Operating Environment ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Corporate Fraud ◽  
Economic State ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
The Relationship

The article is devoted to the study of the organizational and methodological foundations of ensuring economic security through the mechanism of preventing corporate fraud. The influence of “white-collar” crime at the micro level on the overall economic state of the state is considered. The theoretical aspects of corporate fraud are investigated and generalized. The analysis of existing methods and techniques to assess the risk of their occurrence in a particular enterprise is carried out. The emphasis is placed on the assessment of the external operating environment, considered as a source of potential threats to the company’s security, as well as on the study of the risk of corporate fraud in relation to a particular business entity. The authors propose mechanisms to protect the economic interests of the organization from various threats from the staff, which are essential for maintaining the level of its economic security. The findings on the relationship between corporate fraud and micro-level economic security are not conclusive. This indicates the need for further scientific work on the problem, which will logically continue the problems raised in the article.

Crime in the Republic of Ireland: A Suitable Case for Social Analysis

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-26
Author(s):  
Paul O'Mahony
Keyword(s):  
Social Deprivation ◽  
White Collar Crime ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
White Collar ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Suitable Case

This article argues that there has been a lack of critical, theoretically-based analysis of Irish criminal justice. It focuses on three areas that require further theoretically grounded analysis: the relationship between social deprivation and crime, white-collar crime, and the role of the media with respect to crime. It concludes with a possible framework for future social science research on crime in Ireland.

Breaking the Carnival Mirror

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-379
Author(s):  
Kenneth R. Culton ◽  
José A. Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
White Collar Crime ◽  
White Collar ◽  
Street Crime ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policies And Procedures ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
The Rich

We present a reflexive paper assignment calling for students to report on their own family and/or personal experiences in order to answer the question, “From where does the greatest harm arise?” We find that, through the process of answering this question and sharing findings in class, students’ conception of criminality is broadened. Institutional forms of deviance and white-collar crime come to be understood as the real commonplace sources of harm while street crime is seen to be less common than typically imagined. The book The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class and Criminal Justice by Reiman and Leighton informs this assignment. The authors make the case that the criminal justice system presents to us a carnival mirror-like image of what causes the greatest harm to the society. The criminal justice system, through its policies and procedures, leads the public to conceive of only a narrow and distorted depiction of criminality. The typical crime is thought to be person to person, violent, and carried out by the typical criminal, who is assumed to be black, young, and urban. In opposition to this carnival mirror view, Reiman and Leighton explain that certain institutions cause immensely more harm than that caused by street criminality.

Attribution, Salience, and Attitudes toward Criminal Sanctioning

1985 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
FRANCIS T. CULLEN ◽  
GREGORY A. CLARK ◽  
JOHN B. CULLEN ◽  
RICHARD A. MATHERS
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Justice System ◽  
White Collar Crime ◽  
White Collar ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Attributional Processes ◽  
The Way

Building upon the work of Stinchcombe, Taylor et al., the present research attempts to assess the impact of victimization, salience, and attribution on four measures of criminal sanctioning: general punishment, rehabilitation, capital punishment, and the punishment of white-collar crime. Utilizing a sample drawn from Galesburg, Illinois, our analysis revealed that attitudes were not significantly influenced by being a victim or by crime salience. In contrast, our measure of attribution (what a person “attributed” the cause of crime to) had consistent effects across the scales, with those having a positivist orientation being less punitive and more in favor of rehabilitation. When members of criminal justice related occupations were included in the analysis, these results generally continued to persist. These findings thus suggest that attributional processes and, in particular, the way in which people explain crime may be important determinants of the attitudes that those both inside and outside the criminal justice system hold toward sanctioning policy.

scholarly journals White-Collar Crime: The Privileging of Serious Financial Fraud in New Zealand

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 486-506
Author(s):  
Lisa Marriott
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Justice System ◽  
White Collar Crime ◽  
White Collar ◽  
Financial Fraud ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Employment Opportunities ◽  
Using Data ◽  
White Collar Offenders ◽  
Mitigating Factor

Bagaric and Alexander ( 2014 ) argue for fundamental reform of the sentencing process for white-collar offenders in Australia and other jurisdictions. This study has two objectives. First, it challenges Bagaric and Alexander’s proposals. Second, using data from cases prosecuted by the New Zealand Serious Fraud Office, it instead proposes that white-collar offenders should not receive more lenient treatment in the justice system due to the privileged position from which the offending commences. This article suggests that an absence of restitution should be considered an aggravating factor, rather than the presence of restitution viewed as a mitigating factor; as an offender’s good character is often an enabler of the offending, this should not be considered as a mitigating factor and as extra-curial punishments, such as reputation damage or loss of future employment opportunities, are short-term for white-collar offenders, there is little justification for reduced sentences and extra-curial punishments can be viewed as a natural corollary of the offending.

scholarly journals White-Collar Crime: The Privileging of Serious Financial Fraud in New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Marriott
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Justice System ◽  
White Collar Crime ◽  
White Collar ◽  
Financial Fraud ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Employment Opportunities ◽  
Using Data ◽  
White Collar Offenders ◽  
Mitigating Factor

© The Author(s) 2019. Bagaric and Alexander (2014) argue for fundamental reform of the sentencing process for white-collar offenders in Australia and other jurisdictions. This study has two objectives. First, it challenges Bagaric and Alexander’s proposals. Second, using data from cases prosecuted by the New Zealand Serious Fraud Office, it instead proposes that white-collar offenders should not receive more lenient treatment in the justice system due to the privileged position from which the offending commences. This article suggests that an absence of restitution should be considered an aggravating factor, rather than the presence of restitution viewed as a mitigating factor; as an offender’s good character is often an enabler of the offending, this should not be considered as a mitigating factor and as extra-curial punishments, such as reputation damage or loss of future employment opportunities, are short-term for white-collar offenders, there is little justification for reduced sentences and extra-curial punishments can be viewed as a natural corollary of the offending.

scholarly journals Book Review: Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia of Trends and Controversies in the Justice System

2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 302
Author(s):  
Emily Lauren Mross
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
White Collar Crime ◽  
White Collar ◽  
Street Crime ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
Biological Explanations

The American criminal justice system affects people in all walks of life, from street crime to domestic violence to white collar crime. This two-volume set explores not only landmark cases and laws, but also covers prominent figures, policies, and scandals. Further, the set includes entries that explain broader issues such as “Biological Explanations for Crime” and “Sociological Explanations of Crime.”

scholarly journals Postcode Justice: Rural and Regional Disadvantage in the Administration of the Law

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Coverdale
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Therapeutic Jurisprudence ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Problem Solving Courts ◽  
The Law ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Roll Out

The paper signposts a number of issues identified within the research project: Postcode Justice — Rural and Regional Disadvantage in the Administration of the Law. It highlights key areas in which regional Victorians experience disadvantage in access to justice system services in comparison to their metropolitan counterparts. Issues raised by interviewees and survey participants demonstrate inherent problems with the current delivery of justice system services, programs and processes in regional Victoria. Briefly explored within the paper is the relationship of ‘distance’ to the delivery of justice. The paper suggests that little consideration is given to the spatial disadvantage experienced by regional communities in the development of legislation or the implementation of justice system programs, practices and procedures. The paper also examines the Magistrates’ Court criminal court programs which embrace the principles of ‘problem solving courts’ and ‘therapeutic jurisprudence’. While they are important innovations, these programs have had limited roll-out to regional communities. In its conclusion the paper suggests that an independent and unified ‘voice’ is needed to ensure a genuine and informed response to the diverse areas in which inequity exists in the delivery of justice system services to regional communities.

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