DENYING THE GUILTY MIND: ACCOUNTING FOR

INVOLVEMENT IN A WHITE-COLLAR CRIME*

MICHAEL L. BENSON 1

1 Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne

*The author would like to thank Gilbert Geis and three anonymous

reviewers for comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

Michael Benson is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public

and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue

University at Fort Wayne. He is interested in societal reactions to

white-collar crimes and is working on a study of the sentencing of

white-collar offenders.

ABSTRACT

This study of convicted white-collar offenders treats their

explanations for involvement in criminal activities. It focuses

specifically on the techniques that are used to deny criminality.

The strategies used to accomplish this end are detailed. It is

suggested that the accounts developed by white-collar offenders to

explain involvement in criminal activities are structured by the

mechanics, histories, and organizational formats of offenses and by

the requirement that they defeat the conditions of successful

degradation ceremonies. In conclusion, some preliminary

observations concerning the causes of white-collar crime are made.

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1111/j.1745-9125.1985.tb00365.x About DOI

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White-collar crime

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Within the field of criminology, white-collar crime has been

defined by Edwin Sutherland as "a crime committed by a person of

respectability and high social status in the course of his

occupation" (1949). Sutherland was a proponent of Symbolic

Interactionism, and believed that criminal behavior was learned

from interpersonal interaction with others. White-collar crime

therefore overlaps with corporate crime because the opportunity

for fraud, bribery, insider trading, embezzlement, computer crime,

and forgery is more available to white-collar employees.

Contents

[hide]

1 Definitional issues

2 Relationship to other types of crime

o 2.1 Blue-collar crime

o 2.2 State-corporate crime

3 Differential treatment for white-collar offenders

4 References

o 4.1 Further Reading and References

5 External links

[edit] Definitional issues

Modern criminology generally rejects a limitation of the term by

reference to type of crime and the topic is now divided:

By the type of offense, e.g. property crime, economic crime,

and other corporate crimes like environmental and health and

safety law violations. Some crime is only possible because of

the identity of the offender, e.g. transnational money

laundering requires the participation of senior officers

employed in banks. But the Federal Bureau of Investigation

has adopted the narrow approach, defining white-collar crime

as "those illegal acts which are characterized by deceit,

concealment, or violation of trust and which are not

dependent upon the application or threat of physical force or

violence" (1989, 3). Because this approach is relatively

pervasive in the United States, the record-keeping does not

adequately collect data on the socioeconomic status of

offenders which, in turn, makes research and policy

evaluation problematic. While the true extent and cost of

white-collar crime are unknown, it is estimated to cost the

United States more than $300 billion annually, according to

the FBI.

By the type of offender, e.g. by social class or high

socioeconomic status, the occupation of positions of trust or

profession, or academic qualification, researching the

motivations for criminal behavior, e.g. greed or fear of loss of

face if economic difficulties become obvious. Shover and

Wright (2000) point to the essential neutrality of a crime as

enacted in a statute. It almost inevitably describes conduct in

the abstract, not by reference to the character of the persons

performing it. Thus, the only way that one crime differs from

another is in the backgrounds and characteristics of its

perpetrators. Most if not all white-collar offenders are

distinguished by lives of privilege, much of it with origins in

class inequality.

By organizational culture rather than the offender or offense

which overlaps with organized crime. Appelbaum and

Chambliss (1997, 117) offer a twofold definition:

Occupational crime which occurs when crimes are committed

to promote personal interests, say, by altering records and

overcharging, or by the cheating of clients by professionals.

Organizational or corporate crime which occurs when

corporate executives commit criminal acts to benefit their

company by overcharging or price fixing, false advertising,

etc.

[edit] Relationship to other types of crime

[edit] Blue-collar crime

The types of crime committed are a function of the opportunities

available to the potential offender. Thus, those employed in

relatively unskilled environments and living in inner-city areas

have fewer "situations" to exploit (see Clarke: 1997) than those

who work in "situations" where large financial transactions occur

and live in areas where there is relative prosperity. Note that

Newman (2003) applies the Situational Crime Prevention strategy

to e-crime where the opportunities can be more evenly distributed

between the classes. Blue-collar crime tends to be more obvious

and attract more active police attention (e.g. for crimes such as

vandalism or shoplifting which protect property interests), whereas

white-collar employees can intermingle legitimate and criminal

behavior and be less obvious when committing the crime. Thus,

blue-collar crime will more often use physical force whereas in the

corporate world, the identification of a victim is less obvious and

the issue of reporting is complicated by a culture of commercial

confidentiality to protect shareholder value. It is estimated that a

great deal of white collar crime is undetected or, if detected, it is

not reported. In the truest sense, the terms white and blue collar

crime refers to police slang for an arrest of a suspect, or collar.

Blue collar crimes are those that involve local police (known for

wearing blue, or, "Men in Blue") and white collar crimes are those

involving Federal agents, such as FBI (who typically wear suits

and ties with white shirts.)

[edit] State-corporate crime

Because the negotiation of agreements between a state and a

corporation will be at a relatively senior level on both sides, this is

almost exclusive a white-collar "situation" which offers the

opportunity for crime.

[edit] Differential treatment for white-collar offenders

This section does not cite any references or sources.

Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources.

Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007)

The empirical data clearly demonstrate a double standard between

white-collar crimes and so-called street crimes. There are a number

of reasons to explain why white-collar criminals are not more

rigorously pursued. By virtue of their relative affluence, those

accused as white-collar offenders are able to afford the fees of the

best lawyers, and may have friends among senior ranks of the

political elite (see Cronyism), the judiciary and the law

enforcement agencies. These connections often not only ensure

favorable treatment on an individual basis, but also enable laws to

be drafted or resource allocations to be shifted to ensure that such

crimes are not defined or enforced too strictly. It is a fact that

virtually no police effort goes into fighting white-collar crime, and

the enforcement of many corporate crimes is put into the hands of

government agencies like the United States Environmental

Protection Agency which can act only as watchdogs and point the

finger when an abuse is discovered. This more benign treatment is

possible because the true cost of white-collar crime, while high in

nationally consolidated accounts, is diffused through the bank

balances of millions either by way of share value reductions, or

nominal increases in taxation, or increases in the cost of insurance.

And because it can be difficult to assign blame, e.g. environmental

damage may be serious but corporations cannot be sent to jail and,

if those senior officers are removed from their positions, it may be

more damaging to the organization itself which employs many

ordinary and innocent people, and to the shareholders who had no

role to play in taking criminal decision. Different public policies

are at work and there are differences in the level of public interest,

case complexity, and a lack of white-collar related literature, all of

which has a significant effect on the way white-collar offenders are

sentenced, punished, and perceived by the public.

Another reason for differential treatment might be the fact that

criminal penalties tend to be more reflected to the degree of

physical force or violence involved than to the amount of monetary

loss, all other things being equal. Because white-collar crimes are

committed by those with opportunities that do not require violence,

they are far less likely to garner more severe criminal penalties.

For example, someone who mugs a victim on the street by

threatening to knife them, and steals their wallet, might very likely

be punished with a more severe sentence than an inside trader who

cheats shareholders out of a million dollars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-

collar_crime#Definitional_issues