NCJ Number
233753
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 28 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2011 Pages: 46-69
Date Published
February 2011
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This study examined the effect of gender on the excuses offered by white collar criminals to explain their crimes.
Abstract
When offenders are asked to explain their crimes, they typically portray themselves as decent people despite their wrongdoings. To be effective at managing the stigma of crime, motivational accounts must be believable to the social audience. Thus, variation in patterns of accounts is likely due to the social position of the actors. Here we examine whether gender constrains the way individuals describe their crimes by analyzing the motivational accounts of male and female white collar offenders. Results show that while men and women both elicit justifications when discussing their crimes, they do differ in the frequency with which they call forth specific accounts and in the rhetorical nature of these accounts. When accounting for their crime, white collar offenders draw on gendered themes to align their actions with cultural expectations of masculinity and femininity. These findings suggest that gender does constrain the accounts that are available to white collar offenders. Table and references (Published Abstract)