NCJ Number
151203
Editor(s)
M B Blankenship
Date Published
1993
Length
289 pages
Annotation
This compilation of articles covers the full historical spectrum of the study of corporate crime, from Sutherland's original writings through conflict and containment theories to the more recent theoretical approaches of routine activities and rational choice.
Abstract
Following an introductory overview chapter on the challenges and issues of understanding corporate criminality, a chapter reviews the evolution of the study of corporate crime. It examines some of the strengths and weaknesses of the various methods that have been used in analyzing corporate crime. This is followed by a chapter that critiques traditional parameters set in definitions of corporate crime. It describes the extent of corporate crime and contends that it exceeds the scope of conventional street crime in terms of both quantity and impact. A chapter on the assessment of victimization from corporate harms advises that by shifting the unit of analysis from corporate crime to victims of corporate harm, several advantages accrue; these include the defining of victimization by objective criteria that avoid the criminal/civil/administrative distinctions, negate issues of intent, and obviate the need for criminologists to access unavailable or closely guarded corporate data. Remaining chapters address public perceptions of corporate crime, the measurement of corporate crime, theoretical explanations of corporate crime, the regulation of corporate behavior, corporate criminal liability, and the sanctioning of corporate criminals. One of the major themes of the book is the parallel between the relatively recent development of a study of corporate crime and traditional crime theories. The authors also discuss difficulties in the conduct of theoretical development and empirical research in this area, including problems of definition, data gathering, measurement, analysis, and interpretation. Chapter references