NCJ Number
140368
Date Published
1992
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This overview of the research conducted on white-collar crime since Sutherland introduced the term in 1939 highlights the debates regarding definitions and concludes that it is useful to consider white-collar crime from a variety of perspectives, including that of the offense, the offender, and the legal structure.
Abstract
Much of the recent scholarship on the subject has focused on offender-based definitions, offense-based definitions, or organizational crime. However, Sutherland himself was unclear about what he meant by white-collar crime. His use of an abstraction offers the most useful approach to the study of white-collar crime in that it permits a search for interactions among the many factors that make up crime and societal reactions to it. Such research will promote understanding of crime in general. Specific areas of focus include individual motivation, the criminal motivation of organizational offenders, victimization, policing, and sentencing. 71 references