White-Collar Crime and Criminal Careers

Abstract

The life course approach to the study of criminal careers has achieved a prominent place in criminology. Life course researchers have identified several distinct patterns in criminal offending and provided several provocative explanations to account for them. Noticeably lacking in the study of life course criminology, however, is any recognition of white-collar offenders. The typical whitecollar offender greatly differs from the typical street offender and does not appear to fit into the proposed explanations of life course offending patterns. Recently, some scholars have applied the techniques and terminology of the criminal career perspective to white-collar offending. This article reviews the current state of developmental theories as they apply to life course offending patterns, summarizes what is known about the intersection of white-collar crime and criminal careers, and suggests ways in which the current theoretical understandings of crime over the life course can be modified to account for white-collar crime patterns.

Understanding desistance: a critical review of theories of desistance

“…There is some evidence to suggest that the traditional age crime curve does not reflect patterns of participation in white collar crime (e.g. Piquero and Benson, 2004), and more recent research has identified divergences in offending patterns and criminal trajectories across a sample of people convicted of white collar crime (e.g. Onna et al, 2014).…”

The Neglect of Elder Neglect as a White-Collar Crime: Distinguishing Patient Neglect from Physical Abuse and the Criminal Justice System’s Response

“…Researchers have not specifically applied life course theory to elder neglect, but some have shown how the theory relates to elder abuse in general (Payne & Gainey, 2009). Also, researchers have called for the use of life course theory to explain crimes committed at work (Benson & Kerley, 2000;Piquero & Benson, 2004).…”

White Collar Criminals: The State of Knowledge

“…Social influence as a motivational matter is related to situational factors that trigger the offenders (Piquero & Benson, 2004), and these factors include the need for control, risk-option decision making, and fear of falling (Bucy et al, 2008;Shover et al, 2012). The need for control refers to individuals who are assertive, decisive, and active.…”

“…The issue concerns the differences between the ‗one-timer' and the career criminal (those with four or more convictions) concerning background, occupational career, family life, etc. The life-course approach has begun to catch on in investigations of street criminality, especially juvenile delinquency, but it has not yet reached the field of white collar crime to a significant degree (Piquero & Benson, 2004). …”

“…Therefore, one aspect that has to be discussed is the idiosyncratic functions of antisocial conduct among white collar criminals compared to street criminals (DeLisi & Piquero, 2011). This discussion demands that white collar criminals should be investigated as objects for developmental and life-course approaches in order to follow the trajectories of their criminal careers (Piquero & Benson, 2004). This aspect is still underdeveloped in research on white collar crime compared to research on street criminality (Benson, 2013), although there are a few exceptions (Menard, et al, 2011;Onna, et al, 2014;Weisburd m.fl., 2001).…”