White-Collar Crime and Criminal Careers
White-Collar Crime and Criminal Careers
Elin Waring , Lehman College, City University of New York
Ellen F. Chayet
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Studies of the criminal career to date have focused on common criminals and street crime; criminologists have overlooked the careers of white-collar offenders. David Weisburd and Elin Waring offer here the first detailed examination of the criminal careers of people convicted of white-collar crimes. Weisburd and Waring uncover some surprising findings, which upset common wisdom about white-collar criminals. Many scholars have assumed that white-collar criminals are unlikely to have multiple or long records or repeat offenses. As the authors demonstrate, a significant number of white-collar criminals have numerous brushes with the law and their careers show marked similarities to the circumstances and life patterns of street criminals. Their findings illustrate the misplaced emphasis of previous scholarship in focusing on the categorical distinctions between criminals and non-criminals. Rather, their data suggest the importance of the immediate context of crime and its role in leading otherwise conventional people to violate the law.
- Unique data: the book uses a unique combination of data sources to look at criminal histories over an individual's lifetime
- Unique perspective: the book places white collar crime within the mainstream of criminological research and theory rather than treating it as a deviant or special case
- Unique conclusions: for the most part, white collar criminals, and criminals in general, do not differ very much from others in similar social and economic circumstances
Reviews & endorsements
"...a well-argued research monograph...insightful book...the monograph makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of white-collar crime...White-Collar Crime and Criminal Careers makes an important contribution to our understanding of white-collar crime and would make a worthwhile addition to any criminologist's library. The monograph challenges many common conceptions about white-collar offenders and provides a unique and informative picture of the criminal careers of white-collar offenders." Contemporary Sociology
"significant contribution to the literature that focuses on the many varieties of white-collar offenses commited by individuals across categories of social status." The Law and Politics Book Review Nov 2001
Product details
February 2001Paperback
9780521777636
208 pages
228 × 153 × 16 mm
0.29kg
7 b/w illus. 34 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. White collar crime and criminal careers
- 2. Dimensions of official criminal careers
- 3. Crimes of crisis and opportunity
- 4. Chronic offenders
- 5. Prison sanctions and criminal careers
- 6. Understanding recidivism
- 7. Conclusions
- Appendix A. Description of statutory offenses
- Appendix B. Comparison of the Wheeler et al. and the current sample
- Notes
- References.
