NCJ Number
92826
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 11 Issue: 6 Dated: (1983) Pages: 481-493
Date Published
1983
Length
13 pages
Annotation
It is commonly asserted that white-collar crime flourishes because the public is unaware of its costs and indifferent to its control. Survey data collected in Illinois indicate, however, that the public perceives white-collar offenses to have greater economic and moral costs than conventional street crimes, though not to be as violent.
Abstract
More notably, our sample displayed strong support for the criminal sanctioning of white-collar offenders. Public attitudes thus do not appear to be either a major obstacle to attacking upper-world criminality, or its source. It is suggested that attempts to blame the public for its immense victimization serve only to divert attention from the real structural conditions that underlie both high rates of white-collar crime and the reluctance of the state to bring the lawlessness of the advantaged within the reach of the criminal law. (Author abstract)