White-Collar Criminals: The ‘Kinder, Gentler’ Offender? (pages 217–241)

摘要

Even though white‐collar criminals (WCCs) cause financial damage and, at times,nemotional and physical harm to individuals, organisations, and consumers, their crimesnare viewed as being less harmful than street‐level crimes. Misperceptions that WCCsncommit financial crimes because of a temporary moral lapse that represents an ‘out ofncharacter’ act for the offender still permeate the criminal justice system and academicnvenues. Yet, research shows that WCCs may display a pattern of criminal thinking thatnparallels street‐level offenders coupled with the same behavioural traits that serve asnrisk factors for offences to occur. Furthermore, the belief that WCCs are non‐violent isnmisguided, as there is a subgroup of WCCs who are willing to resort to violence,nnamely homicide, to prevent their fraud schemes from being discovered and revealed.nCopyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.