Class, Status, and the Punishment of White-Collar Criminals

The treatment of white-collar offenders by the criminal justice system has been a central concern since the concept of white-collar crime was first introduced In general, it has been assumed that those higher up the social hierarchy have an advantage in every part of the legal process, including the punishment they receive as white-collar criminals. In a controversial study of white-collar crime sentencing in the federal district courts, Wheeler, Weisburd, and Bode contradicted this assumption when they found that those of higher status were more likely to be imprisoned and, when sentenced to prison, were likely to receive longer prison terms than comparable offenders of lower status. While they argued that results were consistent with "what those who do the sentencing often say about it," their analyses failed to control for the role of social class in the sentencing process. In this article we reanalyze the Wheeler et al sentencing data, including both measures of socioeconomic status and class position. Our findings show that class position does have an independent influence on judicial sentencing behavior. But this effect does not demand revision in the major findings reported in the earlier study.     

TWO FACES OF BAIL REFORM: AN ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF PRETRIAL STATUS ON DISPOSITION PRETRIAL FLIGHT AND CRIME IN HOUSTON

Bail reform is under attack by public officials historically identified with the cause of social justice. Release on personal recognizance is increasingly assailed as significantly contributing to the problem of pretrial flight and crime. Are these observations valid or have such reforms represented a step toward equal justice-without seriously threatening public safety? To test the argument against bail reform, the authors analyzed the outcome of randomly selected felony cases in Houston, Texas. All defendants were monitored by a computerized information system for athirty month period. The results of the major hypotheses were mixed. Pretrial status was found to have no significant effect on conviction outcome. However, as expected, a significantly higher proportion of convicted detained defendants were sentenced to prison than their bonded counterparts. While failure to appear rate was found relatively high for both defendants released on recognizance and money bail, the actual fugitive rate (2%) and pretrial crime rate (7%) for total bonded defendants were low. Finally the results indicated that bail reform, as experienced in this major southwestern jurisdication, has not significantly affected pretrial flight or crime.     

Review and commentary

“A” in politics, “C” in science

Michael R. Beschloss: Mayday: Eisenhower, Khruschev and the U‐2 Affair Harper & Row, New York, 1986, 494 p., $19.95.

Plausible deniability and waging war

Prados, John: A Review of Presidents’ Secret Wars. William Morrow and Co., New York, 1987 436 p., $19,95.

Mission impossible?

Nicholas Bethell: Betrayed. Times Books, New York, 1985, 206 p., $15.95

Spies, Deja Vu

Thierry Welton: Le KGB en France Bernard Grasset, Paris, 1986,340 p., 480 Fr.

She had no future, but oh what a past!

Russell Warren Howe: Mata Hari: The True Story Dodd & Mead, New York, 1986,292 p., $17.95.

Away but not forgotten

Vladislav Krasnov: Soviet Defectors: The KGB Wanted List Hoover Institution, Stanford, Calif., 1986, 264 p., $16.95.

Cryptanalysis reexplored

Thomas Parrish: The Ultra Americans: The U.S. Role in Breaking the Nazi Codes Stein and Day, New York, 1986, p. 338, $19.95.

Robert J. Lamphere and Tom Shachtman: The FBI‐KGB War: A Special Agent's Story Random House, New York, 1986, p. 320, $18.95

Cipher A. Deavours and Louis Kruh: Machine Cryptography and Modern Cryptanalysis Artech House, Dedham, Md., 1985, 259 pp.     

Evaluating Community Prosecution Code Enforcement in Dallas,Texas

We evaluated a community prosecution program in Dallas, Texas. City attorneys, who in Dallas are the chief prosecutors for specified misdemeanors, were paired with code enforcement officers to improve property conditions in a number of proactive focus areas, or PFAs, throughout the city. We conducted a panel data analysis, focusing on the effects of PFA activity on crime in 19 PFAs over a six-year period (monthly observations from 2010 to 2015). Control areas with similar levels of pre-intervention crime were also included. Statistical analyses controlled for pre-existing crime trends, seasonality effects, and other law enforcement activities. With and without dosage data, the total crime rate decreased in PFA areas relative to control areas. City attorney/code enforcement teams, by seeking the voluntary or court-ordered abatement of code violations and criminal activity at residential and commercial properties, apparently improved public safety in targeted areas.