Bad guys: Why the public supports punishing white-collar offenders |
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Authors: | Francis T Cullen Jennifer L Hartman Cheryl Lero Jonson |
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Institution: | (1) Division of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, PO Box 210389, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0389, USA;(2) University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA;(3) University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA |
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Abstract: | Until the latter part of the 1960s, the American public was inattentive to the problem of crime in the upperworld. Due to
a confluence of events (e.g., Watergate affair, Vietnam War, civil rights movement), concern about this lawlessness rose precipitously
in the 1970s. Public attention toward and willingness to punish white-collar crime has persisted into the twenty-first century.
We argue, however, that due to a series of recent scandals (e.g., Enron, WorldCom), public opinion about upperworld offenders
has been transformed qualitatively. High-profile offenders are now seen not as respected community citizens but as “bad guys”
whose crimes reflect inordinate greed and a disturbing lack of concern for victims. This typification is conducive to the
prosecution of white-collar offenders but may have the unanticipated consequence of deflecting attention away from structural
sources of corporate illegal enterprises. |
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Keywords: | |
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