White-Collar Crime Reconsidered

In 1940, Edwin Sutherland coined the term white-collar crime in his presidential address to the American Sociological Society. Since then, E. F. Hutton, Drexel Burnham Lambert and Solomon Brothers have vividly brought the problem to the attention of the American public. In White-Collar Crime Reconsidered, the world's leading authorities on the subject expand upon Sutherland's concept of white-collar crime. They present the most compelling new scholarship as they take stock of the research and theory of the past fifty years, noting significant developments and shifts in the field. The volume presents new writings both on the theoretical issues of the causes of white-collar crime and on the problematic issues surrounding its social control by the criminal justice system and other agencies.
Essays on definition and theory, victimization, enforcement, and the sanctioning of organizations and individuals raise important questions, ranging from what sanctions against corporate criminals a society can enforce, to the debate over whether many white-collar offenders can even be prosecuted, given the fact that their activities are often camouflaged as legitimate business practices. White-Collar Crime Reconsidered examines how inequality of wealth and power contributes to both "crime in the streets" and "crime in the suites" and explores the argument that white-collar offenders are motivated more by a fear of losing their wealth than by a desire to add to it. The volume also includes new research on reporting consumer fraud, as well as studies of the Savings and Loan scandal and the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger.
White-Collar Crime Reconsidered is a fascinating and comprehensive examination of the inner workings of the individuals, corporations, and government agencies guilty of abusing their economic and societal privileges.