White-Collar Criminal Careers, 1976-1978: Federal Judicial Districts (ICPSR 6540)

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Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

The seriousness of white-collar crime and the damage caused by it is becoming increasingly apparent. Crime control theory, however, has typically ignored the white-collar offender because these offenders are generally portrayed as "one-shot criminals" who do not reoffend after their initial contact with the criminal justice system. Recent empirical studies instead show that those convicted of white-collar crimes are often repeat offenders. Despite these findings, virtually no empirical examination of the effects of sanctions on white-collar criminals has been conducted. This study examined the criminal careers of 1,331 offenders convicted of white-collar crimes in the United States District Courts. The data provide a detailed portrait of the offenders' criminal histories that allows the relative effectiveness of court-imposed prison sanctions in preventing or modifying future criminal behavior to be assessed. The following questions guided the research: (1) Who are the repeat criminals in a sample of convicted white-collar offenders and how are they different from street criminals or other white-collar criminals who do not reoffend? (2) How are their criminal careers similar to or different from offenders found in more traditional crime samples? (3) Can examination of the criminality of these offenders help to understand the dynamics that led to their initial or continued involvement in crime? (4) What is the impact of sanctions on white-collar criminal reoffending? and (5) What can be learned that can inform the debate about sentencing white-collar offenders, about deterrence theory, and potential backfire effects of punishment?

Study Design View help for Study Design

The white-collar crime event that was the central focus of this study, the "criterion" offense, provided the standard point of entry for sample members. Researchers for this study supplemented the data collected by Wheeler et al. in their 1988 study (NATURE AND SANCTIONING OF WHITE COLLAR CRIME, 1976-1978: FEDERAL JUDICIAL DISTRICTS [ICPSR 8989]) with criminal history data subsequent to the criterion offense through to 1990. As in the 1988 study, white-collar crime was considered to include economic offenses committed through the use of some combination of fraud, deception, or collusion. Eight federal offenses were examined: antitrust, securities fraud, mail and wire fraud, false claims and statements, credit fraud, bank embezzlement, income tax fraud, and bribery. Arrests were chosen as the major measure of criminal conduct. The data contain information coded from Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) criminal history records ("rap sheets") for a set of offenders convicted of white-collar crimes in federal courts in fiscal years 1976 to 1978. The seven federal judicial districts from which the sample was drawn were: central California, northern Georgia, northern Illinois, Maryland, southern New York, northern Texas, and western Washington. An extensive codebook was developed to record criminal history information from the rap sheets. The codebook underwent a number of revisions to accommodate the five different formats used for the FBI raps sheets and to allow the flexibility of recording a number of charges and an infinite number of arrests. To reduce error caused by complexities of the rap sheets (arrests without dispositions, prison terms without corresponding arrests, information not in chronological order, series of entries that actually comprised only a single crime), senior staff reviewed each rap sheet and delimited the events on the rap sheet according to specific criteria and knowledge of the criminal justice system. To correct for a bias that can be introduced when desistance from criminality is confused with the death of the offender, the researchers examined the National Death Index (NDI) data to identify offenders who had died between the date of sentencing for the criterion offense and when data collection began for this study in 1990.

Sample View help for Sample

The sample was drawn from a 1988 study of white-collar criminals conducted by Wheeler, Weisburd, and Bode (NATURE AND SANCTIONING OF WHITE COLLAR CRIME, 1976-1978: FEDERAL JUDICIAL DISTRICTS [ICPSR 8989]).

Universe View help for Universe

Convicted white-collar criminals in federal judicial districts representing metropolitan centers -- specifically, central California, northern Georgia, northern Illinois, Maryland, southern New York, northern Texas, and western Washington.

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Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

This data collection contains three types of records. The first record type (Part 1, Summary Data) contains summary and descriptive information about the offender's rap sheet as a whole. Variables include dates of first entry and last entry on the rap sheet, number of separate crimes on the rap sheet, whether the criterion crime was listed on the rap sheet, whether the rap sheet listed crimes prior to or subsequent to the criterion crime, and date of death of offender. The second and third record types are provided in one data file (Part 2, Event and Event Interim Data). The second record type contains information about each crime event on the rap sheet. Variables include custody status of offender at arrest, type of arresting agency, state of arrest, date of arrest, number of charges for each arrest, number of charges resulting in no formal charges filed, number of charges dismissed, number of charges for white-collar crimes, type of sanction, length of definite sentence, probation sentence, and suspended probation sentence, amount of fines, amount of court costs, and restitution ordered, first, second, and third offense charged, arrest and court disposition for each charge, and date of disposition. The third record type contains information about the interim period between events or between the final event and the end of the follow-up period. Variables include date of first, second, and third incarceration, date discharged or transferred from each incarceration, custody/supervision status at each incarceration, total number of prisons, jails, or other institutions resided in during the interval, final custody/supervision status and date discharged from incarceration for the interval, dates parole and probation started and expired, if parole or probation terms were changed or completed, amount of fines, court costs, and restitution paid, whether the conviction was overturned during the interval, and date the conviction was overturned. A single offender has as many of record types two and three as were needed to code the entire rap sheet.

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Not applicable.

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None.

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Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2000-08-01

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