The President and the Boss's son: Prosecuting the crimes of America's most powerful

Relatively few theoretical criminologists are recognized for their lasting impact on public policy, and it is therefore instructive to reconsider a scholar whose influence endures. Donald Cressey wrote a theoretically driven Presidential Commission essay that inspired the Racketeer Influenced and Co...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Hagan, John (Author) ; McCarthy, Bill (Author) ; Herda, Daniel (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
In: Theoretical criminology
Year: 2023, Volume: 27, Issue: 3, Pages: 357-380
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Keywords:
Privilege
Politics
Crimes
Description
Summary:Relatively few theoretical criminologists are recognized for their lasting impact on public policy, and it is therefore instructive to reconsider a scholar whose influence endures. Donald Cressey wrote a theoretically driven Presidential Commission essay that inspired the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). He also advanced a theory of “respectable crime” that explains why this act has more extensively been directed downwards to dismantle ethnically organized criminal groups rather than upwards to prosecute elite political conspiracies led, for example, by Chicago Mayor Richard M Daley and US President Donald J Trump. We present case studies of Daley and Trump that illustrate the continuing relevance and underappreciated potential of Cressey's theoretically driven scholarship.
ISSN:1461-7439
DOI:10.1177/13624806221122610