Bad guys: why the public supports punishing white-collar offenders
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 w...
| Autores principales: | ; ; |
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| Tipo de documento: | Electrónico Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
2009
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| En: |
Crime, law and social change
Año: 2009, Volumen: 51, Número: 1, Páginas: 31-44 |
| Acceso en línea: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Verificar disponibilidad: | HBZ Gateway |
| Palabras clave: |
| Sumario: | 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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| Notas: | Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 42-44 |
| ISSN: | 1573-0751 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10611-008-9143-3 |
