Deck 9: Theories of White-Collar Crime

Question 1

Sutherland's influential essay on white-collar crime, "White-Collar Criminality," was published in which year?

A) 1900.
B) 1940.
C) 1960.
D) 1980.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following is true of Sutherland's perspective?

A) In defining white-collar crime, social status of the offender does not matter.
B) He argued that research on white-collar crime should only focus on those acts that have resulted in a conviction in criminal court.
C) He argued that research on white-collar crime should focus more on "convictability" of offenses than on actual conviction.
D) He argued that accessories to white-collar offenders should not be counted in research/statistics.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

According to Sutherland's claims in his essay, "White-Collar Criminality," white-collar crime

A) Generates the same financial costs to the public as do "traditional" crimes (e.g., robbery, burglary, etc.).
B) Generates financial costs, but they are not as great as the financial costs generated by traditional crimes.
C) Generates financial costs, but those costs only fall on wealthy individuals.
D) Generates financial costs several times that of the financial costs created by traditional crime.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

According to work by Sutherland and contemporary scholars (e.g., Cullen), white-collar crime generates what sort of costs?

A) It generates social and financial costs, but not physical costs.
B) It generates financial and physical costs, but not social costs.
C) It generates social and physical costs, but not financial costs.
D) It generates financial, social, and physical costs.

Question 5

In Sutherland's book, White Collar Crime, he found that

A) Across the seventy corporations studied, each averaged fourteen adverse criminal or civil decisions against them.
B) Fourteen of the seventy corporations studied had an adverse criminal or civil decision against them.
C) Ninety-eight percent of the seventy corporations studied had no adverse criminal or civil decision against them.
D) Most corporations had experienced civil decisions against them, but only a small minority of corporations had experienced any criminal conviction.

Question 6

In explaining white-collar crime, Sutherland focused on which central factor?

A) Exposure to a criminal culture.
B) Life in a competitive financial system.
C) Unique illegitimate opportunities produced by a legitimate work setting.
D) Rational choice.

Question 7

Which of the following scholars viewed white-collar crime as a response to financial woes?

A) E. A. Ross.
B) Edwin Sutherland.
C) Michael Benson.
D) Donald R. Cressey.

Question 8

According to Shover and Hochstetler, lure is not a full-fledged opportunity unless there is also

A) A capitalist environment.
B) Guilt.
C) Lack of oversight.
D) A criminal culture.

Question 9

According to Benson, white-collar crimes are typically characterized by all the following except

A) The offender has legitimate access to the crime location.
B) The offender enters the crime location unlawfully.
C) The offender is spatially separated from the victim.
D) The offender's actions have a superficial appearance of legitimacy.

Question 10

Which of the following would Benson not agree with, according to his 1985 work?

A) White-collar offenders do not feel the same level of guilt that street offenders do.
B) White-collar offenders use accounts to neutralize feelings of guilt before the crime.
C) White-collar offenders use accounts to neutralize feelings of guilt after the crime.
D) White-collar offenders use accounts to deny that they are "true criminals."

Question 11

According to Shover and Hochstetler,

A) When opportunity for white-collar crime is present, all rational individuals will act on it.
B) Whether one acts on opportunity for white-collar crime depends on the religiosity of the person to whom the opportunity is presented.
C) Whether one acts on opportunity for white-collar crime depends on the criminal predisposition and internal restraints of the person to whom the opportunity is presented.
D) Whether one acts on opportunity for white-collar crime depends on the ability to neutralize the guilt.

Question 12

Who is considered the father of white-collar criminology?

A) E. A. Ross.
B) Edwin Sutherland.
C) Michael Benson.
D) Donald R. Cressey.

Question 13

Whose work, Sin and Society, was one of the first to discuss crimes in the business world?

A) E. A. Ross.
B) Edwin Sutherland.
C) Michael Benson.
D) Francis Cullen.

Question 14

According to Benson, to effectively deny the guilty mind, the offender must

A) Identify the real/actual perpetrator.
B) Deny lure.
C) Minimize the seriousness of his/her actions.
D) Accept that he or she is truly criminal.

Question 15

Of the white-collar offenders examined by Benson, which admitted responsibility for their actions in their accounts?

A) Tax violators.
B) Embezzlers.
C) Antitrust violators.
D) Professors.

Question 16

According to Sutherland, white-collar crime can produce

A) Only financial costs.
B) Only physical costs.
C) Both financial and physical costs.
D) A strong economy.

Question 17

Which of the following was not mentioned by Cullen, Agnew, and Wilcox as playing a role in the dramatic increase in criminological attention to white-collar crime after the 1970s?

A) The Vietnam War's effect on public mistrust of those in power.
B) The civil rights movement and its emphasis on equality before the law.
C) Media/popular culture (e.g., television) portrayals of abuse of power.
D) The Great Society program's effect of redistributing wealth.

Question 18

According to Sutherland's definition, white-collar crime is crime committed by a person of ____ and ______ in the course of his occupation.

A) Respectability; convictability.
B) Respectability; high social status.
C) Wealth; guilt.
D) Wealth; opportunity.

Question 19

Sutherland claimed that differential association theory was useful in

A) Understanding street crimes only.
B) Understanding white-collar crime only.
C) Understanding street crime and white-collar crime.
D) Understanding neither street crime nor white-collar crime.

Question 20

In his book White Collar Crime, Sutherland studied

A) Individual tax violators.
B) Professional hit men.
C) American corporations.
D) American universities.

Question 21

Answer the following, based on Sutherland's essay "White-Collar Criminality":
a. How did Sutherland define white-collar crime?
b. What are the problematic aspects of this definition?
c. What did Sutherland suggest be considered white-collar crime?
d. Why did Sutherland feel that the study of white-collar crime was important in criminology?

Question 22

Summarize Sutherland's contributions to the field in terms of his work on white-collar crime specifically.

Question 23

Discuss at least five factors that coalesced to revive Sutherland's interest in white-collar crime.

Question 24

Drawing on the work of Shover and Hochstetler, what is meant by the concept of lure? How does it factor into white-collar offending, according to these scholars?

Question 25

Drawing on Benson's work, discuss what accounts are, and describe their role in white-collar offending. Next, discuss how the type of offense and the social situation of the offender shape such accounts.

Question 26

Drawing on Benson's work, compare and contrast the accounts given by three types of white-collar offenders.