Deck 12: Explaining White-Collar Crime

Question 1

What is one criterion that theories or explanations regarding white-collar crime must meet?

A) offer ideas that should be avoided because they would increase white-collar crime
B) help point to changes that would reduce, not increase, white-collar crime
C) be thoroughly researched and guaranteed true to be considered a theory
D) provide insight into individual and corporate motives for their misconduct

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What did criminologist James Coleman think was promoted through industrial capitalism?

A) culture of competition
B) wide range of misconduct
C) fierce loyalty to one's company
D) determination to offend

Answer 2

A

Question 3

How did Hirschi and Gottfredson criticize the cultural theory of white-collar crime?

A) They said it was too hard of a concept for the general public to grasp because they had an image of elitists when it came to picturing white-collar crime.
B) They said it was too broad, and it if were true more people would be offending.
C) They said it was more useful for explaining traditional crimes than white-collar crime.
D) They said it was too narrow and that it didn't explain enough crime.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

What does the deterrence theory rely on to be effective?

A) rewards for good behavior
B) making spectacles out of offenders that get caught
C) the idea that people are rational
D) that people are irrational

Question 5

The desire for an offender to gain control of his or her environment is associated with which theory?

A) deterrence theory
B) self-control theory
C) rational choice theory
D) control theory

Question 6

What mode of adaptation associated with classical strain theory is analogous to the given example of podium politics at the Olympics, where medalists make prohibited symbolic gestures while receiving their medals?

A) innovators
B) ritualists
C) retreatists
D) rebels

Question 7

In regard to the institutional anomie theory, which of the following is not a value promoted in America that encourages individuals to engage in crime?

A) Loyalty encourages the lines to be blurred for close friends.
B) Achievement encourages Americans to always want more.
C) Universalism suggests everyone should want the same success.
D) Individualism suggests we should all attain success on our own.

Question 8

Not being promoted or not being given a raise (a positive stimulus) can result in workplace misconduct under which criminal theory?

A) control theory
B) general strain theory
C) justifying theory
D) conflict theory

Question 9

What does the differential association theory suggest that offenders learn from their peers?

A) laws on crime are wrong
B) work habits
C) moral values
D) when not to commit crimes

Question 10

When offenders believe their victims deserve the harm, what theory are they playing into?

A) justification theory
B) neutralization theory
C) control theory
D) conflict theory

Question 11

Based on research which type of offender is more likely to neutralize their actions?

A) older workers
B) younger workers
C) male workers
D) executives

Question 12

Which of the following is an appeal to accidents excuse?

A) borrowing, claiming they were going to give it back
B) scapegoating, blaming others
C) denial of law, describing the law as unfair
D) describing the outcome as an accident

Question 13

Why do offenders rationalize their engagement in white-collar crime?

A) so that they control how others see them
B) to gain sympathy from coworkers
C) because they feel bad about their behavior
D) so that they do not get caught

Question 14

What question does control theory ask that is different from other theory perspectives?

A) why people commit crimes
B) why people commit their first crime
C) why people get caught offending
D) why don't people commit crime

Question 15

Which of the following theorems of white-collar offending developed by Hirschi is correct?

A) Executives with strong commitments to lines of action will have lower workplace offending rates.
B) Executives with weak bonds to coworkers, who could be potential offenders, are less likely to engage in criminal behavior.
C) Executives who believe in the rules are more likely to break them.
D) Executives with strong involvement in corporate activities are just as likely to offend.

Question 16

One study on self-control suggests that individuals with high morality have what tendency with regard to committing white-collar crime?

A) They can be more likely to offend, even with high self-control.
B) High morality can lead to low self-control, increasing their chances of offending.
C) They are less likely to offend, regardless of their level of self-control.
D) Low self-control is unlikely among high morality individuals; therefore such individuals would not offend.

Question 17

What idea was established after two researchers studied presentence reports of both white-collar criminals and conventional criminals?

A) Self-control operates differently based on circumstances and situational factors.
B) Self-control theory does not explain corporate offending.
C) The self-control theory is oversimplified.
D) Traditional offenders exhibited high self-control.

Question 18

Which theory focuses on changes in society impacting white-collar crime rates?

A) routine activities theory
B) conflict theory
C) systems theory
D) learning theory

Question 19

According to the routine activities theory, which of the following is not an element that must be present for crime to occur?

A) presence of motivated offenders
B) absence of capable guardians
C) motivations to commit crime
D) availability of suitable targets

Question 20

Which theory focuses on the way in which those with power exert influence in order to use the law as an instrument of power?

A) routine activities theory
B) conflict theory
C) systems theory
D) learning theory

Question 21

In regard to the conflict theory of white-collar crime, which of the following statements based on propositions outlined to show how powerful classes exert their power to define behavior as criminal, is true?

A) Crime is created by authorities in a politically organized society.
B) Criminal definitions describe behavior consistent with the interests of the segments of society.
C) People engage in activities that have relative probabilities of being defined as non-criminal behavior.
D) Applied criminal definitions do not have the ability to shape the enforcement of criminal law.

Question 22

Which of the following is not focused on an explanation of corporate crime?

A) structure of organization
B) organizational process
C) values promoted within an organization
D) top-down pressure

Question 23

In regards to explaining corporate crimes, what is one aspect the organizational processes focus on?

A) how pressure from employers results in crime
B) how crime is more likely to occur in declining organizations
C) how lack of success leads to misconduct
D) how peer-pressure at work results in offending

Question 24

When Green highlighted four steps that he felt led to embezzlement, what idea was he unknowingly demonstrating?

A) apply more traditional crime theories to white-collar crime
B) white-collar offenders have similar backgrounds to traditional offenders
C) treatment of victims needs more study by researchers
D) the integration of theories

Question 25

What does the systems theory focus on?

A) How change in one system can lead to changes in another system, which can lead to crime.
B) How policies developed in the political system affect crime.
C) How deregulation in any system can lead to fraud.
D) That all interconnections don't provide adequate explanations for white-collar crime.

Question 26

Critics of the cultural theory of white-collar crime argue that crime is far rarer than it would actually be if culture was a true cause of crime.

Question 27

The self-control theory of white-collar crime relies on swift and guaranteed punishments.

Question 28

Although life course theory is not used to examine white-collar crime, one researcher suggests that workplace misconduct committed by young people may connect to how such individuals behave in the workplace when they are older.

Question 29

The differential association theory of white-collar crime suggests that offenders learn how to commit crimes, but do so for their own reasons and motivations.

Question 30

The control theory of white-collar crime asks why people do commit crimes.

Question 31

The self-control theory is criticized on grounds of empirical concerns because the theory states that a lack of self-control leads to crime, but white-collar workers have to have some self-control to achieve their status in the first place.

Question 32

According to gender theory researcher Kathleen Daly, women, who work alone in their offending, commit white-collar crime mostly due to financial need.

Question 33

Corporate crime is more likely to occur in smaller businesses because they see the penalties of getting caught as a mere cost of business.

Question 34

Linking together different crime theories is the best method for a full understanding of why white-collar crime occurs.

Question 35

Researchers suggest that changes in economic policies developed through legislation can lead to white-collar crime.

Question 36

Based on the institutional anomie theory, list three of the four values Americans are socialized with that actually breed crime.

Question 37

According to the differential association theory of white-collar crime, describe the three main factors that offenders can learn from their peers.

Question 38

Describe the self-control theory of white-collar crime.

Question 39

What unusual question does the control theory of white-collar crime focus on? What answer does the theory provide?

Question 40

List three of the four theories that are typically ignored in terms of white-collar crime, and discuss why they are still prevalent in explaining traditional crimes.

Question 41

Explain the three cultural factors in white-collar crime according to the cultural theory.

Question 42

In a persuasive essay defend or argue the deterrence theory of white-collar crime.

Question 43

Compare and contrast the classical strain theory with one of the other two tenets of the strain theory of white-collar crime.