ABSTRACT

White-Collar Crime: An Opportunity Perspective analyzes white-collar crime using the opportunity perspective, which assumes that all crimes depend on offenders recognizing an opportunity to commit an offense. The authors explicate the processes and situational conditions that facilitate opportunities for white-collar crimes and the likelihood of being victimized by white-collar crime. In addition, they offer potential policy solutions that will mitigate this persistent and widespread social problem while being realistic and balanced in their treatment of the difficulties of control. With this fourth edition, Benson and Simpson have enlisted the aid of two young white-collar crime scholars, Jay P. Kennedy and Melissa Rorie, who bring new areas of expertise to the book that enhance its analytical depth and coverage of both white-collar crime and the opportunity perspective. New up-to-date case studies are included along with examinations of recent investigations into white-collar crime and its control. These timely updates reaffirm that this rigorous yet accessible book will remain a core resource for undergraduate and early graduate courses on white-collar crime.

part I|36 pages

White-Collar Crime

chapter Chapter 1|12 pages

What Is White-Collar Crime?

chapter Chapter 2|22 pages

Who Is the White-Collar Offender?

part II|50 pages

Criminological Theory and the Opportunity Perspective

chapter Chapter 3|21 pages

Explaining White-Collar Crime

Traditional and Modern Criminological Theories

chapter Chapter 4|11 pages

Explaining White-Collar Crime

Individual Traits and Psychological Approaches

chapter Chapter 5|16 pages

Explaining White-Collar Crime

The Opportunity Perspective

part III|48 pages

Applying the Opportunity Perspective to White-Collar Crime

chapter Chapter 7|20 pages

Corporate Violence

Environmental, Workplace, and Manufacturing Offenses

part IV|38 pages

The Symbolic Construction and Social Distribution of Opportunities

chapter Chapter 8|18 pages

The Symbolic Construction of Opportunity

Neutralization, Moral Disengagement, and Normalization of Deviance

chapter Chapter 9|18 pages

The Social Distribution of Opportunity

Class, Gender, and Race

part V|35 pages

Control, Prevention, and the Future of White-Collar Crime

chapter Chapter 10|13 pages

Legal Controls

The Criminal Justice, Regulatory, and Civil Justice Systems

chapter Chapter 11|12 pages

Opportunities and Situational Prevention of White-Collar Crime

Using Legal and Extralegal Controls

chapter Chapter 12|8 pages

Opportunities and the Future of White-Collar Crime