Theory and Research on the Demographic and Psychological Characteristics of White-Collar Offenders

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

This thematic panel focuses on the mental gymnastics white-collar offenders utilize. Bryan Burton examines nearly 1,200 medical doctors who have been denied further participation in Medicare and Medicaid by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Janeen Miller presents a theoretical review of Albert Bandura’s concept of moral disengagement and explores its potential application to white-collar crime offending. Michael Benson and Francis Cullen present a bio-social perspective on the role of deception and self-deception in white-collar crime; specifically, drawing from Robert Trivers’s theory of self-deception in human life, we argue that the values that underlie American culture facilitate self-deception in white-collar offenders, which in turn facilitates their ability to deceive others.

Sub Unit

• Area V: Types of Offending / 30: White Collar, Occupational, and Corporate Crime

Individual Presentations

• Deviant Physicians: How a Demographic Portrait of Medical Doctors is Created by Regulatory Agencies in the U.S. - Bryan Burton, Southern Utah University

• White-Collar Crime and Moral Disengagement - Janeen Miller, University of Cincinnati

• Self-Deception and White-Collar Crime - Michael L. Benson, University of Cincinnati; Francis T. Cullen, University of Cincinnati

Discussants

• Henry Pontell, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Michael L. Benson, University of Cincinnati