The benefit of longitudinal studies for understanding corporate criminal careers and the life course

• In Event: EUROC 13 White-collar and corporate offender profiles

Abstract

Criminological inquiry places great value on longitudinal empirical studies, but such research is relatively rare in the white-collar and corporate crime area. This is unfortunate as longitudinal and panel designs offer many advantages compared with one-off studies. The power of longitudinal analysis to predict and explain corporate crime could be unprecedented. To demonstrate the utility and benefit of longitudinal corporate crime data, we have garnered an exhaustive list of longitudinal (some panel) corporate crime studies from Europe and the United States (N ~19). Using a life-course/organizational life cycle lens to examine corporate criminal careers, we investigate the various dimensions of the criminal careers of the corporations from the different studies, including such things as offending frequency, severity, duration, and desistance. We also examine type of and variety of crime committed. We show in this study, among other things, that regulatory enforcement agencies collect useful data which offers significant insights into understanding corporate responses to enforcement activities. We describe the themes and patterns across our data sources; what has been collected (industries, variables, methods for example) and found, and what remains unexamined. We end with potential areas for theoretical advances and an agenda for future research.

Authors

• Marieke Kluin, Leiden University

• Natalie Schell-Busey, Rowan. Univeristy

• Sally S Simpson, University of Maryland

• Jordan M Pierce, University of Maryland, College Park