Source: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/6540?permit%5B0%5D=AVAILABLE&paging.startRow=3326
Timestamp: 2016-10-21 12:10:18
Document Index: 691920254

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1', 'art 2', 'art 1', 'art 2', 'art 1', 'art 2']

(3 datasets; 2,104 KB)	Table of Contents
White-Collar Criminal Careers, 1976-1978: Federal Judicial Districts (ICPSR 6540) Principal Investigator(s):
Weisburd, David, Rutgers University; Waring, Elin, Rutgers University; Chayet, Ellen, Rutgers University
This study examined the criminal careers of 1,331 offenders
convicted of white-collar crimes in the United States District Courts
to assess the relative effectiveness of court-imposed prison sanctions
in preventing or modifying future criminal behavior. The white-collar
crime event that was the central focus of this study, the
"criterion" offense, provided the standard point of entry for sample
members. Researchers for this study supplemented the data collected by
Wheeler et al. in their 1988 study (NATURE AND SANCTIONING OF WH... (more info)
Wheeler et al. in their 1988 study (NATURE AND SANCTIONING OF WHITE
COLLAR CRIME, 1976-1978: FEDERAL JUDICIAL DISTRICTS [ICPSR 8989]) with
criminal history data subsequent to the criterion offense through to
1990. As in the 1988 study, white-collar crime was considered to
include economic offenses committed through the use of some
combination of fraud, deception, or collusion. Eight federal offenses
were examined: antitrust, securities fraud, mail and wire fraud, false
claims and statements, credit fraud, bank embezzlement, income tax
fraud, and bribery. Arrests were chosen as the major measure of
criminal conduct. The data contain information coded from Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) criminal history records ("rap
sheets") for a set of offenders convicted of white-collar crimes in
federal courts in fiscal years 1976 to 1978. The seven federal
judicial districts from which the sample was drawn were central
California, northern Georgia, northern Illinois, Maryland, southern
New York, northern Texas, and western Washington. To correct for a
bias that can be introduced when desistance from criminality is
confused with the death of the offender, the researchers examined the
National Death Index (NDI) data to identify offenders who had died
between the date of sentencing for the criterion offense and when data
collection began for this study in 1990. This data collection contains
three types of records. The first record type (Part 1, Summary Data)
contains summary and descriptive information about the offender's rap
sheet as a whole. Variables include dates of first entry and last
entry on the rap sheet, number of separate crimes on the rap sheet,
whether the criterion crime was listed on the rap sheet, whether the
rap sheet listed crimes prior to or subsequent to the criterion crime,
and date of death of offender. The second and third record types are
provided in one data file (Part 2, Event and Event Interim Data). The
second record type contains information about each crime event on the
rap sheet. Variables include custody status of offender at arrest,
type of arresting agency, state of arrest, date of arrest, number of
charges for each arrest, number of charges resulting in no formal
charges filed, number of charges dismissed, number of charges for
white-collar crimes, type of sanction, length of definite sentence,
probation sentence, and suspended probation sentence, amount of fines,
amount of court costs, and restitution ordered, first, second, and
third offense charged, arrest and court disposition for each charge,
and date of disposition. The third record type contains information
about the interim period between events or between the final event and
the end of the follow-up period. Variables include date of first,
second, and third incarceration, date discharged or transferred from
each incarceration, custody/supervision status at each incarceration,
total number of prisons, jails, or other institutions resided in
during the interval, final custody/supervision status and date
discharged from incarceration for the interval, dates parole and
probation started and expired, if parole or probation terms were
changed or completed, amount of fines, court costs, and restitution
paid, whether the conviction was overturned during the interval, and
date the conviction was overturned. A single offender has as many of
record types two and three as were needed to code the entire rap
DS1: Summary Data
DS2: Event and Event Interim Data
Persistent URL: http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06540.v1
Subject Terms: arrest records, career criminals, crime prevention, criminal histories, disposition (legal), imprisonment, offenders, prisons, sanctions, sentencing, white collar crime
Unit of Observation: Part 1: Individuals. Part 2: Crime events and time
periods between events.
Universe: Convicted white-collar criminals in federal judicial
districts representing metropolitan centers -- specifically, central
New York, northern Texas, and western Washington.
The user guide and codebooks are provided as a
obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Website.
Study Purpose: The seriousness of white-collar crime and the
damage caused by it is becoming increasingly apparent. Crime control
theory, however, has typically ignored the white-collar offender
because these offenders are generally portrayed as "one-shot
criminals" who do not reoffend after their initial contact with the
criminal justice system. Recent empirical studies instead show that
those convicted of white-collar crimes are often repeat
offenders. Despite these findings, virtually no empirical examination
of the effects of sanctions on white-collar criminals has been
conducted. This study examined the criminal careers of 1,331 offenders
convicted of white-collar crimes in the United States District
Courts. The data provide a detailed portrait of the offenders'
criminal histories that allows the relative effectiveness of
court-imposed prison sanctions in preventing or modifying future
criminal behavior to be assessed. The following questions guided the
research: (1) Who are the repeat criminals in a sample of convicted
white-collar offenders and how are they different from street
criminals or other white-collar criminals who do not reoffend? (2)
How are their criminal careers similar to or different from offenders
found in more traditional crime samples? (3) Can examination of the
criminality of these offenders help to understand the dynamics that
led to their initial or continued involvement in crime? (4) What is
the impact of sanctions on white-collar criminal reoffending? and (5)
What can be learned that can inform the debate about sentencing
white-collar offenders, about deterrence theory, and potential
backfire effects of punishment?
Study Design: The white-collar crime event that was the central
focus of this study, the "criterion" offense, provided the standard
point of entry for sample members. Researchers for this study
supplemented the data collected by Wheeler et al. in their 1988 study
(NATURE AND SANCTIONING OF WHITE COLLAR CRIME, 1976-1978: FEDERAL
JUDICIAL DISTRICTS [ICPSR 8989]) with criminal history data subsequent
to the criterion offense through to 1990. As in the 1988 study,
white-collar crime was considered to include economic offenses
committed through the use of some combination of fraud, deception, or
collusion. Eight federal offenses were examined: antitrust, securities
fraud, mail and wire fraud, false claims and statements, credit fraud,
bank embezzlement, income tax fraud, and bribery. Arrests were chosen
as the major measure of criminal conduct. The data contain information
coded from Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) criminal history
records ("rap sheets") for a set of offenders convicted of
white-collar crimes in federal courts in fiscal years 1976 to
1978. The seven federal judicial districts from which the sample was
drawn were: central California, northern Georgia, northern Illinois,
Maryland, southern New York, northern Texas, and western Washington.
An extensive codebook was developed to record criminal history
information from the rap sheets. The codebook underwent a number of
revisions to accommodate the five different formats used for the FBI
raps sheets and to allow the flexibility of recording a number of
charges and an infinite number of arrests. To reduce error caused by
complexities of the rap sheets (arrests without dispositions, prison
terms without corresponding arrests, information not in chronological
order, series of entries that actually comprised only a single crime),
senior staff reviewed each rap sheet and delimited the events on the
rap sheet according to specific criteria and knowledge of the criminal
justice system. To correct for a bias that can be introduced when
desistance from criminality is confused with the death of the
offender, the researchers examined the National Death Index (NDI) data
to identify offenders who had died between the date of sentencing for
the criterion offense and when data collection began for this study in
Sample: The sample was drawn from a 1988 study of white-collar criminals conducted by Wheeler, Weisburd, and Bode (NATURE AND
SANCTIONING OF WHITE COLLAR CRIME, 1976-1978: FEDERAL JUDICIAL
DISTRICTS [ICPSR 8989]).
(1) Pre-Sentence Investigation Reports (PSIs), (2)
Federal Bureau of Investigation rap sheets, and (3) the National Death
Description of Variables: This data collection contains three types of
records. The first record type (Part 1, Summary Data) contains summary
and descriptive information about the offender's rap sheet as a
whole. Variables include dates of first entry and last entry on the
rap sheet, number of separate crimes on the rap sheet, whether the
criterion crime was listed on the rap sheet, whether the rap sheet
listed crimes prior to or subsequent to the criterion crime, and date
of death of offender. The second and third record types are provided
in one data file (Part 2, Event and Event Interim Data). The second
record type contains information about each crime event on the rap
sheet. Variables include custody status of offender at arrest, type
of arresting agency, state of arrest, date of arrest, number of
Direct and indirect effects of case complexity, guilty pleas and offender characteristics on sentencing for offenders convicted of a white-collar crime prior to sentencing guidelines. Journal of Quantitative Criminology.
14, (4), 353-378.
Waring, Elin, Weisburd, David, Chayet, Ellen
White-Collar Crime and Anomie. The Legacy of Anomie Theory.
Waring, Elin, Weisburd, David, Chayet, Ellenf
White-collar crime and anomie. Advances in Criminological Theory.
6, 207-225.
Specific detterence in a sample of offenders convicted of white-collar crimes. Criminology.
33, (4), 587-607.
White-Collar Crime and Criminal Careers, Final Report. NCJ 145143, Washington, DC: United States Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice.
Schlegel, K., Weisburd, D.
White-Collar Crime Reconsidered. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
Weisburd, David, Chayet, Ellen F., Waring, Elin J.
White collar crime and criminal careers: Some preliminary findings. Crime and Delinquency.
36, (3), 342-355.
Weisburd, David, Chayet, Ellen, Waring, Elin J.
Beyond General Deterrence in White Collar Crime: Empirical Evidence and Theoretical Perspectives. NCJ 145153, Washington, DC: United States Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice.
Specific Deterrence in a Sample of Offenders Convicted of White-Collar Crimes. NCJ 151296, Washington, DC: United States Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice.