Objectives: To determine whether different conceptions (Populist, Patrician) and operationalizations of “white-collar crime” produce different substantive conclusions, using the applied case of sentencing in federal criminal court. Method: Federal Justice Statistics Program data are used to identify white-collar and comparable crimes referred for prosecution in 2009 to 2011 that were also sentenced through 2013. Five different operational strategies are used to identify “white-collar crime” and are employed in separate hurdle regressions jointly capturing incarceration and sentence length. Differences in model coefficients and case composition are discussed across definitions. Results: There are differences in the relationship between “white-collar crime” and incarceration both between and within Populist and Patrician conceptions. These differences are most pronounced at the in/out decision but are also present for sentence length. Conclusions: Contradictory findings from past research are largely able to be replicated within a single sample simply by changing the conception and operationalization of white-collar crime used. This demonstrates that debating what is “truly” white-collar crime is not just an exercise in semantics—it is a conceptual and methodological choice that can have dramatic consequences on what (we think) we know about the treatment of white-collar crime in the criminal justice system.

中文翻译：

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物质还是语义？白领研究中定义歧义的后果

目的：使用联邦刑事法院的量刑案例，确定不同的概念（民粹主义者，贵族派）和“白领犯罪”的实施是否产生不同的实质性结论。方法：联邦司法统计计划的数据用于识别在2009年至2011年被起诉的白领和类似犯罪，这些犯罪也被判刑到2013年。五种不同的操作策略用于识别“白领犯罪”，并分别采用跨栏回归可共同捕获监禁和句子长度。在定义中讨论了模型系数和案例组成的差异。结果：民粹主义和帕特里克主义观念之间以及内部的“白领犯罪”与监禁之间的关系存在差异。这些差异在输入/输出决定中最明显，但在句子长度方面也存在。结论：只需改变所使用的白领犯罪的概念和操作性，就可以在单个样本中复制过去研究中的矛盾结论。这表明，辩论什么是“真正的”白领犯罪不仅是一种语义练习，而且是一种概念和方法选择，可能会对我们了解的有关白领犯罪的处理（我们认为）产生重大影响。刑事司法系统。只需更改所使用的白领犯罪的概念和可操作性，就可以在单个样本中复制过去研究中的矛盾结论。这表明，辩论什么是“真正的”白领犯罪不仅是一种语义练习，而且是一种概念和方法选择，可能会对我们了解的有关白领犯罪的处理（我们认为）产生重大影响。刑事司法系统。只需更改所使用的白领犯罪的概念和可操作性，就可以在单个样本中复制过去研究中的矛盾结论。这表明，辩论什么是“真正的”白领犯罪不仅是一种语义练习，而且是一种概念和方法选择，可能会对我们了解的有关白领犯罪的处理（我们认为）产生重大影响。刑事司法系统。