Objectives

We examine the extent to which the characteristics of offenders, the circumstance of offending, and offense characteristics affect public willingness to label an offense a “white-collar” crime.

Methods

We conducted a multidimensional factorial vignette survey hosted onAmazon’s Mechanical Turk. Participants (N = 2696) were randomly assigned to receive information about three of eighteen scenarios that could be considered white-collar crimes. Analyses are conducted at the scenario level with respondent-level fixed effects.

Results

Scenarios in which offenders had high status were rated more highly on a scale of “white-collarness.” Occupational access was also associated with higher ratings for both middle-status and upper-status offenders. Scenarios in which the means and consequences of the crime were financial were more likely to be considered white-collar crime.

Conclusions

In order to maximize generalizability and to support evidence-based policies, white-collar crime research should rely on a definition that incorporates practically relevant dimensions of offender status, occupational access, and financial means.

中文翻译：

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使用实验调查数据评估白领犯罪定义的有效性

目标

我们研究了犯罪者的特征，犯罪情况和犯罪特征在多大程度上影响公众将犯罪标记为“白领”犯罪的意愿。

方法

我们在亚马逊的Mechanical Turk上进行了多维析因小插图调查。 随机分配参与者（N = 2696）以接收有关18种可能被视为白领犯罪的场景中的3种的信息。在情景级别进行分析，并具有受访者级别的固定效果。

结果

在“白领”等级上，罪犯享有较高地位的场景得到了更高的评价。职业准入也与中级和上级犯罪者的较高评分相关。犯罪手段和后果具有经济意义的场景更可能被视为白领犯罪。

结论

为了最大程度地提高可推广性并支持基于证据的政策，白领犯罪研究应依靠一个定义，该定义应结合罪犯身份，职业准入和财务手段的实际相关方面。