Benson, Michael L.: The Collateral Consequences of White-Collar Offending

Historically, individuals prosecuted for conventional “street” crimes have faced relatively simple and straightforward consequences, including incarceration, fines, probation, and loss of certain rights. However, legal responses from the justice system, as well as non-legal reactions toward individuals who engage in white-collar crimes, are often thought to be more varied and less punitive. Indeed, it has been widely assumed that white-collar offenders receive preferential treatment compared to their conventional criminal counterparts, in large part due to their high social status. But there is debate over both the nature and the severity of legal and non-legal reactions to white-collar offending. Some assume that white-collar offenders not only avoid severe legal sanctions but also are somehow able to avoid non-legal consequences, such as labeling or stigmatization, frequently associated with a criminal conviction. However, others maintain that because of their occupational positions and elevated social status, white-collar offenders face a barrage of non-legal, collateral consequences more harmful than those brought through traditional justice system processing. Thus, a great deal of controversy lingers regarding how white-collar offenders are actually treated and whether such treatment is contingent on individual social status.

With the publication of “The Fall From Grace: Loss of Occupational Status as a Consequence of Conviction for a White Collar Crime” in 1984, Michael L. Benson sought to extend limited research on this issue by examining an important collateral cost often thought to be associated with white-collar offending. Specifically, his investigation drew upon case histories from a non-random sample of approximately 70 individuals convicted of white-collar offenses to explore how justice system processing and conviction differentially affected the ensuing occupational status of offenders.

In 1985, Benson's complementary publication, “Denying the Guilty Mind: Accounting for Involvement in White-Collar Crime,” explored how offenders account for engaging in these forms of offending. Previously, scholars had given only limited empirical attention to the motivations and subjective realities experienced by white-collar offenders. Through this inquiry, Benson exposes a potential link between subjective reactions to white-collar criminals and offenders’ post-involvement explanations for offending. His study is based on interviews with 30 convicted white-collar offenders, case files from 80 white-collar offenders, and interviews with federal probation officers, judges, and attorneys. Specifically, he examined the assumption suggested by anecdotal evidence that white-collar offenders provide different accounts for their offending (1) to minimize or excuse the criminality of their behaviors, and (2) as a means of responding to potential or existing negative consequences associated with justice system processing and conviction. Although their behaviors may be technically illegal, these offenders almost without exception fail to label themselves as “criminals,” even after they have been convicted.

Through an examination of both subjective reactions to white-collar crime and offender reactions to their post-processing/adjudication realities, Benson calls attention to how non-legal corollaries of conviction may shape changes in non-legal social status, which then go on to mold subsequent offender explanations for engaging in white-collar crime. First, Benson (1984) explores whether loss of occupational status is indirectly influenced by justice system processing and conviction for white-collar offenses. Second, Benson (1985) examines how offenders account for their involvement in white-collar offending so as to [Page 86]minimize both the legal and non-legal consequences of offending. Through both investigations, Benson notes important implications that both issues have for the study of crime and subsequent treatment of individuals convicted of white-collar offenses.

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