Michael L Benson
Biographic Data
| ID | 119117 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael L Benson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael L |
| FAMILY NAME | Benson |
| SIGNATURE | BENSON M L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cincinnati |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7876-7461 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 56 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 491 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 40 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 16 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1984 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Punishment before trial: Public opinion, perp walks, and compensatory justice in the United States
Covid‐19 frauds: An exploratory study of victimization during a global crisis
Legal interventions and increased regulations surrounding advertising are a potential mechanism for protecting consumers, yet "soft" interventions that interrupt routine activities might be more useful and applicable. The use of white-lists and publicly available websites that allow e-commerce sites and sellers to be verified would help enable higher levels of self-guardianship. It is also important to provide continuous and clear messaging about…
Race, ethnicity, and social change: The democratization of middle‐class crime
Since the mid‐1970s, the percentage of non‐White people convicted of white‐collar type crimes in the federal judicial system has been growing steadily. In 2015, non‐Whites accounted for more than half of all convictions for certain white‐collar type crimes, but the increase in non‐White participation has not occurred evenly across all race and ethnic groups. Asians and Latinos have increased their participation in white‐collar crime more so than …
The Evolution of Corporate Accounts of Scandals From Exposure to Investigation
We extend research on how corporations respond to scandals by examining the evolution of the accounts that are developed by corporate agents after a scandal becomes public. Guided by the theory of accounts and a recently developed perspective on crisis management, we examine how the accounts developed by 12 corporations caught up in highly publicized scandals changed from the time of initial exposure to the issuance of an investigative report. Ou…
Code of the Terrorists: The PKK and the Social Construction of Violence
The sense of style: The thinking person’s guide to writing in the 21st century
I should confess at the outset that what little I know about writing comes from what I was taught in the public schools where I grew up. This education has been augmented by a lifelong but haphazar
Confidence in the Police, Due Process, and Perp Walks: Public Opinion on the Pretrial Shaming of Criminal Suspects
Research Summary Perp walks have been declared constitutionally acceptable even though the practice could be perceived to be a form of preconviction punishment and a manifestation of populist punitiveness. In adjudicating the constitutionality of perp walks, courts have employed a balancing test in which the interests of the press and the public's desire to know about the activities of law enforcement are weighted heavily. No research has been ai…
Accounts, Deviant
An account is a statement made by someone to explain unexpected or untoward behavior (Scott & Lyman 1968). For example, Scully and Marolla (1984) interviewed convicted rapists and found that they had a variety of explanations for their behavior. Some men blamed the victim by stating that she had seduced them. Others denied that the woman had not consented. They claimed that she really did want to have sex. Still others contended that the whole ep…
Opportunities for White-Collar Crime
White-Collar Criminal Participation and the Life Course
Public Opinion and Public Policy on White-Collar Crime
Employee Theft
Organizational Political Economy and White-Collar Crime
Sentencing Respectable Offenders
The Costs of White-Collar Crime
Adolescent Precursors of White-Collar Crime
Developmental Perspectives on White-Collar Criminality
The Credibility of Oversight and Aggregate Rates of White-Collar Crime
Middle-Class Crime
Middle-class crime is a more recent development added to the conceptual framework of white-collar crime. This chapter addresses the increase in fraud committed by “ordinary people” from the middle classes, often in a gray zone between illegality and immorality. Due to changes in consumption, finances, and banking, and foremost the Internet, they are both offenders and targets and victims of crime, resulting in a considerable overlap between offen…
Theoretical, Empirical, and Policy Implications of Alternative Definitions of “White-Collar Crime”
Criminogenic Organizational Properties and Dynamics
White-Collar Crimes of the Financial Crisis
Core Themes in the Study of White-Collar Crime
The Oxford Handbook of White-Collar Crime
White Collar Crime: Recent Trends and Debates
The Social Consequences of Self‐control: Testing the General Theory of Crime
Gottfredson and Hirschi's recently introduced general theory of crime has received considerable empirical support. Researchers have found that low self‐control, the general theory's core concept, is related to lawbreaking and to deviant behaviors considered by Gottfredson and Hirschi to be “analogous” to crime. In this article, we extend this research by assessing the effects of low self‐control on crime and analogous behaviors and by using two d…
Denying the Guilty Mind: Accounting for Involvement in a White‐collar Crime
This study of convicted white‐collar offenders treats their explanations for involvement in criminal activities. It focuses specifically on the techniques that are used to deny criminality. The strategies used to accomplish this end are detailed. It is suggested that the accounts developed by white‐collar offenders to explain involvement in criminal activities are structured by the mechanics, histories, and organizational formats of offenses and …
Economic Distress and Intimate Violence: Testing Family Stress and Resources Theories
Hypotheses shaped by family stress and resource theories about the impact of household economic indicators on the risk of violence against women in intimate relationships are tested with a data set built from the initial two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) and the 1990 U.S. Census. Measures of employment status, job conditions, and economic well-being for male and female partners are examined with logistic regressio…
Acting Locally: Environmental Injustice and the Emergence of Grass-Roots Environmental Organizations
Because of the contradictions inherent in a liberal democratic state, the environmental regulatory process often fails to protect citizens from corporate pollution. As a consequence, organizations have emerged in some contaminated communities to put pressure on the regulatory process. This paper examines the structural sources of the emergence of grass-roots environmental organizations. These organizations represent a new trend in the environment…
The Correlation between Race and Domestic Violence is Confounded with Community Context
Why do African Americans appear to have a higher likelihood of engaging in domestic violence than whites? To address this question, we draw on insights from social disorganization theory and recent research on urban poverty. We argue that the apparent correlation between race and domestic violence is confounded with the different ecological contexts typically occupied by African Americans and whites. Using data from wave 2 of the National Survey …
Distal and Proximal Factors in Domestic Violence: A Test of an Integrated Model
We employed 4,095 couples from both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) to test a model of couple violence drawn from several theoretical perspectives. The outcome distinguishes among nonviolent couples and those experiencing either physical aggression or intense male violence. According to the model, background characteristics of couples are related to relationship stressors, which affect the risk of violence via their…
Public Support for Getting Tough on Corporate Crime: Racial and Political Divides
The recent wave of corporate wrongdoing has raised the issue of whether the public is concerned about the control of lawlessness in the business world. Using a national probability sample, we explore whether Americans want to enact stricter regulations of the stock market and advocate more punitive criminal sanctions for corporate executives who conceal their company's true financial condition. The findings reveal that Americans generally favor g…
Sentencing the White-Collar Offender
With a modified version of the white-collar sentencing model developed by Wheeler, Weisburd, and Bode (1982), we analyze sentences for a sample of white-collar offenders adjudicated in one federal court between 1970 and 1980. Contrary to Wheeler et al., in this study socioeconomic status is not related to sanction severity. Higher-status offenders are no more likely to be incarcerated than low-status offenders, nor do they receive longer sentence…
Immigration and Intimate Partner Violence: Exploring the Immigrant Paradox
Recent evidence indicates that contrary to some criminological theories, immigrants are less violent than native-born Americans. The relationship between immigrant status and reduced violence appears to hold at both the individual and neighborhood levels of analysis. This phenomenon has been referred to as the immigrant or Latino paradox. It has been suggested, although rarely examined, that cultural differences and strong social networks among i…
The Fall from Grace: Loss of Occupational Status as a Consequence of Conviction for a White Collar Crime
The processing of white collar offenders by the criminal justice system has been a subject of much controversy in criminology and criminal justice studies. In particular, debate has centered on whether these offenders are more or less stigmatized by indictment, conviction, and sentencing than ordinary offenders. Utilizing a sample of white collar offenders, the effects of conviction and sentencing on the loss of occupational status by offenders a…
Reintegration or stigmatization? Offenders’ expectations of community re-entry
The special sensitivity of white-collar offenders to prison: A critique and research agenda
Gender and white-collar crime in Norway: An empirical study of media reports
Race, Criminal Justice Contact, and Adult Position in the Social Stratification System
Recent theoretical developments in the life-course perspective have focused on the effects of criminal justice contact on many stratification outcomes. Using data from a large sample of males convicted in the U.S. federal court system, we investigate the effects of criminal justice contact, race, family background, educational attainment, and age on an important stratification outcome: average monthly income. We also explore how the timing of cri…
Nursing home theft: The hidden problem
Intimate Partner Violence and Subsequent Depression: Examining the Roles of Neighborhood Supportive Mechanisms
This study examines the direct effects of neighborhood supportive mechanisms (e.g., collective efficacy, social cohesion, social networks) on depressive symptoms among females as well as their moderating effects on the impact of IPV on subsequent depressive symptoms. A multilevel, multivariate Rasch model was used with data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods to assess the existence of IPV and later susceptibility of de…
Race, ethnicity, and social change: The democratization of middle‐class crime
Since the mid‐1970s, the percentage of non‐White people convicted of white‐collar type crimes in the federal judicial system has been growing steadily. In 2015, non‐Whites accounted for more than half of all convictions for certain white‐collar type crimes, but the increase in non‐White participation has not occurred evenly across all race and ethnic groups. Asians and Latinos have increased their participation in white‐collar crime more so than …
Code of the Terrorists: The PKK and the Social Construction of Violence
Covid‐19 frauds: An exploratory study of victimization during a global crisis
Legal interventions and increased regulations surrounding advertising are a potential mechanism for protecting consumers, yet "soft" interventions that interrupt routine activities might be more useful and applicable. The use of white-lists and publicly available websites that allow e-commerce sites and sellers to be verified would help enable higher levels of self-guardianship. It is also important to provide continuous and clear messaging about…
Confidence in the Police, Due Process, and Perp Walks: Public Opinion on the Pretrial Shaming of Criminal Suspects
Research Summary Perp walks have been declared constitutionally acceptable even though the practice could be perceived to be a form of preconviction punishment and a manifestation of populist punitiveness. In adjudicating the constitutionality of perp walks, courts have employed a balancing test in which the interests of the press and the public's desire to know about the activities of law enforcement are weighted heavily. No research has been ai…
The Evolution of Corporate Accounts of Scandals From Exposure to Investigation
We extend research on how corporations respond to scandals by examining the evolution of the accounts that are developed by corporate agents after a scandal becomes public. Guided by the theory of accounts and a recently developed perspective on crisis management, we examine how the accounts developed by 12 corporations caught up in highly publicized scandals changed from the time of initial exposure to the issuance of an investigative report. Ou…
The Influence of Class Position on the Formal and Informal Sanctioning of White-Collar Offenders
Although researchers have investigated formal legal reactions to white-collar crime, few data exist on informal reactions to white-collar lawbreakers and how these reactions influence sentencing decisions. Even so, commentators often assert that whitecollar offenders receive lenient criminal penalties because judges sympathize with such offenders due to the losses they incur through informal sanctions. In this light, a causal model is used to exp…
District Attorneys and Corporate Crime: Surveying the Prosecutorial Gatekeepers
A mail survey of California district attorneys regarding corporate crime focused on the recent experiences of the prosecutors with such crimes and on factors that limit the likelihood of their prosecuting corporate offenders. A significant majority of the district attorneys had prosecuted a variety of corporate crimes, and a sizable minority anticipated devoting more resources to corporate crime prosecutions in the future. There was a strong cons…
The Adventure of Reason: The Uses of Philosophy in Sociology
The Fall from Grace: Loss of Occupational Status as a Consequence of Conviction for a White Collar Crime
The processing of white collar offenders by the criminal justice system has been a subject of much controversy in criminology and criminal justice studies. In particular, debate has centered on whether these offenders are more or less stigmatized by indictment, conviction, and sentencing than ordinary offenders. Utilizing a sample of white collar offenders, the effects of conviction and sentencing on the loss of occupational status by offenders a…
Denying the Guilty Mind: Accounting for Involvement in a White‐collar Crime
This study of convicted white‐collar offenders treats their explanations for involvement in criminal activities. It focuses specifically on the techniques that are used to deny criminality. The strategies used to accomplish this end are detailed. It is suggested that the accounts developed by white‐collar offenders to explain involvement in criminal activities are structured by the mechanics, histories, and organizational formats of offenses and …
The special sensitivity of white-collar offenders to prison: A critique and research agenda
District Attorneys and Corporate Crime: Surveying the Prosecutorial Gatekeepers
A mail survey of California district attorneys regarding corporate crime focused on the recent experiences of the prosecutors with such crimes and on factors that limit the likelihood of their prosecuting corporate offenders. A significant majority of the district attorneys had prosecuted a variety of corporate crimes, and a sizable minority anticipated devoting more resources to corporate crime prosecutions in the future. There was a strong cons…
Sentencing the White-Collar Offender
With a modified version of the white-collar sentencing model developed by Wheeler, Weisburd, and Bode (1982), we analyze sentences for a sample of white-collar offenders adjudicated in one federal court between 1970 and 1980. Contrary to Wheeler et al., in this study socioeconomic status is not related to sanction severity. Higher-status offenders are no more likely to be incarcerated than low-status offenders, nor do they receive longer sentence…
Regulating fraud
The Influence of Class Position on the Formal and Informal Sanctioning of White-Collar Offenders
Although researchers have investigated formal legal reactions to white-collar crime, few data exist on informal reactions to white-collar lawbreakers and how these reactions influence sentencing decisions. Even so, commentators often assert that whitecollar offenders receive lenient criminal penalties because judges sympathize with such offenders due to the losses they incur through informal sanctions. In this light, a causal model is used to exp…
Are White-Collar and Common Offenders the Same? An Empirical and Theoretical Critique of a Recently Proposed General Theory of Crime
This article addresses two propositions on white-collar crime derived from a general theory of crime recently proposed by Gottfredson and Hirschi. This theory predicts that white-collar offenders are (a) as criminally versatile and (b) as prone to deviance as common offenders. To assess the validity of these propositions, the authors investigate the criminal records of white-collar and common offenders and their respective levels of participation…
Social Structure and Law: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives
PART ONE: THEORIES OF LAW AND SOCIETY In Search of a Macrosocio-Legal Theory A Social-Structural Model PART TWO: COMPONENTS OF THE SOCIAL-STRUCTURE MODEL Value Conflicts in the Law of Evidence Dimensions of Legal Norms A Role Analysis of Legal Personnel Administrative Law and Organizational Theory Organizations and the Limits of Effective Legal Action PART THREE: INTERINSTITUTIONAL AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS Public and Private Legal Systems An Anal…
White-collar crime: Holding a mirror to the core
Despite advances in scholarship and raised consciousness about upperworld lawlessness, the specialty of white-collar crime remains entrenched on the discipline's periphery. One consequence is that many students receive a criminal justice education which distorts the social reality of crime. We argue that knowledge about white-collar crime can be used to “hold a mirror” to the traditional core of criminology, which in turn allows students to recon…
Acting Locally: Environmental Injustice and the Emergence of Grass-Roots Environmental Organizations
Because of the contradictions inherent in a liberal democratic state, the environmental regulatory process often fails to protect citizens from corporate pollution. As a consequence, organizations have emerged in some contaminated communities to put pressure on the regulatory process. This paper examines the structural sources of the emergence of grass-roots environmental organizations. These organizations represent a new trend in the environment…
The Social Consequences of Self‐control: Testing the General Theory of Crime
Gottfredson and Hirschi's recently introduced general theory of crime has received considerable empirical support. Researchers have found that low self‐control, the general theory's core concept, is related to lawbreaking and to deviant behaviors considered by Gottfredson and Hirschi to be “analogous” to crime. In this article, we extend this research by assessing the effects of low self‐control on crime and analogous behaviors and by using two d…
Nursing home theft: The hidden problem
Combating Corporate Crime: Local Prosecutors at Work
Economic Distress and Intimate Violence: Testing Family Stress and Resources Theories
Hypotheses shaped by family stress and resource theories about the impact of household economic indicators on the risk of violence against women in intimate relationships are tested with a data set built from the initial two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) and the 1990 U.S. Census. Measures of employment status, job conditions, and economic well-being for male and female partners are examined with logistic regressio…
Detangling Individual-, Partner-, and Community-level Correlates of Partner Violence
This article attempted to identify neighborhood- partner- and individual-level factors that may lead to male-to-female partner violence. The relevant dimensions of community context were derived from social disorganization theory that indicates that disorganized areas lack formal and informal controls that inhibit street violence. Social disorganization theory predicts that there is a higher rate of violence and social isolation in disorganized a…
Neighborhood Disadvantage, Individual Economic Distress and Violence Against Women in Intimate Relationships
Distal and Proximal Factors in Domestic Violence: A Test of an Integrated Model
We employed 4,095 couples from both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) to test a model of couple violence drawn from several theoretical perspectives. The outcome distinguishes among nonviolent couples and those experiencing either physical aggression or intense male violence. According to the model, background characteristics of couples are related to relationship stressors, which affect the risk of violence via their…
Taking Stock of Delinquency: An Overview of Findings from Contemporary Longitudinal Studies
Race, Criminal Justice Contact, and Adult Position in the Social Stratification System
Recent theoretical developments in the life-course perspective have focused on the effects of criminal justice contact on many stratification outcomes. Using data from a large sample of males convicted in the U.S. federal court system, we investigate the effects of criminal justice contact, race, family background, educational attainment, and age on an important stratification outcome: average monthly income. We also explore how the timing of cri…
The Correlation between Race and Domestic Violence is Confounded with Community Context
Why do African Americans appear to have a higher likelihood of engaging in domestic violence than whites? To address this question, we draw on insights from social disorganization theory and recent research on urban poverty. We argue that the apparent correlation between race and domestic violence is confounded with the different ecological contexts typically occupied by African Americans and whites. Using data from wave 2 of the National Survey …
Public Support for Getting Tough on Corporate Crime: Racial and Political Divides
The recent wave of corporate wrongdoing has raised the issue of whether the public is concerned about the control of lawlessness in the business world. Using a national probability sample, we explore whether Americans want to enact stricter regulations of the stock market and advocate more punitive criminal sanctions for corporate executives who conceal their company's true financial condition. The findings reveal that Americans generally favor g…
White Collar Crime: An Opportunity Perspective
As an instructor teaching white collar crime, are you frustrated by texts which leave your students feeling outraged but helpless about the subject? Assigning this new text by Mike Benson and Sally Simpson can successfully address that problem, because it explains to students why white-collar crime is so prevalent and so difficult to control. Using this text, instructors can show students how these crimes are carried out in ways that make them di…
Offenders or opportunities: Approaches to controlling identity theft
Criminology (41 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (37 works) · Psychology (36 works) · Sociology (33 works) · Political science (31 works) · White-collar crime (24 works) · Collar (23 works) · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance (22 works) · Law (21 works) · Social Psychology (17 works)