Public Support for Getting Tough on Corporate Crime

Racial and Political Divides

Bibliographic Data

ID5823367
AuthorsJ D Unnever (0000-0002-9311-0254, University of South Florida Sarasota–Manatee), Michael L Benson (0000-0001-7876-7461, University of Cincinnati, OH), Francis T Cullen (0000-0003-4975-915X, University of Cincinnati, OH)
Year2008
Volume45
Issue2
Pages163-190
Publication date2008-04-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Research in Crime and Delinquency (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-4278 • E-ISSN: 1552-731X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0022427807313707
OpenAlexW2168286490
LanguageEN
Citations received34
References cited70

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 getting tough on corporate illegality. The analysis also indicates, however, that group differences exist in public support for punitive corporate crime control policies. Although liberals and conservatives equally support punishing corporate criminals more harshly, African Americans are more likely than Whites to endorse more restrictive and more punitive policies toward corporate criminals. We conclude that punitive attitudes are socially constructed beliefs that reflect the dynamics of conflicted class and racial relations

Corporate crime · Crime control · Lawlessness · Punitive damages · Wrongdoing · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Regulation and Compliance Studies · Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses

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