The Yale White-Collar Crime Project: A Review and Critique

37 Pages Posted: 19 May 2008

See all articles by David T. Johnson

David T. Johnson

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Richard A. Leo

University of San Francisco

Abstract

Although there is a recognized awareness of the overwhelming financial and social costs of white-collar crime in America, few scholars have probed this sociolegal field. For over a decade, the Yale White-Collar Crime Project has strengthened this area of legal scholarship. This article undertakes an in-depth analysis of four studies that comprise a major part of the Yale White-Collar Crime Project. It summarizes and evaluates each book individually and weighs the effect of the project as a whole on the study of white-collar crime. The studies surveyed include:

1) Susan Shapiro, Wayward Capitalists: Target of the Securities and Exchange Commission. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1984.

2) Kenneth Mann, Defending White-Collar Crime: A Portrait of Attorneys at Work. 1985. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1985.

3) Stanton Wheeler, Kenneth Mann, & Austin Sarat, Sitting in Judgment: The Sentencing of White-Collar Criminals. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1988.

4) David Weisburd, Stanton Wheeler, Elin Waring, & Nancy Bode, Crimes of the Middle Classes: White Collar Offenders in the Federal Courts. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1991.

This article begins with an overview of the major contested areas in the white-collar crime field, highlighting how the various definitions of white-collar crime drive most of these four scholarly works. This review considers the gaps in each study, providing guidance to future researchers to enable a further understanding of white-collar crime.

Keywords: Criminal law, White-Collar Crime, Yale White-Collar Crime Project, Sociological Theory, Susan Shapiro, Wayward Capitalists, Defending White-Collar Crime, Stanton Wheeler, Kenneth Mann, Austin Sarat, Sitting in Judgment, David Weisburd, Elin Waring, Nancy Bode, Crimes of the Middle Classes

Suggested Citation

Johnson, David T. and Leo, Richard A., The Yale White-Collar Crime Project: A Review and Critique. Law of Social Inquiry, Vol. 18, 1993, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1134036

David T. Johnson

University of Hawaii at Manoa ( email )

Honolulu, HI 96822
United States

Richard A. Leo (Contact Author)

University of San Francisco ( email )

2130 Fulton Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
United States

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