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As mentioned, a common approach to investigate how white-collar offenders are treated in the criminal legal system is to compare their outcomes to those of nonwhite-collar criminals. Research hypotheses typically predict that benefits should flow from white-collar status, as these defendants are expected to be treated more leniently in the criminal legal system. Studies vary, however, as to the status mechanisms that confer benefits (Dearden 2017; Rebovich and Layne 2000; Sutherland 1949). In his classic work on corporate crime, Sutherland claimed that political and economic elites use their power “to influence the administration of justice in their own favor” (1949:8) by creating special laws and legal procedures for business and the professions. These laws and procedures effectively exclude much elite wrongdoing from criminal prosecution. The relative rarity of criminal prosecution for corporate offenders......[citing TRAC data and reports].
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