The Psychological Profile of White-collar Offenders

Abstract

The authors replicated Walters and Geyer (2004) by examining how white-collar offenders differ from non-white-collar offenders on criminal thinking and lifestyle criminality. To extend Walters and Geyer’s work, they explored psychopathic characteristics and psychopathology of white-collar offenders compared with non-white-collar offenders. The study sample included 39 white-collar only offenders (offenders who had committed only white-collar crime), 88 white-collar versatile offenders (offenders who previously had committed non-white-collar crime), and 86 non-white-collar offenders incarcerated in a federal prison. Groups were matched on age and ethnicity. Offenders completed self-report measures of criminal thinking, psychopathic traits, and psychopathology. Lifestyle criminality was gathered via file review. Results demonstrated white-collar offenders had lower scores on lifestyle criminality but scored higher on some measures of psychopathology and psychopathic traits compared with non-white-collar offenders. White-collar versatile offenders were highest in criminal thinking. Logistic regression findings demonstrated that white-collar offenders could be distinguished from non-white-collar offenders by substance use.