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White-collar delinquency

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Abstract

Seemingly harmless pranks by computer hackers have evolved into major economic crimes and acts of terrorism that appear far different than traditional forms of juvenile delinquency. Nonetheless, because they do not occupy the high status positions that facilitate white-collar crimes, serious computer crimes by juveniles have fallen between the theoretical cracks. A new hybrid category of crime that we label “white-collar delinquency” demonstrates that class does matter in the way illegal activity is conceptualized, and re-ignites debates regarding both white-collar crime and juvenile delinquency. We review conceptual issues that relate to this emergent form of computer-based deviance, and identify questions to be addressed in future theorizing and research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology, Law and Society, School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA

    Henry N. Pontell

  2. Graduate Criminology Program, School of Human Sciences, University of Houston-Clear Lake, Houston, TX, USA

    Stephen M. Rosoff

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  1. Henry N. Pontell
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  2. Stephen M. Rosoff
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Correspondence to Henry N. Pontell.

Additional information

The authors wish to thank Gilbert Geis for his helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

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Pontell, H.N., Rosoff, S.M. White-collar delinquency. Crime Law Soc Change 51, 147–162 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-008-9146-0

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