Abstract
Previous research on the punishment of offenders convicted of a white-collar offense estimated models that specify only direct effects of defendant characteristics, offense-related variables, and guilty pleas on sentence severity. Drawing from conflict or labeling theories, much of this research focused on the effects of offender's socioeconomic status on sentence outcomes. Findings from this research are inconsistent about the relationship between defendant characteristics and sentence severity. These studies overlook how differences in case complexity of white-collar offense and guilty pleas may intervene in the relationship between offender characteristics and sentence outcomes. This study seeks to contribute to an understanding of federal sentencing prior to the federal sentencing guidelines by testing a legal-bureaucratic theory of sentencing that hypothesizes an interplay between case complexity, guilty pleas and length of imprisonment. This interplay reflects the interface between the legal ramifications of pleading guilty, prosecutorial interests in efficiency and finality of case disposition in complex white-collar cases, and sentence severity. Using structural equation modeling, a four-equation model of sentencing that specifies case complexity and guilty pleas as intervening variables in the relationship between offender characteristics and length of imprisonment is estimated. Several findings are noteworthy. First, the hypothesized interplay between case complexity, guilty pleas, and sentence severity is supported. Second, the effect of offender's educational attainment on sentence severity is indirect via case complexity and guilty pleas. Third, offender's race and gender effect length of imprisonment both directly and indirectly through the intervening effect of case complexity and guilty pleas. These findings indicate the need to specify sentencing models that consider the direct and indirect effects of offender characteristics, offense characteristics, and guilty pleas on judicial discretion at sentencing.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Albonetti, C. A. (1986). Criminality, prosecutorial screening, and uncertainty: Toward a theory of discretionary decision making in felony case processing. Criminology 24: 623-644.
Albonetti, C. A. (1987). Prosecutorial discretion: The effects of uncertainty. Law Soc. Rev. 21: 291-313.
Albonetti, C. A. (1991). An integration of theories to explain judicial discretion. Soc. Problems 38: 247-266.
Albonetti, C. A. (1994). The symbolic punishment of white-collar offenders. In Bridges, G. S., and Myers, M. A. (eds.), Inequality, Crime and Social Control, Westview, Boulder, CO, pp. 269-282.
Benson, M. L., and Walker, E. (1988). Sentencing the white-collar offender. Am. Sociol. Rev. 53: 294-302.
Bentler, P. M., and Bonett, D. G. (1980). Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures. Psychol. Bull. 88: 588-606.
Bernstein, I., Kelly, W., and Doyle, P. (1977). Societal reaction to deviants: The case of criminal defendants. Am. Sociol. Rev. 42: 743-755.
Black, D. J. (1976). The Behavior of Law, Academic Press, New York.
Bollen, K. A., and Long, J. S. (1993). Testing Structural Equation Models, Sage, Newbury Park, CA.
Bourdieu, P. (1977). Cultural reproduction and social reproduction. In Krabel, J., and Halsey, A. H. (eds.), Power and Ideology in Education, Oxford Press, New York, pp. 487-511.
Browne, M. W., and Cudeck, R. (1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In Bollen, K. A., and Long, J. S. (eds.), Structural Equation Models, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 36-62.
Chambliss, W. J., and Seidman, W. (1971). Law, Order and Power, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
Chiricos, T. G., and Waldo, G. P. (1975). Socioeconomic status and criminal sentencing: An empirical assessment of a conflict perspective. Am. Sociol. Rev. 40: 753-772.
DiMaggio, P., and Mohr, J. (1985). Cultural capital, educational attainment, and martial selection. Am. J. Sociol. 90: 1231-1261.
Dixon, J. (1995). The organizational context of criminal sentencing. Am. J. Sociol. 100: 1157-1198.
Edelhertz, H. (1977). The Nature, Impact and Prosecution of White-Collar Crime, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Eisenstein, J., and Jacob, H. (1977). Felony Justice: An Organizational Analysis of Criminal Courts, Little, Brown, Boston.
Greenberg, D. F. (1977). Socioeconomic status and criminal sentences: Is there an association? Am. Sociol. Rev. 42: 174-176.
Hagan, J. (1974). Extra-legal attributes and criminal sentencing: An assessment of a sociological viewpoint. Law Soc. Rev. 8: 357-383.
Hagan, J., and Nagel Bernstein, I. (1979). The sentence bargaining of upperworld and underworld crime in ten federal district courts. Law Soc. Rev. 13: 467-478.
Hagan, J., and Parker, P. (1986). “Club Fed” and the sentencing of white-collar offenders before and after Watergate. Criminology 24: 603-622.
Hagan, J., and Parker, P. (1985). White-collar crime and punishment: The class structure and legal sanctioning of securities violations. Am. Sociol. Rev. 50: 302-316.
Hagen, J., Nagel (Bernstein), I., and Albonetti, C. A. (1980). The differential sentencing of white-collar offenders in ten federal district courts. Am. Sociol. Rev. 45: 802-820.
Hagen, J. Nagel (Bernstein), I., and Albonetti, C. A. (1982). The social organization of white-collar sanctions: A study of prosecution and punishment in the federal courts. In Wickerman, P., and Dailey, T. (eds.), White-Collar and Economic Crime, Lexington Books, Lexington, Massachusetts, pp. 259-275.
Harvard Law Review (1977). Note: Plea bargaining and the transformation of the criminal process. Harvard Law Rev. 90: 564-573.
Hayduck, L. A. (1987). Structural Equation Modeling with LISREL, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
Hoyle, R. H. (1995). The structural equation modeling approach: Basic concepts and fundamental issues. In Hoyle, R. H. (ed.), Structural Equation Modeling: Concepts, Issues, and Applications, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 1-15.
Joreskog, K. G., and Sorbom, D. (1993a). PRESLIS2, Scientific Software, Chicago.
Joreskog, K. G., and Sorbom, D. (1993b). LISREL8, Scientific Software, Chicago.
Katz, J. (1979). Legality and equality: Plea bargaining in the prosecution of white-collar and common crimes. Law Soc. Rev. 13: 431-459.
Littrell, W. B. (1979). Bureaucratic Justice: Police, Prosecutors, and Plea Bargaining, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA.
Lizotte, A. J. (1978). Extra-legal factors in Chicago's criminal courts: Testing the conflict model of criminal justice. Soc. Problems 25: 564-580.
Mann, K. (1985). Defending White-Collar Crime, Yale University Press, New Haven, CA.
Mann, K., Wheeler, S., and Sarat, A. (1980). Sentencing the white-collar offender. Am. Crim. Rev. 17: 479-500.
March, J. G., and Simon, H. A. (1958). Organizations, Wiley, New York.
McClendon, M. J. (1994). Multiple Regression and Causal Analysis, F. E. Peacock, Itasca, IL.
Nagel, I., and Hagan, J. (1982). The sentencing of white-collar criminals in federal courts: A socio-legal explanation of disparity. Mich. Law Rev. 80: 1427-1465.
Nardulli, P., Eisenstein, J., and Flemming, R. (1988). The Tenor of Justice, University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
Parker, H. (1968). The Limits of Criminal Sanctions, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.
Peterson, R., and Hagan, J. (1984). Changing conceptions of race: Towards an account of anomalous findings of sentencing research. Am. Sociol. Rev. 49: 56-70.
Schwartz, R. N. (1974). The guilty plea as a waiver of “present but unknowable constitutional rights: The aftermath of the Brady Triology.” Columbia Law Rev. 74: 1435-1463.
Shapiro, S. P. (1985). The road not taken: The elusive path to criminal prosecution for white-collar offenders. Law Soc. Rev. 19: 179-217.
Shapiro, S. P. (1990). Collaring the crime, not the criminal: Reconsidering the concept of white-collar crime. Am. Sociol. Rev. 55: 346-365.
Smith, B. L., and Damphousse, K. R. (1996). Punishing political offenders: The effects of political motive on federal sentencing decisions. Criminology 34: 289-322.
Steiger, J. H. (1990). Structural model evaluation and modification: An interval estimation approach. Multivar. Behav. Res. 25: 173-180.
Swigert, V. L. and Farrell, R. A. (1977). Normal homicides and the law. Am. Sociol. Rev. 42: 16-32.
Weisburd, D., Waring, E., and Wheeler, S. (1990). Class, status, and the punishment of white-collar criminals. Law Soc. Inquiry 15: 223-243.
Weisburd, D., Wheeler, S., Waring, E., and Bode, N. (1991). Crimes of the Middle Classes: White-Collar Offenders in the Federal Courts, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
Wheaton, B. (1988). Assessment of fit in overidentified models with latent variables. In Long, J. S. (ed.), Common Problems/Proper Solutions: Avoiding Error in Quantitative Research, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 193-225.
Wheeler, S., and Rothman, M. L. (1982). The organization as weapon in white-collar crime. Mich. Law Rev. 80: 1403-1426.
Wheeler, S., Mann, K., and Sarat, A. (1988). Sitting in Judgment: The Sentencing of White-Collar Offenders, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
Wheeler, S., Weisburd, D., and Bode, N. (1982). Sentencing the white-collar offender: Rhetoric and reality. Am. Sociol. Rev. 47: 641-659.
Wilson, S. V., and Matz, A. H. (1977). Obtaining evidence for federal economic crime prosecutions: An overview and analysis of investigative methods. Am. Crim. Law Rev. 14: 651-672.
Wright, E. O., Costello, C., Hachen, D., and Sprague, J. (1982). The American class structure. Am. Sociol. Rev. 47: 709-726.
Zatz, M. S. (1985). Plea, priors, and prison: Racial/ethnic differences in sentencing. Soc. Sci. Res. 14: 169-193.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Albonetti, C.A. Direct and Indirect Effects of Case Complexity, Guilty Pleas, and Offender Characteristics on Sentencing for Offenders Convicted of a White-Collar Offense Prior to Sentencing Guidelines. Journal of Quantitative Criminology 14, 353–378 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023077704546
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023077704546