Stanton Wheeler

Sentencing the White-Collar Offender: Rhetoric and Reality

This paper examines the severity of sentences meted out to persons convicted in federal court of presumptively white-collar crimes. Most of the items examined were suggested by federal district court judges and were drawn from presentence investigation reports. The sample provided enough variation in social status to allow testing of hypotheses about the relation of sentencing to social class background. The results indicate that sentencing is more predictable than some recent accounts would suggest. Important correlates of the decision to incarcerate reflect a) the seriousness of the criminal act, b) the character of the criminal actor, c) the statutory category of violation, and d) such other variables as the sex and age of the defendant and the district of conviction. A different model is necessary to explain differences in length of incarceration. The chief finding with respect to social class is that the probability of imprisonment rises with the occupational status of the defendant. Various interpretations of the findings are suggested and assessed.

A Consumer's Guide to Law and the Social Sciences

Most lawyers who approach the social sciences hope to find either practical guidance for litigation and legislation or satisfaction for their curiosity about what meaning, if any, their own hive-like labors possess as part of a larger historical and cultural pattern. If on either score their expectations are those of a quick fix-a ready-made tool opening the way to innovative practice or an elegant synopsis of their place in the scheme of things-their almost certain disappointment may yield an undeserved disdain. Lawyers may indeed glean insights from the social sciences, but the efforts made at uncovering these insights must be discriminating, and they must be accompanied by an overall mentality that incorporates a genuine willingness to foreswear the lawyers conceit that law is always at the center of whatever knowledge of society and polity is worth possessing.