The Neglected Victims and Unexamined Costs of White-Collar Crime

Abstract

In recent years research has documented the victim costs of criminal acts, and a victims' movement has produced federal and state programs to alleviate some of these costs. Although no one disputes that aggregate fiscal costs of white-collar crime dwarf comparable losses from street crime, victimization researchers and the victims' movement have ignored entirely the victims of white-collar crime. This legacy of neglect can be attributed to conservative domination of the victims' agenda and the ambiguous moral character of white-collar victims. This article distinguishes primary and secondary costs of white-collar crime and calls for more research to describe and document them.