A Critical Examination of Research on the Psychological Profiles of White-Collar Criminals

Abstract

This article critically reviewed 16 studies on the demographic and psychological characteristics of white-collar criminals. Some of the more-supported findings imply white-collar offenders are older, Caucasian, employed, and have a high school diploma or higher education. They also tended to be low in conscientiousness, agreeableness, and self-control. The most prominent limitations of the reviewed studies were the lack of a uniform definition of white-collar crime, not controlling for extraneous variables, and failing to control for type I error. Future research needs to explore how female white-collar offenders may be unique from male white‐collar offenders. Several psychological variables (e.g., criminal thinking, psychopathy, motivations) could be investigated to further treatment practices.

Keywords:

• white-collar criminals
• personality
• demographic variables
• criminal thinking