CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER
To
Deter White Collar Crime, Deter the Followers
22 Corporate Crime Reporter 23, June 6, 2008
There are two kinds of white collar criminals.
Leaders – they do it because of greed.
And followers – they do it because they are weak.
Since in crime, as in life, there are far more followers than leaders, if you can deter the followers, you can deter white-collar crime.
In a nutshell, that’s the key finding of a study – “Why Do They Do It?: The Motives, Mores and Character of White Collar Criminals” – published in the current issue of the St. John’s Law Review.
The article was written by Alabama School of Law Professor Pamela Bucy, qui tam lawyer Marc Raspanti, and Elizabeth Formby and Kathryn Rooney – two recent graduates from the Alabama School of Law.
The authors sought to test three ideas: that most white collar criminals fall into two categories – leader or follower, that those falling into each category display distinct personality profiles, and that the methods for deterring crime differ for each category.
The authors interviewed 45 nationally recognized experts in white-collar crime, including prosecutors, qui tam relator trial lawyers, and white collar criminal defense counsel.
The vast majority agreed that white collar criminals can be separated into two groups – leaders and followers.
Most said that leaders are motivated by greed.
Followers on the other hand were “weak” and follow the leaders even into criminal schemes.
“Followers tend to be naïve and unaware of what is really happening, or they are simply taken in by the personal charisma of the leader and are intensely loyal to that person,” the authors write.
Recent scholarship on white-collar crime described eight personality characteristics that fuel white collar criminal activity: need for control, bullying, charisma, fear of falling, company ambition, lack of integrity, narcissism, and a lack of social conscience.
But the authors conclude that “this scholarship, unlike our study participants, does not view white collar criminals as either leaders or followers.”
“This omission is a missed opportunity for developing effective deterrence strategies for white collar crime.”
How so?
“Followers, who, by their very nature, tend to be passive, naïve, less confident, and non-aggressive people, are more susceptible to deterrence,” the authors write. “Effective corporate governance, accepted and adopted by corporate boards and senior management, that educates, monitors, and rewards law abiding behavior is more likely to deter followers than leaders simply because of the personalities of followers.”
“In crime, as in life, there are a lot more followers than leaders,” the write. “That followers are deterrable means that effective corporate compliance initiatives can make a difference.”
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