Examining Sentencing Patterns and Outcomes for White-Collar and Property Crime Offenders

Guided by the focal concerns perspective, the authors examine effects associated with sentencing predictors on incarceration and sentence length decisions for offenders convicted of white-collar and different forms of property crime. Using seven years of data (2004-2010) obtained from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing, the authors compare direct and interaction effects of legal and extralegal covariates for white-collar, property economic, and property noneconomic offenders to assess similarities and differences in sentencing outcomes across these crime types. Results indicate more variation exists between white-collar and property noneconomic offenders, particularly in terms of age, race, and gender interaction effects on sentence length decisions. Substantive and theoretical implications are discussed.