More similar than different? Examining prison infractions and recidivism among female and male white-collar offenders

Purpose: Females and males travel different (i.e., gendered) paths into the criminal justice system and prison that are reflective of differences in socioeconomic status and degree of economic marginalization. Heretofore, assessments of the prison experience between the sexes have failed to account for differences in offense type (e.g., white-collar vs. non-white-collar) prior to incarceration-the effects of which could theoretically increase or decrease the likelihood of institutional maladjustment and reoffending.Methods: We examine this possibility with a series of logistic regression models using a large sample of male and female offenders incarcerated for various white-collar and non-white-collar offenses in the Ohio state prison system.Results: With few exceptions, we observed more similarities than differences between female and male whitecollar inmates across outcomes of interest (e.g., misconduct and recidivism), especially when compared to females and males incarcerated for other (i.e., non-white-collar) offenses.Conclusions: Theoretical and practical implications are discussed and directions for future research are given, particularly as they relate to the gendered pathways and white-collar crime literature as well as offender classification.