Question

Martha stewart was convicted of obstruction of justice after lying to the fbi during an investigation of her sale of imclone systems stock, whose value dramatically fell immediately after she sold it. her conviction was unusual, as this sort of white collar crime is much more likely to be dealt with in civil, rather than criminal, court. how does the tendency to deal with white collar criminals in civil court bias our understanding of the demographics of crime?
a. it encourages us to equate cash register honesty with real honesty.
b. it creates a false relationship between gender and crime.
c. it causes us to underestimate the number of property crimes committed each year.
d. it leads us to overestimate the relationship between poverty and crime.

Answer 1

Think about it. Most of the white-collar crimes are related to wealth honesty, while crimes that are committed within other communities are often related with guns, violence, and substance abuse. White-collar offenses are committed by the wealthy, often Caucasian-American individuals, while other crimes often take place within minority groups. If white-collar crimes are handled in as civil crimes, then the statistics for crime rates in criminal court would completely tilt toward minorities, leading people to believe that only poor individuals commit crimes. Therefore, your best answer is option D.