Emotions and adjudication: Status degradation among white-collar criminals

White-collar offenders are widely assumed to be especially sensitive to the embarrassment and shame that accompany public conviction for a crime. The idea of special sensitivity, however, is based largely on speculation and anecdotal data. Through an analysis of interviews with 30 convicted white-collar offenders, this paper shows that adjudication generated anger and rage as well as shame and embarrassment in the offenders. Rage and anger have potentially dysfunctional effects in that they undermine commitment to the legitimacy of the law. Following Braithwaite, I argue that a justice system based on disintegrative rather than reintegrative shaming is counterproductive.