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Employer Sanctions Violations: Toward a Dialectical Model of White-Collar Crime

NCJ Number
130054
Journal
Law and Society Review Volume: 24 Issue: 4 Dated: (1990) Pages: 1041-1069
Author(s)
K Calavita
Date Published
1990
Length
29 pages
Annotation
The violations of the employer sanctions provision of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 are examined as a case study in white-collar crime.
Abstract
Interviews with 103 "immigrant-dependent" employers in three Southern California were conducted. Almost half of the employers said that they "think" they have undocumented workers on the work force, and a significant portion of these respondents "know" that these workers are unauthorized. Eleven percent volunteered that they continue to knowingly employ the undocumented; others intend to hire the undocumented in the future. These widespread violations as well as the perception of compliance on the part of the INS can be explained through a synthetic approach that combines criminological and sociolegal traditions. This study confirms the prevalence of white-collar crime as well as the importance of cost/benefit analyses in explaining this illegal activity. Yet it suggests that such a strictly criminological approach is incomplete. It was the lawmaking process itself the ensured that employer violations would entail very little risk. 26 notes and 68 references (Author abstract modified)

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