White-collar criminals in Norway: An empirical study

This article addresses the following research question: What characteristics concerning white-collar criminals can be found based on newspaper articles in Norway? This research is important, as studies of white-collar criminals so far have focused on case studies rather than statistical analysis of a larger sample. Based on articles in Norwegian financial newspapers in 2010/2011, a total of 49 white-collar criminals convicted to jail sentence were identified. The average age of the convicted persons was 51 years. 47 out of 49 criminals were men. The average sentence was 3 years imprisonment. The average sum of money involved in the financial crime was 185 million Norwegian kroner (30 million US dollars).