Looking more deeply into perpetrator backgrounds, Piquero and Benson (2004) focus on how
an individual’s past can influence future events and actions with respect to white-collar crime. They
consider four interrelated aspects of the perpetrator’s life: the onset of offending, the duration of
offending, periods of offense desistence (the cessation of offending or other antisocial behavior),
and patterns in the types of offenses committed. As applied to white-collar crime, the authors note
that jailed offenders tend to be: (1) middle class with moderate incomes and ordinary jobs and (2)
repeat offenders, having at least two official contacts with the criminal justice system. The authors
hypothesize a brief flirtation with delinquency during adolescence, punctuated by a period of
conformity (during their 20s and 30s), followed by an individual committing white-collar crime
later in life. The motivation for the later-in-life deviance is hypothesized to be some experience or
crisis. The authors suggest several promising research tracks applicable to accounting and auditing
including: