Elite Crimes Go Unpunished as America Focuses on Street Violence, Scholar Argues

Marie Gottschalk, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, contends that corporate and elite-level crimes in America are largely ignored, contributing to a broader societal issue of unchecked power and violence. Her new book, *Crime and No Punishment: Wealth, Power, and Violence in America*, argues that the financialization of the economy, militarized policing, and ongoing conflicts have fostered an environment where corporate malfeasance thrives without consequence. This focus on less impactful street crime, Gottschalk suggests, deflects attention from systemic issues that cause far greater harm, including "deaths of despair" and the erosion of institutional legitimacy.

Gottschalk acknowledges her own past oversight, admitting that her previous work on mass incarceration overlooked the significant impact of corporate crime. She points out that while street crime captures public and scholarly attention, the cumulative damage from corporate and white-collar offenses, as well as state and economic violence, affects a vastly larger segment of the population. The opioid crisis, which results in tens of thousands of deaths annually, is cited as a stark example of "social murder" stemming from corporate actions, dwarfing the death toll from homicides and even major wars. This dynamic, she argues, is fueled by concentrated economic and political power, which hinders efforts to address the root causes of societal problems and perpetuates inequality.