Letting White Collar Thieves Off Easy: The Case of Sister Marie Thornton

You might think that when a nun is busted embezzling $1.2 million from her workplace, the moral of the story is that we can't even trust those professionally trained to be moral. But the case of Sister Marie Thornton, who was arrested last week for stealing from Iona College (where she was chief financial officer) actually has a different lesson to teach us: Which is that white collar thieves -- the criminals who, in fact, steal the most from individuals and organizations -- often get away with the least punishment.

While Thornton was arrested, she almost wasn't and may still escape criminal penalties. When Iona College first found out about her theft in May 2009, it did not go to the authorities. Instead it handled the situation internally. Marie Thornton was fired and the school even cooperated in putting out a cover story about why she left, with the school paper reporting that she was on medical leave and would not return. This October, the school revealed that it had lost $800,000 due to embezzlement, but did not name Thorton and said that it had recovered most of the money.

It's not clear why Thornton was ultimately arrested. (Read the charges here.) But she was promptly released without bail. And it sounds like the charges could ultimately go away. Her defense lawyer, Sam Talkin said, "We think the case will be resolved in a manner fair to all the parties involved."

This case is not unusual (putting aside the whole nun angle). Studies of workplace theft have long found that executives who steal -- even very large amounts -- are often never reported to authorities. Organizations have an incentive to sweep embezzlement cases under the rug and let offenders slink off without being publicly named or arrested. But the result is that these people may go on to steal from other employers.

Another familiar aspect of the Marie Thornton case is that she perfectly fits the profile of the white collar thief who steals the most: a white, middle-aged, and well-educated executive who is pretty up the food chain. As the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners stated in a recent report:

"High-level perpetrators cause the greatest damage to their organizations. Frauds committed by owners/executives were more than three times as costly as frauds committed by managers, and more than nine times as costly as employee frauds. Executive-level frauds also took much longer to detect."

The lax treatment of the worst hieves might not be so troubling it weren't for the draconian treatment of other kinds of criminals. California has people serving life sentences for stealing a few hundred dollars of store merchandise under the state's "three strikes law." Many other property criminals -- mostly people of color who couldn't afford good lawyers -- are also serving hard time.

And Marie Thornton's prompt release without bail stands in contrast to the thousands of people who languish in jails because they can't afford bail in much more minor cases. One study of New York City's system found that "Almost one quarter -- 23 percent -- of jail admissions last year were pretrial detainees charged with misdemeanors who had not made bail."

Maybe Marie Thornton does deserve forgiveness. She is a nun after all. But too often that same spirit isn't applied to the least fortunate members of our society.

Does White Collar Crime Goes Up as Economy Goes Down?

The link between crime and the economy is not as clear cut as you might think. The empirical evidence is spotty that a poor economy produces an uptick of crime and vice versa. But this latest recession has brought enough anecdotal cases of increased crime to make the connection seem compelling in some places. This news report explores a rise in embezzlement cases in a strapped suburb.

Dennis Kozlowksi: Prison Interview and Background on Case

Dennis Kozlowski: How He Went Wrong on "60 Minutes"

Key Documents in Tyco Scandal

Dennis Kozlowski was one of the highest paid executives in the country as CEO of Tyco. Yet using a program meant to facilitate employee stock purchases, he stole millions upon millions dollars to buy houses for himself and give gifts to cronies. All told, he allegedly stole several hundred millions of dollars from a company that had hailed him as one of the best managers in the country and lavished him with pay. Another top executive, Mark Swartz, also faced criminal charges. Both were sentenced to prison time.

• SEC Complaint against Dennis Kozlowski
• Civil Complaint: Tyco International vs. Kozlowski
• Criminal Indictment: People of New York vs. Kozlowski and Swartz
• Criminal Indictment for Personal Tax Fraud: People of New York vs. Kozlowski