[White-collar criminals--a homogenous offender population? Reflections on typical and atypical "white-collar criminals"].

Little has been written in German scientific literature on the personality structure of white-collar criminals. Often, the relevance of this level of investigation has downright been denied. Conventional psychopathology does not seem to be an appropriate approach to these character problems since there are not only deficits but also competences to be found which are useful while making a professional career. The author points out the inhomogeneity of this offender population and presents a case report of an atypical white-collar criminal. Over and above that, he introduces two psychological concepts which are apt to better describe the peculiarities of these individuals: Machiavellian intelligence is often the core competence when it comes to rising in hierarchies, whereas the newly defined psychopathy concept according to R. D. Hare makes plausible the moral and ethical failure of these offenders in their professional settings.