 | Prosecutors in the Boardroom: Using Criminal Law to Regulate Corporate Conduct Who should police corporate misconduct and how should it be policed? In recent years, the Department of Justice has resolved investigations of dozens of Fortune 500 companies via deferred prosecution agreements and non-prosecution agreements, where, instead of facing criminal charges, these companies become regulated by outside agencies. Increasingly, the threat of prosecution and such prosecution agreements is being used to regulate corporate behavior. This practice has been sharply criticized on numerous fronts: agreements are too lenient, there is too little oversight of these agreements, and, perhaps most important, the criminal prosecutors doing the regulating aren't subject to the same checks and balances that civil regulatory agencies are. Barkow Anthony S. : Anthony S. Barkow is a partner in the white collar defense and investigations practice at law firm Jenner & Block. He received the Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service, the highest award bestowed in the Justice Department.Barkow Rachel E. : Rachel E. Barkow is Professor of Law and the Faculty Director of the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU School of Law. |
