NCJ Number
120559
Journal
American Criminal Law Review Volume: 26 Issue: 3 Dated: (Winter 1989) Pages: 605-660
Date Published
1989
Length
56 pages
Annotation
This article reports on a study of Federal criminal prosecutions of corporations from 1984 through 1987, with emphasis on the extent to which current sentencing practice reflects the social harm caused by criminal activity.
Abstract
The study sample includes 288 corporate offenders sentenced between 1984 and 1987, but does not include antitrust violators. Data were obtained from the Master File of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts and the Federal Probation Sentencing and Supervision Information System, with supplementation from Presentence Investigation Reports and Judgment and Probation/Commitment Orders. To preserve confidentiality, no references are made to docket numbers or the names of corporate offenders. Possible sources of bias in the data are discussed. Eighty-nine percent of all convicted offenders in the sample received a fine, while sixteen percent received orders to pay restitution. Civil penalties, along with forms of voluntary or court-ordered payments were present in 19 percent of the cases. The study concludes that because monetary harm had been estimated in 178 of the 288 cases in the sample, estimates of monetary harm might be used to formulate corporate sentencing guidelines or to evaluate the appropriateness of current sentencing practices. 133 footnotes.