NCJ Number
95203
Date Published
1984
Length
446 pages
Annotation
This study considers the nature of and ways to counter corporate crime, particularly within the pharmaceutical industry.
Abstract
Results are presented of interviews with 131 executives in the pharmaceutical industry; interviews were conducted in the United States, Australia, Mexico, Guatemala, and the United Kingdom. Questionable payments disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission in the 1970's by U.S. pharmaceutical companies -- including American Home Products, Pfizer, Upjohn, Revlon, Dow, Syntex, and Bristol-Myers -- are discussed. Fraud in the testing of drugs and criminal negligence in the manufacture of drugs are addressed, and drugs such as thalidomide, which resulted in the deaths and deformations of more than 8,000 children, and MER/29, which was taken by an estimated 300,000 Americans and caused side effects including baldness, skin damage, and eye damage, are examined. The various ways that pharmaceutical transnational corporations defy the intent of laws regulating the safety of drugs by bribery, false advertising, fraud in the safety testing of drugs, unsafe manufacturing processes, smuggling, and international law evasion strategies are explored. That third world countries are special victims of the global law evasion strategies of transnationals is emphasized. Strategies for controlling corporate crime are suggested, and three subgoals are outlined for achieving a reduction in corporate crime: (1) deterrence -- both specific (against offenders) and general (against those who witness the sanctioning of others) -- can be effective; (2) the law can effectively impose rehabilitation on corporate offenders; and (3) the law can readily require restitution to victims of corporate crime and reparation to the community. Approximately 360 references, 3 tables, and 1 figure are included.