Deferred prosecution lets corporations escape criminal liability with fines and pledges

Evidence

J.P. Morgan profited from many of the fraudulent transactions that Bernard Madoff conducted through the bank. The bank was charged with failing to report Madoff’s suspicious financial activities to federal authorities, which is a criminal offense (Protess & Silver-Greenberg, 2014b). The Justice Department had to decide whether to pursue a criminal indictment or adjudicate the case in a more lenient way. The officials opted for the prosecutorial settlement known as deferred prosecution, commonly applied in settlements of corporate criminal activities. In this legal procedure, prosecutors dismiss criminal charges in exchange for a fine, various concessions, and a pledge to adopt prescribed corporate reforms. These settlements also grant waivers to offending firms that exempt them from some laws that carry penalties. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1568

J.P. Morgan profited from many of the fraudulent transactions that Bernard Madoff conducted through the bank. The bank was charged with failing to report Madoff’s suspicious financial activities to federal authorities, which is a criminal offense (Protess & Silver-Greenberg, 2014b). The Justice Department had to decide whether to pursue a criminal indictment or adjudicate the case in a more lenient way. The officials opted for the prosecutorial settlement known as deferred prosecution, commonly applied in settlements of corporate criminal activities. In this legal procedure, prosecutors dismiss criminal charges in exchange for a fine, various concessions, and a pledge to adopt prescribed corporate reforms. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1568

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘deferred prosecution’ — an important legal mechanism for understanding corporate moral disengagement.
• XREF: Connects to the diamond bourse’s arbitration system from ‘Opting Out of the Legal System’ — both are mechanisms that keep disputes out of courts.
• SEED: Article angle: how ‘deferred prosecution’ agreements institutionalize corporate impunity by design, and the moral disengagement baked into their structure.
• corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1568