Non-Prosecution and Deferred Prosecution Agreements

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Just like people, corporations have the capability of committing criminal acts. The Enron scandal in 2001; the Bernard Madoff ponzi-scheme of 2008-2009; both of these examples show that despite internal and external controls, regulations, and oversight, corporations still are a multi-faceted entity that have the propensity to partake in crime. That being true, that criminal entity must be punished and held responsible for their actions. One tool in the prosecutorial tool belt is the use of deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements. According to Lanny Breuer, the United States Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, “over the last decade, deferred prosecution agreements have become a mainstay of white collar criminal law enforcement” (Warin, 2012).
A deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) and non-prosecution agreement (NPA) stops short of a full indictment and criminal trial as it creates a contract that the corporation must abide by for a length of time in order to avoid prosecution (Debold et al, 2012. In addition to the monetary penalties, it creates the steps for the corporation to begin following compliance measures (Debold et al, 2012). In this way, it is stopping the corporation from acting criminally and creates the path for it to begin acting a legitimate business. Under the scrutiny of the prosecutors, the company is forced to act within the confines of the law or face their accuser in a trial. NPAs and DPAs also help to collect illegitimate gains and force the corporation to pay a steep fine. Some states, such as Maine, offer a differed disposition in their criminal courts. This provides an offender the opportunity to stay out of trouble for a certain period of time in exchange for charges being dropped or...

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Uhlmann, D. M. (2013, December 13). Prosecution Deferred, Justice Denied. New York Times. Retrieved February 9, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/14/opinion/prosecution-deferred-justice-denied.html?_r=1&
Uhlmann, D. M. (2013, October 1). Deferred Prosecution and Non-Prosecution Agreements and the Erosion of Corporate Criminal Liability. University of Michigan Law. Retrieved February 9, 2014, from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2334230
Warin, J. (2012). 2012 Year-End Update on Corporate Deferred Prosecution and Non-Prosecution Agreements.Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation. Retrieved February 9, 2014, from https://blogs.law.harvard.edu/corpgov/2013/01/18/2012-year-end-update-on-corporate-deferred-prosecution-and-non-prosecution-agreements/

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