Thinking About White-Collar Crime and Punishment

Abstract:     
This article reviews white-collar crime questions now under review by the ABA Criminal Justice Section (“CJS”), especially the question of federal sentencing for economic crimes where there is a large loss to victims but little gain to the defendant. This question, which will be a focus of the CJS’s November 5, 2010 conference, has troubled the Department of Justice, which in such cases opposes downward departures from the Federal Sentencing Guidelines ranges and may advocate for reform of the Guidelines or mandatory minimum sentences to reduce sentencing disparities. This article suggests, as an alternative, that the U.S. Sentencing Commission collect judicial reasoning in exemplary sentencing decisions in order to promote the development of the common law of sentencing. The article invites comment on this and other issues under study by the CJS.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 6

Accepted Paper Series