NCJ Number
75726
Date Published
1980
Length
107 pages
Annotation
Background materials on corporate crime are presented for hearings before the House Subcommittee on Crime in May 1980; the hearings concerned H.R. 7040, a bill requiring businesses to provide information on dangerous products or dangerous business practices to the Federal Government or to affected employees.
Abstract
One section consists of background summaries of incidents in which such information was withheld, endangering the welfare of employees or the public. Included are papers on Buffalo Creek, West Virginia, where a coal sludge dam broke; the Firestone 500 tire, which presented safety hazards to users; the Ford Pinto, whose rear-mounted fuel tank was susceptible to damage on rear impact; Kepone production in Virginia, which affected the health of employees and the water quality of the James River; and the chemical contamination of the Love Canal area in New York. Other papers concern the nuclear accident at the Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania, occupational exposure to asbestos, and the contamination of livestock feed with polybrominated biphenyls in Michigan. Another section contains a summary of H.R. 7040 which would amend Title 18 of the U.S. Code, fifth amendment considerations regarding this bill; and a survey of selected Federal statutes which provide for corporate criminal liability. The fifth amendment considerations are concerned with the element of self-incrimination associated with the bill's requirements. An appendix provides informtation on comparable statutes in selected foreign countries. Data tables and footnotes with references are included.