NCJ Number
80379
Journal
Temple Law Quarterly Volume: 53 Issue: 4 Dated: (1980) Pages: 1127-1146
Date Published
1980
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Inegalitarian consequences that might result from egalitarian reforms to control corporate crime are identified and discussed.
Abstract
Reform governments in developed countries tend to enact an increasing number of laws to combat corporate crime. The increased complexity of such law escalates the costs of investigation and conviction and provides an arena for corporate lawyers to devise tactics for minimizing the law's impact on corporate profits. Further, governments have only a diffuse interest in corporate crime enforcement, while transnational corporations are prepared to use a comprehensive battery of measures to protect themselves from damaging applications of the law. Also, transnationals may shift activities proscribed in developed countries to Third World countries. This can result in underdeveloped countries being exploited by large corporations. This is less likely to happen with transnational corporations where capital investment in fixed assets is high, where startup costs are high, or where an experienced workforce is vital. This suggests that the governments of various countries may not have to harmonize their laws perfectly in order to thwart the transnational from playing one set of laws against another. A total of 56 footnotes are provided.