![The Department of Justice announced a new plan to go after white-collar criminals more aggressively, but critics doubt much will change.](https://san.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-263.jpg?w=1280)
Commentary
-
Our commentary partners will help you reach your own conclusions on complex topics.
DOJ recently announced a tougher game plan for prosecuting corporate crimes, including pushing companies to claw back compensation from executives involved in bribery and fraud.
Now while this policy overhaul sounds great, I doubt it’s going to be effective in practice given how our society is structured to uplift those who are more likely to be white-collar offenders.
All said, this new proclaim tough stance on corporate crime will likely just produce and uphold the existing inequities in our criminal justice system.
Let’s look at DOJ policy overhaul. The announced policy change? While it was announced differently than usual, it was made by way of an extremely comprehensive memorandum issued by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, addressing new strategies by which the Justice Department will prosecute companies that break the law.
For example, in order for companies to get cooperation credits from prosecutors, they now need to turn over evidence of wrongdoing by executives much faster than they have in the past.
The memo also puts restrictions on using deferred prosecution agreements, requiring prosecutors to seek approval from the Deputy Attorney General’s office before entering such settlements.
Also, the memo pushes companies to create clawback policies that would allow the organization to force executives to return compensation in the event that they engaged in misconduct.
On the surface, these changes sound great as it concerns tackling white-collar crime. But when you scratch beneath the surface, for example, clawing back executive pay has been a tool in the government’s arsenal for nearly two decades now.
In 2003, a law was passed that allowed the SEC to force a public company’s CEO or CFO to return a year’s worth of incentive pay if there was misconduct. Add to that, many public companies already had policies on the books allowing them to recoup executive pay because shareholders want to see accountability.
So either DOJ is not really doing anything here with clawbacks, or it’s planning to do more clawing back. I don’t know the answer to that, but I’m not here to give the Biden administration any points, until it’s clear that they plan on doing something different, as it concerns prosecuting corporate crimes. Because I don’t need any more smoke and mirrors.
The reality is that corporate crime isn’t prosecuted enough in our society, and the consequences, they don’t sufficiently deter.
But it’s not for lack of resources in terms of prosecution or consequences. Our nation has more law enforcement agents than it does educators.
Simply put, white-collar crime isn’t prosecuted enough, because doing so would run counter to three primary social constructs in our society. Think about it.
From the day our nation was created, we’ve uplifted three things consistently: wealth, men and whiteness.
In 1776 and long thereafter, you had to have all three if you wanted to be recognized as a human being.
Well, things are a bit different today. Yes, one thing remains. Our society still uplifts wealth, men and whiteness. And those three social constructs are a feature of white-collar crime.
Think about it, the offenses, they’re all about the pursuit of wealth. They’re also overwhelmingly committed by men, 75% of corporate offenders and white-collar crimes are overwhelmingly committed by white people, some 85%.
Why would our society go hard and the pain at stopping these offenses and punishing these offenders, when doing so would undermine what society prizes: wealth, men and whiteness.
It would sure seem counterintuitive to those charged with policing, prosecuting and sentencing white-collar criminals, as they too are overwhelmingly white men living well above the poverty line.
Our society simply is not invested in deconstructing these social constructs, let alone even addressing them, even if those white-collar offenses gave us earth shattering setbacks such as the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis that collapsed our economy and contributed to a global financial breakdown.
You’d really like to think that police would aggressively investigate, prosecutors would ardently prosecute and judges would harshly punish such individuals whose greed caused incredible suffering worldwide.
But no, that’s why I don’t foresee these purported new Biden policies necessarily doing anything differently when our society is still here to serve and protect wealth, men and whiteness. So until that changes, any purported changes in our system will barely make a dent.
-
Trump-Vance ticket will implement nationwide abortion ban
Donald Trump recently accepted the Republican nomination for president and named Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, as his running mate. Vance has previously advocated for strict anti-abortion laws, in sharp contrast to Kamala Harris, the leading Democratic candidate, who went on a nationwide tour to mobilize pro-choice voters. Watch the above video as Straight Arrow News…
-
End of Chevron is an open invite for corporate corruption
On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned 40 years of “Chevron deference” in a landmark ruling that experts say will cause a “legal earthquake.” The 6-3 conservative opinion upends a long tradition of relying on neutral expertise to interpret and execute laws and regulations. Broadly speaking, the ruling empowers judges and corporations at the…
-
American democracy cannot survive if Trump wins
Public alarm over the chances of democracy surviving in America has reached a new high-water mark in the wake of the Supreme Court’s July 1 ruling in Trump v. United States, where the court expanded presidential powers for all current and future U.S. presidents. Among other things, the court may have granted U.S. presidents the…
-
Talk to your kids about sextortion
The FBI is warning Americans of a growing threat called sextortion, where online predators pose as young, single individuals to lure their victims, primarily single teenage boys, into a blackmail trap. After soliciting sexual photos or videos of the victim, the predator threatens to release the images or videos unless the victim sends money and/or…
-
Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law proves Gov. Landry is corrupt
On June 20, GOP Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana signed into law a new bill that requires all public Louisiana school and university classrooms to display a poster-sized printout of the Bible’s Ten Commandments. The law violates existing legal precedents regarding the First Amendment and is expected to be challenged in the Supreme Court, although…
Latest Opinions
-
U.S. Department of Defense
Congress still trying to figure out how to reduce wasteful military spending
-
DVIDS
US Navy, Air Force making waves with new weapons at RIMPAC
-
Getty Images
Israeli PM Netanyahu meets with Trump at Mar-a-Lago
-
Getty Images
Growing US nuclear power resurgence reaches the nation’s heartland
-
Getty Images
Beer from the sun, other solar thermal projects get government funding
Popular Opinions
-
In addition to the facts, we believe it’s vital to hear perspectives from all sides of the political spectrum.