ABSTRACT
Near the end of the first edition of this book, we observed that despite the great notoriety and significance of the Pinto case, corporate prosecutions were still rare, and when they did occur they often did not succeed. In one sense, the situation today is not greatly different from what it was then. Compared to ordinary street crimes, corporate prosecutions still are rare events. However, as we demonstrated in the preceding chapter, they are neither as rare nor as likely to fail as they used to be. Although there still are formidable ideological, legal, and structural obstacles to corporate prosecutions, these obstacles are not quite as forbidding as they were in the past. Times have changed. In this final chapter, we address what has and what has not changed regarding the use of the criminal law against corporations. We begin by acknowledging and describing the obstacles that prosecutors must consider when deciding whether to take on corporate cases. Then, we conclude by describing broad changes in legal doctrines and social perceptions regarding corporate wrongdoing. We believe these changes have made it increasingly likely that prosecutors will decide, despite the obstacles, that it is legally feasible and morally necessary for them to take on corporate prosecutions.
