Professor Garrett analyzed 303 nonprosecution and deferred prosecution agreements with corporations from 2001 to 2014 in which companies avoided guilty pleas by paying fines and agreeing to other measures. It would seem axiomatic that in all of those cases, individuals actually committed the crimes, since corporations are legal entities and can’t be charged unless their employees engaged in wrongdoing. Yet Professor Garrett found that individuals were charged in only 34 percent of the cases. And of those, only 42 percent received any jail time.
In Corporate Crimes, Individual Accountability Is Elusive – NYTimes.com
