I don't know how a middle or lower class individual can support the Republican Party. Their giveaways to the rich at the expense of the middle never seem to stop.
WASHINGTON -- House Republicans on Monday unveiled legislation that would decriminalize a broad swath of corporate malfeasance, a move that injects white-collar crime issues into the thus-far bipartisan agenda on criminal justice reform.
The public debate over criminal justice reform has focused on reducing severe sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. But some influential conservative voices, including the billionaire Koch brothers and the Heritage Foundation, have quietly advocated for curbing prosecution of corporate offenses as well.
The House bill would eliminate a host of white-collar crimes where the damaging acts are merely reckless, negligent or grossly negligent. If enacted, it would make it more difficult for federal authorities to pursue executive wrongdoing, from financial fraud to environmental pollution.
Department of Justice spokesman Peter Carr blasted the legislation in a statement provided to HuffPost, saying it "would create confusion and needless litigation, and significantly weaken, often unintentionally, countless federal statutes," including "those that play an important role in protecting the public welfare ... protecting consumers from unsafe food and medicine."
The House Judiciary Committee will begin marking up its criminal justice reform package, including the latest bill, on Wednesday. Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the panel's top-ranking Democrat, have been working on bipartisan legislation for months.
In October, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved related reform legislation that does not include language to limit white-collar crime prosecutions, although Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) had pressed for its inclusion.
"These are not esoteric matters," said Robert Weissman, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. "There is absolutely no reason for the otherwise laudable criminal justice reform bill to contain any measure to weaken already feeble standards for corporate criminal prosecution."
Hatch and other supporters of white-collar decriminalization efforts have pushed for "mens rea" reform -- a reference to the legal standard of intent which a defendant must have in order to be convicted of a crime. While current law allows corporate crime prosecutions of high-level managers based on negligent or reckless behavior, the House legislation would require many such offenses to be "knowing" crimes, in which executives were explicitly aware of the activity being conducted by other employees. In some cases, prosecutors would also have to prove that the executives knew that the activity was illegal.
"The House language violates the basic precept that 'ignorance of the law is no defense,'" Weissman said in a written statement.
Large, complex corporations can diffuse responsibility for illegal activity, which can make it difficult for prosecutors to prove that executives knowingly and willfully violated the law. CEOs can also pressure lower-level employees to violate the law without explicitly telling them to do so -- by, say, demanding profits or other results that are impossible to reach without breaking the law. Under current law, prosecutors can bring cases on the grounds that such behavior by executives is criminally reckless or negligent, even if they cannot prove the CEO was actually aware that underlings were breaking the law to meet impossible metrics.
In practice, however, corporate crime prosecutions are already relatively rare and frequently skip over executives and other top managers. "When employees are charged, it's often lower-level employees," University of Virginia law professor Brandon Garrett told HuffPost Live in September. "More the pawns than the kingpins."
The Justice Department has been heavily criticized for its weak enforcement against corporate crimes during the Obama years. No Wall Street executives were charged for the misconduct that caused the 2008 financial crisis.
Under the House bill, high-level corporate wrongdoers would have even less to worry about.
We have truly turned into a banana republic at this point.
Here is an interesting article that adds to the above in two ways:
1) It shows the current two party system is a sham and two sides of the same coin; the Obama administration prosecuted exactly zero executives who were major players in the 2008 meltdown.
And
2) here is the attorney general saying he couldn't prosecute anyone because the laws were too easy for criminals to slip through.
I shudder to think what this country is going to look like 30 years from now. It will probably be absorbed into some North American corporate zone like the EU. Sickening.
https://theintercept.com/2015/10/16/holder-defends-record-of-not-prosecuting-financial-fraud/
I don't know how a middle or lower class individual can support the Republican Party. Their giveaways to the rich at the expense of the middle never seem to stop.
The uninformed will vote against their own financial self interests as they are drawn into issues that matter more to them - 2nd amendment rights, anti abortions, anti gay issues, the laughable "attack on religious freedom", environmental issues, climate change hoax, prayer in schools, etc.
I wonder how many of these can balance a checkbook or complete a tax return.
pretty sad. i just........i do not understand the intellectual abilities of our elected officials.
I don't know how a middle or lower class individual can support the Republican Party. Their giveaways to the rich at the expense of the middle never seem to stop.
Just Republicans? That's delusional at best. There's two parts to this equation. Congress passes the laws, and the Justice Department enforces them.
And it's that second part that hasn't been working. So along with justifiable disgust with Republicans, the least one should do is equally apply that to those in charge of the Justice Department, ie: Democrats.
Need some easy proof? Name any bank or investment firm individual who has been sentenced following the financial crisis. Now remember how many times Obama visited NYC during his two campaigns, holding fund raisers with bankers, investors, and hedge fund cronies. No connection? Come now....
And consider the variety of corporate prosecutions of the course of this Administration. Can we find individuals held responsible for the wrongdoings that were sentenced? Very rarely indeed. Big fines - yes. Individuals punished - rare
If you want corporate wrongdoing to be reduced, it will never happen unless the fear of personal imprisonment is clearly on the radar of the individuals involved.
Seven years into its tenure, the Obama DOJ just recently announced measures to pursue individuals involved in illegal corporate activities. What took them so long? Do you really think much will happen with a year to go?
Washington - both parties - run on money. The bigger the size of govt, the more it interacts with private sector business concerns, the more potential for corruption.
I don't know how a middle or lower class individual can support the Republican Party. Their giveaways to the rich at the expense of the middle never seem to stop.
The uninformed will vote against their own financial self interests as they are drawn into issues that matter more to them - 2nd amendment rights, anti abortions, anti gay issues, the laughable "attack on religious freedom", environmental issues, climate change hoax, prayer in schools, etc.
I wonder how many of these can balance a checkbook or complete a tax return.
Ignoring the facts doesn't change the truth.
The middle class has done worse over the last seven years than under any Administration in our lifetimes. Higher healthcare costs when lower ones were promised. Lowest home ownership in at least four decades. Highest wage disparity ever. Negligent wage growth for the lower and middle classes. Lowest labor participation rates in at least 40 years. Delayed maturity of youth because they can't find a decent paying job. College tuition debt over $1 trillion and rising, without the ability to pay because of reduced job futures. Rigged and artificial govt stats about all of the above. A fiscal policy that has poured money to the wealthy while doing nothing for the lower classes.
I doubt either party will fix this because doing so means upsetting too much of their power base. But at least recognize the truth of what's happening.
Don't forget Clinton was instrumental in repealing Glass-Steagle and Obama had wall Street by the throat and let them go. Seems that all politicians like to get elected (which takes money) and likes the perks of the uber-rich.
Only time will tell if Bernie ends up hanging with Charlie Sheen's old crew in Vegas
