NCJ Number
147097
Journal
Crime, Law, and Social Change Volume: 20 Issue: 4 Dated: special issue (December 1993) Pages: 359-372
Date Published
1993
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the ways in which business offenders are dealt with in the criminal justice system, focusing particularly on consumer protection legislation provided in food, trading standards, and weights and measures laws.
Abstract
The main task of regulatory agencies is to ensure high standards of trading, manufacture, or other business practice by securing compliance with a given set of regulations. Only a small minority of detected offenses are prosecuted, while the rest are handled through verbal and written warnings and fines. In practice, government agencies often place different emphases on either prosecution or persuasion. In court, offenders attempt to minimize imputations of blame and to portray themselves as honest and competent businessmen. They often use their pleas to mitigate the circumstances and to assign blame to another party. Qualitative research suggests that, in many instances, such strategies work in persuading sentencers to impose relatively light sanctions. 50 references