Erasing the Victims of Corporate Crime
A casual observer would be excused for thinking that corporate crimes are generally victimless. Even an informed observer would be hard-pressed to articulate how, if at all, the criminal justice system accounts for victims in resolving cases against corporations. As prosecutors focus on big-sticker fines and compliance mandates, victims drop out of the equation. Sometimes, prosecutors even seem to take steps to actively exclude victims. The vague impression that victims are missing from corporate criminal justice is empirically verifiable. Drawing on an original, hand-collected data set of corporate criminal resolutions and investigations, I argue that the most striking thing about corporations’ victims is how little we know about them.
This Article seeks to reintroduce prosecutors, judges, and scholars to the victims of corporate crime. It uncovers mechanisms through which the criminal justice system erases the many thousands of people corporations physically and financially injure each year. Only by finding out who corporate crime’s victims are can we begin to acknowledge and remedy the wrongs they suffer. Below, I offer several proposals for surfacing victims’ voices and interests.
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