Bought Justice, Corporate Crime And The Get Out Of Jail Card: It’s Time To Change The Constitution– With Liberty And Justice For Some

If it turns out that the West, Texas explosion is the result of a “terrorist act,” expect federal law enforcement officials and the mass media to fly to Texas from Boston. But until then, don’t expect much.

One reason — our two-tier criminal justice system. One tier for individuals. Another for corporations.

Case in point — the April 2010 Massey Energy Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster that killed 29 miners in West Virginia. In December 2011, the Department of Labor found that Massey’s “unlawful policies and practices” were the “root cause of this tragedy.” But in the same month, the Justice Department said it would not criminally prosecute the company. Instead, the Justice Department entered into a “non prosecution agreement” with Massey.

David Uhlmann is the former head of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section.

He was disturbed by Justice Department’s failure to criminally prosecute Massey. He says he would have criminally charged the company. After all, he says, he has charged many a major corporate criminal for far less human damage. Uhlmann, currently a professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, says that the Massey non prosecution agreement is part of an expanding pattern.

“The deal with Massey continues a disturbing trend whereby corporations can avoid criminal prosecution by entering deferred prosecution or non-prosecution agreements,” Uhlmann wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times in December 2011. “They create the appearance that justice can be bought.” MOREHERE