C ORPORATE C RIME R EPORTER

Justice Department Non-Committal on Corporate Crime Database

23 Corporate Crime Reporter 7, February 12, 2009



A group of Nader’s Raiders has sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, urging him to create a corporate crime database and issue an annual report on corporate crime.

The Justice Department response?

We’re thinking it over.

The letter to Holder was signed by Ralph Nader, Jim Donahue of Essential Information, and Charlie Cray of the Center for Corporate Policy.

“The Department’s development of a corporate crime database is long overdue,” Nader, Donahue and Cray wrote. “For example, it has now been nearly 30 years since the Department has undertaken a comprehensive study of the extent and cost of corporate crime to the United States. We have urged your predecessors to undertake the creation of an annual report since 1992.”

In February, 2006 the Nader group met with representatives from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, who agreed that, if given the resources to do so, such an effort would be possible.

Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney told Corporate Crime Reporter the Department is reviewing the letter and will “keep in mind the suggestion as we explore ways to efficiently and effectively prosecute these crimes that not only harm shareholders and employees, but also the integrity of the marketplace.”

The FBI oversees the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, which tracks certain categories of street crime from over 17,000 local and state law enforcement agencies.

The UCR program’s annual reports constitute a useful barometer of trends in street crime.

“An equivalent program should exist to collect and track information on various types of corporate crime and corporate law-breaking, including but not limited to antitrust and price-fixing, environmental crimes, financial crimes – including the various types of accounting fraud witnessed in recent years – overseas bribery, health care fraud, trade violations, labor and employment-related violations – discrimination and occupational injuries and death – consumer fraud and tax fraud,” Nader, Donahue and Cray wrote. “Some of this information is already compiled by different state and federal agencies, including the Department of Justice itself, but the data are rarely aggregated so as to provide an overall assessment of the state of corporate crime. Other agencies and departments that currently do not compile this kind of information would be encouraged to do so if the Department of Justice signaled its importance. As the nation’s top law enforcement officer, we are asking you to provide the kind of leadership necessary for this coordination to occur.”

Justice Department officials argue that they already are providing a slew of public information on corporate and white collar crime.

Press releases routinely report arrests, indictments, guilty pleas and sentencings and all are available on the Department’s web site.

“Except in rare instances where confidentiality is necessary, most court hearings are open to the public,” a Department official said. “Department officials often address corporate audiences at conferences and in panel discussions, as well as in testimony before Congress, to increase awareness of the Department’s actions and to encourage enhanced corporate compliance programs.”

Donahue said that with the Internet, a database and yearly annual report shouldn’t be a heavy lift.

“We have written every administration since 1992, urging them to do this,” Donahue said. “With today's technology this effort will be easier than ever.”

Cray said if the government can do it for street crime, it should be able to do it for corporate crime as well.

“President Obama has pledged to use the Internet to make his government the most transparent administration in history,” Cray said. “Given the widespread corruption witnessed in the past decade – including Enron, the Iraq contract crimes and numerous other conspicuous examples – it is imperative that the administration track corporate crime trends and create a publicly-available database, and conduct a comprehensive annual review of corporate crime similar to the review that the department conducts each year for street crime.”







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