Deterrence

When taking enforcement action, regulatory agencies need to balance the effect of conviction with the political costs associated with bringing complex and uncertain cases to trial. The Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom, for example, declined to prosecute executives involved in the governance of Royal Bank of Scotland, the biggest bank failure in history for this reason. In the United States, prosecutors have engaged in a range of creative enforcement strategies. Creative enforcement refers to innovative legal strategies to secure corporate behavioural change. Circumventing the necessity of going to trial, these measures often take the form of negotiated consent orders or, more problematically, deferred or non-prosecution agreements. Influential judges have called this strategy into question, arguing that it risks privileging the façade of enforcement. This program charts the efficacy of enforcement. It examines the use and limitation of deferred prosecutions and other mechanisms such as enforceable undertakings. It also explores the utility class actions and litigation funding in providing alternatives to public enforcement.

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