Increasing Fines vs. Incentivizing Corporate Compliance: A Case for Compliance

This article is part of a Chronicle. See more from this Chronicle

Kathryn Hellings, Daniel Shulak, Nov 11, 2014

This past summer the United States Sentencing Commission prompted a public debate about the adequacy of fines imposed in criminal antitrust cases by including the issue in its list of priorities for the then upcoming fiscal year. For the reasons outlined below, rather than increasing criminal antitrust fines to increase deterrence, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (the “Division”) could instead promote and foster corporate compliance—thereby preventing or reducing anticompetitive conduct—by incentivizing companies to adopt effective internal compliance programs.