Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons^™

The Arc And Architecture Of Private Enforcement Regimes In The United States And Europe: A View Across The Atlantic, Jason Rathod, Sandeep Veheesan

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

The United States and Europe have traditionally taken very different approaches to the regulation of harmful conduct. Previously, European nations relied almost entirely on the public enforcement of laws, whereas the United States relied on a mix of public and private actors. In the United States, private rights of action have played a central role deterring illegal conduct—and, in fact, provided greater deterrence than public enforcers in some areas of law. They have also allowed injured parties to obtain compensation. Despite their very different histories, the private enforcement systems in the United States and Europe are showing signs of convergence …

Wherefore Art Thou Guidelines? An Empirical Study Of White-Collar Criminal Sentencing And How The Gall Decision Effectively Eliminated The Sentencing Guidelines, S. Patrick Morin

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Until the passage of the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines in 1984, federal judges had relatively wide discretion in sentencing federal offenders up to the statutory maximum. This judicial discretion led to a disparity in the sentences of similarly situated offenders, particularly in white-collar cases. The Guidelines attempted to eliminate this disparity by establishing maximum and minimum sentences for certain offenses based on the characteristics of the crime. An important feature of the Guidelines system was its mandatory nature, which decreased and structured the judiciary‘s discretion within bounds set by Congress.

The mandatory application of the Guidelines resulted in stiff …