Curbing Corporate Crime: Managerial and Ethical Implications of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations

This paper examines the 1991 federal sentencing guidelines with respect to organizations. These guidelines, only recently being applied in U.S. courts, require minimum fines and imprisonment terms for criminal acts by culpable executives and their organizations. The paper will examine the history of the federal sentencing guidelines for organizations (FSGOs), a synopsis of their workings, the strategic response of U.S. companies to the FSGOs, and the case for and against these guidelines. Finally, this paper will examine the managerial implications of the FSGOs with special attention provided to the ethical issues raised by the guidelines