|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
THE
NEW 'CRIMINAL' CLASSES: LEGAL SANCTIONS
AND BUSINESS MANAGERS The
past 20 years have seen "a spectacular expansion
in the scope and intensity of the nation's apparatus
for punishment." This quote does not refer to the
battle against street crime. It is talking about enforcement
of regulations governing environmental protection, medical
practice, financial institutions, Protecting yourself is difficult. People are presumed to know the law, even when it is buried in thousands of pages of impenetrable regulations, and mistakes of fact, honest confusion, and even government errors do not provide a defense. "The new burdens are omnipresent, pushing deeply into daily life," as a growing number of people are finding out. James V. DeLong examines this troubling trend in a new article. Mr. DeLong is a lawyer in Washington, D.C., a former regulator, an Adjunct Scholar of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and author of the book: ROPERTY MATTERS: How Property Rights Are Under Assault - And Why You Should Care, published by the Free Press in 1997. PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL LEGAL CENTER FOR THE PUBLIC INTEREST (NLCPI) 1000
16th St. -- Suite 500 TO OBTAIN A HARD COPY, CALL OR FAX NLCPI (Cost: $7.50 plus postage; Free to members of the press) OR DOWNLOAD THE ARTICLE FROM THE NLCPI WEBSITE http://www.nlcpi.org/books/pdf/Number10Jun1997.pdf |
|
government
contracting, and many other areas. The new targets of
the impulse to punish are not muggers but the nation's
managers, entrepreneurs, professionals, and landowners.
And the apparatus encompasses more than just criminal
sanctions. Hefty civil penalties, asset forfeitures,
damage payments, and other devices to cause financial
pain are an important part of the system.
|
