Deferred prosecution agreements and the restorative justice paradigm

What Are the Merits of Taking a Hybrid Regulatory Approach Toward the Enforcement of Corporate Financial Crime in the United Kingdom and United States of America?

“…Many authors ask whether reaching a deferred prosecution settlement with an offending corporate entity can provide the deterrent effect that a criminal prosecution would have (Palmer, 2020). There is little agreement on this debate, with some scholars arguing that DPAs are "simply a prosecutorial tool used to avoid lengthy and costly trials with little hope of true remorse, accountability, reintegration and rehabilitation for participating stakeholders" (McStravick, 2020). While other academics argue that, DPAs are a "safer, generous and more flexible option" (Ryder, 2018), as they minimize the impact of corporate death that a successful criminal prosecution may otherwise have on a company (Grasso, 2016).…”

“…It was also required to implement recommendations made by Price Waterhouse Coopers LLP, who acted as an independent reviewer in the case (SFO, 2019, September 3). It has been argued that the use of DPAs are an illustration of restorative justice in action; participating offenders such as Standard Bank work with regulators to manage their offending behavior and are helped, as part of the DPA, to find both moral-based and financial based opportunities to repair the harm done by them to their victims (Mcstravick, 2020). This article argues that legislative changes should be made in order to allow UK regulators to be able to use DPAs to tackle the financial crime of benchmark rate manipulation.…”