Community Service Sentencing for Corporations

Abstract

This study examines if judges sentence criminal corporations that are more blameworthy in the commission of crimes to community service penalties. This blameworthiness consideration is drawn from the focal concerns framework. The study uses data compiled by the U.S. Sentencing Commission from court documents for the cases of 1125 corporations that were sentenced in federal criminal courts nationwide between October 1, 2010, and September 30, 2017. Results showed that corporations with higher base fines were significantly more likely to be sentenced to terms of community service compared to those corporations with base fines. Policy implications are discussed.

The role of blameworthiness in the federal probation sentencing of corporate environmental offenders

“…The key independent measures in this study represented blameworthiness. Eight measures were drawn from the existing literature and the USSG (Homer and Higgins,2020a, 2020b, 2021; Lutz, 2019; USSC, 2018). Six variables indicated increased blameworthiness.…”

“…Blameworthiness is concerned with the culpability of an organization and ensuring that the punishment fits the criminal act. Homer and Higgins (2020a, 2020b, 2021) argued that judges associate blameworthiness of organizations with seriousness of the offense, criminal history and the organization’s role in the offense. With the intention to incapacitate the organization to prevent future criminal behavior (Steffensmeier et al , 1998), protection of the community is concerned with the organization’s potential for future criminal behavior and the risk it poses to society.…”