Abstract
In this insightful and well-argued article, W. Robert Thomas sets out to make progress on a long-standing problem for corporate criminal law: namely, the difficulties presented by using fines as the primary method of punishing corporations.1 Thomas convincingly argues that corporate criminal fines do not do a particularly good job of promoting the goals of criminal punishment—i.e. deterrence, coupled with retributivist ends and the expression of societal condemnation.2 He then defends a proposal for how corporate law can be reformed to enable corporate criminal fines to more effectively serve such goals.3 The result is a concrete and promising policy reform. In this Response, I raise a number of critical questions for Thomas’s arguments. Most importantly, several versions of Thomas’s policy proposal are available, and one wonders why these alternatives would not be at least as desirable as the version Thomas himself endorses. In Parts I and II, I briefly recap the basics of Thomas’s argument. Then in Part III, I subject them to a bit of critical scrutiny. Ultimately, Thomas’s proposal is intriguing, and the aim of this Response is simply to continue the important conversation Thomas has begun.