Trapped: When Acting Ethically is Against the Law

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 80 pages
• Published by: Cato Institute March 25, 2006
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1930865880
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1930865884
• Book Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Weighs: 0.8 ounces

Product Description
Since Enron's collapse in 2002, the federal government has stepped up its campaign against white-collar crime. In this timely book, John Hasnas reveals how the government's effort to enforce legal rules has created a Catch-22 legal environment in which businesspeople must either act unethically or illegally.

Back Cover Copy
"Deftly exploring the impracticalities and seemingly inane concepts which restrict our citizens and fill our penitentiaries, Trapped is very strongly recommended reading for anyone with an interest in business ethics, white collar crime, and their impact in a highly competitive marketplace."

--Midwest Book Review

"Did you know that in many ways the terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay have more rights than corporate CEOs and their employees? If you want to know more, get John Hasnas's book!"

--Mark Levin, author, Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America

"Ethical behavior is critical in business. John Hasnas shows that new laws and regulations too often force CEOs to choose between acting legally and acting ethically. This is a book for business people, policymakers, and everyone who has a stake in successful and ethical business enterprises."

--John Mackey, Co-founder and CEO, Whole Foods Market

"Most Americans think that they receive ample protections against unwise or excessive criminal prosecution. But they had better think again. John Hasnas's quiet dissection of the manifold laws dealing with such arcane subjects as money laundering, mail fraud, racketeering, and obstruction of justice shows how people who are innocent of any primary offense are all too often caught in a complex web of federal law dealing with white-collar crime as they go about their ordinary business. Granted, argues Hasnas, white-collar crime is harder to prosecute than street crime. But he convincingly shows that an aggressive Congress and compliant courts have tilted the balance too much in favor of criminal prosecution. We should all be troubled by the prosecutorial histories of Arthur Andersen and Martha Stewart, among others."

--Richard A. Epstein, James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago

"Mr. Hasnas does a good job of explaining the current state of criminal law for corporations, which have no Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, as well as Justice Department policies that offer leniency only to companies that cooperate by turning in employees."

--Floyd Norris, the New York Times

"Hasnas demonstrates very effectively that lawmakers and judges have placed corporate executives in an untenable position. Trampling on the traditional elements of criminal law may make it easier to prosecute alleged deceptive corporate behavior, but it also makes business an endeavor that may result in personal financial loss and imprisonment, despite one’s best efforts at compliance with the law.

Trapped makes a persuasive case for the need to return to our former, more traditional principles of criminal law. On the present course, we face the prospect that only the foolhardy and unethical will be willing to enter the world of business, while competent and qualified individuals will justifiably steer clear."

--Erica Little, Townhall.com

Reader Reviews
Trapped: When Acting Ethically Is Against The Law by John Hasnas (Associate Professor, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University, Washington DC) focuses upon ethical dilemmas arising from the over-criminalization of commonplace behaviors, demands of the law and ethics considerations for its violation, and the seemingly culturally sanctioned allowance of unethical behavior amongst corporate executives and businesses. Deftly exploring the impracticalities and seemingly inane concepts which restrict our citizens and fill our penitentiaries, Trapped is very strongly recommended reading for anyone with an interest in business ethics, white color crime, and their impact in a highly competitive marketplace.