Sending food industry executives to jail for company food safety violations, even if they did not know about them, might seem a useful way to bring about more compliance, but corporate America is rising up to strike down the practice. Amicus briefs are pouring in from industry groups to support the appeal to the St. Louis-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit by Austin (Jack) and Peter DeCoster of their 90-day federal jail sentences. With the work of 18 additional lawyers joining the cause, amicus briefs in support of the two former Iowa poultry executives were filed in recent days by the National Association of Manufacturers, The Cato Institute, The Washington Legal Foundation, Chamber of Commerce of the United States, and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. The non-partisan, free-market Cato Institute goes so far as to suggest that if the DeCosters are jailed for 90 days, the U.S. economy will be harmed. “If executives can be imprisoned for criminal violations of strict liability laws by virtue of the position they hold within a company, the United States economy would suffer,” Cato’s amicus brief states. “Executive business decisions would be motivated less by good business principals and more by fear of possible future prison sentences. And, even then, corporate officers would not be able to fully protect themselves from criminal liability; under the responsible corporate officer doctrine, executives could be held criminally liable for conduct that is entirely outside of their control. Executives would have to hope that one of their employees does not unwittingly commit a regulatory violation—or else they could face prison time.” Attorneys for Cato said, “Such a regime would be contrary to basic notions of fairness and justice, contrary to law, and would put at risk the liberty of every executive.” In an editorial published Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015, The Des Moines Register called the arguments the business groups are making “pure claptrap.” Iowa’s largest newspaper said that thousand of people were sickened by the DeCosters’ mismanagement of Quality Egg LLC and its employees. “A prison sentence is entirely appropriate,” the editorial stated.
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