This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Wednesday, January 14, 2014.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Are the tactics used by prosecutors too much when they take on corporations.

Brandon Garrett is a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law and author of

Too Big to Jail, how prosecutors compromise with corporations.

He spoke at a Cato event, December 3rd.

The rise of deferred a non-prosecution agreements.

The Siemens guilty plea was filed in court.

The company has a criminal record. so do three of its subsidiaries.

There was a judge there that read the agreement, asked questions about it, and the case was concluded.

Non-prosecution agreements are never filed in a court.

It's a private agreement between the parties.

The prosecutors say, we're not going to prosecute you

assuming you pay fines and comply with these terms.

Deferred prosecution agreements are filed in court,

but what is filed in court is a tolling of the Speedy Trial Act.

Basically, we agree to let this case sit on the judge's docket, assuming you pay the fine and comply with the terms.

We dismiss the case from the judge's docket.

Nothing ever happens.

There is no indictment.

There is no conviction.

There is no criminal record.

...