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The impact of regulatory accumulation on U.S. Federal District Courts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2016

GREGORY M. RANDOLPH  and
JAMES FETZNER
GREGORY M. RANDOLPH*
Affiliation:
Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, NH, USA
JAMES FETZNER*
Affiliation:
Brookside Homes of America, Inc., Erie, PA, USA
*
*Email: g.randolph@snhu.edu
**Email: jfetzner@ltcmi.com
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Abstract

While regulation is increasingly relied upon to address economic and social issues in developed economies, research has yet to examine the impact of the growing use of regulation on the courts. This paper explores the relationship between regulation and criminal judicial enforcement. Data regarding regulatory cases and defendants filed in U.S. district courts and regulation at the U.S. federal level are analyzed. The results suggest that increased reliance on regulation leads to growth in regulatory court cases and defendants filed. These findings imply that the courts continue to play an important role when regulation is employed to address problems and that the courts might experience increasing responsibilities as the use of regulation grows. Additionally, the results suggest that the relationship between regulation and the courts should be considered in the design and implementation of regulation in practice.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , December 2016 , pp. 921 - 940
Copyright
Copyright © Millennium Economics Ltd 2016 

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