Coffee, John C., Jr. (1944–)

JOHN COFFEE, a professor at Columbia University Law School specializing in corporations and white-collar crime, is one of the field's foremost experts. Coffee was recognized by the National Law Journal as one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in the United States.” Before joining the faculty at Columbia, Coffee was on faculty at Georgetown University Law Center and before that with the law firm of Cravath Swaine & Moore. He received a Bachelor's degree from Amherst College and law degrees from Yale Law School and New York University.

Coffee's articles have focused on the role of criminal and civil law in the punishment of whitecollar crime. He notes that the line between civil and criminal law has disappeared. The blurring of the line between criminal and civil law will result in injustice and ultimately weaken the social control resulting from criminal law. Coffee explains the real difference between civil and criminal systems is the criminal system's operation of moral education and socialization. People obey the criminal laws because they perceive it as legitimate. Criminal law communicates a set of values, while the civil law balances the public verses private rights. The only time this distinction can be made and communicated is at sentencing. Coffee characterizes the civil system as “pricing,” while he characterizes the criminal system as “prohibiting.”

Coffee acknowledges the point made by legal scholars warning of “over-criminalization.” Proponents of over-criminalization argue that over-reliance on criminal sanctions, particularly with respect to behavior that is not morally culpable, will weaken the criminal system. In particular, proponents of over-criminalization decry the use of criminal sanctions when there is no fraud or there is no victim. In these cases, proponents of over-criminalization argue that crimes that lack fraud or crimes without a victim should be subject to civil court.