He added: "We should be using the law, we should be using prosecution, we should be locking people up if they are breaking the law - not doing these other halfway house measures and trying to go around the law".
For example, by using prosecution guidelines, prosecutors can elect to defer prosecution in cases where the corporation cooperates with investigatory agents and takes remedial actions to remedy its illegal behaviors.
Legal experts said the SFO had sent a clear signal that it was serious about rooting out corruption and was finally prepared to use prosecutions to do so.
Two former senior executives at WorldCom became the newest symbols today in the Bush administration's broadening effort to use prosecutions to fend off political problems.
New Hampshire used to see no irony in using repeated prosecutions to compel its residents to display "Live Free or Die", even for those who had religious objections.
In a letter to members of Congress that accompanied the new data, the Justice Department acknowledged that it had been using deferred prosecutions and similar arrangements known as nonprosecution agreements more frequently, but it defended the practice.
The Justice Department is increasingly using "deferred prosecution" and nonprosecution agreements for corporate wrongdoers.
"The Department of Justice has to be very careful about using criminal prosecution to respond to political pressure," Mr. Barr, who ran the department from 1991 to 1993, said in an interview.
But using a prosecution diagram of the standpipe system, Mr. Little showed that the pipe Mr. Ortiz pointed to was not a part of the standpipe.
By using deferred prosecution agreements, the Justice Department gets most of what it wants out of a case: an admission of violations, a significant monetary penalty and a promise of future compliance.
