Many Doubt Laws Will End Corporate Fraud

Most Americans doubt new laws to reform corporate America will clean up the kind of corruption and fraud that has dominated newspaper headlines this year, according to a survey.

A Columbia Law School poll of 1,000 people found 52% of Americans think that the Sarbanes-Oxley bill, which stiffens criminal penalties for corrupt executives and calls for an independent accounting oversight board, won’t stem the wave of corporate scandals. The survey overall showed an increasing public distrust of the government and big business.