Academic Corner: Prosecuting Chinese "Spies" - An Empirical Analysis of the Economic Espionage Act, 40 Cardozo L. Rev. 751 (A. Kim, Dec. 2018)

In this seminal paper, Andrew Kim for the first time conducted an empirical study on Chinese and Asian defendants charged under the Economic Espionage Act. Kim found that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of Asians in the past decade, as 62 percent of all defendants since 2009 have been of Asian descent. On average, Asian defendants received harsher sentences compared to non-Asian defendants, but were also found not guilty at at higher rate than non-Asian defendants. Kim expresses concern that, just as much as there is a pretextual crime of "Driving While Black," a new pretextual crime called "Researching While Asian" may be emerging.

It is an important and timely article, particularly for Asian Americans who may become subject to racial profiling.