1
 The Justice Department scrambled to play down the significance of its new guidelines
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 concerning prosecutions
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 under the federal racketeering law.
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 The guidelines were distributed to U.S. attorneys last summer
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 but were disclosed for the first time by press reports this week.
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 They discourage prosecutors, under certain circumstances, from seeking court orders
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 seizing the assets of racketeering defendants prior to trial.
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 But David Runkel, chief Justice Department spokesman, said 
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the guidelines are a codification and a clarification far more than a new direction.
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 Use of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law against white-collar defendants, 
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as opposed to alleged organized-crime figures,
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 has come under attack from some defense lawyers and legal scholars.
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 Critics have complained 
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that the law unfairly strips defendants of assets
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 before a jury determines 
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they have committed a crime 
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and that aggressive use of the forfeiture provisions can ruin corporate defendants
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 or force them into unfavorable plea bargains.
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 In the new guidelines, the Justice Department says
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 that 
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in attempting to freeze disputed assets before trial,
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 the government will not seek to disrupt the normal, legitimate business activities of the defendant 
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and will not seek. . .to take from third parties assets 
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legitimately transferred to them. 
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 The guidelines also state,
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 The government's policy is not to seek the fullest forfeiture permissible under the law 
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where that forfeiture would be disproportionate to the defendant's crime.
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 Another provision clarifies certain limits
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 on when prosecutors may use tax-fraud charges as a basis 
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for bringing a racketeering case.
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 Mr. Runkel declined to speculate 
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on whether the guidelines would curb racketeering prosecutions against corporate defendants.
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 The impact,
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 if there is any,
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 will be impossible to judge ahead of time 
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because the decision
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 whether to use {racketeering charges}
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 is made in individual cases by Justice Department officials in Washington,
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 he said.
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 In a memorandum
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 describing the guidelines,
40
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 Assistant Attorney General Edward Dennis Jr. said 
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that government efforts
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 to freeze defendants' assets
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 pending racketeering prosecutions 
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have been the subject of considerable criticism in the press.
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 But Mr. Runkel said 
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the government isn't backing off on these kinds of matters at all.
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