US Rep. Lynch: Banks can't be "too big to jail"

BOSTON (AP) -- Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Stephen Lynch is warning that Wall Street banks shouldn't be considered too big to hold criminally accountable.

At a Senate hearing last week Attorney General Eric Holder said that he's concerned that the size of some financial institutions makes it hard to prosecute them.

Holder said part of the problem is the concern that because the institutions are so big, criminal charges could have "a negative impact on the national economy."

In a letter to Holder, Lynch said that while prosecuting a large interconnected bank could have ripple effects, the criminal code is based on the idea that punishments have a deterrent effect on criminal behavior.

Lynch said if a bank can become so large that it's essentially immune from sanctions it may not have an incentive to follow the law.