The Department of Justice’s determination this month that Boeing has violated the deferred-prosecution agreement it struck after two of its 737 Max jets crashed five years ago, killing 346 people, has shattered lofty prosecutorial ideals about the tool’s power to improve the culture of corporate compliance.

Critics say Boeing’s continued compliance problems, including its failure to install four bolts in the door of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max, causing the door to blow out during a flight in January, add to a mountain of evidence that DPAs fail to bring sustained reform or adequately mete out justice.