Reply #23: I'm willing to share that dream [View All]

[gratuitous]

I would really like to see corporate criminality punished in a meaningful way that isn't just incorporated into "the cost of doing business." If the company is large enough, fines and penalties don't faze it. Exxon has still not paid a dime of the damages assessed against them for the Valdez running aground, and that's been more than 20 years ago. Philip Morris has never paid a dime for the damages assessed against them for the Jesse Williams verdict in Oregon.

Note that I'm talking about outright criminality, not just garden variety negligence. Fouling the high seas was a foreseeable outcome for Exxon of allowing an erratic and impaired captain to remain in his position skippering their tankers. The death of smokers was a foreseeable outcome of Philip Morris and other tobacco companies peddling their deadly product. People dying from salmonella poisoning was a foreseeable outcome of Peanut Corporation's selling tainted product. That's not just negligent; that rises to the level of criminal. Companies ought to be subject to a similar penalty that individuals who kill are subject to. Increased tax surcharges seem reasonable. Suspension of operations for a term of years does, too. And for particularly egregious crimes with aggravating factors, a corporate death penalty.