[from email] Why do individual criminals get the death penalty when they kill people but corporate criminals get off easy when they do the same?
[from article] In late June, Sara Lee pled guilty to two misdemeanor counts in connection with a listeriosis outbreak that led to the deaths of at least 21 consumers who ate Ball Park Franks hot dogs and other meat products. One hundred people were seriously injured. The company paid a $200,000 fine.
Of course, the email asks the wrong question. I mean, everyone knows the answer to that one: when you have lots and lots of money and can pay lots and lots of very good lawyers, you tend to get off much more easily than you would otherwise.
That said, under roughly the same circumstances -- someone served contaminated hot dogs "by accident" -- it's relatively unlikely that charges would even be brought. They'd be sued back to the stone age, yes, but not brought up on criminal charges.
THAT said, most people can't run around testing for bacteria. And surely the fact that all other cold-loving bacteria besides listeria had suddenly started appearing in droves would, you would think, provoke a food manufacturing company to clean frantically and to hold off producing food, especially since there was a chance that it would make people sick and render you liable to all sorts of lawsuits.
The part of the article I can't help but find vastly amusing, however, is this: [Sara Lee's outside lawyers in this case -- the Chicago firm of Jenner & Block, led by former Chicago U.S. Attorney Anton Valukas] refused, on advice of his client, to speak with us. The client advised the lawyer not to speak to the press. You know, that's just not normally the way things work.
Well, there's that, and there's the truly impressive dodge by Ari Fleischer on the question of whether or not the Shrub favors "the death penalty" for corporations who take deliberate actions that result in death. After all, the Shrub wouldn't want to offend his donors, now would he?
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
[Archives: 2001 and after]
Archives before February 5, 2001
Search entries:
12/19/2001: vive la france
12/19/2001: princess, redux
12/19/2001: yemen and rumsfeld
12/18/2001: you're NOT in the army now
12/18/2001: interesting donation
12/18/2001: shame on winn dixie, indeed
12/18/2001: saudi princess
12/17/2001: new resolve
12/17/2001: a victim of the attack ... yeah, right
12/17/2001: polluters ho!