Hester Prynne Sanction
The persistent issue of corporate punishment has been the proverbial
thorn in the side of many people throughout history. Corporations have caused
many people huge amounts of both physical and emotional pain due to instances of
improper mechanical maintenance, ignorance towards the environment, and the
manufacture of life threatening products. The main problem that lies as an
obstacle in front of prosecutors of these corporations is, who do they punish?
The Lord Chancellor of England questioned, “Did you ever expect a corporation to
have a conscience, when it has no soul to be damned, and no body to be kicked?”
Countless victims throughout history have been perplexed to come up with ...
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biblical “eye for an eye” concept seems to be society's manner with which
we punish criminals. This is an interesting case though, because corporations
don't simply have one individual they can place the blame upon. Rather, they are
comprised of hundreds or even thousands of people, and therefore there is no
extensive punishment prosecutors can place upon everybody who is employed by a
corporation. In a famous case in Indiana involving Ford Pinto whose “cost
benefit analysis regarding the redesign of the gas tank on the Pinto” cost a
person his life. The firm ended up paying $200,000, but how can you place a
price on human life? And furthermore, who can you go after for retribution? The
engineer who drew up the plans? The CEO who approved the change? Or even the
Factory worker who placed the new tank in the car? None of them, according to
the current laws, writes French. “ The idea that a corporation can pay a court
fine or a set sum to the relatives of its' victim in a ...
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repay society by donating money to a group who will “clean up” the
astronomical mess they made, and in turn, the damage they caused will be repaid.
French believes we, as a society, should abandon this outlook and switch to a
shame based attitude when it comes to justice involved in the corporate law
system, because the feeling of shame makes one feel inadequate or inferior. With
this system, if a corporation was involved in a situation that was discordant
with the law and trust had been shattered, the courts could induce shame as a
means of punishment.. This shame would enlighten the media to the wrongdoing,
who would in turn enlighten both the corporation of their mistakes, as ...
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Hester Prynne Sanction. (2005, September 26). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hester-Prynne-Sanction/33942
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"Hester Prynne Sanction." Essayworld.com. September 26, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hester-Prynne-Sanction/33942.
"Hester Prynne Sanction." Essayworld.com. September 26, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hester-Prynne-Sanction/33942.
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