An article in today's Guardian considers the matter of white-collar crime and discusses whether corporate fraudsters, after long periods of being spared severe punishment, are being "spared no mercy at all."
The article relates to the impending sentencing of Jeffrey Skilling, Enron's former chief executive.
A point of interest comes via a quote from a USA lawyer - " Over the last 20 years, sentencing guidelines for white-collar offenders have been ratcheted up regularly - not coincidentally, often during election years."
I think the public is fully aware of all the tricks that can be pulled by incumbent governments. We have a Labour party that talks tough about, for example, corporate manslaughter, yet always pulls back when the business lobby gets on its back.
If the man is guilty, his crime should reflect the damage he has done to innocent people as a token life sentence is likely to be overturned at some point in the future - may after the next presidential election.
See White-collar criminals find quality of mercy increasingly strained by Andrew Clark for more details.
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