Hester Prynne Sanction :: essays research papers

Hester Prynne SanctionThe persistent issue of corporate punishment has been the proverbialthorn in the side of many people throughout history. Corporations deplete causedmany people huge amounts of both physical and emotional pain due to instances ofimproper mechanical maintenance, ignorance towards the environment, and themanufacture of life threatening products. The main problem that lies as anobstacle in front of prosecutors of these corporations is, who do they punish?The Lord Chancellor of England questioned, Did you ever expect a corporation tohave 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 asolution to resolving power the Chancellors question. How can people throw a corporationin jail, or have them compensate for their immeasurable losses? In his work TheHester Prynne Sanction, Peter French analyses ways in which the courts canchange how they punish corporations more effe ctively. This essay will take acritical look at Frenchs solution, examining if it is an effective and chastelyjustified fashion of punishing corporations.In our society, retributive ideals have been implanted in us, as thefamous biblical eye for an eye concept seems to be societys manner with whichwe punish criminals. This is an interesting case though, because corporationsdont simply have one individual they can place the blame upon. Rather, they arecomprised of hundreds or even thousands of people, and thusly there is noextensive punishment prosecutors can place upon everybody who is employed by acorporation. In a famous case in indium involving Ford Pinto whose costbenefit analysis regarding the redesign of the gas tank on the Pinto cost aperson his life. The firm ended up give $200,000, but how can you place aprice on human life? And furthermore, who can you go after for retribution? Theengineer who drew up the plans? The CEO who approved the change? Or even theFactory worker who placed the new tank in the car? None of them, according tothe menstruation laws, writes French. The idea that a corporation can pay a courtfine or a set sum to the relatives of its victim in a homicide case, andtherefore expiate its guilt is, however, regarded by many people as a shockingaffront to justice. Very few of these cases can be promptly linked toindividual negligence or intentional recklessness, and the fines can easily bewritten off as business expenses. The corporations usually recover fines apaceby means of higher prices. This poses a major problem for society, because the