Corporate totalitarianism?

[Steve Schear]

At 03:24 PM 7/26/2001 +0000, Steve Thompson wrote:
>Quoting Aimee Farr (aimee.farr at pobox.com):
> > I received the following today, by Robert Weissman, co-author of _Corporate
> > Predators_, (corporatepredators.org) in regard to the Sara Lee Ball Park
> > Frank Hot Dog incident, in which 21 people died. It prompted them to visit
> > the White House to inquire as to 'a corporate death penalty.'
>
>How strange.  It's always individuals working within a corporation who should
>be culpable for offences committed as a result of its business practices.
>Will this not have the effect of divorcing personal responsibility further
>from the executive and employees of a company?
>
>Furthermore, might not the `death' of a company in some cases penalise other
>companies which depend on the products or services of the `offender' leading
>to a reluctance to prosecute the largest and arguably the worst criminals?
>
>At least when the responsible individuals are prosecuted, there is an
>opportunity to `clean house' and reform the offending institution, as it
>were.

Would holding both the corporation and its executives libel for the same 
crime constitute a form of double jeopardy ;-)

Is it possible for the injured parties to criminally prosecute the alleged 
offenders under federal law (i.e., substitute for the DOJ)?  If not, then 
that is what is needed.  The govenment should not enjoy a privileged 
position on enforcement of criminal statutes.

steve