Eleven
Necessary Measures for Curbing the Corporate Crime Wave
The
stockholders and management of corporations convicted of felonies
should lose their right to vote and run for public office.
A
registry should be maintained in each area of criminal corporations,
and any corporation convicted of a felony should be required to
register with the local police. A notice should be sent to all of their
neighbors that a criminal corporation is taking up residence in their
locality.
Criminal
corporations should lose all corporate welfare benefits and government
contracts.
Criminal
corporations should be required to make weekly visits to parole
officers, and their stockholders and management should be subject to
random drug tests (either urine or hair).
Criminal
corporations should not be allowed to operate within 500 yards of a
school, church or library.
Criminal
corporations should be required to place the phrase "A criminal
corporation" on all advertising, signs and vehicles as a public warning.
If
criminal corporations violate the terms of their parole, their
stockholders and officers should go to jail.
In
addition to the fine on the corporation, the personal assets of
stockholders should be forfeited for their criminal negligence and lack
of oversight.
The
increasing number of lawless corporations calls for stricter penalties.
Bring back the death penalty for corporations. In this context, the
'death penalty' is the closure of the corporation, the forfeiture of
its assets to its victims and/or the government and the winding up of
its affairs by a court appointed receiver.
Stockholders
and management should be required to wear monitoring bracelets for the
duration of their parole, and may not travel outside of their
jurisdiction without a written pass from their parole officer.
The
stockholders and management of criminal corporations may not associate
with the stockholders and management of other corporate felons, and are
forbidden to keep and bear arms.
Robert Waldrop is the director of the
Archbishop Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House in Oklahoma City.
Waldrop's Catholic Worker House feeds the poor, takes in people who are
being evicted and generally helps those in need. Having worked
with the poor, Waldrop has come to the conclusion that in this country
"you get all of the justice that you can afford to pay for." That's why
the prisons aren't overrun with the executives and shareholders of our
major corporate felons. Waldrop has concluded that we should begin
treating corporate criminals the way we treat street criminals.
So, he drew up a list of "Necessary Measures for Curbing the Corporate
Crime Wave." Waldrop wrote the list "tongue in cheek," but he has
gotten such a rave response to it that he believes that it might be the
basis for a political movement to curb corporate crime. After all, why
should a corporate felon, its owners and managers, be allowed to
influence our elections when an individual is stripped of his or her
right to vote? It is time to start thinking about how to level the
playing field. Waldrop believes says that "the original
conception of the corporation was limited -- there had to be a definite
public service." "Now that whole concept has been stretched and
there is no accountability," Waldrop says. He encourages readers to
spread his list far and wide. And check out his other good works
at his web site: http://www.justpeace.org.