"Measured but fair" is how the Times qouted "legal specialists" in their take on the sentencing of the former Tyco chiefs.
"It would be a mistake to confuse this with leniency," the Times qouted former federal prosecutor Robert A. Mintz as saying. "For these two former executives, even several years in a state prison will be a very long stretch of time."
Well, yes - it would be for anyone, even those not used to $6000 shower curtains.
What is the standard for sentencing in high-level "white collar" crimes like these? Do we have one?
The judge in this case seemed to be on the edge of making an ethical distinction between Tyco and the cases of Enron and Worldcom, seemingly because unlike the latter two, Tyco wasn't forced to declare bankruptcy as a result of the activities of the "Top Executives Criminal Enterprise" (a great title given by the New York grand jury indictment of Kozlowski and Swartz.)
If we assume that because Tyco remained standing investors were not burned quite so badly, does this call for a lesser sentence than that which Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling of Enron may receive? Is there a distinction there? Lesser jail time for executives who can prove that their robbery didn't ruin quite so many people's lives?
I don't know. I do feel that 25 seems more appropriate than 8 in this case, and they should throw away the key with Lay and Skilling.
But the point is, do we have a road map for what we think is fair and ethical sentencing in these cases? The court system certainly seems to have one for non-"white collar" crimes.
Or is the advent of top executive indictments too new for an ethical standard to develop, if there is one?
Christie Rizk @ September 20, 2005 - 8:57pm
I think that a road map is being developed for this level of white-collar crime with these "test cases." This level of corruption and thievery has never been seen in a corporate setting, and so I think it's hard for legal experts to judge what is appropriate in terms of punishment - hopefully by the time they get to "Kenny-boy" Lay, they'll have figured out that 8 years is nothing in the face of the all the lives ruined.
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