NCJ Number
116898
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 5 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1988) Pages: 615-634
Date Published
1988
Length
20 pages
Annotation
The role of commensurate deserts in the punishment of corporations and their agents has received little attention to date.
Abstract
Those who have written on desert and corporate crime dismiss it on the grounds that retributive rationales, which incorporate notions of desert, are not applicable to corporate offenses and because desert, with its focus on the moral opprobrium attached to criminal conduct, is not fitting for offenses which are regulatory and thus 'morally neutral.' This essay argues that although retribution is a viable justification for corporate punishments, it need not be the only or even the primary justification for punishment for desert to be applicable in the distribution of corporate sanctions. It also questions the position of moral neutrality, citing empirical evidence of the public's perceptions of the seriousness of corporate criminal activity. (Publisher abstract)