Fire in Hamlet: A Case Study of a State-Corporate Crime (From Political Crime in Contemporary America: A Critical Approach, P 171-206, 1993, Kenneth D Tunnell, ed. -- See NCJ- 151279)

• NCJ Number: 151284
• Author(s): J R Aulette; R Michalowski
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 26 pages
• Sale Source: Garland Publishing, Inc.
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

An explosion and fire that killed 25 workers and injured another 56 workers at the Imperial Food Products chicken processing plant in Hamlet, N.C., is described as an example of state-corporate crime.

Abstract

Subsequent inquiry indicated that the company had locked the plant's fire doors, one of which displayed the bloody footprints of workers who tried to batter it open before they died. In addition, an interwoven pattern of regulatory failure by several State and Federal agencies had a significant role in creating the conditions that led to the tragedy. This discussion focuses on the ways in which the interplay of government and business interests in North Carolina culminated in the fire, with emphasis on the societal context, the organizational context, and the control context. The analysis concludes that the deaths and injuries represent an example of what Kramer and Michalowski term state-corporate crime and that laws alone are not sufficient to protect worker safety. Instead, political will is required to enforce the laws; otherwise, the laws are more symbolic than real. 39 references