NCJ Number
140377
Date Published
1992
Length
30 pages
Annotation
The 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger resulted from corporate-government relationships and actions that represented serious organizational misconduct and demonstrates the usefulness of the concept of state- corporate crime.
Abstract
The explosion resulted from a problem with the O-ring seal in the field joint of a solid rocket motor. The President's Commission that investigated the accident placed the blame for the flawed design, as well as the failure to act on information concerning the flaw, on both the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the private corporation, Morton Thiokol, Inc. NASA was under great performance pressure and resolved the O-ring problem by continuing to fly an unsafe vehicle. The decisions and actions of NASA and MTI concerning the flawed design of the field joint and the safe launching of the shuttle were the actual causes of the disaster. The explosion was the collective product of the interaction between a government agency and a private business corporation and thus can be viewed as an instance of state-corporate crime. The data on the case also provide empirical support for the integrated theoretical model of organizational crime that appears to be emerging in the literature. Notes and 76 references