Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Enron: Crime and Punishment
We have had a lot of discussions about Enron in several of my MBA classes, from Accounting and Finance to Ethics. What surprised me this weekend was the claim by our ethics professor, who has toured the federal prisons that hold the worst white-collar criminals and assured us that they are not at all the summer-camp/ClubFed atmosphere that many people think. He said that Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling will almost certainly be killed in prison.
We have had a lot of discussions about Enron in several of my MBA classes, from Accounting and Finance to Ethics. What surprised me this weekend was the claim by our ethics professor, who has toured the federal prisons that hold the worst white-collar criminals and assured us that they are not at all the summer-camp/ClubFed atmosphere that many people think. He said that Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling will almost certainly be killed in prison.
"Really?"
"Oh yes," he replied gravely. I wasn't at all comfortable with that, and was searching for something else to say when a classmate said, "good, they deserve it."
Dumbfounded, I was silent. But I wholly disagree. Skilling and Lay are very flawed, and they have committed some very serious crimes for which they should pay with significant jail time. But I don't believe they should pay with their lives.
Any thoughts?
Tags: enron, lay, skilling, justice, ethics, capital punishment, death penalty
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Wow. That's a pretty harsh point of view someone has there, and I live with your brother!
I hate the death penalty. Hate hate hate it. I cannot imagine that their crimes-- rotten as they may be-- warrant such an extreme attitude.
I am curious, however, why your professor is so sure these men will be killed in prison. While far from club med, as you said, this is not exactly Alcatraz, yanno?
As for the person who thinks they deserve it-- I guess we all do, don't we? But this isn't about what someone deserves. Our prisons serve three purposes: rehabilitation, protection of society, and punishment. I don't see any one as less or more important than the others, though.
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I hate the death penalty. Hate hate hate it. I cannot imagine that their crimes-- rotten as they may be-- warrant such an extreme attitude.
I am curious, however, why your professor is so sure these men will be killed in prison. While far from club med, as you said, this is not exactly Alcatraz, yanno?
As for the person who thinks they deserve it-- I guess we all do, don't we? But this isn't about what someone deserves. Our prisons serve three purposes: rehabilitation, protection of society, and punishment. I don't see any one as less or more important than the others, though.
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