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I believe that the greatest threat to a civil society is a corporation that commits crimes against the people rather than a person who commits crimes against a business. The foundational reason for my belief is simply the victim of the crime. While a person may commit a crime against a business, which in turn can negatively affect the lives of those involved with that business, both customers and employees, a large corporation can do far worse just based on its extended reach. An example of this dynamic can be seen with big tobacco companies. According to McCann, Haltom, and Fisher (2013) big tobacco companies had seen scientific evidence concerning the negative health effects of tobacco consumption dating back to as early as 1964. These companies, however, continued to sink countless resources into disinformation campaigns, countering lawsuits, and essentially maintaining that tobacco was harmless (p. 5-6). The corporate wrongdoing in this scenario is not the tobacco product as there are many corporations who make products, which cause eventual death in a free market this is (and should be) allowed, as it is the right of the consumer to decide what to consume.
The issue is with big tobacco’s response to the knowledge that their product was harmful to the consumer. Rather than admitting right away that tobacco causes health problems, an immeasurable amount of resources was spent to misinform the public that the product was safe. The first Surgeon General’s report concerning the harmful effects of tobacco was published in 1964 however big tobacco was not ordered to officially admit their deception until 2012 (McCann, Haltom, and Fisher, 2013). In the roughly fifty years since their first discovery it can only be speculated how many individuals, having the correct information, may have never smoked, or stopped smoking. It is in this scenario that the magnitude of a corporation’s crime can be seen. The only time I would consider an individuals crime against a corporation to be of the same magnitude as a corporations crime against the people would be if that crime negatively affected people. For example, if an individual somehow committed a crime against a hospital that rendered it inoperable, this would be equally as reprehensible as it may cost people their lives. Essentially the magnitude of the crimes affect is the deciding factor in my decision and it seems, in general, that a corporation usually affects larger amounts of people with its wrongdoings than does the individual, at least in terms of crimes against the corporation.
References
McCann, M., Haltom, W., & Fisher, S. (2013). Criminalizing big tobacco: Legal mobilization and the politics of responsibility for health risks in the United States. Law & Social Inquiry, 38(2), 288-321. doi:10.1111/j.1747-4469.2011.01270.x
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jumae09
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