5 ms·

Is bribery really harmful enough to necessitate custodial sentences? Especially in the EU, where our criminal justice systems aren’t nearly as unreasonable as

Is bribery really harmful enough to necessitate custodial sentences? Especially in the EU, where our criminal justice systems aren’t nearly as unreasonable as in the US.

misja111 7y ago
Bribery is forbidden by law, for obvious reasons. A law is useless if it is not somehow enforced. One could enforce it by holding the company accountable, however history has shown that this does not withhold individuals from breaking the law for personal gain. (Remember Enron or the credit crisis) So that's why there are custodial sentences for bribery.
- ryanlol 7y ago
  >A law is useless if it is not somehow enforced Airbus is getting huge fines, how is that not enforcement? Custodial sentences aren’t and shouldn’t be the only way of enforcing the law.
  - misja111 7y ago
    The fines are bad for Airbus but the individuals who committed the crimes don't have to pay anything, what's more, they probably have already cashed their bonuses. So fines for only the company are not enough to prevent these lucrative crimes from happening again in the future.
  - timwaagh 7y ago
    well the bribing was done by people. The company is an abstract entity that merely exists as a convenience for doing business and paying taxes. those people who did the actual bribing aren't being held liable, instead getting to hide behind the abstract entity for some reason. instead they hold the company liable and say 'just give us our cut and we will have done our jobs and we can shut up about it'. Of course Airbus isn't exactly operating in an ideal market and europe needs to do everything to avoid becoming irrelevant in the face of competition from american companies which are funded with military money, but this kind of 'justice' is not exactly what people imagine when they first hear about the concept.

5 ms·

Is bribery really harmful enough to necessitate custodial sentences? Especially in the EU, where our criminal justice systems aren’t nearly as unreasonable as

by ryanlol 7y ago

Is bribery really harmful enough to necessitate custodial sentences? Especially in the EU, where our criminal justice systems aren’t nearly as unreasonable as in the US.

misja111 7y ago
Bribery is forbidden by law, for obvious reasons. A law is useless if it is not somehow enforced. One could enforce it by holding the company accountable, however history has shown that this does not withhold individuals from breaking the law for personal gain. (Remember Enron or the credit crisis) So that's why there are custodial sentences for bribery.
- ryanlol 7y ago
  >A law is useless if it is not somehow enforced Airbus is getting huge fines, how is that not enforcement? Custodial sentences aren’t and shouldn’t be the only way of enforcing the law.
  - misja111 7y ago
    The fines are bad for Airbus but the individuals who committed the crimes don't have to pay anything, what's more, they probably have already cashed their bonuses. So fines for only the company are not enough to prevent these lucrative crimes from happening again in the future.
  - timwaagh 7y ago
    well the bribing was done by people. The company is an abstract entity that merely exists as a convenience for doing business and paying taxes. those people who did the actual bribing aren't being held liable, instead getting to hide behind the abstract entity for some reason. instead they hold the company liable and say 'just give us our cut and we will have done our jobs and we can shut up about it'. Of course Airbus isn't exactly operating in an ideal market and europe needs to do everything to avoid becoming irrelevant in the face of competition from american companies which are funded with military money, but this kind of 'justice' is not exactly what people imagine when they first hear about the concept.