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A dysfunctional company with bad management is not a crime. Putting a CEO in jail because he is bad, not because any crime had been committed, is an even worse

A dysfunctional company with bad management is not a crime. Putting a CEO in jail because he is bad, not because any crime had been committed, is an even worse idea. The specific case here about criminally negligent software design errors almost certainly never came up to the CEO. If there is evidence otherwise and the CEO was aware of the problem and decided that the risks were acceptable then he obviously should go to jail. This was not the case here as far as I am aware. Knowing of the issue is the important thing here. If you want another case you can look at the Diesel Gate Scandal at VW, it is German law, but the single most important question is always "who knew", because if the person did not know and had no reason to want to know he HAS to be innocent, regardless whether it is the CEO or anyone else.

consp 2y ago
> The specific case here about criminally negligent software design errors almost certainly never came up to the CEO. He or she is responsible for the culture and governing within the company. So either way they are involved either by knowing and ignoring or by setting the precedent for this to go ahead without their knowledge. The punishment for those might differ but it's not a free pass.
ryandrake 2y ago
> The specific case here about criminally negligent software design errors almost certainly never came up to the CEO. It’s the CEO’s job to make sure these things “come up” to him. If he didn’t know about an engineering problem that got people killed then he is negligent and still should go to prison. I don’t get all this simping for CEOs. CEOs don’t need us to defend them on HN. Trust me, they are doing fine without passioned arguments in support of them.
amelius 2y ago
What is the problem with CEOs starting internal investigations to see if there are any (safety/criminal) issues? Why does the cost of investigation have to be paid by society?

consp 2y ago

> The specific case here about criminally negligent software design errors almost certainly never came up to the CEO. He or she is responsible for the culture and governing within the company. So either way they are involved either by knowing and ignoring or by setting the precedent for this to go ahead without their knowledge. The punishment for those might differ but it's not a free pass.

ryandrake 2y ago

> The specific case here about criminally negligent software design errors almost certainly never came up to the CEO. It’s the CEO’s job to make sure these things “come up” to him. If he didn’t know about an engineering problem that got people killed then he is negligent and still should go to prison. I don’t get all this simping for CEOs. CEOs don’t need us to defend them on HN. Trust me, they are doing fine without passioned arguments in support of them.

amelius 2y ago

What is the problem with CEOs starting internal investigations to see if there are any (safety/criminal) issues? Why does the cost of investigation have to be paid by society?