THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 8, 1995 TAG: 9503080007
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: By MARC WETHERHORN
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
The U.S. House of Representatives has just passed a bill its proponents say will protect individual Americans by imposing tougher penalties on wrongdoers. Next week, the House is likely to pass a bill reducing penalties on wrongdoers, jeopardizing the health and safety of millions of Americans. Confused?
Both bills are in the Gingrich Contract With America, but they are diametrically opposed in almost every provision. One bill, the Taking Back Our Streets Act, H.R. 3, deals with individual criminals - people who injure ordinary Americans through theft, assault or murder. The second, the so-called Common Sense Legal Reforms Act, H.B. 10, deals with corporate wrongdoers who injure ordinary Americans through fraudulent practices and unsafe products.
As a parent, you want to protect your child from being injured through random violence or from wearing pajamas which shouldn't be flammable but burn up on contact with heat. As a woman, you're probably equally concerned about not being raped and about avoiding harmful products which would take away your ability to bear children. As a driver, you're probably just as concerned about not being carjacked as you are about avoiding cars which explode on impact. You most likely want the right to protect yourself and your family from all those forms of violence. But the Contract With America makes a tremendous distinction between these crimes, between street criminals and corporate wrongdoers.
In keeping with the belief that people would be personally responsible for their actions, the crime bill makes it easier to punish criminals on the street. On the other hand, the so-called legal-reform bill makes it harder to punish wrongdoers in corporate suites, apparently in the belief that corporations and their executives - unlike individual citizens - shouldn't be held accountable for their actions.
Under one bill, juries are required to impose the death penalty for certain crimes committed by street criminals. Under the other bill, juries are prohibited from imposing meaningful financial penalties for corporate wrongdoers responsible for injuring ordinary Americans through the manufacture or sale of unsafe products.
Under one bill, the rules of evidence are changed so that it is easier to convict street criminals and prevent them from further violence. Under the other bill, the standards of proof are changed so that it is harder - if not impossible - to impose the financial penalties necessary to deter future wrongdoing by corporate criminals.
Under one bill, street criminals are required to repay victims for the costs of their injuries. Under the other bill, victims will end up paying more of the costs for injuries such as the loss of child-bearing ability or disfigurement, thus transferring these costs from corporate wrongdoers to victims.
Under one bill, states are given more authority, with full discretion on how to spend $10 billion in block grants to catch criminals or prevent crime. Under the other bill, more than 200 years of state authority is preempted by the federal government, eliminating the ability of states to determine how best to prevent future corporate wrongdoing and protect consumers.
Ordinary Virginians are tired of being injured and feeling unsafe, whether on the streets or in their homes. They don't just want protection from violent street criminals but from corporations that sell unsafe and defective products. In a recent Yankelovich poll, 81 percent of respondents said corporations make and sell products which they know are dangerous, and 75 percent think the only way corporations will stop making products they know are dangerous is if they know they can be sued for doing so.
So, why does the Contract seek to protect American families from street criminals but not from corporate wrongdoers? Most likely it is because of the power of money. It's easy to protect consumers from street criminals - there are no muggers' PACs, no robbers' corporate gift funds.
But it is a different question when it comes to protecting injured consumers from companies that fund politicians' political campaigns. Politicians like to talk about getting violent criminals off the streets. It is time that those same politicians also act to protect our health and safety from wrongdoers in corporate suites - not overturn the ability of our state to do so. It's time for a single standard. MEMO: Mr. Wetherhorn is state director of Virginia Citizen Action in
Charlottesville. by CNB