Alternative Methods in Justice - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... y will attempt to analyze why it is better for offenders such as pharmaceutical companies to be punished in a way other than incarceration and payment of fines. It will also suggest alternative methods of punishments for drug companies who willfully harm society. Moreover, it will attempt to explain why non-incarceration is a much better way in dealing with this kind of criminality.
In February 2009, “U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp fined Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals CEO Jared Wheat $50,000 and ordered him, the company and other individual defendants to forfeit $3 million in proceeds from selling knockoff prescription drugs over the internet.” (Rothman, C., 2009) Apparently they were producing generic versions of drugs similar to Viagra in their facility in Belize and selling them online without need for prescriptions. A jury also found former InterMune Inc. CEO W. Scott Harkonen guilty of health care fraud. (Levine, D., 2009) InterMune, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies in pulmonology and hepatology. (Corporate Overview, n.d.) It seems “under Harkonen’s direction, InterMune marketed and sold Actimmune to treat IPF, a fatal disease, despite the fact that the drug was not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a safe and effective treatment.” (Former Intermune, 2008) In 2005, “Patrick Lais, then CEO of York Pharmaceuticals Inc., was sentenced to federal prison for distributing substandard aspirin in 2000 and 2001.” (Kansas City… 2005) The common punishment for these two crimes had been huge fines and incarceration. Given the effect of these crimes to the lives of their consumers, CEOs of pharmaceutical companies who intentionally harm the public should receive other forms of punishment than monstrous fines and jail time. They are rich. They can pay the fines. If they behave nicely in jail, they may get a parole. Through all these, their customers are still suffering and may or ...Download file to see next pagesRead More