Justice–Real Justice
I read an
article in my local paper, The Jacksonville Times Union, recently, regarding
the owner of a tree service company who, charged with aggravated manslaughter,
is facing thirty years in prison because a fourteen year old employee of his
was killed, falling out of a seventy foot tall tree. As I understand, the owner
of the business was in violation of OSHA regulations, allowing this young man
to perform hazardous work. I write this with not a little trepidation because
of my feelings for the parties involved and the tragedy they have suffered. I
have never met either of them, but I can feel their pain. I mean that; but,
feelings notwithstanding, there is a problem here far bigger for our nation
than the problem at hand.
Perhaps this
business owner should be charged with something. He violated an OSHA safety
regulation–but, aggravated manslaughter? Presumably, this is the owner of a
very small business. Has he even ever heard of OSHA? I want to tell you
something, people. There is another business, J.P. Morgan, which has just been
convicted of committing a serious crime that caused many people and/or business to lose millions, if
not billions, of dollars. I don’t know how many bankruptcies, broken homes and,
possibly, even suicides may have been caused by this event, and the perpetrator(s)
did not serve one day in jail. Their company was fined, I have read, one of the
greatest fines in history for such an offense, which their stakeholders had to
absorb–but not the offenders. Where is the justice in that?
Another
example–in 2008, our nation suffered the greatest financial crisis since the
Great Depression because of downright greed, fraud, and negligence in our
nation’s financial sector, from which we still have not recovered. Millions remain
unemployed. I don’t know how many bankruptcies, broken homes and, possibly,
even suicides may have been caused by this event, also; and, again, the
perpetrator(s) did not serve one day in jail. Where is the justice in that?
Let me give you one more example, the detail of which
I have copied from Wikipedia: “In settlements reached
in 2000 and 2002, Columbia/HCA plead guilty to 14 felonies and agreed to a $600+
million fine in the largest fraud settlement in US history. Columbia/HCA
admitted systematically overcharging the government by claiming marketing costs
as reimbursable, by striking illegal deals with home care agencies, and by
filing false data about use of hospital space. They also admitted fraudulently
billing Medicare and other health programs by inflating the seriousness of
diagnoses and to giving doctors partnerships in company hospitals as a kickback
for the doctors referring patients to HCA. They filed false cost reports,
fraudulently billing Medicare for home health care workers, and paid kickbacks
in the sale of home health agencies and to doctors to refer patients. In
addition, they gave doctors "loans" never intending to be repaid,
free rent, free office furniture, and free drugs from hospital pharmacies.
In late 2002, HCA agreed to pay the U.S.
government $631 million, plus interest, and pay $17.5 million to state Medicaid agencies, in addition to $250 million
paid up to that point to resolve outstanding Medicare expense claims. In all, civil law suits cost HCA more
than $2 billion to settle, by far the largest fraud settlement in US history.” And who was HCA’s chief executive, responsible
for the management of the company? His name is Rick Scott. And what was his
penalty? He was forced to resign, paid $9.88 million in a settlement, and left
owning 10 million shares of stock worth over $350 million, and in 2011, the
people of the State of Florida elected him governor (something else to think
about).
Somebody tell me
why this young man, owner of a small tree service business, should spend thirty
years, the prime of his life, in prison. This is what we call justice? Or, is justice just for the poor?
Ronald Miller
mtss86@bellsouth.net
No comments:
Post a Comment