Fascinating article about the Ford Pinto criminal case:
http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1987/05/maakestad.html
Here's the intro:
Redefining Corporate Crime
by Willilam Maakestad
0n August 10, 1978, three teenage girls driving in a Ford Pinto were hit from behind on Highway 33 in northern Indiana. Within moments their car burst into flames and Lyn Ulrich, 16 and her cousin Donna Ulrich, 18, were burned to death. Eight hours later, Lyn's 18-year-old sister, Judy, who had third degree burns over 95 percent of her body, also died.
When an Indiana grand jury looked into the accident a month later, they voted unanimously to indict not the driver of the van that had rear-ended the three girls, but Ford Motor Company - then the country's third largest industrial corporation - on three counts of reckless homicide. The automaker was accused of recklessly designing, manufacturing and marketing the Pinto's unsafe fuel tank system.
Although Ford was ultimately acquitted, the criminal prosecution of Ford Motor Company reestablished an important precedent: In certain cases involving huyman health and safety, corporations and their executives could be required to submit not only to the scrutiny and sanctions of traditional federal agencies, but to state criminal courts as well.
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William Maakestad is legal counsel and associate professor of management at Western Illinois University. He is co-author of the book, Corporate Crime Under Attack: The Ford Pinto Case and Beyond.
http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1987/05/maakestad.html
Here's the intro:
Redefining Corporate Crime
by Willilam Maakestad
0n August 10, 1978, three teenage girls driving in a Ford Pinto were hit from behind on Highway 33 in northern Indiana. Within moments their car burst into flames and Lyn Ulrich, 16 and her cousin Donna Ulrich, 18, were burned to death. Eight hours later, Lyn's 18-year-old sister, Judy, who had third degree burns over 95 percent of her body, also died.
When an Indiana grand jury looked into the accident a month later, they voted unanimously to indict not the driver of the van that had rear-ended the three girls, but Ford Motor Company - then the country's third largest industrial corporation - on three counts of reckless homicide. The automaker was accused of recklessly designing, manufacturing and marketing the Pinto's unsafe fuel tank system.
Although Ford was ultimately acquitted, the criminal prosecution of Ford Motor Company reestablished an important precedent: In certain cases involving huyman health and safety, corporations and their executives could be required to submit not only to the scrutiny and sanctions of traditional federal agencies, but to state criminal courts as well.
[size:17pt][/size]
William Maakestad is legal counsel and associate professor of management at Western Illinois University. He is co-author of the book, Corporate Crime Under Attack: The Ford Pinto Case and Beyond.
