Opinion

Hard time for white-collar criminals is a necessity

With a new round of Stanford Financial Group executives sentenced to prison ("20-year sentences close a Stanford chapter in U.S." Page D1, Friday), we hope that folks like Mike Hanlen can feel a sense of relief. Hanlen, one of Stanford's many victims, lamented that "the wheels of justice were slow," when R. Allen Stanford himself was found guilty last March. Then again, as Angela Shaw, director and founder of the Stanford Victims Coalition put it those months ago, it is all still "bittersweet." Denied insurance coverage and recovering pennies on the dollar from the money swindled, Stanford's victims can only look to the courts for a sense of justice and hope that regulations and lessons learned will protect future investors from being scammed.

But jail time isn't merely about just deserts, and regulations aren't the only way to stop white-collar criminals. These harsh sentences serve as a warning to potential future Stanfords that crimes don't go unpunished and that banks don't always escape with a mere fine. The buck has to stop somewhere.

News that U.S. District Judge David Hittner sentenced Stanford accounting chief Gilbert Lopez and global controller Mark Kuhrt each to 20 years in jail can be a distressing sight for those who see only respectable businessmen who made a poor decision or think that jail is for anti-social criminals who threaten law abiding folks with physical harm. The damage done from white-collar crime may not elicit the same gut moral response as watching someone physically rob 28,000 folks of their life savings. Specifically because there isn't that instinct, it is important that the threat of jail time dangles over the heads of unscrupulous businessmen. Whether a neck is clad in gang tattoos or a silk tie, people who violate our laws and exploit others for their own gain need to know that they will not come out ahead.

Given our society's worship of wealth, it is often difficult to create that sense of foreboding immorality in the midst of criminal businessmen. All too often, we presume that accumulated dollars correspond with wisdom, integrity or a keen work ethic. As Houston of all places has learned, it is easy to be swept up in success while glossing over exactly how folks got there.

But at the end of the day, our justice system has to ensure that it doesn't matter if the criminal was a good family man who gave to charity or donated to all the right politicians.

Whether through strong arm or deceit, with a gun or spreadsheet, there was a crime, people were hurt, and we need to show that criminals don't win - no matter how white their collars are.