A lot of critics of American capitalism and American society often point to the different way regular bad guys — drug dealers, bank robbers, and thugs — are treated differently than white collar criminals by the media. Local television news programs in the U.S. and sometimes in Canada, for example, will be filled with scenes of police officers roughly treating arrested persons who are too often black and often poor and often accused of relatively minor crimes. But local TV news doesn't humiliate white collar criminals in the same way. Well, for what it's worth, there are some different images filling TV screens today. My colleagues at CTV Newsnet are showing video in which former Enron executive Jeffrey Andrew Fastow and his wife are being paraded today by scores of media cameras and it's pretty clear that they're in handcuffs and have done something wrong. I suppose the images are arresting, if you'll pardon the pun, because we see so few of these kind of white collar criminals arrested and given the media perp walk. For what it's worth, regulators and police investigators are happy to oblige media requests for these kind of perp walks, even if the rich and powerful don't like it, because they believe that if the TV screen is filled with images of corporate executives in expensive suits and handcuffs, there will be a powerful deterrent effect. The Associated Press has more on the Fastow story today and also the news that Fastow could be looking at 10 years in jail for his role in the Enron affair.
I've always been bothered by the so-called “perp walks” that I see on the news. I feel that, regardless of the crime committed, everyone (including those suspected, or convicted, of committing a crime) is entitled to privacy. In all honesty, do we, as a society, really need to see these images? I believe a person's ethnicity, financial status, race, or sexual orientation should not be a factor because they are not the problem. The problem is that fact that many people are fixated and, perhaps, actually enjoy seeing such images.
I believe the public has a right to know what goes on in court proceedings, of course. However, as for these “perp walks” of white collar criminals to petty thugs to the impoverished who steals a loaf of bread from the supermarket for his family are entirely unnecessarily and simply a window dressing, if you will.
I am also an advocate against cameras in the court room for similar reasons, namely the accused's constitutional right to privacy. Moreover, we simply don't need to see it. We can get the information that we need to be informed from court documents, transcripts, and news reports.
Constitutional rights should not dissolve when a person is accused of a crime. More people need to understand this, I think.
Until next time,
Doug
Oh, I believe it's Andrew Fastow, the former CFO of Enron. Jeffrey Skilling was the former CEO. Perhaps you got the two first names mixed up? Not a problem. It's easy to get confused these days with all of the corporate malfeasance. 😉
Thanks for the feedback, Doug — and you're right, it is Andrew, of course, and not Jeffrey. (Aaah, the power of blogging . ..)