We need to see punishment that fits the crimeIt is generally accepted by most experts in the area of business ethics that it is important for bad behaviour to be seen to be punished in an organisation. Not doing so or being very lenient with an offender (perhaps because he’s the sales guy who brings in the big accounts) is akin to saying bad behaviour is OK around here. So I was really shocked at the sentence handed down to Thomas Naughton, the priest who pleaded guilty to five counts child sexual abuse in June this year. The judge said that the abuse was shocking and ‘at the higher end of the scale’. The five counts were sample charges relating to a sustained campaign of abuse of a small boy. The boy who is now a man estimates that there must have been around 70 occurrences. From the court reports it seems that the man’s life has been destroyed. The maximum sentence for such abuse is 10 years. Thomas Naughton got three for each count to be served concurrently with the last year suspended. If this abuse was at the higher end of the scale what does one do to get close to the maximum sentence? I’m no legal expert and I presume the judge must have some reasons. Maybe he thinks it a greater punishment for Naughton to be out of the security of a prison and in the public eye. But if we are to respect the judiciary and see it as truly independent we need to feel that fair punishment is meted out regardless of status, uniform or affiliation.
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