They don't regularly commit crimes though. They commit regulatory violations. There's a big difference. Like getting a parking ticket versus being convicted for a felony. Ones that get convicted like Purdue Pharma are fined so heavily they are forced to close. Or they could just be banned from doing business like Arthur Anderson when they had to surrender their CPA licenses and forgo rights to practice.

Steal a loaf of bread, do hard time. Steal $5 here and there millions of times over from unsuspecting customers with completely made-up junk fees, and it's an FTC fine...after years of haggling in court. The magic of indirection!

Tell that to Jean Valjean.

I don't know how to tell you this, but Jean Valjean is a fictional character.

Based on real punishments. And people had their hands chopped off for petty theft too.

The historical element is more relevant. In the UK (and perhaps the US) in 1723 it was made illegal to hunt a rabbit - punishable by death.

fine- Aladdin, then

Fair enough

3rd strike law? I knew someone that did 14 days for stealing a frozen chicken. Repeat offender...the judge may have been fed up for all the other crap from previous and decided to go full max.

USSR? China? Malaysia? Saudi Arabia? Iran? USA if the police and DA want to make an example?

I doubt anyone does any jail time for stealing bread unless they are habitual offender(multiple felony convictions) or its aggravated theft(eg: by force/violence). Court cases are public so feel free to prove me wrong.

From the past: USSR applied a death sentence for stealing grains from the already harvested field.

Nowadays Taliban do hands amputation as punishment for stealing(not sure about stealing bread, though).

> Jean Valjean (self-evident)

Jean Valjean is a character in a novel, not a real person, and is about as relevant to this discussion as a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk.

Apparently not self-evident!

A.k.a Eugène Vidocq

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Fran%C3%A7ois_Vido... says he stole a lot of money from his parents' bakery, but wasn't imprisoned for that (though was for plenty of other crimes).

Yes, he was a criminal since 14 (maybe earlier) -- facing his first stint at that age. It's debatable whether his reputation followed him in those days, having bounced around towns and cities so much. But he did steal bread later on in his life to -- if Hugo is to be accepted a reliable witness -- feed his family at the time. For this he was imprisoned almost immediately, leading to the creation of Jean Valjean.

Fraud, conspiracy, and wage theft are the common ones that companies commit every day.

How many times have people been fraudulently misled about the scope and responsibilities of their roles? How many times have companies misclassified workers or denied overtime pay? How many times have companies lied about their products and services? How many times have big tech companies conspired to keep wages down? How many private equity and pharmaceutical companies have engaged in profiteering?

They regularly commit crimes. Though the definition of crime is constantly being patched with loopholes by lobbyists and other well-connected jackals. The Overton window keeps on shifting. It's just a power battle between people more powerful than you.