Ethics Lesson

Making criminals fight crime

Creating a punishment to fit a crime is not always easy. All too often, the judicial choices come in two basic modes: prison terms or fines. But some judges have experimented with inventing appropriate alternatives. Federal Judge Warren Urbom last week came up with one of the most dramatic efforts to date. The Missouri Valley Construction Co. of Grand Island, Neb., had pleaded guilty to bid-rigging charges and faced a $2 million fine. Instead, at the company's suggestion, Urbom sought to do something more concrete about the bid-rigging crime. Missouri Valley will now pay a $325,000 fine, but will then ante up $1,475,000 to endow a chair in business ethics at the University of Nebraska.

As part of the agreement, the company will be on probation for five years, so that the judge can review its future bidding practices. It will have no say in who is chosen for the chair, which may not be named for the enforced donor, nor can the gift be deducted on tax returns. Since any fine would have been paid to the Federal Government, the Justice Department opposed the endowment plan, arguing that Urbom lacked the authority to order payments to a third party not connected with the case. As it happens, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has already upheld nine earlier inventive sentences by Urbom, calling them "creative, innovative and imaginative." Among previous beneficiaries of the judge's rulings on bid-rigging cases: a nursing home, a youth home, a Y.M.C.A. and a hospital. Like the University of Nebraska, all the recipients have been delighted. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.