Editorial: Let’s not stop now

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Friday, March 12, 2004 | 8:47 a.m.

Last week the Justice Department arraigned Bernard Ebbers, the former chief executive of telecommunications giant WorldCom, on charges that he misled investors. The prosecution of Ebbers follows other high-profile corporate fraud cases that have been brought against executives from Enron, Tyco International and Adelphia Communications.

The prosecutions are a good beginning, but let's not stop now. The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission must continue to be aggressive in pursuing executives who defraud their companies and investors. All white-collar crime, for that matter, should be taken more seriously. Corporate fraud involves much greater amounts of money than someone gets from holding up a convenience store, but in the latter case those criminals serve longer sentences and go to "real" prison, not minimum-security facilities. Once corporate executives start getting treated like regular folk who commit crimes, a real deterrent will be established.