Emphasis on "soft touch". The punishment amounts of money are often very small compared to the profit gained.

In the EU, fines can be expressed as a percentage of annual revenue. So imagine something strict enough to work. I'm sure a fine of 25% of annual global revenue for 10 years would put a lot of pressure where it needs to be, for example.

The issue with that is that it’s effectively collective punishment for everyone working at VW, whether they had any part in the cheating or not. If also fails to punish individuals who may since have moved on or retired.

Targeting the individuals responsible seems more fair and efficient on the whole, if more difficult to implement.

Well, maybe its time to start looking at a corporate death penalty. We kill people who do really bad and are convicted. Take it out of the shareholders. Oh, and yes, also imprison executives who do that. This doesn't have to be an either/or. Do both.

Or, maybe a few million dollar fine, after they got a profit of a few billion. That'll learn 'em!

I've seen people say this often, how do you envision it working?

What happens to all the employees, assets, shareholders etc.?

If VW is "executed" do you mean all the shares are seized and re-sold or do you mean everyone loses their jobs - discs are wiped, factories demolished etc etc.?

As long as you realise that "taking it out on the shareholders" means your 401K, your parents IRAs, etc.

Seeing how most corporations care more about pleasing shareholders than pleasing the government, workers, or customers, then yes, this kind of behavior needs to negatively impact investors as well. That would powerfully disincentivize profitable behavior that hurts society overall.

Those people benefitted from the illegal goings on as well.

Collective punishment incentivises the company to put safeguards into place. Papertrails for all decisions, four eyes principle, transparency etc.

Corporations are people, right? Punish the person. The corporation can decide whether to shift the punishment down to the responsible people (conduct their own internal investigation to find the responsible people, and punish them appropriately), and work towards a structure where these things won't happen or can be detected early.

Very much agree. I think seven years sounds excessive though. Two or three years would be enough to get the point across for most people.