First Paris Hilton, now Lewis Scooter Libby. What’s the world coming to? The rich and powerful are being sent to jail – Hilton three weeks (she was released from jail after five days and is now serving house arrest) for violating probation and driving on a suspended license and Libby 30 months for obstructing a federal investigation.

Does this mark a new era of accountability, an end to automatic community service and probation? I hope so. I take no pleasure in the incarceration of either of these notable lawbreakers, but I think it’s a good thing.

It all started with Martha Stewart’s one-year jail sentence for lying to investigators. Thereafter, we’ve seen a parade of handcuffed multimillionaires go to prison for precedent-setting long terms:

• 25 years for WorldCom’s former chairman Bernie Ebbers
• 25 years for Tyco’s former CEO Dennis Kozlowski and his CFO Mark Schwartz
• 24 years for Enron’s leader Jeff Skilling and 10 for his CFO Andy Fastow (who got leniency in return for testifying against his colleagues)
• 20 years for Adelphia’s former CFO Timothy Rigas and 15 for his octogenarian father John Rigas, who founded the company
• 18 years for former Westar Energy’s CEO David Wittig

What good does it do to lock up these rich and formerly powerful executives? There are two benefits. First, punishment serves justice and vindicates the law. Second, it deters others from breaking the law.

Let there be no doubt, sending Paris Hilton, Scooter Libby, and all those corrupt businessmen to prison sounds a very loud warning siren to others who have lied, or might think they are above the law by lying, to investigators or investors.

Character should be what motivates people toward virtue, but sometimes we need coercion.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.