Coriolis3

People get punished. Corporations receive (at most) a small fine that usually amounts to far less than what their crimes netted them.

I agree, for an advanced species space habitats seem far superior to planets. A constant supply of free energy (solar), easy access to endless metal (asteroids), no earthquakes/tsunamis/volcanos/wildfires. If we're talking far-future, to me the Culture and their Orbitals represent the ideal utopian endpoint for humanity.

Check out Iain M. Banks's "Culture" novels for a sci fi society that takes that approach to other civilizations. The Culture tries to raise up every lesser species of aliens to their own level of hedonist, post-scarcity wealth and technology. "The Player of Games" is both a good introduction to the series and an example of their cultural outreach at work.