ipl-logo

Realist Theory Supporting Corporate Criminal Liability

1808 Words8 Pages

The opponents of corporate criminal liability have asserted that the recognition of such liability violates the principle of personal punishment, which is one of the fundamental principles of criminal law. The principle of personal punishment requires punishment to be limited to the person who committed the crime only. Corporate criminal liability requires personal fault from a representative or employee. As the corporation is the default entity (inanimate), personal fault cannot be assigned to it legally, because it is unable to commit the crime by itself. So imposing the punishment on a legal person is impossible, because crimes are personal ,and can only be committed by natural persons. In addition, imposing punishment on a corporation …show more content…

Even in relation to financial punishments that can be imposed on a corporation, such as a fine, confiscation or closure, imposing these punishments will eventually lead to a breach of the principle of personal punishments. In other words, some employees who are not involved in the crime will be punished.
2. Approach Supporting Corporate Criminal Liability
A realist theory approach supporting corporate criminal liability can be traced back to the jurist, "Johannes Althusius", and was advocated by "Otton Von Gierke", who is recognized for challenging Roman Jurisprudence:
"According to this theory, a legal person is a real personality in an extra-juridical and pre-juridical sense of the word. The theory assumes that the subjects of rights are not limited to belong merely to human beings but to every being that possesses a will and life of its own. As such, being a juristic person and as 'alive' as the human being, a corporation is also subjected to rights. Under the realist theory, a corporation exists as an objectively real entity and the law merely recognizes and gives effect to its existence. The realist jurists also contend that the law has no power to create an entity but merely having the right to recognize or not to recognize an …show more content…

It has nothing to do with the ability of a corporate legal person to be held liable for criminal activity. If the administrative law outlines the activity of the corporate legal person and restricts it within the scope of the objectives for which it was established. If a corporation commits illegal activities or illegal conduct, it should be held liable under appropriate civil and criminal laws. For example, a bank or company, in order to gain profit, might turn to smuggling operations or illegitimate speculation. This situation constitutes a danger for the interests of society, which requires punishing the entity. This is the argument of jurists who support corporate criminal liability as

Show More
Related

  • Corporate Personhood: Santa Clara County V. Southern Pacific Railroad

    298 Words  | 2 Pages

    For several years, the law has treated corporations as metaphysical persons. This means that the law regards corporations as persons, but only for certain legal purposes. For example, corporations have some of the same rights as natural people do, such as the right to freedom of speech. Corporate personhood has evolved into a highly controversial topic since it was first established in the famous supreme court case, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad. This was a case where the Southern Pacific Railroad protested taxes placed on it by several counties in California.

    Read More

  • Ambivalence Of White Collar Crime

    531 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is often used to describe both occupational and organizational offenses that occur in the middle of otherwise respected and legitimate occupations or financial activities. Friedrichs’ argued that one must consider context, status of the offender, victims, harm, and legal classifications. As a result

    Read More

  • Tyson Foods Competitive Strategy

    458 Words  | 2 Pages

    The company can face lawsuits in various markets given - different laws and

    Read More

  • White Collar Crime Rational Choice Theory

    1831 Words  | 8 Pages

    CHOICES “White collar crime” refers to those offenses that are anticipated to generate fiscal gain using some form of dishonesty. This type of crime is usually committed by people in the commercial world who, as a result of their employment position, are able to get a hold of large amounts of other people’s money. “White collar crime” does not involve forceful, drug-related, or blatantly illicit activities. In fact, perpetrators are typically involved in otherwise lawful industries and may hold respectable positions in the community prior to the discovery of their fraudulent schemes. The slogan “white collar crime” was made up in 1939 by Edwin Sutherland during a dialog which he gave to the American Sociological Society.

    Read More

  • Criminally Responsible Law

    1035 Words  | 5 Pages

    Should the Not Criminally Responsible Law Remain in Canada? As of 1992, the Canadian Criminal Justice system introduced a new Law to its Criminal Code. NCR stands for “Not Criminally Responsible.” It is defined in section 16 of the Criminal Code."

    Read More

  • Frankenstein Monster Metaphors

    1246 Words  | 5 Pages

    This is at any cost no matter what illegal, monstrous behaviors they engage in while at work, or how charming they are in their everyday lives outside of work they as humans have morals which they should carry with them to their jobs creating a corporation based on excellent morals verses one that has all the defining characteristics of a psychopath. The government is also responsible for the actions of psychopathic corporation because they do not mandate punishments severe enough causing the corporations to follow the rules and regulations allowing for little to no punishment for cases of corporate

    Read More

  • Zemiological Approach

    1350 Words  | 6 Pages

    166) Harms that can be caused by corporations include corporate fraud such as pension frauds, harms caused by working like death, injury and disease, exposedness to airborne pollutants and food poisoning. Hillyard and Tombs (2007) state that applying a concept of crime to corporate harm is not compatible, on the grounds that administrative entities cannot be reduced to actions, motivations and objectives of an individual human representative who composes them. Hence, the zemiological approach might be more accurate to comprise mass harms caused by corporations (p. 19-20). For the study of global crime and insecurity this would mean that if the zemiological approach would be applied, a particular focus would be placed on collective and corporate responsibility.

    Read More

  • The Rich Get Richer And The Poor Get Prison Chapter 2 Analysis

    503 Words  | 3 Pages

    When a corporation ignores safety protocol and a building fire kills its employees as a result, we don’t call that murder. Yet, all of those scenarios result in death. The people committing these horrendous acts are not punished like criminals because we don’t see their actions as crimes. They are seen as unfortunate side effects of progress, or “just the way things are.” The text begs you to look at your ideas about crime and to see them as distorted by the media, by our own bias, and by the justice system’s history of dealing with

    Read More

  • Theories Of Criminology Theory

    1457 Words  | 6 Pages

    According to this theory, the people focus on making logical choice regarding the circumstances in which to commit crime. It is noticed that this theory makes use of utilitarian belief under which man is the actor who considers costs, means,

    Read More

  • Moral Relativism In Criminal Justice

    709 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the discussion of moral objectivism and moral relativism, it is important to understand the difference, and the impact that a moral system has on the criminal justice community. The community exists to enforce the laws. Moral judgments are made with votes, and the decisions on how laws are crafted are made by elected officials. For this reason, it makes sense for the criminal justice community to separate themselves professionally from their own moral views. Moral Relativism is the view of morality, much like beauty, is relative to the person, culture, or organization.

    Read More

  • Milton Friedman's Views On Social Responsibility Of Business

    1245 Words  | 5 Pages

    He mentioned that just individuals have responsibility and a corporation is an artificial person and so it has artificial responsibilities, however the similar situation cannot be obtained for whole business. He says that, firstly, we should ask what it refers for whom to examine the doctrine of social responsibility of business. He believes that a corporate executive is an employee of the business in a private property sys¬tem and his employers are his re¬sponsibility and says “That responsi¬bility is to conduct the business in accordance with their desires, which generally will be to make as much money as possible while con¬forming to the basic rules of the society, both those embodied in law and those embodied in ethical custom.” The primary responsibility of corporate executive is as an agent for owners of corporation or individuals who constitute charity

    Read More

  • Analyzing Rawls Two Concepts Of Rules

    1102 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Rawls’ paper, “Two Concepts of Rules”, he sheds light on fact that a distinction between justifying a practice and actions that fall under said practice, must be made. This distinction, according to Rawls is crucial in the debate between Utilitarianism and Retributivism, more specifically in defending the Utilitarian view against common criticisms, which will be addressed further in this essay. This essay will be examining the troubling moral question that Rawls addresses; The subject of punishment, in the sense of attaching legal penalties to the violation of legal rules. Rawls acknowledges that most people hold the view that punishing, in broad terms, is an acceptable institution. However, there are difficulties involved with accepting

    Read More

  • Ethics And Moral Issues In The Enron Scandal

    931 Words  | 4 Pages

    In this Enron Scandal ,several moral issues and values are being discussed .The moral issues is the misconduct of code of ethics by management level of a corporation , violation of code of professional ,ethical dilemma that faced by a management level when involved own interest . The first moral issues that discussed in Enron Scandal is misconduct code of ethics by management level of a corporation .In this case ,the mastermind of this scandal is the company CEO , Mr .

    Read More

  • Social Responsibilities Of Amazon's Lesson: Social And Social Comparison

    1125 Words  | 5 Pages

    All other functions are underpinned by the economic role of business in society. •Legal responsibilities - Although companies have their economical fundamental role they are expected to comply with the laws and regulations of the country they operate in. The legal expectations apply to companies, as juristic entities that can act as persons, and the employees they employ regardless of their responsibility. •Ethical responsibilities - Companies are also expected to comply with the ethical norms of a society. Because these are normally not written in law and are therefore not a legal requirement it is difficult for companies to behave and follow it.

    Read More

  • Realist Theory Of Law

    1039 Words  | 5 Pages

    Accordingly to realist theory the judges are deciding cases on the facts of each particular case considering various psychological and sociological factors. The majority of lawyers now recognize that judges are taking into account also political implications of legal rules and decisions. In theory this means that the same profile cases can have various outcomes and be decided differently even when the judges are being not mistaken, reasonable and honest. This thus explains why legal realism theory concentrates so much on the indeterminacy of law.

    Read More

More about Realist Theory Supporting Corporate Criminal Liability

Open Document