Corporate Crime and Government Response in Australia (From The Australian Criminal Justice System: The Mid 1980s, P 84-96, 1986 Duncan Chappell and Paul Wilson, eds. -- See NCJ-110891)

• NCJ Number: 110895
• Author(s): P Grabosky; J Braithwaite
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 13 pages
• Sale Source: Butterworth-Heinemann
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Although corporate offenses in Australia do more harm to persons and property in aggregate than traditional criminal offenses, deterrence measures are comparatively mild.

Abstract

Australian police forces have little involvement in controlling corporate crime. Most cases of corporate crime are investigated by specialized business regulatory agencies which also dispense sanctions. Based upon interviews conducted by the authors with officials of 96 major Federal, State and local government business regulatory agencies throughout Australia, none of the major agencies can be characterized as aggressively prosecutorial. Most prefer persuasion and negotiation to achieve industry compliance with the law. When corporate offending persists after initial warnings, it tends to be met with informal or administrative sanctions rather than criminal process and sanctions. This mild response to corporate crime is rooted in the central place given big business in the Australian socioeconomic and political milieu as well as in the often close ties between members of business regulatory commissions and the businesses they regulate. Australia's business regulatory agencies must be convinced that deterrence is necessary both to enforce the law against unscrupulous business elements and to give more incentive for voluntary compliance. 30 footnotes.