General Principles Governing the Criminal Liability of Corporations, Their Employees, and Officers (From White Collar Crime: Business and Regulatory Offenses, P 5-1, - 5-39, 1990, Otto G. Obermaier and Robert G. Morvillo, eds. - See NCJ-126261)

• NCJ Number: 126266
• Author(s): H First
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 39 pages
• Sale Source: Seminar Press, Inc
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A framework of laws has developed governing the imposition of criminal liability on defendants in business crime cases including the corporation itself, its managers, and the employees who actually committed the crime.

Abstract

The modern acceptance of entity criminal liability began to develop in the mid-nineteenth century in English and American courts; in 1909, the Supreme Court held that corporations could be criminally liable, basing their arguments on tort analogy and public policy. The primary rule for corporate criminal liability, the black letter law rule, holds that a corporation can be held responsible for the acts of its agent, performed within the scope of the agent's employment, for the corporation's benefit. Corporate compliance programs have provided one means for enterprises to prevent violations of the law. A future area for prosecutions will be complex organizational crime; an analytical framework to structure an approach to this field will consider the nature of the act which gives rise to liability, the intent required for culpability, and the causal relationship between the alleged crime and the resulting injury or harm. General issues to consider with regard to liability of corporate officers and employees include responsibility and intent, managerial liability, and subordinate liability. 108 notes.