Corporations and Criminal Responsibility

This book considers whether corporations should be made subject to criminal liability. It raises questions such as: why is it difficult to convict a corporation of manslaughter? And how can a corporation be punished?

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Public toleration of corporate harms is evaporating: deaths and injuries at work and transport accidents increasingly prompt a call for prosecution of a corporation. Should corporations be punished? This book draws on philosophical, cultural and psychological factors in considering arguments about the criminal liability of corporations. Justifications for criminal punishment and the underlying bases of criminal responsibility are described in the context of corporate activities, and the system of regulation and control of corporate harm through, for example, health and safety legislation, is examined and contrasted with conventional enforcement of criminal laws. Public perception of corporate harms are explored from a number of perspectives including the institutional framework of inquests and public inquiries. The trial of P & O on manslaughter charges following the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster is fully analyzed.