15 - Corporate and Computer Crime

Abstract

As federal and state agencies increase their investigative focus on white-collar crime and as many of the federal laws target corporations as well as individuals, the courts have found it necessary to review the laws concerning corporate crime. Corporate criminal liability existed well before the coining of the term white-collar crime. At common law, corporations could not be held liable for criminal acts. However, with the recognition by state legislatures and the courts that the imposition of corporate criminal liability is an essential part of the regulatory process, a body of law pertaining to corporate criminal liability soon developed. Without corporate liability, many crimes would be punished insufficiently because the size and structure of many corporations makes it impossible to adequately allocate responsibility to individuals. When state and federal statutes making corporations criminally liable are upheld, corporations, as well as officers and agents of the corporations, are made defendants in a number of cases.