Vorsatzvermeidung durch Unternehmensleiter bei betriebsbezogenen Straftaten

Abstract

In most of the corporate crimes, the managers are not directly involved in carrying out the criminal offense. However, they can be held responsible for omission, when they fail to take the necessary measures to prevent the criminal conducts committed by their subordinates. To establish that responsibility, they must have acted with criminal intent (dolus directus) or at least with dolus eventualis. In this article, the authors examine the conditions of mens rea in criminal omissions by company directors regarding facts carried out by their subordinates. After examining the legal definition of criminal intent, they especially highlight the requirements for its procedural determination. Finally, they describe the administrative liability of legal entities for the failure to control illegal acts of employees, a responsibility that does not depend on the intent of the managers.