Corporate Crime Research Articles

Perceptions of Blameworthiness and Punitiveness Towards Government Officials and Business Executives in State-Corporate Crime Cases

The concept of state-corporate crime is conspicuously missing from recent state-funded surveys of public attitudes towards white-collar and corporate crime. While these studies have reported increased condemnation of upper-class offenders, the scenarios used to elicit subjects' reactions did not specifically describe collusion between political and economic institutions. As a result, little is known about how the polity's role in encouraging or assisting corporate malfeasance may influence popular sentiments such as blame attribution and perceptions of just deserts. The present study asked 231 Facebook users to read two scenarios inspired by actual state-corporate crime cases, one in which the government initiated the offence, and another in which it merely facilitated the company's actions. After reading both scenarios, the respondents were asked to rate the blameworthiness of companies and government agencies and choose adequate punishments for key decision-makers. Results of statistical analyses suggest that the subjects were sensitive to variation in the role played by the state. The government was considered more blameworthy and deserving of tougher punishments when it initiated corporate wrongdoing, although a majority of participants felt that political and economic forces in both cases were equally to blame. These findings suggest that public opinion research should be used to engage the citizenry in evidence-informed policymaking by identifying commonly agreed upon solutions to state-corporate crime.

Um Ensaio sobre Crimes Corporativos na Perspectiva Pós-Colonial: Desafiando a Literatura Tradicional

RESUMO Objetivo: este ensaio tem por objetivo desafiar, teoricamente, as noções de crimes corporativos desenvolvidas na literatura tradicional, a qual compreende esse fenômeno como uma disfunção social e organizacional, concentrando-se nos seus antecedentes e determinantes. Argumento do Ensaio: a premissa básica do ensaio é que crimes corporativos ocorrem em uma dinâmica própria das corporações, a principal força do capitalismo contemporâneo sobre o mundo. Nós recorremos ao pensamento pós-colonial, mais especificamente aos conceitos de necrocapitalismo, uma versão do capitalismo contemporâneo caracterizada pelo imperialismo, que se refere a formas contemporâneas de acumulação, as quais envolvem a subjugação da vida ao poder da morte. Resultados: crimes corporativos ocorrem de forma duradoura em contextos de inter-relacionamentos extremamente complexos, incluindo relações entre corporações e governos. Conclusões: concluímos ser necessário argumentar contra a normalização dos crimes corporativos no campo dos estudos organizacionais, ao tratá-los como uma disfunção. Os crimes corporativos são configurados em uma cadeia de agentes, incluindo o Estado, envolvendo um conjunto de violações que atentam contra nações.

The Importance of Audit to Fight Corruption and Corporate Crimes in Bangladesh

The Importance of Audit to Fight Corruption and Corporate Crimes in Bangladesh

FORENSIC ACCOUNTING: CONCEPTS AND PROSPECTS OF APPLICATION IN UKRAINE

The development of the economy, the consolidation of companies, and their activities lead to increased threats and risks associated with their operation. One of the biggest problems in this direction is the emergence of facts of corporate fraud; it is corporate crimes that pose a real and serious threat to the stability of any business. Fraud and theft of tangible property can lead to significant financial losses. Therefore, it is crucial to implement measures to prevent, detect and investigate financial crimes and respond immediately to illegal actions. The purpose of writing this article is to reveal the essential characteristics of the concept of "forensic accounting" to justify its use by businesses in Ukraine to prevent fraud. The article notes that after large-scale fraudulent schemes, corruption and financial fraud, the need for forensic accounting has increased both worldwide and in Ukraine, as evidenced by the interest of practitioners and the scientific community in the definitions of "forensic accounting" analyzed using Google Ngram Viewer (GNV) and provides economic crime statistics. An analysis of the existing definitions of "forensic accounting" and noted that some experts identify the concept of "forensic accounting" with "forensic audit". It is emphasized that forensic accounting is a set of control system measures, which, on the one hand, are aimed at preventing illegal actions committed by company officials, as well as to stop the abuse of office. On the other hand - they are aimed at investigating fraud, resulting from which the company's reputation was caused damage or significant financial losses. The comparative characteristics of audit and "forensic accounting" are given. It turns out that forensic accounting is an independent service in the system of expert services. The necessity of its development and application by business entities in Ukraine is substantiated. The main directions of forensic accounting are outlined, among which the prevention and investigation of fraud, support in court proceedings, corporate forecasting, IT investigations, compliance with anti-corruption legislation are highlighted.

A Genealogy of State Crime in International Law: Contrasting Criminological Perspectives

In international public law, the concept of state crime has been extensively debated. For some international law commentators “[t]he concept of state responsibility for international crimes is juridically feasible and may be analyzed in terms of a criminal organization model or a corporate crime model” (Jørgensen 2000: 280); to others, “[t]he criminal state is juridically speaking a nonsense . . . The punishability of the state is both a legal and a practical impossibility.” (Drost 1959: 304). Although currently common legal understanding represents this notion as alien to the legal tradition, this term has a relevant place in the historical debates and development of international law. This paper discusses international law developments in contrast to criminological reflections relating to state crime, drawing attention to possible cross-references between these disciplines.

Conflicts of Interest at an Organization's Highest Authority: How the District of Columbia's Rules of Professional Conduct Can Fail to Protect Private Organizations

This Article examines how the District of Columbia’s incomplete incorporation of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct into its own Rules of Professional Conduct has created a scenario in which wrongdoing inside a private organization can flourish. In 2002, following the Enron scandal, the American Bar Association (ABA) revisited and revised its Model Rules of Professional Conduct. The ABA nevertheless took a conservative route, rejecting rules long proposed by experts which would have permitted attorneys aware of corporate crimes, fraud, and other wrongdoing to report their concerns to individuals or entities outside the organization’s reporting structure. Additional scandals unfolded contemporaneous with the ABA’s revisions, instigating federal legislation, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Regulations promulgated under that Act included the reporting out opportunity long sought by ethics experts. In light of the new federal legislation, the ABA, in 2003, finally passed a revised Model Rule 1.13 which requires attorneys to report wrongdoing up the ladder to an organization’s highest authority and permits those attorneys to report out such wrongdoing in the event the highest authority failed to respond appropriately. Unfortunately, the District of Columbia did not heed these lessons. Citing antiquated notions of client confidentiality, the District adopted an approach which requires an attorney to report wrongdoing up the ladder but then fully accept the results of that reporting, even if the highest authority to whom the attorney reports the misconduct is the one engaging in the misconduct. In so doing, the District has created a structure which incentivizes the termination of ethical attorneys in order to cover up corporate wrongdoing. This Article recommends changes to the District of Columbia’s Rules of Professional Conduct which will enable the District to take the lead in promoting a bar committed to ethical conduct and appropriate corporate governance.

Corporate Crime and the Use of Science in the Case of Asbestos: Producing Harm Through Discursive Shields

This article focuses on the normalization of victimization and harms caused by asbestos, a carcinogenic mineral fiber. To understand the role played by science in hiding the wounds and deaths caused by corporations, the article starts presenting the example of Brazil, where scientific discourse of foreign experts with industry ties are influencing regulation. From there, I examine the disputes for truth in six different medical journals through grounded theory. The results show that authors use some strategies to achieve credibility: avoiding to acknowlegde industry funding; constructing a specific meaning for the controversy about asbestos risks; and reflecting about the consequences os research misconducts. The ways of thinking about asbestos riks and harms are migrating through the international division of scientific labor, both to spread harm and to avoid liability of powerful agents.

Penegakan Hukum Pidana Lingkungan Dalam Mewujudkan Tata Nilai Keadilan Lingkungan Hidup

Environmental damage in Indonesia is getting more and more concerning. In fact, it has endangered every creature, including the life of future generations. Through legal means it can be seen how the law should be implemented. Therefore, environmental law enforcement can be interpreted as the use or application of instruments and sanctions in the legal field. Law Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management regulates environmental problems as a basic guideline for law enforcement officials to prosecute perpetrators of environmental crimes subject to criminal penalties according to applicable regulations. Criminal law enforcement in this law introduces the threat of minimum and maximum penalties, expansion of evidence, punishment for violations of quality standards, integrated criminal law enforcement, and regulation of corporate crime

Everyday Suffering and the Abstract Time-Reckoning of Law

How does time structure the allocation of responsibility in the context of large-scale corporate crimes? Focusing on the Processo Eternit – a criminal case brought against the former main investor in Europe’s largest asbestos-processing factory in Casale Monferrato (Italy) – this article compares the temporal order of the lived experience of the asbestos disaster in the affected community with the abstract time-reckoning of law. The everyday suffering in the form of the long-term health effects, inscribed in the body through the asbestos fibre, collides with the statute of limitation of the alleged crimes, as stipulated in law and endorsed in the court room. It examines how these incommensurable temporalities reconfigure the allocation of moral and legal responsibility for an industrial disaster and shows how these contradictions are related to the victims’ expectations of justice and their experience of injustice.

Arrests and indictments of corporate insiders, ownership structure, and corporate governance: Evidence from Korea

AbstractWe find evidence that higher insider ownership is significantly associated with lower incidences of insider arrests and indictments in the Korean stock market for the period of 2000 through 2015. This evidence is robust to different measures of insider ownership: Cash flow rights, control rights, wedge, and managerial ownership. Our findings are consistent with the view that the larger ownership combined with longer tenure of corporate insiders, while potentially entrenching insiders, extend the time horizon of these insiders so that they have stronger incentives to minimize the incidences of severe and serious corporate crimes, as reflected in insider arrests and indictments, that can substantially harm long‐term firm value.

Reflecting on Corporate Crime and Control: The Wells Fargo Banking Saga

In September, 2016 it was publicly revealed that Wells Fargo, one of the nation’s top banks, was involved in fraudulent business practices for years harming thousands of its clients. This article analyses the nature of and the reasoning behind these violations, the ways the executives related to them and how they are handled by the regulatory system. It reviews some of the challenges of actual and potential formal and informal attempts of forestalling or at least reducing future similar crimes. In this vein, a theoretical framework suggesting a possible way for better control of future similar victimization is explored.

Coercive Investigation of Corporate Crime: What Investigators Say

This study investigates the use of coercive investigation powers in the context of corporate crime, based on a series of interviews with former Australian Securities and Investments Commission (‘ASIC’) enforcement officials and corporate lawyers. It argues that ASIC’s powers are well equipped to investigate corporate crime, but that ASIC rarely exercises these powers. In this respect, the article draws similar conclusions to the recent Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, but delves further, revealing how coercive powers are used and why they are seldom exercised in corporate criminal investigations. In accounting for this institutional failure, this study implicates a neoliberal agenda of deregulation and austerity that has permitted the regulator to be ‘captured’ by wealthy and powerful regulatees. The analysis is informed by a critical regulation approach to corporate crime that explains corporate or ‘white-collar’ crime and its enforcement through a sociological lens: as a result of unequal social relationships, primarily that of social class, that create disparities in legal and political power.

Confronting Some of the Difficulties of Developing a “Law and Order” of White Collar and Corporate Crime

Confronting Some of the Difficulties of Developing a “Law and Order” of White Collar and Corporate Crime

Criminality and Corporate Practices: A Preliminary Application of Criminal Law to Corporate Actors

In the United States, corporate actors are extensively shielded from penalties under criminal law for inflicting injuries that are societal equivalents of criminal acts. This paper analyzes four extensively documented and publicized case examples of corporate quasi-criminal behavior to place corporate culpability for harm in the context of established criminal law, probe and refine the conceptualization of individual as opposed to organizational culpability, and explore options and requirements for applying a more individually focused approach to corporate criminality. As a point of departure, the cases focus on homicide and assault (i.e., willful or reckless physical injury). A rubric is presented translating corporate acts into existing interpretations of criminal law, drawn from the Model Penal Code of the American Law Institute. Key concepts for which criminal equivalencies are proposed include identifiable victims and perpetrators, criminal knowledge and responsibility, motivation, and the nature of victimization (e.g., willingness, inducements, ignorance). Special considerations in establishing methods of harm (“weapons”) and the type and severity of harm caused in the context of corporate crime are also addressed. The interaction between availability of evidence and grade of offense, and issues requiring resolution before criminal-equivalent behavior of corporate actors can be integrated into criminal codes, are also precursively explored.

Reply to Critics of 'Criminally Ignorant: Why the Law Pretends We Know What We Don't' (OUP 2019)

This is a reply to commentators at Book Symposium on Criminally Ignorant: Why the Law Pretends You Know What You Don’t held at Trinity College Dublin in Nov 2019 to appear together with the published comments from the symposium (currently under review). I am immensely grateful to the commentators for their insightful challenges to the material in the book. Here I discuss five groups of central concerns, namely: 1) doctrinal and conceptual concerns about the willful ignorance doctrine (Child and Dsouza); 2) methodological concerns (Webster); 3) skepticism raised by numerous commentators (Donnelley-Lazarov, Dsouza, Webster and Wieland) about my view that criminal law should generally be motive-insensitive; 4) conceptual worries about the commensurability of my manifestation account and its competitor the causal account (Wieland); 5) concerns about my defense of the collective knowledge doctrine for corporate crimes (Krebs).

Promises, Deceit and White-Collar Criminality Within the Theranos Scandal

Theranos rose to prominence by selling a dream that a company could make blood testing less painful and more effective. The company strove to bring new technology to the laboratory industry that would make Americans healthier. After securing more than $700 million from investors, Theranos would eventually receive, at its height, a $9 billion company valuation. As it turned out, Theranos and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, had mainly promised innovations predicated on proprietary technology that did not work. Eventually, Holmes, and former company president Ramesh Balwani, would be charged with fraud both by the SEC and the federal government. The Theranos scandal has multiple dimensions that make it an interesting case study for white-collar and corporate crime.

Criminal Liability of Legal Entities in China: Traditional Approaches and Modern Choices

Crime committed by a legal entity is an unavoidable social phenomenon in the process of modern socio-economic development in different countries of the world. The crime of a legal entity in modern Chinese criminal law is called a corporate crime. Since the establishment of the people's Republic of China until 1979, only the criminal liability of individuals has been recognized in the field of Chinese criminal law and criminal law theory. Corporate criminal responsibility in the People's Republic of China was established in a completely new historical context: with the development of the commodity economy and market economy in the new China, corporate crimes appeared in public life and gradually spread in the middle and second half of the 1980s, so that regulation through laws became a requirement for the Chinese society to function normally. In this social context, the Standing Committee of the All-China People's Congress has passed a number of laws that provide for corporate crimes. Before the Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China came into force of in 1997, corporate crimes already accounted for about one third of all offences stipulated in specific criminal and non-criminal laws, which lead to the final establishment of corporate criminal responsibility in the new Criminal Code of China. The author analyzes the problem of criminal liability for corporate crimes in the criminal law of the People's Republic of China from the standpoint of traditional theory, as well as predicts the appropriate trends in the future development of theoretical approaches to bringing legal entities to criminal responsibility in a risk society. According to the author, in a risk society, effective prevention of risks in the activities of legal entities is inseparable from the efforts of legal entities themselves, and criminal law, as one of the tools for risk distribution, is aimed primarily not at punishment, but at increasing the motivation of legal entities to achieve this.

Corporate Crime in Indonesian Criminal Law System

The Criminal Code (KUHP) has not listed corporations as legal subjects that can be held criminally liable. This is because the description of the perpetrators of crimes is still often associated with acts that are physically carried out by perpetrators while in the socio-economic environment, a criminal offender does not always need to physically commit a crime. Corporate actions are always manifested through human actions that are normally carried out by administrator or management. Therefore, the delegation of management responsibility can become corporate actions (Legal entity) if the act in the socio-economic environment acts as a corporate act. Specific to economic crimes in their efforts to solve them are still using Emergency Law Number 7 of 1955 on Economic Crimes, where corporations can be imposed criminal sanctions when committing economic crimes that fall within the scope of their business activities, theoretically and practically, criminal law subjects that can be accounted for criminally are humans (natuurlijke persoon) and legal entities (rechtpersoon).

Policing corporate bribery: negotiated settlements and bundling

ABSTRACT The rapid increase of negotiated out of court settlements in corporate crime cases has attracted significant academic attention. How the terms of settlements are constructed, however, remains under-studied. To address this gap, the paper observes that the terms of settlements often include a basket of allegations widely spread across time and geography. The paper conceptualises this as a form of ‘bundling’. The paper empirically explores the unique dynamics of corporate bribery cases that enable prosecutors to engage in bundling, and deconstructs bundling into two typologies (allegation bundling and enforcement bundling). From this perspective, this paper analyses official enforcement documentation relating to international bribery cases, supplemented with data from interviews with key informants who have experience of settlement negotiations in the US, the UK, and other countries. The analysis reveals that bundling provides efficiencies when resolving corporate crime cases, offers discounts to corporate defenders, and incentivizes coordinated multilateral enforcement. The practice of bundling allegations and enforcers confirms the character of negotiated settlements as a symbolic criminal law tool designed to reform the accused corporation through negotiation, persuasion and compliance.

중대재해기업처벌법 입법안 소고

The beginning of the campaign to enact the Corporate Manslaughter Act in Korea is largely influenced by the UK legislation of the Corporation Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. Several types of heavy punishment legislation on the corporate have been initiated by the 20th National Assembly considering the UK law. The Bill initiated by the Justice Party in June also has referred to the UK’s 2007 Act. But they all focus mainly on strengthening the sentence without breaking through the old penalty system of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. In my opinion, the special bill should clarify that Occupational health and safety crimes are not crimes of individual workers but crimes of corporations, and ask for primary responsibility for the company. This article suggests the direct criminal liability of corporations, their primary responsibility on occupational safety and health crimes, and other measures to the chief executive officer responsible for the corporate crimes.