Book contents
- American Criminal Justice
- American Criminal Justice
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Federal Structure; Sources of the Law
- 3 Investigation and Evidence-Gathering—The Participants
- 4 Investigation and Evidence-Gathering—Procedures
- 5 Arrest and Pretrial Detention
- 6 The Decision to Prosecute, or Not
- 7 Joinder of Charges and Defendants
- 8 Venue
- 9 Assistance of Counsel
- 10 Trial Rights and Preparation for Trial
- 11 Alternative Outcomes
- 12 Double Jeopardy
- 13 The Trial
- 14 Sentencing
- 15 Appeals
- 16 Corporate Criminal Responsibility
- 17 Internal Corporate Investigations
- 18 Professional Responsibility
- 19 Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
16 - Corporate Criminal Responsibility
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 June 2019
- American Criminal Justice
- American Criminal Justice
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Federal Structure; Sources of the Law
- 3 Investigation and Evidence-Gathering—The Participants
- 4 Investigation and Evidence-Gathering—Procedures
- 5 Arrest and Pretrial Detention
- 6 The Decision to Prosecute, or Not
- 7 Joinder of Charges and Defendants
- 8 Venue
- 9 Assistance of Counsel
- 10 Trial Rights and Preparation for Trial
- 11 Alternative Outcomes
- 12 Double Jeopardy
- 13 The Trial
- 14 Sentencing
- 15 Appeals
- 16 Corporate Criminal Responsibility
- 17 Internal Corporate Investigations
- 18 Professional Responsibility
- 19 Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Corporate criminal responsibility refers to the legal principles that determine whether a corporation (or other nonpersonal entity) can be convicted of a crime. While those principles may not strictly be considered a question of “procedure,” they have a very strong impact on criminal investigations in the United States. The principles applied in federal courts in the United States differ from those in many other countries—and, in fact, from principles applied in several of the states.
No federal statute defines or sets generally applicable standards for corporate criminal responsibility; rather, the law applicable to this issue is mostly a development of the common law. The federal approach is based on the notion of respondeat superior, which is a principle found in the law of torts rather than criminal law. The adoption of the respondeat superior principle to criminal proceedings derives from a 1909 decision of the Supreme Court which held that under a specific statute so providing, a corporation could be convicted of a crime.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- American Criminal JusticeAn Introduction, pp. 122 - 124Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019