1st Edition

European Developments in Corporate Criminal Liability

Edited By James Gobert, Ana-Maria Pascal Copyright 2011
    384 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    384 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    When corporations carry on their business in a grossly negligent manner, or take a cavalier approach to risk management, the consequences can be catastrophic. The harm may be financial, as occurred when such well-regarded companies as Enron, Lehman Brothers, Worldcom and Barings collapsed, or it may be environmental, as illustrated most recently by the Gulf oil spill. Sometimes deaths and serious injuries on a mass scale occur, as in the Bhopal gas disaster, the Chernobyl nuclear explosion, the Paris crash of the Concorde, the capsize of the Herald of Free Enterprise, and rail crashes at Southall, Paddington and Hatfield in England.What role can the law play in preventing such debacles and in punishing the corporate offenders?

    This collection of thematic papers and European country reports addresses these questions at both a theoretical and empirical level. The thematic papers analyse corporate criminal liability from a range of academic disciplines, including law, sociology/criminology, economics, philosophy and environmental studies, whilst the country reports look at the laws of corporate crime throughout Europe, highlighting both common features and irreconcilable differences between the various jurisdictions.

    Preface by Michael Smythe, Partner and Head of Public Policy, and Clifford Chance, LLP  Part I: Thematic Issues  1. Containing Corporate Crime: Civil or Criminal Controls? by Celia Wells  2. A Legal Person’s Conscience: Philosophical Underpinnings of Corporate Criminal Liability by Ana-Maria Pascal  3. The Challenges of Regulating Powerful Economic Actors by  Laureen Snider and Steven Bittle  4. State Complicity in the Production of Corporate Crime by Steve Tombs  5. Penalising Corporate 'Culture': The Key to Safer Corporate Activity? by Rick Sarre  Part II: Organisational v. Individual Liability  6. The Organisational Component in Corporate Crime by Maurice Punch  7. Individual Liability of Company Officers by Neil Foster  8. Squaring the Circle: The Relationship between Individual and Organisational Liability by James Gobert  Part III: Particular Offences  9. Environmental Offending, Regulation and 'The Legislative Balancing Act' by Nigel South  10. Investigating Safety Crimes in Finland by Anne Kaarina Alvesalo-Kuusi  11. Financial Crime and Litigation: Aftermath of Shadow Banking and Subprime Crisis by Sheri Markose  12. Concluding Observations by Kier Starmer, QC (Director of Public Prosecutions)  Part IV: Country Reports  13. Austria by Professor Ingrid Mitgutsch  14. Belgium by Amanda Jane Struby  15. Czech Republic by Melanie Ramkissoon  16. Denmark by Melanie Ramkissoon  17. Estonia by TBC  18. Finland by Dr Anne Kaarina Alvesalo-Kuusi  19. France by Pascal Beauvais  20. Germany by Klaus Rogall  21. Italy by Cristina de Maglie  22. Ireland by Edward Fitzgerald  23. Lithuania by Deividas Soloveicikas  24. Luxembourg by Janis Dillon  25. Netherlands by Melanie Ramkissoon  26. Poland by TBC  27. Portugal by TBC  28. Romania by Ana-Maria Pascal  29. Slovenia by Janis Dillon  30. Spain by Melanie Rankissoon  31. Sweden by Tom Alexander Burton  32. UK by James Gobert

    Biography

    James Gobert has been a Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Essex since 1989, and before that at the University of Tennessee. He has also taught at the University of Michigan, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Notre Dame (London). His specialist areas of research are corporate crime and white collar crime and he has spoken on these topics at universities and conferences throughout Europe, Australia and North America.

    Ana-Maria Pascal is the MBA Programme Director at London College of Business, having previously been a Lecturer and Senior Researcher at the University of Essex. She holds a PhD in Philosophy and an MBA in International Finance. Her recently published PhD thesis, Pragmatism and 'the End' of Metaphysics (2009) won the Aurel Leon award for debut.