Corporate liability and the Criminalisation of Failure

Campbell, Liz

Abstract

Defining and prosecuting corporate criminality has long been fraught with difficulty. As a result, the UK legislature is turning to an indirect form of omissions liability, by criminalising failure to prevent certain crimes like bribery and the facilitation of tax evasion. This article charts the development of indirect omissions corporate liability in the UK, and examines its rationales and benefits. Existing commentary has not explicated the implications of extension to other offences; I consider possible objections, regarding due process rights; reliance on omissions liability; effectiveness; and the use of the measures to date. Though its likely impact is less than clear, I conclude that, on balance, corporate liability for failure to prevent crime is justifiable and warrants being extended to economic offences and beyond.

Citation

Campbell, L. (2018). Corporate liability and the Criminalisation of Failure. Law and Financial Markets Review, 12(2), 57-70. https://doi.org/10.1080/17521440.2018.1446694

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 23, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Mar 20, 2018
• Publication Date: Apr 3, 2018
• Deposit Date: Apr 27, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 20, 2019
• Journal: Law and Financial Markets Review
• Print ISSN: 1752-1440
• Electronic ISSN: 1752-1459
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 57-70
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17521440.2018.1446694
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1333073