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Arlen, Jennifer --- "Introduction" [2018] ELECD 249; in Arlen, Jennifer (ed), "Research Handbook on Corporate Crime and Financial Misdealing" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018) 1

Book Title: Research Handbook on Corporate Crime and Financial Misdealing

Editor(s): Arlen, Jennifer

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9781783474462

Section Title: Introduction

Author(s): Arlen, Jennifer

Number of pages: 8

Abstract/Description:

Corporate crimes occur all too often, causing serious harm to individuals, as well as to the economies of countries adversely impacted by crimes such as fraud and corruption. Crimes by large publicly-held firms raise special concerns because these firms have such a broad reach that they can cause tremendous harm when their employees pursue profit through criminal activities. To guard against these harms, criminal laws and regulations impose duties on corporations and those who work for them to avoid a range of harmful activities. Laws in the U.S., and in many other countries, impose criminal and civil liability on both individual wrongdoers and their corporate employers for violations of these duties. The central purpose of this liability is—and must be—to deter corporate misconduct. Deterrence should be the primary goal of corporate and individual liability for corporate misconduct for a simple reason. Any provision that sacrifices deterrence in the name of some other goal, such as retribution, leads more people to be harmed by corporate crime. Thus, pursuing retribution at the expense of effective deterrence places future victims in harm’s way. Deterrence, by contrast, both helps safeguard future victims and reduces the need for future punitive interventions.