Liz Campbell

Corruption in Commercial Enterprise: Law, Theory and Practice

This chapter takes the typical form of a scientific paper based on an empirical study: Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion. The chapter aims to contribute in several ways to the growing body of knowledge on organizational corruption. The core purpose is to assess the plausibility of a causal relationship between organizational anti-corruption measures, bonus culture and corruption within the context of organizations. To my knowledge, this is the first study to make an attempt at determining if there might be a causal relationship between these variables within an organizational context. Knowledge about the degree to which organizational measures and a bonus culture are responsible for the level of organizational corruption is not only important from a scientific point of view but also has the potential to aid the development of more effective anti-corruption interventions.

Corporate Liability and the Criminalisation of Failure

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.