The Corporate Criminal

Description

Treating the corporation as if it were a human person is ubiquitous in contemporary political, cultural and legal constructions of the corporation – from the creation of 'brands' and the representation of the corporation in fiction, to statutory and common law rules of corporate liability. It dominates both academic approaches and popular representations of the corporation, from discussions of corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility and 'corporate greed'.

This book interrogates the concept of corporate 'personhood' to understand the nature of corporate criminality and the prospects for more effective corporate control. Linking debates in criminology to broader claims around corporate social responsibility, it provides an understanding of the key ideas that explain the role of the corporation in the global economy.

Contents

1. Introduction 2. The Moral Corporation 3. The Corporate Citizen 4. The Victimised Corporation 5. Corporate Criminal Personality 6. Conclusion: Crime, Harm, Accountability

Author Bio

Steve Tombs is Professor of Sociology at Liverpool John Moores University. He has a long-standing interest in the incidence, nature and regulation of corporate crime, and in particular the regulation and management and health and safety at work. His most recent book is Safety Crimes, co-authored with Dave Whyte (2007). He co-edited, with Dave Gordon, Paddy Hillyard and Christina Pantazis, Beyond Criminology? Taking Harm Seriously (2004) and Criminal Obsessions (2005), as well as Unmasking the Crimes of the Powerful: scrutinising states and corporations, with Dave Whyte (2003).

Dr David Whyte is Reader in Sociology at the University of Liverpool. His principle research interests are in the field of corporate crime and corporate power. He has published widely on subjects of corporate legal responsibility and accountability, with a particular interest in the use of legal mechanisms to improve corporate accountability. He is a long standing board member of the London-based human rights charity, the Centre for Corporate Accountability. In 2005 he was appointed by the Scottish Justice Minister to the Scottish Government Expert Group on Corporate Homicide. His most recent books are Safety Crimes (2007, co-authored with Steve Tombs) and Crimes of the Powerful: a reader (2008). His article on corporate crime and the rule of law in Iraq won the 2007 British Journal of Criminology Leon Radzinowitz Memorial Prize.

Related Subjects

1. Corporate Governance
2. Criminology
3. Criminal Justice