A theory of corporate crime / Jeremy Horder

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Horder, Jeremy, author.

Series:

Oxford monographs on criminal law and criminal justice

Oxford monographs on criminal law and justice

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Commercial crimes--Great Britain.

Commercial crimes.

Corporation law--Criminal provisions.

Corporation law.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2026]

Summary:

How should criminal law be used to address corporate misconduct effectively? Through a doctrinal and theoretical analysis, 'A Theory of Corporate Crime' puts forward a defence of the 'failure to prevent' model of corporate liability and its liberal-welfarist framework, as a key part of the answer to that question. Delving into its conceptual and moral foundations, this book contrasts the failure-to-prevent model with the traditional identification doctrine and other rival theories, revealing its relative advantages for addressing wrongdoing associated with medium and large-sized companies. It critically evaluates recent legislative developments, including the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, and traces the shift in emphasis from classical liberal principles towards a liberal-welfarist framework

"This book seeks to answer the question of how best to use the criminal law when engaging with corporate wrongdoing. Corporate offending is brought about by persons (or AI systems) associated with the company. This fact is best reflected through creating corporate offences specifically focused on the company’s ‘failure to prevent’ offending committed by a person (or AI system) associated with the company. In that regard, the bridge crossing the ‘responsibility gap’ between the abstract company and the associated wrongdoer is to be found in the failure by the director or directors collectively—the company’s constitutionally required, supreme executive agents—to prevent the offending. The failure-to-prevent model is set in the context of a ‘liberal-welfarist’ socio-political approach to corporate liability. Liberal-welfarism requires companies to protect and promote welfarist values, such as integrity in transacting; but it does so in the belief that companies can and should be encouraged to become self-motivated to engage in this process. The book advocates a defence of ‘all reasonable steps taken and all due diligence exercised’ to a failure-to-prevent offence, as a part of this liberal-welfarist approach. That approach is also behind the argument that, in serious cases, reliance on huge fines as the principal punishment is morally questionable. Punishment should instead be focused both on changing corporate attitudes to compliance and on coerced penitential atonement, in the form of a corporate commitment to develop victim- or community-focused common goods (such as local environmental improvements) that rehabilitate the company as a responsible corporate citizen"-- Oxford Academic

Contents:

Accounting for corporate crime

The 2023 act : liability and the (class) politics of firm size

Failing to prevent crime : history, law, and morality

Corporate safeguarding against wrongdoing

The reach of corporate criminality

The aftermath of corporate wrongdoing

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from home page (Oxford Academic, viewed July 31, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Horder, Jeremy Theory of corporate crime

ISBN:

9780198936534

0198936532

9780198936510

0198936516

OCLC:

1577218287

Publisher Number:

CIPO000362451

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license