Corporate Criminal Liability: A Ten Year Review

Changes to corporate criminal liability over the last ten years have been dramatic with the introduction of two major new offences: corporate manslaughter in 2007 and failure to prevent commercial bribery in 2010. Both offences are products of the widespread criticism of common law models of corporate liability. While the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act fulfils a symbolic denunciatory role, the Bribery Act offence encourages commercial organisations to refine their compliance policies and to manage the risk of bribery by employees or agents. Combined with the continuing relevance of common law models of corporate liability outside of these two offences, the overall picture of corporate criminal liability is more complex, and often no less contested, than before.