Corporate
manslaughter is the concept that a corporation might cause the manslaughter of
an individual. Manslaughter is a crime which is considered less significant or
culpable than the crime of murder, as murder requires the intent to kill, while
manslaughter by nature involves no intention to kill.
The
concept of corporate manslaughter might evidence itself in a situation in which
a corporation’s particular rules and regulations, for example, result in an
individual dying while on a job. Corporate manslaughter might even include
elements of voluntary manslaughter, in which a corporation might intend to
cause some harm to the victim without meaning to cause death. Corporate
manslaughter is notable because the concept would necessitate the application
of criminal charges against the corporation, as manslaughter is ultimately a
criminal charge.
A corporation is a legal entity, and thus, there
is a certain element of precedent for this notion of corporate manslaughter,
but the issue that arises is that many critics of corporate manslaughter claim
that cases of corporate manslaughter should be solved in civil court with monetary
compensation, instead of some form of criminal penalty.
Those
who advocate in favor of the charge of corporate manslaughter primarily point
out four advantages to the application of corporate manslaughter as a criminal
charge. These four benefits include the very significance of charging a
corporation for its actions in a criminal fashion, along with the social costs
of being convicted for corporate manslaughter as a full crime, the enforcement
of penalties by powerful organizations, along with an added level of defense
for corporations, as the charge of corporate manslaughter would have to be
proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
