ABSTRACT
To what extent, then, is it sensible or meaningful to talk about the ‘criminal organisation’: as an organisational actor (such as a company, government or criminal gang) which may in itself be held criminally responsible for conduct which is distinct from that of its individual constituent members? The criteria of organisational agency worked out in Chapter 3 may be used to justify such organisational responsibility, but in any such allocation of responsibility it is important to have a clear idea and definition of the nature and scope of the offending conduct to which such responsibility relates. Organisations commit different offences from individuals and an important reason for saying that is to recognise the limits of individual responsibility. Organisations and individuals should not be viewed as each other’s alter ego, and organisational responsibility should begin where individual responsibility ends. The outcome is therefore something distinctive in terms of role, offending conduct, identity of the responsible actor and perhaps also the resulting sanctions which are used to convey judgments of responsibility.
