ABSTRACT
Economists, who proposed economic models derived from theories of deterrence, searched for efficiency in optimal penalties. Others, including interest groups in the business community, fought hard for a more eclectic consideration of harm, culpability, and mitigation in fashioning organizational sanctions. This chapter provides general principles of corporate liability. It examines pre-conviction assessment of culpability. The chapter considers post-conviction assessment of culpability. It discusses sentencing in relation to culpability and briefly contrasts proposals for determining genuine corporate intent with culpability provisions found in extant law. Corporate criminal law requires both a basis of liability and an attribution of culpability. Courts interpreting federal statutory law find corporations criminally liable for the conduct of employees acting within the scope of employment or with apparent authority, and with an intent to benefit the corporation. State law culpability provisions are elaborate and generally well-conceived—much more so than federal provisions.
