ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter, having introduced Norrie's (2001) distinction between the processes of differentiation and assimilation, we considered the historical basis for the fact that safety crimes are not regarded as real crimes in law. Thus we argued that organisations and their directors are rarely exposed to the same criminal controls or level of punishment as relatively lower status individuals (Sanders 1985). Offenders who are responsible for committing safety crimes are generally regarded as socially useful and respectable, and often — because of their status, wealth and other resources — enjoy some measure of influence over public policy decisions. Moreover, employing organisations, and their individual directors and senior managers, are insulated by a separate set of rules that guide criminal prosecution for safety crimes. In this chapter, we turn to examine a process of assimilation, whereby corporate deviance is dealt with by adapting the existing criminal law rules that apply to individuals. On the face of things, a process of assimilation allows corporate crime — including safety crime — to be treated as ‘real’ crime. Having said this, the process of assimilating crimes of the powerful more generally is one that is rare in any criminal justice system. Nonetheless, it is a process that deserves particular explanation in this text in order to consider the potential for safety crime to be dealt with effectively by a legal system that is designed to deal with the crimes of the relatively powerless.
