Corporations escape criminal liability because wrongdoing is framed as agentless

Evidence

“Chicken Little routine,” as the U.S. attorney Preet Bharara calls it, that admission of corporate criminal wrongdoing will do serious damage to world economies. This new phase of adjudication includes admission of corporate guilt, but corporate crimes continue to be treated as personless crimes. Top executives still remain above the law. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1587 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

These bank settlements reflect a shift in policy from civil settlements and deferred prosecutions to requiring corporations at least to admit to criminal practices. The Justice Department is apparently no longer scared by the “Chicken Little routine,” as the U.S. attorney Preet Bharara calls it, that admission of corporate criminal wrongdoing will do serious damage to world economies. This new phase of adjudication includes admission of corporate guilt, but corporate crimes continue to be treated as personless crimes. Top executives still remain above the law. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1587 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Widespread small fraud escapes private enforcement when no single victim suffers enough harm — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 1077; Crimes against faceless systems are seen as legal rather than moral violations; Corporate antitrust violations once carried no prison risk for gentlemen (+13 more)

Broader Connections

• Corporate crimes are adjudicated as personless, leaving executives above the law #corroborates (0.93) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1587
• Corporate prosecutions admit guilt while leaving crimes personless and executives unpunished #corroborates (0.92) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1587
• Corporations count as legal agents even though they lack subjectivity #complicates (0.75)
• Legal personhood rests on punishability and moral judgment, which corporations lack #complicates (0.72) — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 382
• Corporate criminals must neutralize self-disapproval before engaging in illegal conduct #complicates (0.71) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1388