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Corporations, Crime and Restorative Justice

Löschnig-Gspandl, Marianne
June 4, 2015

Source: (2003) In, Elmar Weitekamp and Hans-Jurgen Kerner, eds. Restorative Justice in Context: International Practice and Directions.Devon, UK and Portland Oregon: Willan Publishing. Pp. 145-160.

Corporate crime is understood as being various crimes committed by corporations, which actually means committed by their representatives for the benefit of or on behalf of the corporation. These crimes include economic crime (money laundering, bribery, price fixing), misrepresentation in advertising, production and sale of unsafe products, deceptive packaging, environmental crime, and also crimes against persons including crimes causing injury or death. Corporations can also be victims. Combining elements of corporate crime with restorative justice means that one must search for methods, procedures, and strategies to react appropriately to offenses committed by legally liable corporations. These reactive measures must contain elements of restitution, and compensation or mediation. Up to now, corporate liability has not existed in the Austrian criminal justice system. The Austrian Ministry of Justice is considering the introduction of a true criminal liability because of the principle of equality as well as its necessity for effective crime prevention; and because there will be an obligation to do it by European legal instruments. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.

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