scholarly journals Corporate Responsibility for Transnational Human Rights Violations under German Criminal Law – Review and Outlook

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-409
Author(s):  
Petra Wittig
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Corporate Responsibility ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Economic Power ◽  
Economic Profit ◽  
Present Essay ◽  
The Usa

Time and again, cases come to light in which companies in unstable regions have participated in crimes, including human rights violations. However, the economic power over these companies is regularly geographically distant, anchored in the stable regions of the world, e.g. in a corporate headquarters located in Europe, the USA, Canada or Australia, where the economic profit ultimately accrues. Starting from this imbalance, the present essay examines the question of the criminal (co-)responsibility of these power holders using the example of the German legal system. It becomes apparent that the concept of criminal law, which is still based almost exclusively on individual responsibility, leads to deficits in the investigation of the most serious economically driven crimes. Despite this need for reform, however, even de lege lata a top management based in Germany can be held (jointly) liable for distant crimes under the concept of "principal’s criminal liability" (“Geschäftsherrenhaftung”).”

Die strafrechtliche Verantwortung von Geschäftsführern für Menschenrechtsverletzungen nach dem Römischen Statut

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank F. Torres Mendoza
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
Transnational Companies ◽  
Participation Theory

Transnational corporations are accused of involvement in the most serious human rights violations such as crimes against humanity and war crimes. The focus of thise investigation is to answer the question, whether directors of transnational companies can be held criminally responsible for the most serious human rights violations under the Rome Statute. The work focuses on the forms of perpetration, in particular on indirect perpetration by virtue of control over an organisation and complicity as well on the responsibility of civil superiors. In order to justify criminal liability, German criminal law dogmatics are first referred to, especially in the area of participation theory, because it has great importance for the Rome Statute. The author also evaluates the judicial decisions of the ICC and literature and then examines whether these legal figures apply to cases of human rights violations through business activities.

The Accountability of Multinational Companies for Human Rights Violations, Regulatory Trends and New Punitive Approaches Across Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-62
Author(s):  
Rossella Sabia
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Multinational Companies ◽  
Financial Disclosure ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
Disclosure Laws ◽  
Global Operations ◽  
Regulatory Trends

This article investigates the emergence of new regulatory trends in the context of human rights accountability - traditionally characterised by soft law and non-binding guidelines -, where in recent times mandatory non-financial disclosure laws have started to impose on multinational companies new legal obligations complemented by sanctions of a different nature and intensity. By comparing three relevant pieces of legislation in the European panorama, this contribution addresses the reasons why also criminal law scholars should pay attention to the evolution of such regulatory framework, as the prospect of punitive mechanisms aimed at holding large companies accountable for human rights violations in their global operations could become, to some extent, less remote.

4. Negligence and strict liability

2021 ◽  
pp. 126-150
Author(s):  
Michael J. Allen ◽  
Ian Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Strict Liability ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Mens Rea ◽  
The Law ◽  
Sexual Services

Course-focused and contextual, Criminal Law provides a succinct overview of the key areas on the law curriculum balanced with thought-provoking contextual discussion. This chapter discusses the meaning of negligence, arguments for and against negligence as a basis for criminal liability, the meaning of strict liability, the origins of and justifications for strict liability, the presumption of mens rea in offences of strict liability, defences to strict liability, and strict liability and the European Convention on Human Rights. The feaeture ‘The law in context’ examines critically the use of strict liability as the basis for liability in the offence of paying for the sexual services of a person who has been subject to exploitation.

GÄFGEN V. GERMANY. CASE STUDY

2020 ◽  
Vol 138 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-235
Author(s):  
KRYSTYNA PATORA ◽  
EMIL ŚWIĄDER
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
The Law

The article focuses on the case of Gäfgen v. Germany, which con-cerns the restrictions imposed on police offi cers who work on cases involving terror and violence posing a risk to human life, and on the ones who have to make decisions protecting victims’ lives. The choice of measures serving the protection of the highest value, i.e. human life, is not easy. At the same time, police offi cers are assessed in terms of criminal law as regards the protection of the basic human rights enjoyed by perpetrators who pose a risk to other people’s lives. The case of Gäfgen v. Germany regards the choice of values, and the criminal liability of police offi cers, connected with thereof, as well as the problem of the admissibility of evidence obtained in breach of the law in criminal proceedings, and the limitations of the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine.

Criminal Liability for Unlawful Actions in Bankruptcy in the USA

10.12737/1822 ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-123
Author(s):  
Сергей Кубанцев ◽  
Sergey Kubantsev
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
The United States ◽  
Judicial Interpretation ◽  
The Usa

The article describes the application of criminal law in the United States to persons who commit crimes during or immediately before of the bankruptcy, initiated into the United States. The focus is on the judicial interpretation of legislative criteria bankruptcy fraud.

Corporate criminality: four models of fault

Legal Studies ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Gobert
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Business Activity ◽  
A Company

‘Corporation - an ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.’(A Bierce The Devil’s Dictionary, 1958)The problem of how to hold a company criminally accountable for the harm produced in the course of its business activity continues to vex the English judiciary. The attempt to apply conventional criminal law to companies has not been a resounding success. This was perhaps predictable, as the relevant rules and doctrines had been developed in cases involving human defendants. Their transposition to an inanimate organizational entity such as a company was never going to be easy. Not only did the judges fail to rise to the challenge, however, they managed to construe the relevant law in a regressive manner that has all but insulated large companies from criminal liability.

scholarly journals Alternatif Untuk Meminimalisasi terhadap Pelanggaran HAM dalam Penegakan Hukum Pidana

Wajah Hukum ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Ryan Aditama
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Cultural Understanding ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
History Of

Related to the general provisions of Law No. 39 of 1999 concerning Human Rights, which states that the beginnings of the history of the Indonesian nation to date have recorded various problems including: suffering, misery and social inequality, resulting from unjust and discriminatory acts and actions on ethnic, racial, cultural understanding, language, color, skin, and religion, as well as class, gender, and even social status and others. These unjust and discriminatory acts are included in violations of human rights, both vertically "carried out by the state apparatus itself to citizens or even vice versa" or those that are horizontal "ie between citizens themselves" and do not allow those included in the category for gross violations of the conception of human rights (grossviolation of human rights). This alternative to minimize human rights violations in criminal law enforcement is an effective way to reduce the number of human rights violations in Indonesia.

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