Corporate Manslaughter



Corporate Manslaughter

Introduction

The enforcement of work-related fatality cases has become an increasingly high-profile issue in the United Kingdom in recent years, due to the influence of a number of major transport disasters upon the consciousnesses of policymakers and the public prompting a debate about the degree to which such cases should be characterized as serious breaches of the criminal law. Corporate liability for work-related fatalities has generally been handled under regulatory law, such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA), rather than the mainstream criminal law.

This is a far more elastic approach than the Panel have recommended, and really above all reflects the at hand place taken up by the courts. The Council state that, with consider to influence of any fine enforced, while the effect on paid work of the "innocent" may be a applicable component, the effect on shareholders, controllers and charges will not be advised relevant.

In particular, the inability of prosecutors to secure convictions against corporate defendants under the existing law of manslaughter has resulted in a movement towards legal reform, cantered on proposals published by the Law Commission (1994, 1996) and the Home Office (2000), and the subsequent publication of a draft corporate manslaughter bill. These proposals seek to introduce a new offence to ensure that the most serious work-related fatality cases result in the imposition of liability for a homicide offence upon a corporation. The proposed offence imposes liability where the management of an organization causes a death and amounts to a gross breach of a duty of care to the deceased. The intention is to recognize that fault for some breaches of the law lies with corporations themselves rather than specific individuals.

While academic responses to this development have focused on the legal form of the new offence, in particular upon the systems of attribution used to establish corporate liability, relatively little attention has been paid to the implementation of the new offence. Under the existing legal framework (primarily the Recording of Injuries, Deaths, and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations, or RIDDOR, 1995), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for the investigation of all work-related fatalities and for enforcement where the case constitutes a breach of health and safety law. If any evidence suggests that the case may constitute manslaughter, HSE refers it to the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for investigation and prosecution, under the terms of a protocol for liaison.

Research Questions

What are the problems that are attached to corporate manslaughter?

Are there any new duties or obligations under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act?

Rationale of the Study

The reason to select this topic is to understand the problems and analyse the importance of corporate manslaughter. The offence is intended to be similar in form and character to the general offence of gross negligence manslaughter, incorporating similar common law duties of care and the same standard of grossness. The new offence utilizes a fault element of gross negligence, in that it requires that there be conduct falling far below ...