Corporate Criminal Liability : Cooperate, and You Won’t Be Indicted

Under the doctrine of corporate criminal liability, prosecutors can indict corporations based upon the criminal conduct of their employees. With evidence that just one employee engaged in criminal activity within the scope of his or her employment, a prosecutor can indict and convict the employer corporation regardless of whether the employee was ever charged or convicted. The implications of this doctrine are enormous, especially given that just an indictment – let alone a conviction – can often prove disastrous for a business.This paper explores the doctrine of corporate criminal liability, and then examines its application within the context of a specific case study, which helps to demonstrate the tremendous leverage that the doctrine bestows upon prosecutors. The paper then probes the contours of how prosecutors are meant to implement their power to indict corporations, including very recent constraints that have been put into place to limit overreaching. Next, the paper discusses an important constitutional issue raised by the federal courts relating to such overreaching. Finally, the paper raises a novel constitutional issue in the context of the examined case study