NCJ Number
124201
Date Published
1989
Length
28 pages
Annotation
In this chapter, the author asserts that not only do corporate entities tend to escape criminal prosecution, but they also tend to succeed at prosecuting those who offend against them.
Abstract
Corporate victims are more able than individual victims to get individual offenders convicted because they have established domination of law and raised and cultivated their legitimacy. They take advantage of the bureaucratically organized criminal justice system, whose presumptions of formal impersonality are characteristic of their own. The system works despite the ideal of individualized justice that permeates Anglo-American law, because corporate entities are accorded the same formal status as "natural persons." Victimization data collected on burglary and robbery in 13 American cities show that on a per capita basis, corporate entities are three times more likely to be burglarized than individuals, five times more likely to be robbed, and 50 percent more likely to report their victimization to police. Although the proportion of corporate entities to individuals is small, in some cities they comprise more than half the victims reporting to police. 6 notes, appendix, 8 tables.