NCJ Number
64923
Journal
REVISTA MEXICANA DE CIENCIAS PENALES Volume: 1 Issue: 1 Dated: (ENERO-JUNIO 1978) Pages: 155-164
Date Published
1978
Length
10 pages
Annotation
THE ISSUES OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND DUE PROCESS FOR LEGAL ENTITITES INSTEAD OF INDIVIDUALS CREATED BY THE EMERGENCE OF PENAL ECONOMIC LAWS AIMED AT CONTROLLING ECONOMIC CRIMES ARE EXPLORED.
Abstract
INDIVIDUAL CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEES, DUE PROCESS, AND CULPABILITY, WHICH ARE CONCEPTS INTENDED FOR, AND APPLICABLE TO PERSONS, ARE DISCUSSED IN CONNECTION WITH THEIR APPLICATION TO LEGAL ENTITIES, SUCH AS CORPORATIONS, AND WITH THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE LATTER CAN BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR SO-CALLED ECONOMIC CRIMES, WHICH ARE DEFINED HERE RATHER AS VIOLATIONS OF THE ECONOMIC ORDER. THE EMERGENCE OF PENAL ECONOMIC LAWS IS TRACED TO THE HISTORICAL PROCESS, HERE CALLED IRREVERSIBLE, OF PROGRESSIVELY INCREASING GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IN THE WORKINGS OF FREE-MARKET ECONOMIES, A LIBERAL PHENOMENON WHICH WAS PARADOXICALLY SET IN MOTION BY THE FORMER TOTALITARIAN REGIMES OF TWO JURIDICALLY ADVANCED EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, GERMANY AND ITALY. ATTENTION IS CALLED TO THE FACT THAT THE VICTIMS OF ECONOMIC CRIMES COMMITTED BY LEGAL ENTITIES ARE THEMSELVES LEGAL ENTITIES, NOT INDIVIDUAL HUMAN BEINGS. ECONOMIC CRIMES ARE SAID TO BE VIOLATIONS OF THE ECONOMIC ORDER, OFTEN PROMPTED BY THE NEED TO PROTECT 'JURIDICIAL GOODS.' THE QUESTION IS RAISED AS TO WHETHER CRIMINAL PENALTIES, WHICH HAVE AN ETHICAL MEANING, CAN BE LEVIED AGAINST THE COLLECTIVE, IMPERSONAL ENTITITIES WHICH HAVE COMMITTED INFRACTIONS FOR WHICH CRIMINAL INTENT IS OFTEN ABSENT. --IN SPANISH. (LGR)