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2 J. Fin. Crime 11 (1994-1995)

handle is hein.journals/jfc2 and id is 1 raw text is: Corporate Crime H. G. van de Bunt Prof. dr. H. G. van de Bunt is head of the Research and Documentation Centre (RDC) of the Ministry of Justice in The Hague, Holland. He also is Professor of Criminology in the Department of Criminology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. Van de Bunt has published many articles and several books on the administration of criminal justice, especially in the fields of fraud and environmental crimes. ABSTRACT Corporate crimes are crimes committed in the course of otherwise legitimate working procedures in respectable organisations. Although corporate crimes can cause many forms of physical, moral and financial damage, in practice the administration of criminal justice is rather lenient. Should the harmful behaviour of corporations be curbed by the intensification of criminal justice? In this paper the author rejects this option. He prefers fostering the social responsiveness of organisations, i.e. strengthening the ability of organisations to comply with existing social expectations. Responsive means that these expectations are properly assessed and are taken into account in the decision-making. The author specifies two conditions which determined the extent of responsiveness and proposes several strategies for responsive regulation. Responsive regulation is based upon nego- tiation and persuasion. Only in this context can penal sanctions be effective; respon- sive regulation in the shadow of criminal law. AN EXAMPLE OF CORPORATE CRIME On 10th August, 1978, three young women were killed in a car accident in the American state of Indiana. Their car, a Ford Pinto, caught fire after being rammed from the rear by delivery van. The van was driven by a man who had been banned from driving only a short time previously. In the van the police found beer bottles and the remains of marijuana cigarettes. The district attor- ney instituted manslaughter proceed- ings, not against the driver of the delivery van but against the manufac- turer of the car, Ford, which was at that time one of the world's largest com- panies. According to the district attor- ney, there was a fault in the design of the Ford Pinto which meant that even minor collisions could prove fatal. The criminal charge was that Ford had done nothing about this major danger, even though it had been recognised when the prototype was being tested. The Ford Pinto case, which caused a major stir in the USA, has now become a famous example of corporate crime. 11 © Emerald Backfiles 2007

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