There exist a number of organizations in the modern society. It is true that individuals are neither free from organizations nor possible to lead their ordinary lives without having their social influence. In this regard, a modern society has been ter...
There exist a number of organizations in the modern society. It is true that individuals are neither free from organizations nor possible to lead their ordinary lives without having their social influence. In this regard, a modern society has been termed as “the era of organization.” Furthermore, the issue of the relation between “organization and human being” has been discussed more frequently in the discipline of modern sociology. This is also the case in the legal discipline, especially in the field of criminal law that deals with the problem of criminal liability associated with corporate bodies.
It is important to focus on the criminal liability of a private individual when dealing with organized crime in the sense that each individual forms and becomes the basis of an organization. However, when dealing with such a crime, the criminal liability of an individual that instigated or instructed the crime is rarely considered. Only an individual that directly committed the crime is usually considered for his/her liability. Therefore, this dissertation focuses on the criminal liability of wirepuller within an organization.
The order of this dissertation is as follows.
In Chapter 2, I considered the attribution problem of criminal liability of organized crime. In such consideration, I briefly assessed the concept of “wirepuller” within an organization, the current regulations on organized crime, and, the relation between the criminal liability of organization and individual.
In Chapter 3, I examined the implication of the complicity theory, in relation to the organization structure, in order to discover the nature of principle offense of a wirepuller. In doing so, I classified the organization structure into three categories: state-powered structure, business-oriented structure, and criminal- organized structure. In addition, in cases of the so-called “organizational domination”, I surveyed various theories, including the ones advanced in Germany and Japan, which deal with the question of whether a wirepuller is responsible as a principal offender. In such cases, I determined that a wirepuller may have possibilities of becoming a principle offender through innocent human agent, joint principal offender or aninstigator.
In Chapter 4, I endeavored to define the criminal liability of wirepuller by reviewing all different forms of criminal cases, dealing with the principle offender through innocent human agent, joint principal offender and aninstigator. This was to improve the discussions made in Chapter 3 and to have a better interpretation of the current criminal law, particularly, focusing on the applicability of the principal offender behind principal offender theory, which is strongly supported in German academic circles. Article 34.2 of the criminal law of Korea was also put into consideration. Accordingly, I came up with a conclusion that the principal offender behind principal offender theory was barely applicable under the system of the criminal law of Korea. However, from a legislative point of view, there may be a possibility of such application.
Lastly, based on the discussions made in previous Chapters, I reviewed and stated my personal views on the current debate over the revision of the criminal law of Korea associated with the issue of criminal liability of wirepuller within an organization.