The corporate crime is the illegal action in the process of the management that the corporate commits on account of the their structural characteristics. These days the behaviors of the corporate crimes have many different appearances, like that kinds...
The corporate crime is the illegal action in the process of the management that the corporate commits on account of the their structural characteristics. These days the behaviors of the corporate crimes have many different appearances, like that kinds of the monopolistic or oligopolistic structure of the market, tax evasion, illegal political fund-offering, the destruction of the environment related to disposal of industrial waste materials, illicit money laundering, habitual violation of the working safety guidelines, contaminated foods or drugs.
The seriousness of the corporate crime is that the scale of the damage is very great, the prediction of it is very difficult, the control means of it are insufficient, and the result takes a heavy toll on our society. It is the more serious that the corporate crimes not only cause the economic damages, but also create the air of the social anxiety and disrupt the social moral base.
It is true that in our society only the economic growth and material prosperity have been the focus of the attention, so the corporate crimes have not been really taken notice of the society. But the corporate crimes have bad influences on the both the sustainable growth of the corporate itself and general national economy.
Therefore to resolve this circumstance, the new measures to control the corporate crimes are urgently needed. To meet these matters, it is said to control them by means of criminal punishments. But there are the theories that the criminal punishment is the last means for the sanction of the wrong things, so the control through the means of the criminal punishment over the corporate crime should be refrained if possible.
In this positions, because the corporate crime is the problem of the civil or administrative case, they insist that it should be solved through the civil or administrative sanctions. But so far, the evidence has not been given that the situation surrounding corporate crime is improved. Really the usual measures up to now have been that civil or administrative sanctions are imposed, the special laws are made, or the penal provisions are made in each law. These measures, though, have not achieved the visible outcomes. On the contrary, the repeated offences of the corporate crime have been increased steadily.
The purpose of this study is to examine the effective measures over the corporate crimes, especially to suggest CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility) to meet the requirements for alternative to control over the corporate crimes. Until the present, the various means for the improvement of the situation surrounding the corporate crimes such as the reasonable examination of an offence, the introduction of the probation against the corporate, the reform measures on the monetary penalty have been suggested.
In this study, the effectiveness of these measures are examined and the possibility and efficacy of the CSR as the control measure against the corporate crime are reviewed.
If the CSR is adopted in the criminal law to solve the problems of the corporate crimes, the various applicable realms can be developed on the result of the study in the future. But in this study, the possibilities of the adoption of CSR in the application of the criteria in weighing of the offence, the judgement guidance in the suspended sentence which the heads of the large companies are commonly given in Korea, the contents of the duties in imposing the probation, and the role of the exclusion standard in the application of the principle of the business judgement, especially in the breach of the trust are reviewed.
The CSR can make the company participate in the settlement on the social problems and contribute to the improvement of them as the human rights, labor, environment, corruption, and so on. In this view, CSR can be the practical means which control and prevent the corporate crimes in the long- term policy. The CSR is suggested never for ruining the corporate, but for the growth of it with the sustainable competitiveness.
The boost of the CSR needs the innovation of the company to think the CSR not as the unnecessary expenditures but as the strategic investment. The role of government is very important as well. The government should develop the policies to be able to improve the general standard of the CSR. The NGOs should perform their due parts with sincerity too.
But they are not enough. The more powerful action is needed for the company to fulfill the CSR faithfully. It is to introduce the CSR in criminal law and make use of it positively. The reason is that the companies, especially the heads of them are the most afraid of the punishment through the criminal law above any other sanctions. So if the CSR is thought sufficiently when the courts judge the companies or the heads of them in the criminal suit, it can be the very useful method to control and prevent the corporate crimes.
It is thought that if the CSR is used in the criminal law practically, it can encourage the companies to practice the CSR and prevent the corporate crimes efficiently. As the result, it leads the business practices to the right direction and contributes to the desirable development of the national economy.