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Unit 24 - Aspects Of Criminal Law Relating To Business Assignment 1 (Distinction Level)
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Unit 24Unit 24: Aspects of Criminal law relating to Business
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 allow companies and
organisations to be guilty of these offences where serious managerial failures result in gross
breach of a duty of care. This Act created a new offence of corporate manslaughter to apply
to companies, government departments, police forces etc. However, before this Act was
introduced, a corporation could only be convicted of manslaughter if a single employee of
the company committed all the fundamentals of the offence and was considered ‘senior’
enough to be seen as exemplifying the "mind" or ‘brain’ of the corporation. Due to these
limitations, convictions were rare and it was felt that corporations had escaped punishment.
The offence is concerned with corporate liability and does not apply to directors or other
senior individuals, who may have other senior members beneath them in the company or
organisation. The police investigate suspected cases of corporate manslaughter and
prosecution decisions are made by the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service). An organisation
will be guilty of the new offence if the way in which its activities are managed or organised
causes death and equals to a gross breach of a duty of care to the deceased. The new test
requires juries to consider; * how the fatal action was managed or controlled throughout the
organisation, including any systems and processes for managing safety * to take into
consideration any health and safety breaches by the organisation * and to analyse how
serious and dangerous those failures were, and how relevant they were to the fatality. If an
organisation is proven to be guilty of the offence, it is liable for an unlimited fine. The Act also
provides for courts to impose a publicity order, where the organisation is required to
publicise details of its conviction and fine. This, to certain extents, is done to put the
organisation under ‘shame’, so that they have chances of losing business due to their
activities as an organisation and the public are aware of their actions. Voluntary
manslaughter can be defined as a deliberate action that is done without malice or planning.
This type of manslaughter involves the intent to kill or cause serious bodily harm, where the
person has the mens rea for murder. Furthermore, voluntary manslaughter can occur during
the heat of passion e.g. if a person comes home to find his partner in bed with another
person and killing that other person in a fit of rage would be a prime example of this type of
manslaughter. The law regards the killing as to be partially excused by; * diminished
responsibility
* loss of control
* suicide pact
Involuntary manslaughter can be defined as the failure to perform a legal duty that is
required to protect another's life e.g. if a lifeguard was not to save a drowning victim. It can
also occur while committing a criminal act that is not considered to be a crime e.g. if a
person driving drunk was to hit and kill someone. Involuntary manslaughter is also referred
to as unlawful act manslaughter. Involuntary manslaughter is a form of manslaughter where
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