Abstract

Corporate manslaughter has, for a number of years, been a topic of discussion for two main reasons. First, despite incidents of multiple death caused by gross management failure, for example the Southall and Paddington train crashes, no large corporation has been convicted of manslaughter. Secondly, expectation that the first conviction for manslaughter of a small company (R v. Kite and OL.L Ltd.) would lead to more prosecutions against corporations has not materialised. The questions of why this situation prevails and how it may be resolved are the focal points of the study. The author was the senior investigating officer in o.L.L. Ltd. This study encompasses a comparative reView of the approaches taken towards' corporate manslaughter in the English, American and Dutch legal systems. Through the study it has been possible to identitY a number of deficiencies in English legal theory and practice. The thesis examines these deficiencies in detail and seeks to determine how they may be corrected to ensure a fair and balanced approach to the prosecution of large corporations. A survey is made of relevant case studies, authorities and literature. The strategic aims of Government are examined, as are the recent Law Commission recommendations to create a new offence of corporate killing. An important part of the study concerns the effective enforcement of the law, in particular the policing of any new legal remedy regarding corporate killing. The author draws on his operational experience of serious criminal investigations. Examination is made of the role of the police and other enforcement agencies, with a view to determining the most appropriate body to investigate any new offence. Related issues such as who should be prosecuted and by whom are also discussed. The thesis concludes with a number ofrecommendations that support: 1. The creation of a new offence of 'unlawful killing by corporate criminal negligence'; and 2. A strategy for effective enforcement. The study also identifies areas of further research regarding the law of homicide, governmental obligations and the right to life and whether corporations should become more accountable to the societies in which they operate.