Corporate criminal liability versus corporate securities fraud liability: analyzing the divergence in standards of culpability

Kircher examines the standards of culpability and intent applied by courts in prosecutions brought against corporations. Next, she analyzes the vastly different approaches that courts in the US have taken in examining the intent of corporations in civil securities fraud suits. She then examines the various ways in which legal systems in other parts of the world have analyzed corporate intent. She also explores the several stated purposes behind imposing civil and criminal liability on corporations, and outlines the proposed alternative standards to those currently used in the US for determining corporate culpability. Furthermore, she discusses the optimal standards for imposing corporate criminal and securities fraud liability and the suggestion that the US adopt a standard for imposing corporate criminal liability that is a combination of a corporate ethos and accomplice liability theories. This combination would arguably further the goal of imposing criminal and securities fraud liability only on those corporations that are deserving of punishment.