Unit Crime

Crimes committed by a unit means the persons or the substitutes of a unit commit a crime in view of the volition of a unit. This text will mainly analysis and study the following three important parts: the legislations on the crimes committed by a unit, the new theories of the criminal liability on the crimes committed by a unit and some particular questions on crimes committed by a unit.The first part is on the legislations of several foreign countries about the crimes committed by a unit. In principle, the countries of common law legal system all think a unit, just like a natural person, has the ability to commit a crime. Neither the Criminal Code of Germany nor Japan thinks a unit can bear the criminal liability, but they all stipulate its criminal liability in a series of implement law and regulations.The second part introduces and comments on the new theories on criminal liability of a unit in several developped countries and the study situation in China. American develops the new theory on the criminal liability of a legal person which mainly studies the criminal intentions and further considers it possible to punish a unit. In Japan, the new theory to punish a legal person means that it is proper to punish a unit in the base of the objective actions. The originality of the new theory on the responsibility liability of a legal person is to try to shake the legislative base of negative theory of the criminal liability of a unit. In China, the theory of "personification of social responsibility system" of the professor He Bingsong is the theory base of the study on the crimes committed by a unit.The third part mainly studies the several particular questions on the crimes committed by a unit, including the distinction of crimes committed by a unit and by a legal person, the definition of crimes committed by a unit, the subjects of crimes committed by a unit, the application of crimes committed by a unit. The subjects include organ, organization, enterprise, institution, the private enterprises with the qualification of legal person. When a unit commits a crime, it should be punished. A unit should bear the responsibility independently, but any individual must bear his responsibility if he achieves his illegal purposes by taking the advantage of his unit. Just like a natural person, the crimes committed by a unitshows the formation of completed and the formation of uncompleted. The organization of a unit which makes policies decides to give up committing crimes, but the organization of execution or an individual of the unit continue to commit crimes by the name of the unit. We can't think that it is the discontinuation of a crime by a unit because there aren't the objective conditions of the discontinuation of a crime.