On The Definition And Punishment Of Crimes Committed By Units

Unit crime, traditionally named corporate crime, is opposed to the crime committed by a nature person. The present criminal law (1997) makes provisions for it in byelaw 30 and 31. The establishment of the unit crime in our system of criminal law is the outcome of interaction of the theory of criminal law and the long term practice. However, the provisions of the present criminal law only define the range of its subject and emphasize to proportionate punishment to crimes, but do not uncover its essential attributes. It is not difficult to see from the present situation that both its legislation, judicature and its theory, practice are facing an abundant of problems; and, problems such as the definition of the subject of the crime and the cognizance of the criminal responsibility and so on undoubtedly become important tasks. The unit must be an organization that comes into existence according to the law. Meanwhile, it must always be there, have some organizational units and can independently shoulder the criminal liability. The unit should be limited by the examination from both the form and the essence. To define the subject of unit crime, not only do we analyze generally from macro side, but also grasp the details from the micro side. At the same time, we must follow some tenet. The governor who directly answers for the unit crime should match the condition of direct responsibility as well as the identity of governor. Other directly responsible personnel are those who actively and directly put the crime in practice and function as the main part. We should establish such a criminal system that applies to the unit crime in order to perfect the legislation and beat and guard against the unit crime.