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ARTICLE · 22 OCTOBER 2020

Corporate crime in Australia 2020

Holding Redlich
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A recent ALRC report was asked to identify reforms that could hold corporations to account for criminal misconduct.

AustraliaCriminal Law
Alana Giles
Alana Giles
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Following the publication of Commissioner Hayne's Final Report in the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (Banking Commission), there have been moves towards simplifying the laws around corporate criminal responsibility and ensuring greater oversight of corporations. This article considers how the reform agenda in relation to corporate crime has progressed in 2020 following the recent tabling of the Australian Law Reform Commission's (ALRC) report titled Corporate Criminal Responsibility (ALRC Report)1 in Parliament. 

The current regime

There are a number of inherent difficulties in attributing criminal liability to corporations. For one, corporations do not have a mind of their own – it is difficult to blame them for conduct that has been committed by its officers. The ALRC found that prosecutions against corporations were relatively rare, typically long, complex and contested by well-resourced defendants. They often

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