"Lords, loopholes and corporate crime", 14 Mar 2017

...If an individual seriously injures or kills someone in most countries in the world this is a crime.  However, when a company does this it appears that they are able to get away with it.  To correct this anomaly in the UK, the government must update our criminal law...[T]he government has introduced the Criminal Finances Bill, aimed at closing loopholes in tax law and stopping tax evasion...It is encouraging that the government has recognised the links between economic crimes and human rights violations.  But companies should also be held to account when they are implicated in severe human rights violations, such as causing injuries or death, or harming health through pollution...[T]he existence of serial offenders suggests that relying on companies to voluntarily improve is insufficient and there are gaps in the UK’s ability to prosecute such rogue companies.  Broader corporate criminal law reform is needed to ensure that irresponsible companies can be held liable for failing to have put in reasonable measures to prevent offences...[T]he obvious next step is to modernise criminal law to enable prosecutions to be brought against companies, as opposed to individuals, for wider serious human rights violations...