Moving towards a paradigm of corporate criminal responsibility for corporate manslaughter
Date
2021
Authors
Gikongo, Stephanie Wanjiku
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
Corporations in Kenya have progressively been seen to commit wrongdoings to the
detriment of the overall population or to specific individuals. Due to the fact that Kenyan
jurisprudence is not sufficiently developed to control corporate activity with criminal
elements, corporations are not sufficiently deterred from committing criminal offences
and hence end up escaping criminal liability. This paper discusses the Kenyan context of
corporate criminal responsibility and the enforceability of the laws regarding the same.
Further, this paper studies the possibility as well as the implications of introducing the
concept of corporate manslaughter into Kenyan legislation. The above is done through a
comparative analysis between Kenya’s legislation on corporate criminal responsibility
and The U.K’s Corporate Manslaughter Act with a view of analysing the lessons Kenya
can learn from the U.K. In addition, research on this matter is carried out through an
analysis of precedents , journals, relevant articles and relevant legislation relating to the
matter in question. The findings of this paper show that the concept of corporate
criminality is more effective once the focus shifts to probing the fault of the corporation
as a whole. Through a jurisprudential view of the separate legal personality of a
corporation, this paper shows that a corporation can itself attract criminal liability and
therefore can and should be punished through a mix of sanctions which will suffice to
achieve the deterrence and retributive ends of criminal punishment. This paper finally
concludes by recommending that Kenya should adopt the realist model in assigning
criminal responsibility to corporation itself and create the offence of corporate
manslaughter to hold corporations accountable for their actions/omissions that caused the death of others.
Description
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Bachelor of Laws Degree,
Strathmore University Law School