CORPORATE CRIME AND CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY - 2023/4

Module Overview

The criminal justice process has often been charged with an over focus upon ‘working class’ crimes such as burglary or street robbery. As a result it has been argued that many more serious crimes effected by more powerful or collective agents like corporations have been overlooked, or policed less effectively. For example, environmental damage, financial misconduct or illicit trading

In this module the nature of criminality effected by the corporate and business worlds and the kinds of measures intended to make corporations more responsible’ will be examined in detail. We consider how agents like corporations can be constructed as criminal actors, both conceptually and legally, the typical kinds of offences they are implicated in and what kinds of responses from the criminal justice system would be most appropriate in dealing with this. A series of case studies across a representative selection of corporate sectors will be used the structure and direct the module content.

Module provider

Sociology

Module Leader

MCGUIRE Michael (Sociology)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Week 1 – Introduction


• Week 2 – Defining Corporate Crime (I):- corporate crime and `real? crime


• Week 3 – Defining Corporate Crime (II) - boundaries and connections between Corporate, White-collar, State &  Organised Crime


• Week 4 – Explaining Corporate Crime (I): Causes, Motivations & Opportunities


• Week 5 – Explaining Corporate Crime (II): Offenders & Victims


• Week 6 - Corporate Liability & Responsibility:


• Week 7 - Case Studies (I)  Employee Health & Safety


• Week 8 - Case Studies (II) -Corporate Manslaughter


• Week 9 - Case Studies (III) – Corporate Fraud and Financial Misconduct


• Week 10 - Case Studies (IV) – Emerging varieties of Corporate crime in the Digital and Bio-chemical industries


• Week 11 – Roundtable Discussion and Course Review

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate





Learning Outcome


Assessed by

• understand the nature of corporate criminality, in particular how to define and, measure it


• demonstrate an awareness of the key theoretical perspectives around corporate crime within the criminological and socio-legal fields

• 2,000 word essay

• demonstrate an awareness of the kinds of criminal sanctions which can be imposed upon companies and the difficulties involved in applying such sanctions


• understand the options for corporate self-regulation and the current successes and failures of the corporate responsibility approach

 

• Formative Case Study proposal


• Case Study Report

 

• be able to conduct  independent research in the field of corporate crime, using materials from a range of disciplines such as criminology, law and management theory

• 2,000 word essay


• Case Study Report

 





 

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

 

• An essay of 2,000 words. Feedback will be provided to students both via written and verbal comments


• A case study report/presentation of 3,000 words. Feedback will be provided to students both via written and verbal comments

 

Formative assessment and feedback

• A proposal and outline plan for the Case Study Report of no more than 1,000 words. Verbal and written feedback will be provided to students.

Module aims

• As learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

• Foster a systematic understanding of the ways in which different theories have sought to understand different types of corporate criminality.


• Develop an advanced ability to make connections and distinctions between these different theories and apply these to real world contexts of corporate crime and responsibility.


• Enhance critical understanding of the ways corporate criminality and its control intersect with public policy, corporate regulation and the operations of the criminal justice system.

 

The learning and teaching methods include:

Knowledge and understanding is fostered through lectures, seminars and workshops that guide students through relevant material and develop their capacity for critical thought. Students are encouraged to pursue deeper study independently through extensive reading and to apply learning to their own specialist substantive areas or interests. Teaching and learning consists of a mixture of lectures, seminars and applied case study exercises, Guest speakers from the corporate world will provide engagement with innovative and leading edge developments in corporate governance and corporate responsibility

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: SOCM050

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2023/4 academic year.