Eduvest – Journal of Universal Studies
Volume 1 Number 7, July 2021
587 http://eduvest.greenvest.co.id
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1. Inconsistency of Corporate Criminal Liability Arrangements
Corporation is a term commonly used by criminal law and criminology experts to
refer to what in other fields of law (especially in the field of civil law) is called a legal
entity (recht persoon). Satjipto Rahardjo in (Antow, 2019) provides a definition that a
corporation is an entity created by law. The body he created consists of a "corpus", namely
its physical structure and into it the law includes the element of "animus" which makes the
body have a personality.
According to Simpson, corporate crime is "corporate crime is a type of white-collar
crime". Simpson, then quotes John Braithwaite, who defines corporate crime as "conduct
of a corporation, or employees acting on behalf of a corporation, which is proscribed and
punishable by law." Clinard and Yeager, provide an understanding that "a corporate crime
is any act committed by a corporation that is punished by the state, regadless of whether it
is punished under administrative, civil, or criminal law".
Initially, the subject of criminal law was only a natural person, while a
corporation/recht person was not recognized as a subject of criminal law. This is due to the
implementation of the Universtas delinquere non pottest principle (Setyono, 2018).
Recognition of corporations as legal subjects in criminal law began in 1635, when
the British legal system recognized that corporations could be criminally responsible for
minor crimes (Weissman & Weissman, 2007).
Corporate responsibility in criminal law actually does not emerge through in-depth
research from experts, but is actually a result of legal formalism. The doctrine of corporate
criminal liability has developed in the absence of a theory that justifies it. Acceptance of
corporations as legal subjects like humans cannot be separated from the role of the court.
Judges in the common law system make an analogy to human legal subjects, so that
corporations also have a legal identity and control over wealth from the management who
created them.
The Criminal Code, which is the parent of every criminal law, does not actually
regulate corporations as subjects of criminal law. The formulation of the articles that use
the phrase "whoever....", "Everyone....", etc. shows that the Criminal Code only recognizes
natural persons or natural persons (humans) as subjects of criminal law, while corporations
or legal entities are not recognized as subjects of criminal law in the Criminal Code. There
is a provision as stipulated in Article 59 which states that: "In terms of determining the
punishment for a violation, then against the management, members of one of the
management or commissioners, the punishment is not imposed on the management or
commissioners, if it is evident that the violation has occurred outside their responsibility".
This provision only applies to criminal acts of violation, but clearly it can be
concluded that the Criminal Code does not recognize corporations as subject to criminal
sanctions. To prevent the spread of corporate crime, the national legal system since 1951
has introduced corporations as the subject of criminal acts. It did not stop there, in 1955 it
was reaffirmed the position of the corporation as the subject of criminal acts in economic
crimes so that they could be held criminally responsible.
It turns out that the presence of a law that regulates corporations can be held
criminally responsible has stimulated other laws that also position corporations as the
subject of criminal acts, including Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning Eradication of
Criminal Acts of Corruption, Law Number 8 of 2010 concerning the Prevention and
Eradication of the Crime of Money Laundering, and Law Number 32 of 2009 concerning
the Management and Protection of the Environment.