Unit crime is a new type of non-traditional crime that arises with the development of the market economy. It is also a social and legal phenomenon relative to natural person crime.
Before the 19th century, countries around the world basically held a negative attitude towards the punishability of units as criminal subjects, especially countries with civil law systems. After that, countries with common law systems gradually included units as criminal subjects into the scope of criminal law.
Controversy over unit crimes;
There are different disputes over whether the interests pursued by unit crimes include legitimate interests. Some people believe that "unit crimes are behaviors that seek benefits for the unit in the name of the unit or seek illegal benefits for all or most of the members of the unit." Acts that seek legitimate benefits for the unit cannot constitute any crime. "
Intentional crime committed by a unit is a harmful act committed under the control of a will factor that hopes or allows harmful results to occur. At this time, the benefits sought by the unit's crime are naturally illegal.
However, the criminal negligence of the unit cannot be generalized. In the crime of unit negligence, some factors leading to the crime are based on seeking illegal benefits. For example, in the crime of major safety accidents in projects, the construction unit cuts corners and causes major safety accidents in the project, which belongs to the unit. Negligence crimes caused by illegal gains.
The negligence crimes of some units are not based on seeking illegal benefits, but on engaging in daily production and business activities or performing daily work duties. Therefore, it cannot be understood that the unit is seeking illegal benefits. .