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The Humanization Of The Corporate Entity: Changing Views Of Corporate Criminal Liability In The Wake Of Citizens United, Elizabeth R. Sheyn

Elizabeth R Sheyn

Although the recent United States Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission clearly controls the First Amendment rights of corporations, the effect of Citizens United on corporate criminal liability is less obvious, though equally (if not more) significant. The Court’s view that corporations are equal to human beings, at least under the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause, when combined with the traditional understanding that corporations are considered “persons” under the United States Constitution, likely impacts the way that corporations’ alleged misdeeds are investigated by the government and the manner in which the government subsequently deals with corporate …