Criminal Liability of Juristic Persons Under The Law Relating to Construction Safety

Abstract

            This article aims to  (1) study concepts and theories concerning criminal liability of juristic persons, (2) to study laws relating to criminal liability of juristic persons according to the law concerning construction safety both in Thailand and United States of America, Japan, Singapore, Republic of Korea, (3) to analyze the criminal liability of juristic persons according to the law concerning construction safety, and (4) to recommend guidelines for improving the law concerning criminal liability of juristic persons relating to safety in construction.   

         This research is qualitative research with document research. The researcher has studied from provisions of legislation, textbooks, academic documents such as journals, articles, research reports, and relevant Supreme Court judgments for data analysis.

        The result found that (1) according to concepts and theories of criminal liability, a juristic person cannot be directly liable for certain types of criminal liability since it is a fictional person under the law. However, it can be liable for certain types of penalties such as fines, (2) from studying laws related to criminal liability of juristic persons in construction safety both in Thailand and foreign countries, it was found that Thailand has a Penal law and other acts defining offences and their penalties similar to those in United States, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. However, in Thailand does not have a provision in law for punishing corporate fines for repeated offences, (3) from the analysis of criminal liability of juristic persons under the law relating to construction safety, it was found that there was only a single fine for each offence which is still inconsistent with the damage incurred in accordance with the juristic persons with high economic status that may cause them not fear of punishment and may commit a repeated offence, and (4) the researcher would like to suggest ways to improve the criminal liability of juristic persons according to the law concerning construction safety by adding provisions of the Occupational Safety, Health and Environmental Conditions Act, B.E. 2554 regarding fines for juristic persons who commit repeated offences.