În dreptul penal apar multe dintre întrebările dificile cu privire la aceea cum o entitate juridică ca corporaţia poate fi considerată responsabilă. Dreptul penal vine cu standarde de comportament impus, nu prin compensare, dar printr-un sistem de pedeapsă din partea statului, negociat prin standardele de vină ca intenţia, cunoştinţe şi nepăsare subiective. Astfel, sistemul penal cu privire la sancţionarea corporaţiilor şi societăţilor atrage mai multe controverse decât sistemul obligațiilor civile. Spre deosebire de legi împotriva crimelor de tâlhării, furt, de exemplu, care se aplică universal tuturor persoanelor responsabile, există scheme create special pentru a reglementa domenii de activităţi de afaceri. Aceste scheme de reglementare parţial au unele caracteristici ale legii penale, cum ar fi utilizarea procedurilor penale şi pedeapsa penală, dar au şi alte trăsături specifice, care le caracterizează ca manifestări penale distincte. Aceste diferenţe sunt adeseori reglementate de regulile privitor la responsabilitatea corporaţiilor (persoanelor juridice). Este necesar de menţionat că jurisdicţiile care nu recunosc responsabilitatea penală a corporaţiilor întâlnesc mari dificultăţi în reglementarea businessului prin metode administrative. Aceste scheme de reglementare, în ciuda clasificărilor diferite, conţin multe dintre caracteristicile de reglementare de drept penal

There are a lot of difficult questions that arose in criminal law such as how can be held a responsible corporation. Criminal law concerns standards of enforced behavior, not through compensation, but through a system of state punishment which is negotiated via standards of fault such as intention, knowledge and subjective recklessness. This system should be applied to corporations that attract more controversy than does the ascription of civil liabilities. There is an additional type of criminal law. Unlike laws against murder, assault and theft, for example, which are applied universally to all persons of sound mind, there are schemes created specifically to regulate areas of business activity. Trading standards laws, health and safety laws, and environmental laws all fit in this category. These regulatory schemes share some characteristics of the criminal law such as utilizing the criminal procedure and penalty structure- in other ways they are quite different, and are certainly perceived as distinct, from mainstream criminal law. These differences are often reflected in the rules related to corporate responsibility. It can be noted that jurisdictions which do not recognize corporate criminal liability (or have not until very recently), such as many in continental Europe, avoided the difficulties which might otherwise have arisen in regulating business enterprise by establishing a stream of administrative regulation. These regulatory schemes, despite their different classification, actually share many of the characteristics of regulatory criminal law