Corporate crimes can and sometimes do go to criminal court (PG&E, for instance, has convicted of 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the 2018 Camp Fire, obstruction and various criminal pipeline safety violations in the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion, and various other crimes at other times), but aside from fines most criminal punishments don’t apply to corporations. You can’t imprison a corporation as such, nor can you execute it except metaphorically. So, ultimately, that’s largely just a higher standard of proof route to fines than civil court (though probation restrictions are also a thing.)

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vlovich123 an hour ago | parent [-]

You can prosecute and imprison officers and/or the board. A corporation isn’t a magical immunity shield for them - for some reason prosecutors have shied away from piercing the corporate veil.

	▲	dragonwriter 5 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> You can prosecute and imprison officers and/or the board. Right, that's just normal individual criminal prosecution; it doesn't require prosecuting the corporation. Of course, it's possible for the corporation to be guilty of a crime without any individual officer or board member being guilty. > A corporation isn’t a magical immunity shield for them - for some reason prosecutors have shied away from piercing the corporate veil. Piercing the corporate veil is holding shareholders liable for certain debts (including criminal or civil judgements) of the corporation. It has nothing directly to do with criminal prosecution of corporate officers or board members for crimes committed in the context of the corporation (though there are certainly cases where both things are relevant to the same circumstances.)