Chapter 13 Guidance on answering questions in the book

Question: If you are convinced by the argument that companies should be responsible for crimes why not schools being responsible for crimes of their pupils, universities of their students, families of their children? Cannot schools, universities, and families also have an 'ethos'?

Answer guidance: A key distinction between companies and the other institutions mentioned is the degree of control over behaviour. An employee is required to follow the instructions of his or her employee under the law of contract. Schools, universities and parents cannot require their members to engage in certain activities. However, it might be argued that with the growth of student contracts this argument is less compelling than it used to be. Perhaps any quasi-corporate entity should be capable of being guilty of manslaughter if it has the kind of control over individuals that a company has.