Publisiteitsbevele as vonnisopsie vir regspersone - publicity orders as sentencing option for juristic persons

Abstract

This contribution addresses the issue of adverse publicity orders as a possible supplementary sentencing option for corporate offenders. In South Africa fines are the primary sentencing option available to courts when imposing sentences on juristic persons. Fines, however, do not adequately serve the purposes of corporate sentencing. Publicity orders require the publication of an offender’s conviction, sentence and the details of the offence to individuals or a group of persons (such as shareholders). An adverse publication damages the corporate offender’s reputation – a valuable asset to a corporate entity. It therefore serves the purpose of corporate deterrence. In this contribution criticism is levelled against the fine as primary sentencing option for juristic persons; the notion of corporate reputation is considered from a social and legal perspective; a functional comparative study of adverse publication orders is presented and recommendations are made regarding the content of effective publication orders.

Keywords: Corporations; juristic persons; publicity orders; corporate sentencing