The Corporate and White-Collar Crime Network website is part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)  funded project aimed at advancing our understanding of the principles that should inform a just law of corporate and white-collar criminal liability and examining the practical problems involved in enforcement of such laws worldwide. In an era where there is little empirical or analytical research on corporate and white-collar crime, accompanied by a growing awareness of the potentially catastrophic consequences of corporate gross negligence and grossly deficient risk management by corporate executives, our website is both timely and of critical importance to the economic health and well-being of society.

Events in recent years have heightened awareness of the harm that companies and corporate executives that carry on their businesses in a grossly negligent manner can cause. The result may be economic loss on a massive scale, as evidenced by the collapse of such well-regarded companies as Lehman Brothers, Enron, Parmalat, Worldcom and Barings. Or the costs may be measured in terms of deaths and serious injuries, as occurred in Bhopal, Chernobyl, the Paris crash of the Concorde, the capsize of the Herald of Free Enterprise and the rail crashes at Southall, Paddington and Hatfield.

The project, including the CWCN website, is managed by Professor Gobert and Dr Pascal. Professor Gobert has taught and published extensively in the field of corporate crime over a 15-year period. Dr. Pascal was the UK Director of the Centre for Corporate Accountability (CCA), a London-based charity concerned with worker and public safety, and was responsible for managing the organisation’s projects, budgets, and staff, as well as for undertaking policy analyses and research.

 We envisage our website becoming a home for news, opinions, commentary, and papers on corporate and white collar crime, posted by anybody with an interest in the subject matter. The website will be monitored and constantly updated, and will provide information on relevant legislative and judicial developments, new cases of interest, and notice of upcoming meetings and conferences. We hope it will prove an effective  vehicle for reaching not only professional audiences but also members of the general public who share our concerns on the mushrooming generated by corporate and white collar wrongdoing. The website features a forum (currently under construction), which is designed to facilitate a dialogue among visitors to the site, and allow readers to start a thread raising issues and questions of particular concern to them. We hope that you find our website and forum stimulating, and we welcome any contributions or suggestions that you wish to make.