Understanding the seriousness of corporate crime: Some lessons for the new 'corporate manslaughter' offence

The measurement of public attitudes towards the criminal law has become an important area of research in recent years because of the perceived desirability of ensuring that the legal system reflects broader societal values. In particular, studies into public perceptions of crime seriousness have attempted to measure the degree of concordance that exists between law and public opinion in the organization and enforcement of criminal offences. These understandings of perceived crime seriousness are particularly important in relation to high-profile issues where public confidence in the law is central to the legal agenda, such as the enforcement of work-related fatality cases. A need to respond to public concern over this issue was cited as a primary justification for the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. This article will suggest that, although literature looking at the perceived seriousness of corporate crime and, particularly, health and safety offences is limited in volume and generalist in scope, important lessons can be gleaned from existing literature, and pressing questions are raised that demand further empirical investigation.

Championing the rhetoric: corporate social responsibility in the Ghanaian mining sector

This paper contributes to a growing body of literature that critically examines how mining companies are embracing community development challenges in developing countries, drawing on experiences from Ghana. Despite receiving considerable praise from the donor and industry communities, the actions being taken by Ghana's major mining companies to foster community development are facilitating few improvements in the rural regions where activities take place. Companies are generally implementing community development programmes that are incapable of alleviating rural hardship and are coordinating destructive displacement exercises. The analysis serves as a stark reminder that mining companies are not charities and engage with African countries strictly for commercial purposes.

Annual CREMRU-JCI survey of corporate real estate practices in Europe and North America: 1993-2002

The annual survey of corporate real estate practices has been conducted by CREMRU since 1993 and in collaboration with Johnsons Controls Inc. since 1997. This year the survey forms the first stage of a broader research project: International Survey of Corporate Real Estate Practices: longitudinal study 1993-2002, being undertaken for the Innovative Construction Research Centre at the University of Reading, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The survey has been endorsed by CoreNet, the leading professional association concerned with corporate real estate, which opened it to a wider audience. This summary of the ten annual surveys focuses on the incidence of corporate real estate management (CREM) policies, functions and activities, as well as the assessment of knowledge or skills relevant to the CREM function in the future. Both are of vital interest to educational institutions concerned with this field, as well as the personnel and training functions within organisations concerned with better management of their property.

Performance of phase change material boards under natural convection

The high thermal storage capacity of phase change material (PCM) can reduce energy consumption in buildings through energy storage and release when combined with renewable energy sources, night cooling, etc. PCM boards can be used to absorb heat gains during daytime and release heat at night. In this paper, the thermal performance of an environmental chamber fitted with phase change material boards has been investigated. During a full-cycle experiment, i.e. charging–releasing cycle, the PCM boards on a wall can reduce the interior wall surface temperature during the charging process, whereas the PCM wall surface temperature is higher than that of the other walls during the heat releasing process. It is found that the heat flux density of the PCM wall in the melting zone is almost twice as large as that of ordinary wall. Also, the heat-insulation performance of a PCM wall is better than that of an ordinary wall during the charging process, while during the heat discharging process, the PCM wall releases more heat energy. The convective heat transfer coefficient of PCM wall surface calculated using equations for a normal wall material produces an underestimation of this coefficient. The high convective heat transfer coefficient for a PCM wall is due to the increased energy exchange between the wall and indoor air.