We use doctrines of identification to explain how corporations may commit criminal offences in their own right, but current versions thereof have several shortcomings. Here, I suggest that reformulating the identification doctrine to treat all corporate officers and employees as embodying the corporation when acting within their real or ostensible authority, might remedy these shortcomings. Arguments against the resulting expansion of corporate criminal liability are unconvincing, especially when juxtaposed with the criminal law's response to similar arguments made on behalf of natural persons. This may indicate that we should also moderate the criminal law's harshness towards natural persons.
