In white-collar criminal cases, the government often uses the collective knowledge doctrine to impose criminal liability against a corporation based upon the so-called collective knowledge of its agents. The collective knowledge doctrine provides that the individual knowledge of a corporation’s agents can be aggregated—to provide the “collective” knowledge of those agents—for purposes of criminal liability. The doctrine’s origins stem from an attempt to prevent a corporation from avoiding criminal liability by merely compartmentalizing the duties of its agents.
A corporation, of course, is incapable of actually forming the mens rea necessary to commit a criminal act. Its knowledge and intent—in other words, its mens rea—must be imputed from that of its agents. But as noted below, the law has drawn a distinction between utilizing the collective knowledge doctrine as a foundation for inferring “knowledge” and “intent,” respectively.
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