HasanuddinLawReview Volume 8 Issue 2, August 2022 P-ISSN: 2442-9880, E-ISSN: 2442-9899 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 160 Hafrida., Retno Kusniati, and Yulia Monita. “Imprisonment as a Criminal Sanction against Corporations in Forestry Crimes: How Is It Possible?” Hasanuddin Law Review 8 no. 2 (2022): 160-170. DOI: 10.20956/halrev.v8i2.3187 Imprisonment as a Criminal Sanction against Corporations in Forestry Crimes: How Is It Possible? Hafrida 1 , Retno Kusniati 2 , Yulia Monita 3 1 Faculty of Law, Universitas Jambi, Indonesia. E-mail: hafrida_hukum@unja.ac.id 2 Faculty of Law, Universitas Jambi, Indonesia. E-mail: retnokusniati@unja.ac.id 3 Faculty of Law, Universitas Jambi, Indonesia. E-mail: yuliamonita@unja.ac.id Abstract: Environmental harms are frequently part and parcel of ordinary commercial practice. This study aimed to highlight the importance of applying imprisonment as a corporate criminal sanction in forestry crimes to observe and consider individual and far-reaching victims. Forest crimes impact the community’s socio-cultural life and cause environmental damage by increasing global warming. Based on the laws and regulations, fines as criminal sanctions do not effectively deter corporations. Subsequently, imprisonment could be an alternative criminal sanction against corporations through identification where corporate liability could be identified through its management. Actions taken by the management are not based on their rights and authorities but those of the corporations. Therefore, imprisonment and other sanctions such as restitution are expected to effectively and viably address forestry crimes. Keywords: Corporation; Criminal Sanction; Forest; Forestry Crimes; Imprisonment 1. Introduction Imprisonment is a criminal sanction that deprives freedom and restricts a person's movement through confinement in a correctional institution. This implies that individuals are sentenced to prison. Though often applied to natural legal persons, the question of consideration is whether imprisonment could be used as a sanction when corporations commit a crime. 1 Another question is whether it could be restricted to natural persons since corporations are legal subjects that significantly contribute to economic growth. Corporations could perpetrate criminal acts that result in great losses for the state and society. The growth of corruption, money laundering, smuggling, and forestry crimes are replete with criminal acts committed by many corporations. Criminal liability is based on the fulfillment of a criminal act as regulated in the law and the presence or absence of errors. Mistakes or omissions also determine criminal liability, though this may not apply to a corporation, even when it may be possible to measure the guilt of a natural person. Corporations play a vital role in developing an increasingly complex social life. England and other common law countries have recognized corporations as a legal subject that could be punished. In contrast, Continental European countries lag in regulating 1 White, Rob. "Reparative justice, environmental crime and penalties for the powerful." Crime, Law and Social Change 67, no. 2 (2017): 117-132.