According to Nelken (2012), what advantage do corporations have that helps them avoid accountability for their crimes?

Corporations are often able to avoid accountability for their crimes due to their extensive legal teams and substantial financial resources. These advantages enable them to effectively navigate the legal system, utilize complex legal strategies, and negotiate settlements that can minimize penalties or evade prosecution altogether. Well-funded legal defenses can challenge the enforcement mechanisms that would typically hold individuals or smaller entities accountable for criminal activities.

Access to government officials, high levels of public scrutiny, and complicated regulatory frameworks can all influence corporate behavior to some extent. However, it's the combination of having specialized legal expertise and significant financial backing that truly empowers corporations to mitigate their legal risks and avoid consequences for criminal actions. This dynamic underscores the disparity in power between large corporations and regulatory bodies or law enforcement, highlighting a systemic issue in how corporate crime is treated compared to individual crime.