Heli Korkka-Knuts

Dr. Heli Korkka-Knuts is a research fellow at the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) and the Faculty of Law. Her background is in doctrinal research of criminal law, with a specific focus on corporate environments. She is the co-author of Yleinen rikosoikeus (2020, Edita Publishing), which is one of the most established handbooks covering the Finnish criminal liability theory.

Dr. Korkka-Knuts' current study “The Role of Behavioural Regulatory Design in Optimization of Environmental Corporate Crime Prevention” (“BiRD”) is an interdisciplinary project, which aims at demonstrating that corporate criminal law has an important role in motivating sustainable business operations. The objective is to bring together research in the areas of legal jurisprudence, criminology, organizational theory, business ethics and social psychology to create new knowledge on corporate crime prevention. More specifically, BiRD intends to establish that the prevention of environmental corporate crime can be optimized by means of behavioural regulatory design. BiRD seeks to explain that any liability model for corporate crime should be designed to account for the behavioural root causes of corporate offending, which are, according to criminological and other behavioural research, inter alia, weak corporate culture and low institutional aspirations as regards ethical behaviour. 

BiRD further seeks to demonstrate that behaviourally informed liability model is efficient, as it fields an appropriate incentive for organizing business operations in a diligent manner, which in turn, promotes meaningful self-regulation and ethical behaviour and thus, prevention of environmental offending within corporate organizations. The innovation of the study is, therefore, to interlink the prevention of corporate offending with a regulatory design motivated by the behavioural and organizational explanations of environmental crime. This novel approach unlocks new opportunities for crime prevention as the suggested model combines a punitive command-and-control mechanism with a softer self-regulatory approach. 

Dr. Korkka-Knuts has completed her doctoral thesis in the field of corporate crime in May 2015, after which she has worked both as postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki and as Senior Associate at Krogerus Attorneys Ltd, Helsinki where her principle task was heading the compliance and corporate offences team.  

Dr. Korkka-Knuts is a member of the Ethical Review Board in the Humanities and Social and Behavioural Sciences.

Education and degrees completed

• 10/2015, Doctor of Law, University of Helsinki (Finland)
• 12/2007, Master of Law, University of Helsinki (Finland)

Other education and qualifications

• 7/2013-8/2017, Member of the Finnish Bar Association (Finland)
• 2/2006–12/2006, Universidad Ramon Lull – ESADE, International Legal Studies (Barcelona, Spain)

Work Experience

• 6/2020–present, Research Fellow, Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (Finland)  
• 9/2017–5/2020, Postdoctoral Researcher, Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki (Finland)
• 8/2013–8/2017, Co-Head of Compliance, Investigations & Corporate Offences, Senior Associate, Krogerus Attorneys Ltd (Helsinki, Finland)
• 1/2012–5/2015, Doctoral Candidate, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Law (Finland)
• 12/2012–6/2013, Visiting Doctoral Researcher, Uppsala University, Faculty of Law (Uppsala, Sweden) 
• 12/2010–11/2011, Trainee Judge, District Court of Tuusula (Järvenpää, Finland)
• 1/2008–1/2012, Associate, Waselius & Wist Attorneys, Helsinki (Helsinki, Finland)
• 4/2007–9/2007, Trainee, Ministry of Finance, Financial Markets Department (Helsinki, Finland)

Personal research funding and grants

• 6/2020-5/2022, HELSUS Research Fellow, "The Role of Behavioural Regulatory Design in Optimization of Environmental Corporate Crime Prevention (BiRD)", Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science
• 3/2018–4/2018, 1-10/2019, Postdoctoral research funding, “Rikosoikeuden yleisten oppien modernisaatio”, the Finnish Cultural Foundation
• 12/2014, Dissertation completion grant, University of Helsinki
• 1/2013-8/2013, 8/2014-11/2014, Doctoral Studies, Suomalainen lakimiesyhdistys research foundation and K.G. Idman foundation, 19.440 EUR
• 12/2012–6/2013, Travel Grant for Doctoral Studies in Uppsala University, Makarna M. och Hj. Granfelts stipendifond
• 1/2012–12/2012, Doctoral Studies, the Chancellor Antti Tulenheimo Memorial Fund

Teaching experience

• 1/2019, Teacher, Undergraduate course on general liability theory in criminal law, causation, University of Helsinki (Finland)
• 1/2018, Teacher, Undergraduate course on general liability theory in criminal law, causation, University of Helsinki (Finland)
• 1/2017, Teacher, Undergraduate course on general liability theory in criminal law, causation, University of Helsinki (Finland)
• 10/2015, Teacher, Licentiate Course in Criminal law, “Bribery in global enterprises”, University of Helsinki / Helsinki Court of Appeal (Finland)  
• 8/2015, Teacher, Commercial Seminar on corporate crime and management liability, Talentum Lakikoulutus (Finland)
• 2/2014, 6/2014 and 9/2014, Teacher, Course on corporate crime and criminal proceeds, the Finnish Bar Association (Finland)  
• 9/2013, Teacher, Undergraduate seminar on corporate crime, University of Helsinki (Finland)
• 3/2013, Teacher, Licentiate course in criminal law, “Quantification of the Proceeds of Corporate Crime”, University of Helsinki / Helsinki Court of Appeal (Finland)
• Spring semester 2012, Teacher, Undergraduate seminar, “Methodology in legal research”, University of Helsinki (Finland)

Experience of organising scientific meetings

• 4/2018, International Symposium, ”Straffrättens byggstenar i Finland och i Sverige: Orsakande och objektivt tillräknande” (Uppsala, Sweden), Member of the Organizing Committee
• 3/2018, international Symposium, ”Straffrättens byggstenar i Finland och i Sverige:  Lagtolkning och legalitetsprincipen”, (Helsinki, Finland), Member of the Organizing Committee and Speaker

Awards

• 11/2015, Award for the best doctoral dissertation of 2015 by the Finnish Lawyers' Association (Vuoden väittelijän palkinto)