El defecto de organización: enigma y esencia de la responsabilidad «penal» de las personas jurídicas en la experiencia de la aplicación italiana

The so‐called organisational deficit or failure represents, at the same time, the basis and the most enigmatic profile of the entity’s «criminal» responsibility under Legislative Decree no. 231/2001, also due to the persistent uncertainty about the corporate compliance measures to be taken. The article compares the most recent achievements in Supreme Court case‐law, from the Impregilo bis judgment of section VI of the Corte di Cassazione to the decision of section IV in the case concerning the Viareggio disaster. In the final part, ten theses are formulated on the structure of the entity’s wrongdoing, the role of the organisational model, the risk link between organisational defect and individual offence and the way in which the avoidability of the crime committed through diligent organisation should be understood, as well as on the prospects for the evolution of the Italian discipline.