A "corporation" in legal code, is approximately equivalent to a Virtual Interface in programming. It is only a "person" for the sake of torts (lawsuits, contracts, and the like), not criminal law. And despite the rhetoric you hear from the idiot left (admittedly not quite so numerous as the idiot right), this is a very good thing.
Just for example, say you're trying to build a high rise. If you know anything about buildings, you know this involves all sorts of people, firms, specialists, and groups. You've got architects, plumbers, finance guys, brick layers, HVAC people, painters, crane operators, cement trucks, etc. Now imagine (as often can happen), someone gets hurt on site and sues. Without a corporation, they have no one to sue. The courts would have to try to figure out who was responsible for exactly what, try to invent implicit agreements, etc. The HVAC guy says he has nothing to do with someone getting hit by a falling brick, etc.
Enter the "corporation" which is created solely for the purpose of building the high rise. Because it's a "virtual person", it has income, expenses, can own property (including bank accounts), can be forced to pay taxes (other types of property - like the chair you're sitting on right now - don't typically owe taxes), and can be sued in civil court. If the people controlling it want to, it can sue others, most typically other corporations. In the end, everything is wrapped up, and handled much more efficiently than it would be if it were hundreds of squabbling individuals (each with their own lawers) before the courts.
But ultimately, corporations are still legal fictions of virtual people, despite what Mitt Romney says, they are not real people themselves. And as such are not capable of committing crimes.Only real people can be charged with crimes.
Most of the whining about "corporations being people" is really anger that people get hurt in accidents, and no one is thrown in jail over it. Except that accidents happen every day in this country.- even fatal ones - and still, no one is thrown in jail. It could also be argued that prosecutors tend to shy away from prosecuting outright crimes when they're committed by rich executives, even when malfeasance is obvious. But even then, there are plenty of CEOs who actually have gone to jail.
But that valid critique of legal double-standards, has nothing to with the whole tort concept of corporations being "virtual" people". And it's silly to harp on it.