The article intends to investigate the role of criminal law as a formal social control mechanism responsible for protecting human rights. This investigation will first analyse the foundations of the criminal conduct of modern slavery as described in article 149 of the Brazilian Criminal Code (“reduction to a condition analogous to that of a slave”). After that, the investigation moves to a second part, which is concerned with the criminological aspects of the exploitation of modern slavery and the role of corporations within this scenario. In this section of the article, the analysis will show that the main “criminal” actors responsible for maintaining the conditions necessary for the abusive exploitation of the workforce are multinational corporations, as data available on this matter – collected, analysed, and disclosed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) – currently show. Then, in the next section, the analysis will focus on the limitations of criminal law in addressing the complicity of corporations with gross human rights violations and, more specifically, modern slavery within supply chains. The absence of criminal control over corporate complicity with human rights violations impedes the development of convergence between formal and informal social control mechanisms, and, thus, leads to problems regarding prevention mechanisms, underenforcement and underdeterrence over socially harmful corporate behaviour. In the final section, new possible solutions to these problems will be outlined.