In recent years, policymakers in the United States and worldwide have paid great attention to the criminal sanction as a tool for reaching environmental objectives. This article offers several arguments for the application of this penalty to behaviors that degrade the natural environment. Some are based on its deterrent capacity; some are less practical, focusing on a moral imperative to punish those who threaten human health or destroy natural resources. But arguments against criminalizing environmental law are also numerous. They emphasize its high costs, procedural complexity, and potential overkill effects. Decisions about the appropriate applicability of criminal sanctions need to be based on an evaluation of their actual legal and organizational advantages and disadvantages and a knowledge of other promising ideas to foster compliance. Such ideas range from subsidizing the polluter to publicizing his or her good or ill deeds.
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References
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1. Robert W. Adler and Charles Lord, “Environmental Crimes: Raising the Stakes,”George Washington Law Review, 59:781-761 (Apr. 1991).
2.
2. M. A. Cohen, “Environmental Crime and Punishment: Legal/Economic Theory and Empirical Evidence on Enforcement of Federal Environmental Statutes,”Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 82:1054-1108 (Winter 1992).
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3. See generally James S. Strock, “Environmental Crime Enforcement Priorities for the 1990's,”George Washington Law Review, 59:916-937 (Apr. 1991).
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4. See Dick Thornburgh, “Environmental Crimes: Raising the Stakes,”George Washington Law Review, 59:775-780 (Apr. 1991).
5.
5. Ibid., p. 778.
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6. Roger Marzulla and Brett G. Kappel, “Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide: Criminal Liability for Violations of Environmental Statutes in the 1990s,”Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, 16:201-205 (1991).
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7. Stephen Herm, “Criminal Enforcement of Environmental Law on Federal Facilities,”George Washington Law Review, 59:928-967 (Apr. 1991).
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11. Ibid.
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15. Ibid.
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19.
19. Quoted in Joseph DiMento, Environmental Law and American Business: Dilemmas of Compliance (New York: Plenum, 1986), p. 42.
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21. Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 1983.
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23. Personal communication from Professor Gabrio Forti, 24 Oct. 1990.
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24. See Marzulla and Kappel, “Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide,” p. 201.
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26.
in Calavitaet al., “Dam Disasters and Durkheim,” p. 416.
27.
27. Vercher, “Use of Criminal Law,” p. 448.
28.
28. For Germany, see Meinberget al., “Environmental Crime-Economic and `Everyone's' Delinquency,” p. 64.
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29. Ibid.
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30. Hans Jarass, “German Environmental Law in Comparison to U.S. Law: Institutions, Substance, Procedure” (Paper delivered at the University of CaliforniaIrvine, May 1992).
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31. William H. Parker III, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Environment, quoted in Herm, “Criminal Enforcement of Environmental Law,” p. 941.
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38. See, for example, “Utility Is Selling Right to Pollute,”New York Times, 12 May 1992.
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39. J. D. Harford, “Firm Behavior under Imperfectly Enforceable Pollution Standards and Taxes,”Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, vol. 26 (1978).
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40. John Scholz, “Voluntary Compliance and Regulatory Enforcement,”Law and Policy, 6:385-404 (1984).
41.
41. J. McCloy, The Great Oil Spill: The Inside Report (New York: Chelsea House, 1976).
42.
42. Brent Fisse, “Community Service as a Sanction against Corporations,”Wisconsin Law Review, pp. 970-1017 (1981).
43.
43. R. A. Posner, “Optimal Sentences for White-Collar Criminals,”American Criminal Law Review, 17:409 (1980).
