NCJ Number
195481
Journal
Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Dated: 2001 Pages: 127-148
Date Published
2001
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This article focuses on strategies for deterring environmental crimes.
Abstract
The author notes that people obey laws and regulations when they believe that other people are also obeying the laws and regulations. Once people suspect that others are not complying with laws, deterrence becomes much more problematic. Furthermore, the author points out that environmental laws are particularly difficult to control simply based on the fact that the victims of these types of crime are hard to pinpoint. The public does not get as upset about environmental crimes as they do about, for example, murder. Therefore, the author contends regulatory agencies have a duty to widely report egregious environmental crimes that have resulted in harm to the public in order to make these types of crimes more intolerable by the public. The article then focuses on the fact that a broad array of regulatory measures is needed to deter environmental crimes. Measures that range from criminal charges to administrative sanctions to self-regulations. 2 Figures, references