Environmental Criminal Law Muhammad Rehan Tahir Mphil (Environmental policy and Management) Msc (Physics) Rehan263@gmail.

com

A. Tactical Rediscovery of criminal provisions; The 1899 Refuse Act B. An Increasing Willingness to Prosecute Environmental Crimes C. Criminal Liability; Problems of Knowledge and Intent D. Problem Raised in corporate and Executive Prosecution E. Regulatory Prosecution and the Effect of Federal Sentencing Guidelines

Criminal punishment is an ancient societal instinct, levying fines, custody and physical punishment including death. Criminal Law is often a crude blunt instrument. In industrial community the importance of criminal law appears to be increasing rather than shrinking. In 1960s , no criminal law was applied to environmental cases.

In 1970s , the federal Refuse Act raised the prospect of criminal fines. In 1980s , Federal government and prosecutors in some states were becoming sophisticated in using criminal law. In 1990s , criminal prosecution of the environmental law was much more vigorous. Today , it is not unusual for convicted environmental defendants to face actual personal time in jail as well as large punitive fines that cannot be charged to insurance or deducted from income taxes as business expenses.

Criminal law seeks to punish bad actors in order to accomplish several different public policy objectives not so directly involved in civil law:

Incapacitation Specific deterrence by making the defendant apprehensive about future conduct . General deterrence by showing other potential culprits that crime does not pay.

Revenge and retribution through physical and fiscal punishment for defendants and bad actions. Rehabilitation

1899 Refuse act is a US Federal statute governing use of water ways.

Here is an illuminating example of how criminal law s lingering on the statute books can have dramatic applications in the environmental settings. Henry Reuss of Wisconsin discovered 1899 Refuse act (passed in 1899 as a part of Federal Rivers and harbors appropriate Act of that year . They read its term with pleased anticipation(hope/ expectation).

Deposit of Refuse in navigable (passable) waters Generally.

Penalty for wrongful Deposit of refuse; Use of or Injury to Harbor improvements and Obstruction of Navigable Waters Generally.

case study

(Film Recovery systems Inc, Metallic Marketing systems, Charles krischbaum, Daniel Rodriguez, Steven O'Neil) Circuit court , cook country ,Illinois, Fourth Divisions No.83-11901(Involuntary manslaughter);No.84-5064(murder), june 14,1985

 Liability (Legal responsibility)

Knowledge about crime Nature of crime Knowing or willful violation Statute requires proof about violation

(United states court appeal for the fifth circuit, 1996)

Much of the pollutants of US comes from corporate (commercial) polluters, especially the most toxic of such stream water. Successful prosecution of criminal environmental violations always faces difficulties. Fifth amendment and other limitation on discovery ,and special burden of proof require to prove defendants guilty (beyond a reasonable doubt)

The regulatory prosecution illustrates the modern process of applying a generic sentencing formula under the Guidelines. The prosecution is also a noteworthy as a virtual primer in environmental criminal law, involving violations of a panoply of federal environmental statutes(including OSHA, RCRA, CWA, CERLA AND ESA).

THANK YOU