Environmental Crimes

This chapter deals with the application of economic theories of criminal law to environmental pollution. The chapter starts by addressing why environmental pollution needs to be enforced at all by using the criminal law. Attention is also paid to the question whether in certain circumstances administrative rather than criminal law could be used to enforce environmental regulation. Optimal sanctions for environmental crime are discussed as well as problems arising in case of corporate environmental crime. The effectiveness of environmental criminal law is generally addressed as well as the consequences of various possible enforcement strategies