Protecting the right to clean air through criminal law: a perspective from economic law analysis and the case of Poland

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine whether Polish criminal law efficiently criminalises acts that harm air quality (most notably emissions of toxins to the air through, among others, the improper processing of waste). The relevance of this research stems from the notorious fact that air-quality in Poland is one of the worst in Europe, and it is no secret that this situation is caused largely by private actors infringing on rules concerning the emissions of toxins into the environment. As the author establishes through legal analysis, the collection of empirical data, and on the basis of an economic-law-analysis crime model, Polish criminal law fails thoroughly when it comes to combatting this phenomenon. Relating the current legal regu- lations and, most importantly, their employment in practice to the prerequisites of effective crime policy (as envisaged by G. Becker), it is doubtless that for the poor air-quality in Poland to change, the state should aim at reaching a better detection rate when it comes to environ- mental crimes, as well as inflicting more severe penalties on the perpetrators of those crimes. This, coupled with proper educational campaigns directed at citizens and law enforcement authorities at large, should bring about higher levels of deterrence when it comes to these crimes, and by extension, enhance air quality in Poland.