The European Union Legislation in the Fields of Environmental Crime: The Protection of the Victims from such Crimes

Abstract

In 2008, the EU adopted Directive 2008/99/EC on the protection of the environment through the criminal law, to be implemented in Member States by December 2010. Environmental crime can be broadly defined as including both crimes that result directly from the destruction and degradation of the earth’s resources and those that arise out of the flouting of rules that seek to regulate environmental disasters. Though the enforcement of environmental legislation by means of the criminal law is by no means novel, it has often played a secondary role to administrative sanctions and civil penalties. This paper considers the extent to which the response so far to environmental crime has neglected the impact of such crime on the victims of that crime. The study of victims has become a key element in modern-day criminology, seeking to ensure broad acknowledgement for, and respect of, the rights of victims. But in the case of environmental crime, there remains a noticeable gap. Though there are undoubtedly procedural difficulties in involving environmental victims in the criminal justice system, these are not insurmountable. Indeed there are a number of positive examples of where this is beginning to occur. The purpose of this paper therefore is to analyze the place of the victim in environmental crime, with particular reference to the implementation of the new EU Directive. The paper concludes with the identification of future research priorities, which almost certainly will involve analysis of instances of both legislative innovation and political reticence. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n9p645