Pollution Crime Research Articles

The Urgency of Regulating the Air Pollution Crime as a Crime Against Humanity

The Urgency of Regulating the Air Pollution Crime as a Crime Against Humanity

The criminal law protection mechanism for sustainable development in China – an empirical analysis of environmental pollution crime

China’s environmental criminal law serves as the strongest legal safeguard for the construction of an ecological civilization, revealing the country’s determination and efforts in environmental protection. Prior to 2011, Article 338 of China’s Criminal Law, which is most closely associated with the punishment of polluters, was rarely applied effectively. However, following the revision of Article 338 to address environmental pollution crime in 2011, more than 10,000 cases were filed in just a few years; thus, this law has played a significant role in the smooth advancement of China’s ecological civilization. An empirical analysis of 1600 instances of environmental pollution crime revealed that Chinese courts continue to give precedence to conventional sentencing factors in the enforcement of this criminal law. Despite the vigorous promotion of the ecological civilization concept in recent years within China, its integration into the judiciary process appears inadequate, and the boundaries of environmental pollution crime remain vaguely delineated. Given these circumstances, there is a pressing need for China to enhance its legislative and judicial frameworks regarding environmental criminal law to ensure robust and enduring support for the nation’s sustainable development.

Role Optimization and Strategic Adjustment of Procuratorial Organs in Promoting Corporate Compliance Construction from the Perspective of Environmental Pollution Crimes

Role Optimization and Strategic Adjustment of Procuratorial Organs in Promoting Corporate Compliance Construction from the Perspective of Environmental Pollution Crimes

The Urgency of Regulating the Air Pollution Crime as a Crime Against Humanity

The Urgency of Regulating the Air Pollution Crime as a Crime Against Humanity

Legislative Policy and Accountability for Pollution Crimes by Ship Operations in Indonesian Waters

Tujuan dari tulisan ini adalah mengkaji kebijakan legislatif yang mengatur tindak pidana pencemaran di perairan Indonesia berdasarkan UU PPLH dan UU Perkapalan serta pertanggungjawaban pidana bagi pelaku pencemaran di perairan Indonesia. Penelitian menggunakan metode yuridis normatif dengan pendekatan penegakan hukum, pendekatan kasus, dan pendekatan komparatif. Hasil penelitian tersebut merupakan kebijakan legislatif tentang pencemaran di perairan yang diatur dalam UU PPLH dengan UU Perkapalan, telah terjadi ketidakselarasan norma terkait tindak pidana pencemaran di perairan yang dilakukan oleh operasional kapal, ketentuan hukuman pidana atau denda yang berbeda sehingga dalam penerapannya menjadi multitafsir dan akan berdampak pada ketidakpastian. Pertanggungjawaban pidana bagi pelaku pencemaran di perairan dapat diterapkan berdasarkan UU Perkapalan. Terhadap awak kapal yang lalai melakukan pencegahan mengikuti Pasal 324 jo 227 UU Pelayaran. Terhadap kapten, apabila berkaitan dengan pengoperasian kapal di luar ketentuan, serta terhadap siapapun yang berada di dalam kapal yang tidak membutuhkan perintah kapten atau awak kapal yang diilustrasikan oleh Pasal 325 jo 229 UU Pelayaran.

Environmental Pollution Crime

This study deals with the crime of environmental pollution in Jordanian law and international conventions, by defining the environment and pollution in jurisprudence, law and the judiciary, and stating the legal basis for the penal responsibility resulting from environmental pollution, through the statement of the material and moral pillars in environmental crimes. The study also deals with the image of the crime of environmental pollution from by clarifying the responsibility of the natural person and the legal person and clarifying the penalty for committing environmental crimes.

Judicial Application of Environmental Pollution Crime and Its Approach

Judicial Application of Environmental Pollution Crime and Its Approach

Research on the Principles of Responsibility for Environmental Pollution Crimes under the Concept of Ecological Legal Interest

Research on the Principles of Responsibility for Environmental Pollution Crimes under the Concept of Ecological Legal Interest

The Guarantee Mechanism of China's Environmental Protection Strategy from the Perspective of Global Environmental Governance-Focusing on the Punishment of Environmental Pollution Crime in China.

Effective global environmental governance is the only viable way to solve the human environmental crisis. For a long time, China has been an active promoter and contributor to the global environmental governance system. In recent years, China has enhanced the penalty intensity of environmental crimes, the environmental pollution crimes in particular, and received good results in order to better realize the construction of ecological civilization and better fulfill the emission reduction targets of international environmental treaties. The deterioration of China's environmental crisis in the past and the lack of deterrent effect of China's environmental laws are closely related to the ineffective punishment of environmental crimes. In order to better promote environmental protection careers, China's environmental crimes still need to be continuously optimized in terms of adding charges, legislative models and restorative justice.

Green Crimes in the Empire State: Analyzing the Criminal Enforcement of Environmental Law in New York

Ensuring compliance with federal and state environmental laws and deterring future offenses can require the application of criminal enforcement tools. Yet we have a limited understanding of how the criminal enforcement of environmental laws has progressed historically in The Empire State. To explore this phenomenon, we undertake content analysis of federal prosecution summaries for all environmental crime prosecutions stemming from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency criminal investigations from 1983 to 2019. We explore which federal environmental laws were violated, determine which charging statutes were used, analyze sentencing patterns, and illustrate the broader themes that emerge in such prosecutions over 37 years. Our findings show that total penalties assessed to all defendants included some $264 million in monetary penalties, almost 7,000 months of probation, and 4,757 months of incarceration. We find that 26 percent of prosecutions center on air pollution crimes, 18 percent on water pollution crimes, 12 percent on hazardous waste crimes, and 18 percent on state-level offenses. We conclude with forward-looking ways to improve the criminal enforcement of environmental laws, including enhancing resources, community policing, and public salience.

Reform and Analysis of the Division of Legal Responsibility between Enterprises and Third-Party Governance under Environmental Pollution.

This paper aims to deeply analyze the relevant concepts of the third-party responsibility for environmental pollution control of enterprises and further clarify the legal responsibility and responsibility distribution of the third-party environmental pollution control. Through the analysis of enterprise environmental pollution sample data, this paper finds that the judicial application of enterprise environmental pollution crime in China mainly includes the number of cases increases year by year and the subjects of enterprise environmental pollution crime are relatively concentrated. The results show that the joint crime accounts for about 40%, and unit crime cases account for about 10%, while the amount of fines for natural persons in the existing laws is mostly less than 50,000 yuan, which is relatively low. Finally, it is concluded that the criminal punishment of enterprise environmental pollution is relatively light, especially in the accountability of the criminal subject. Therefore, this paper focuses on the division of legal liability from three aspects: civil liability, administrative liability, and criminal liability.

Analysis on the Application of Environmental Crime Criminal Law—— Cites the Crime of Environmental Pollution

At present, the scope of environmental legal benefits established by China's criminal law is relatively narrow, which not only blurs the legal benefits of environmental pollution crimes, but also constitutes an obstacle to refining the types of environmental crimes in China. Therefore, the key to the application of the criminal law for the environmental pollution crime is to moderately increase the specific types of legal benefits of the environmental pollution crime. However, the specific composition of the crimes in the special chapter of environmental crime stipulated in China's criminal law is not clear, which has a very limited role in regulating environmental crimes. The crime of environmental pollution is one of the important crimes of environmental crime in the criminal law. It should be necessary to determine the types of legal interests and clarify the attributes of its legal interests, so as to solve the dilemma of environmental crime in the application of the criminal law.

Characterization of a pollution source with isotopic and physicochemical measurements using a forensic metrology approach

Carbon and nitrogen composition and isotopic ratios (δ15N, δ13C, and δ13C-DIC) as well as physicochemical parameters were measured in hazardous waste leachate connected to an environmental pollution crime. A forensic metrology approach was employed by estimating the measurement uncertainty, including that from the sampling process, using range statistics. The physicochemical parameters demonstrated differences in the leachate from some of the different ponds and this was supported by carbon and nitrogen elemental and isotopic analyses. The isotopic signature of δ15N and δ13C-DIC was highly enriched in the heavy isotope demonstrating that those analyses are a substantial tool for leachate pollution tracking. The uncertainty of the measurements was below or slightly above 20% for most parameters which can be considered fit-for-purpose for a great deal of environmental surveys and was remarkably lower in the isotopic analyses. The uncertainty of measurement including the primary sampling is a relevant information in environmental investigations, especially forensic ones. This knowledge is crucial for a consistent interpretation of environmental samples analyses results, specially from polluted sites and pollution source characterization and tracking, where there is often substantial heterogeneity in environmental samples.

Dendrochemical forensics as material evidence in courts: How could trees lie?

The legal admissibility of scientific tools, such as dendrochemistry providing forensic evidence for criminal or civil cases, critically relies on the quality of fundamental and applied scientific research. The “Daubert” and “Frye” criteria that federal courts in the U.S.A use for determining legal admissibility requires publication of the scientific basis for the tool, and general acceptance by the scientific community. The field of dendroforensics is rapidly evolving, with new methods constantly being developed. In this manuscript we investigate how this dendrochemical evidence has been used successfully in the courtroom. The study of tree rings using physical anatomical and dendrochronological methods has been used as evidence in courts for over 150 years. From these beginnings in dendroecology dendrochemical and biological methods have matured enough to allow it to be used in forensic investigations, finding applications as a new independent line of evidence around the world, supporting cases involving murder, trafficking of protected species, and pollution crimes. We summarize some of the key applications of dendrochemistry in forensic cases and illustrate them with courtroom examples. The basic analytical methods discussed (e.g., PCR, GC-MS, LIBS, LA/ICP-MS, EDXRF) are all conventional. However, for findings to be relevant to judicial cases, the data is normally applied with additional lines of evidence gathered such as tree physiology and relevant statistics. This can allow us to gain more powerful data to help age date a specific event or to spatially identify a source material. The purpose of this article is to show how recent research has paved the way for the use of dendrochemical evidence in courts. It shows how dendrochemistry can be useful for forensic investigations including: murder cases, trafficking of protected species, and pollution crimes. The applications are illustrated by several summarized legal cases, but due to the confidential nature of some of these cases it was not always possible to provide full details or references.

Judicial Application of Environmental Pollution Crime in the Soil Field of China: An Empirical Analysis of 103 Judgements

To clarify the judicial practice of environmental pollution crime in the field of soil, this article will combine the research of environmental criminal law and soil field, and allow a method of empirical analysis for cases of environmental pollution crime in the soil field through categorical integration. Results showed that environmental pollution crime of soil field was mainly committed by the natural person; the term of fixed-term imprisonment and the amount of criminal fine were low; the defendant had a good attitude to plead guilty; the application of penal auxiliary measures was mainly focused on confiscatory auxiliary measures.

Environmental forensic investigation of the air pollution from a cement manufacturing unit

Cement manufacturing is a process that results in the emission of significant quantities of suspended particulate matter (SPM) to the ambient air. An environmental forensic investigation was carried out in the surroundings of a major cement manufacturing unit at a place called Coimbatore in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The investigation was carried out to identify the contribution of the cement manufacturing unit to the SPM concentration of the surrounding air environment. The sampling points’ selection and sample collection were done following the principles outlined in the INTERPOL Manual for Pollution Crime Forensic Investigation. On-site monitoring of the air samples was carried out using Mini Laser Aerosol Spectrometer (GRIMM, Mini-LAS Model 11R). The instrument was capable of measuring particles ranging from 0.25 to 32 µm and classifying them into 31 size channels. The test results at majority of the monitoring locations were well above the limits specified in the National Ambient Air Quality Standards of India. Microscopic studies of the dust samples were carried out for surface texture and particle shape. The spatial distribution of particles was analysed using geographic information system (GIS) for the visual identification of the extent of the pollution by keeping the cement factory as the focal point. The results from the GIS and microscopic analysis established the role of the cement factory in the particulate matter pollution of its surroundings, specifically in the areas North-West of the factory. The successfully adopted procedure can serve as a guideline for the environmental forensic investigation of similar pollution incidences.

Sustainability Assessment of Maritime Tourism Industry Based on Uncertain Evidential Reasoning Approach in the Context of Big Data and Internet

Gao, Y., 2019. Sustainability assessment of maritime tourism industry based on uncertain evidential reasoning approach in the context of big data and internet. In: Gong, D.; Zhu, H., and Liu, R. (eds.), Selected Topics in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 94, pp. 393-397. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 94, pp. 749–753. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.As the rapid and sound development of society and economy in our country exists, the living level of people is becoming increasing and thus people have realized the importance of traveling. More importantly, with the wide application of technology related to Internet and Big data, maritime tourism industry develops rapidly and steps into a new golden era. Government organizations and maritime tourism enterprises find that it is necessary to promote maritime tourism industry to improve the economy of some regions in the context of big data and Internet. However, with this development, some issues have appeared such as environmental pollution and social crimes. In order to copy with these problems, sustainability is introduced in maritime tourism industry. In general, sustainability is considered as an integrated concept including social responsibility, environmental protection and economic development. These three concepts are also called a trip bottom line. Based on these concepts, in this paper, we introduce evidential reasoning method to help evaluate sustainability of maritime tourism industry from different regions to choose the best one to improve other worse ones, which will be demonstrated by an illustrative example.

An environmental forensic investigation at a bio-medical waste treatment and disposal facility in Kerala, India

Indian statutes identify twelve different types of biomedical wastes and give the treatment and disposal options for each. Since it is not possible for every generator of biomedical waste to go for their own treatment and disposal facility, the small-scale generators take the service of centralized treatment and disposal facilities available to them on payment. In the state of Kerala in India, where the basic health indicators match those of many developed countries, the centralized biomedical waste treatment facility is run by Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kerala, under the banner IMAGE (IMA Goes Eco-Friendly) at a place called “Kanjikode” in the Palakkad District. The facility receives biomedical waste from around 4500 hospitals across the State and an equal number of medical laboratories. The plant incinerates the incinerable waste and the other kind of waste are disinfected and decontaminated. The residual ash and dried sludge are then moved to the landfill area. Recently, the facility was in the middle of a controversy due to the alleged health hazards it posed to the surrounding population. An environmental forensic investigation was carried out at the site to establish the merits of the allegation. The reported study is a part of the investigation where groundwater was analysed for the presence of heavy metals. As the biomedical waste contain heavy metals like Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr, and Hg, the presence of these were analysed to establish contamination of groundwater by the facility. The study area is bounded by Malampuzha dam and Korayar river. Groundwater contaminant transport modelling was done for a 3430 m × 3960 m area surrounding the waste treatment facility using Visual MODFLOW and MODPATH. Ground water flow direction and particle pathlines were computed to track the movement of contaminants. Groundwater samples were collected from the area shown to be polluted by the model, if metals were discharged by the facility, and also from outside this area. Water samples were collected conforming to the guidelines in the “Pollution Crime Forensic Investigation Manual” published by INTERPOL. The collected water samples were tested for heavy metal concentration using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). The water sample analysis showed that the groundwater is not contaminated by heavy metal discharge from the biomedical treatment facility.

Criminal Measures Against Offenders of Environmental Pollution Crimes in Iraq After 2003

A major challenge in the protection of the Iraqi environment from pollution is the difficulty of determining the perpetrator’s criminal responsibility for environmental pollution crimes. As such, there must be a set of legal procedures and punishments to combat environmental pollution crimes. Fixed legal procedures must be followed after a crime is detected and it should include investigations, arrests, court trials and enforcement of the punishment if the perpetrator is found guilty. The Iraqi legislative authority has acknowledged the perils of environmental pollution through the issuance of procedures and laws for the protection and control of the environment. These laws have made the punishments for the offenders more severe in order to serve as a general and private deterrent in order to remove the consequences of violation of the environment and restore the situation. This paper deliberated on the concept of public criminal responsibility in conformity with the Iraqi Penal Code Law No. 111 of 1969, the Iraqi Protection and Improvement of the Environment Act, Law No. 27 of 2009 as well as determined the offender’s criminal responsibility for offenses under the aforementioned laws. Also, there is a statement of the damage the U.S. occupation has inflicted upon Iraq including the pollution of the environment caused by the use of internationally forbidden weapons in 2003. On this matter, the qualitative research method was adopted as this method involves both primary and secondary sources. As such, people from the judiciary and academia who were involved in criminal law were personally interviewed. This study discovered that there are several legal issues and constraints and they are linked to weaknesses of Iraqi laws for the protection of the environment. On top of that, the many sources of environmental protection in Iraq has slowed down the rectification of the constraints and this in turn has significantly affected the determination of the offenders’ responsibilities for environmental pollution crimes.

Assessment of trace metal contamination and its anthropogenic influence in the sediments of an urban water body in Kozhikode, Kerala, India

Urban water bodies in India receive pollution loads from numerous sources. Identification of the polluter in such cases is a difficult process. An investigation of forensic nature is needed for this. The present study targets the Conolly canal (aka Canolly Canal in local parlance) passing through the centre of Kozhikode city, constructed for inland navigation during the British reign of India. It is a typical urban water body that is exposed to different point and non-point sources of pollution, directly receiving untreated municipal and industrial sewage, in addition to storm water. For the identification of the sources polluting the Canal, an investigation following the guidelines regarding the collection of samples in the ‘Pollution Crime Forensic Investigation Manual’ published by the INTERPOL, was carried out. The human influence on the heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Fe and Pb) concentration in the canal sediments was analysed using the following indices – Enrichment factor (EF), contamination factor (CF) and geo-accumulation index (Igeo). Sediment samples for the study were collected from the different locations and depths of the canal bed and were analysed using atomic absorption spectrometry. All the three indices showed human influence on the heavy metals contamination of the canal. The results indicated that the EF and CF for the metals analysed are in the order of Cd > Cu > Cr > Hg > Pb. The Igeo showed high pollution level for the metals Cd and Cr. All three indices showed maximum values for the top (surface) sediments, which indicated the ongoing waste disposal into the canal. The study also revealed that the contamination levels are very high at the location where a major drain discharges waste water into the canal and the level of contamination was above the limiting value set by the World Health Organisation, and hence a cause for serious concern.