Environmental offences: finally making the polluter pay?

This update focuses on developments in sentencing for environmental crimes. The imposition of appropriate penalties is crucial, not only to the use of judicial mechanisms for securing access to environmental justice, but also to respect for the polluter pays principle, a keystone of environmental law. There has been long-standing criticism in the UK of the failure of the courts to treat environmental crimes sufficiently seriously when imposing sentences. Fisher et al observed that insufficiently severe sentences, including low levels of fines, undermine the effectiveness of criminal prosecutions, reinforce an attitude of moral ambiguity towards environmental crime and do not produce a deterrent effect. The issues relate to sentencing for both individuals and businesses, though the latter has arguably been the most problematic. Two important facets of this problem have both been addressed this year, through developments in sentencing guidance and in decisions of the Court of Appeal