Sentencing of environmental offenders in Ontario: The behaviour of the sentencing official.

This research explores the socio-legal activities of sentencing environmental offenders in Ontario. The research utilizes a political economy and post-structuralist framework. Prosecution data from the year 1989 was analyzed in order to supply an accounting of sanctions and offenders. This data set was complemented by the participation of ten sentencing officials in an in-depth questionnaire. The questionnaire data allowed for significant details to be extracted regarding sentence disparity within the current legal framework. The concept of the implementation gap as developed by Webb (1988) forms a vital component of the analysis. The central issues are illuminated in order to provide a window into the behavior as it currently takes place, in accordance with the given provisional penalties. The conclusion becomes clear; that the current focus of government and industry is counterproductive to environmental protection and that a co-operative strategy of all citizens, both corporate and public, is to achieve a new focus that can maintain human life into the next century. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1991 .B733. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 31-01, page: 0167. Chair: Thomas Fleming. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1991