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Full-Text Articles in Criminal Law

The Politics Of The Criminal Enforcement Of The U.S. Clean Air Act, Joshua Ozymy, Melissa Jarrell Ozymy Oct 2022

The Politics Of The Criminal Enforcement Of The U.S. Clean Air Act, Joshua Ozymy, Melissa Jarrell Ozymy

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Criminal prosecution has always existed in a political context. Democratic and Republican presidents have treated environmental regulation very differently over time and this may have a profound effect on how the criminal enforcement of air pollution laws has proceeded in the United States both historically and in the future. There was enough of a bipartisan consensus to allow the institutionalization of resources for the policing and prosecution of air pollution crimes that began in the 1980s and lasted until the early 1990s, where criminal investigators and specialized prosecutors were hired; institutionalized places for these operations to specialize and collaborate were …


The Possibility Of Prosecuting Corporations For Climate Crimes Before The International Criminal Court: All Roads Lead To The Rome Statute?, Donna Minha Jan 2020

The Possibility Of Prosecuting Corporations For Climate Crimes Before The International Criminal Court: All Roads Lead To The Rome Statute?, Donna Minha

Michigan Journal of International Law

Due to rapid developments in climate science, scientists are now able to quantifiably link significant greenhouse gas emissions caused by major oil and gas corporations to specific climate impacts. These scientific advances have been accompanied by the publication of documents and studies suggesting that the oil and gas industry allegedly had knowledge of climate change as early as sixty years ago, and yet it actively worked to promote climate change denial and to delay governmental regulation on this matter. Though climate-related litigation is proceeding against the industry in different jurisdictions, proceedings brought against oil and gas corporations mainly focus on …


Prosecutorial Discretion And Environmental Crime Redux: Charging Trends, Aggravating Factors, And Individual Outcome Data For 2005-2014, David M. Uhlmann May 2019

Prosecutorial Discretion And Environmental Crime Redux: Charging Trends, Aggravating Factors, And Individual Outcome Data For 2005-2014, David M. Uhlmann

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

In a 2014 article entitled “Prosecutorial Discretion and Environmental Crime,” I presented empirical data developed by student researchers participating in the Environmental Crimes Project at the University of Michigan Law School. My 2014 article reported that 96 percent of defendants investigated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and charged with federal environmental crimes from 2005 through 2010 engaged in conduct that involved at least one of the aggravating factors identified in my previous scholarship, namely significant harm, deceptive or misleading conduct, operating outside the regulatory system, and repetitive violations. On that basis, I concluded that prosecutors charged violations that …


Environmental Crimes And Imprisonment: Does Prison Work To Prevent And Punish Environmental Criminals?, Rafael Wolff Feb 2016

Environmental Crimes And Imprisonment: Does Prison Work To Prevent And Punish Environmental Criminals?, Rafael Wolff

Dissertations & Theses

Environmental degradation is a global problem. Humans need natural resources to survive and, as those resources are limited, humans’ use of these resources should respect a sustainable pace established by law. There are many approaches to addressing environmental degradation that do not honor the legal limitations and one of them is through criminal law. The question that is posed in this thesis is whether imprisonment, one of the most severe methods of punishment, is a suitable option to repress and prevent environmental crimes.

This thesis is divided in three chapters. The first chapter discusses why environmental crimes are relevant. It …


Environmental Law, Public Health, And The Values Conundrum, David M. Uhlmann Apr 2014

Environmental Law, Public Health, And The Values Conundrum, David M. Uhlmann

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

In September 1996, when I was nearing the end of my sixth year as a Justice Department environmental crimes prosecutor, one of my colleagues sent me an email that there was a “good-sounding RCRA [Resource Conservation and Recovery Act] knowing endangerment case developing in Idaho.” A twenty-year-old man named Scott Dominguez had collapsed inside a storage tank at an Idaho fertilizer manufacturing facility called Evergreen Resources. Mr. Dominguez could not be rescued for nearly an hour, because firefighters who responded to the scene did not know what was in the tank and what safety precautions they needed to take before …


After The Spill Is Gone: The Gulf Of Mexico, Environmental Crime, And Criminal Law, David M. Uhlmann Jan 2011

After The Spill Is Gone: The Gulf Of Mexico, Environmental Crime, And Criminal Law, David M. Uhlmann

Articles

The Gulf oil spill was the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, and will be the most significant criminal case ever prosecuted under U.S. environmental laws. The Justice Department is likely to prosecute BP, Transocean, and Halliburton for criminal violations of the Clean Water Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which will result in the largest fines ever imposed in the United States for any form of corporate crime. The Justice Department also may decide to pursue charges for manslaughter, false statements, and obstruction of justice. The prosecution will shape public perceptions about environmental crime, for reasons that are …


Holding The "Responsible Corporate Officer" Responsible: Addressing The Need For Expansion Of Criminal Liability For Corporate Environmental Violators, Nancy Mullikin Aug 2010

Holding The "Responsible Corporate Officer" Responsible: Addressing The Need For Expansion Of Criminal Liability For Corporate Environmental Violators, Nancy Mullikin

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

This comment argues that the responsible corporate officer (RCO) doctrine, as written into the CWA and the CAA, was intended to impose an affirmative duty on corporate officers based on their position and should be interpreted to expand criminal liability in the prosecution of substantive corporate environmental crimes. This comment also argues that the courts should expand criminal liability based on the RCO doctrine instead of limiting its application. Part II provides an overview of criminal prosecution of environmental crimes: its history, procedures, and purposes, in order to provide a context for understanding how the RCO doctrine appropriately expands criminal …


Crimes On The Gulf, David M. Uhlmann Jan 2010

Crimes On The Gulf, David M. Uhlmann

Articles

The explosion that rocked the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010, killed 11 workers and triggered the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. After six weeks of failed efforts to stop the gushing oil and protect the fragile ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico and the communities along its shores, President Obama pledged on June 1 that “if our laws were broken . . . we will bring those responsible to justice.”


Environmental Crime Comes Of Age: The Evolution Of Criminal Enforcement In The Environmental Regulatory Scheme, David M. Uhlmann Jan 2009

Environmental Crime Comes Of Age: The Evolution Of Criminal Enforcement In The Environmental Regulatory Scheme, David M. Uhlmann

Articles

The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 often is considered the first environmental criminal statute because it contains strict liability provisions that make it a misdemeanor to discharge refuse into navigable waters of the United States without a permit. When Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Act, however, it was far more concerned with preventing interference with interstate commerce than environmental protection. For practical purposes, the environmental crimes program in the United States dates to the development of the modem environmental regulatory system during the 1970s, and amendments to the environmental laws during the 1980s, which upgraded criminal violations of …


Strange Bedfellows, David M. Uhlmann Jan 2008

Strange Bedfellows, David M. Uhlmann

Articles

Environmental protection has not been a priority for the Bush administration, but, contrary to popular perception, criminal prosecution of companies and officials accused of breaking environmental laws has flourished.


Negligence-Based Environmental Crimes: Failing To Exercise Due Care Can Be Criminal, Joseph J. Lisa Jan 2007

Negligence-Based Environmental Crimes: Failing To Exercise Due Care Can Be Criminal, Joseph J. Lisa

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Questions Of Intent: Environmental Crimes And Public Welfare Offenses, Lawrence Friedman, H. Hamilton Hackney Jan 1999

Questions Of Intent: Environmental Crimes And Public Welfare Offenses, Lawrence Friedman, H. Hamilton Hackney

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.


United States V. Eidson: Navigating The Way Toward Stiffer Penalties For Environmental Crimes, Kerri Ann Riley Jan 1998

United States V. Eidson: Navigating The Way Toward Stiffer Penalties For Environmental Crimes, Kerri Ann Riley

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Criminal Enforcement Of Environmental Laws: A Corporate Guide To Avoiding Liability, Sean J. Bellew, Daniel T. Surtz Jan 1997

Criminal Enforcement Of Environmental Laws: A Corporate Guide To Avoiding Liability, Sean J. Bellew, Daniel T. Surtz

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Strict Criminal Liability For Environmental Violations: A Need For Judicial Restraint, Kepten D. Carmichael Jul 1996

Strict Criminal Liability For Environmental Violations: A Need For Judicial Restraint, Kepten D. Carmichael

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Organizational Environmental Crime And The Sentencing Reform Act Of 1984: Combining Fines With Restitution, Remedial Orders, Community Service, And Probation To Benefit The Environment While Punishing The Guilty, Martin Harrell Jan 1995

Organizational Environmental Crime And The Sentencing Reform Act Of 1984: Combining Fines With Restitution, Remedial Orders, Community Service, And Probation To Benefit The Environment While Punishing The Guilty, Martin Harrell

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.