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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 10:49 pm
Time: 10:49 pm
Results for offenses against the environment (canada)
1 results foundAuthor: Skinnider, Eileen Title: Victims of Environmental Crime – Mapping the Issues Summary: In recent years, with greater understanding of the need to protect the environment and a better appreciation of what the environment can and cannot sustain, regulation, and in some cases, criminalization of harm to the environment is becoming more accepted. Environmental crime has been identified as one of the most profitable and fastest growing areas of international criminal activity, with increasing involvement of organized criminal networks. Serious environmental harms committed by otherwise legitimate corporations for financial motives are increasingly attracting media attention. At the 12th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (2010), the international community acknowledged the challenges posed by emerging forms of crime that have significant impact on the environment and called on Member States to study this issue and share best practices. Despite this growing awareness, environmental crimes often fail to prompt the required response by governments, the enforcement community and the public. Often perceived as “victimless”, environmental crimes do not always produce an immediate consequence, the harm may be diffused or go undetected for a lengthy period of time. Added to this is the fact that many environmental disruptions are actually legal and take place with the consent of society. Classifying what is an environmental crime involves a complex balancing of communities’ interest in jobs and income with ecosystem maintenance, biodiversity and sustainability. Environmental crime affects all of society. It can have detrimental consequences on the economies and security of a country. For individuals and communities, it may impact public health, livelihoods, and lower property values, as well as impacting on non-human species, nature itself and future generations. The effects of a single environmental offence may not appear significant but the cumulative environmental consequences of repeated violations over time can be considerable. Victims of environmental harm are not widely recognized as victims of “crime” and thus are excluded from the traditional view of victimology which is largely based on conventional constructions of crime. This has meant little attempt to describe the actual prevalence and consequences of environmental crime victimization. Environmental crime victims challenge the traditional victimology approach as they are often victimized collectively and can involve non-conventional victims (non-human species, the environment and future generations). The far-reaching impacts of environmental crime raise complex and unique issues for both victims and government. The objective of this report is to advance the knowledge of the legal and policy issues for victims of environmental crime. Historically, research on environmental crime has lacked the theoretical and methodological depth that has been undertaken for other traditional crimes. In particular, the field of victimology has paid little attention to this type of victimization or to understand how it differs from other types of victimization. Nor has it considered implications for these victims in seeking access to justice, redress, assistance and support. This research maps out the issues relating to victims of environmental crime and identifies topics requiring further study. Part I provides a brief overview of the international and domestic legal framework, using Canada as the case study, before examining some of the conceptual debates regarding definitions and philosophical perspectives. Part II explores the range and types of victims, mapping out the issues for further study. Part III sets out the legal and quasi-legal bases upon which victims of environmental crime can access justice and apply for various types of remediation. Details: Vancouver: International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, 2011. 86p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 17, 2011 at: http://www.icclr.law.ubc.ca/files/2011/Victims%20of%20Environmental%20Crime.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Canada URL: http://www.icclr.law.ubc.ca/files/2011/Victims%20of%20Environmental%20Crime.pdf Shelf Number: 122770 Keywords: Natural ResourcesOffenses Against the Environment (Canada)Organized CrimeWildlife Crime |