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ISSN 2611-8858

Topics

Environmental Crimes

Restorative Justice and the Environment

First edition of the International Seminar on Restorative Justice and the Environment, August 2020, published by AJUFE

The New Environmental Criminal Law. Issues Concerning Crime Theory and Sanctions

This contribution introduces the main innovations, the unsolved problems and the future challenges brought by the Law of 22 May 2015, No. 68. Such topics are in-depth analyzed throughout the papers published in the present Issue, which constitute the conference proceedings of the 2nd Conference of the International Association of Penal Law, Young Penalists of the Italian Group, held in Florence on December 2nd, 2016.

The Best Available Techniques on Defining the Case in Issue and on the Culpability Verdict

The object of this article is the relevance given to the so-called best available techniques in the definition and detection of environmental crimes. In order to explore this topic, it's fundamental to clarify what is intended for BAT and how they operate in the environmental law system, before to evaluate under what terms criminal law might apply them. To do so, it's necessary to examine the nature of the BAT, analyzing how their identification inevitably involves political and economical factors - and not merely technical ones.

Environmental damage and its consequences on human health

The paper deals with the use of epidemiological evidence for the purpose of proving the causal link between polluting conducts and the harm to human health, under the new environmental crimes introduced in the Italian penal code by law n. 68 of 2015. The attention is focused on articles 452-ter (death or personal injury as a result of the crime of environmental pollution) and 452-quater (environmental disaster) of the penal code. The author provides the interpretation of these provisions, pointing out several shortcomings related to their drafting and their penalties, and then addresses the issue of the relevance of the epidemiological measures of the "relative risk" and the "attributable number". This part of the paper takes into account the different positions that have emerged in legal doctrine and reaches the conclusion that such epidemiologic measures may, under certain conditions, provide evidence which is relevant not only for the proof of the environmental crimes, but also for the offences of homicide and personal injury.

Legislative Options about Mens Rea in New Environmental Crimes

The discipline of the environmental crimes included in the penal code leads to questioning about some issues concerning culpability and the relationship between it and the punishment. In particular, the ambiguous wording of new art. 452-ter c.p. requires to verify whether death and bodily injuries require a mens rea of negligence. Moreover, art. 452-quinquies c.p. stimulates interesting reflections on the proportion between culpability and punishment.

The role of precautionary principle in the “new” environmental criminal law

The law no. 68 .of 2015 introduced new criminal offences, aimed to protect the environment, life and physical integrity of affiliates in various degree and shapes. It also introduced for environmental crimes to be subjected to a mechanism of degradation of the criminal offense and to avail of political and criminal tools already used successfully in other areas. Despite many changes have also affected decree no. 152 of 2006, the legislator didn’t clarify the role of the precautionary principle in the environmental criminal law. Far from being confined to a restricted space, like the the latest judgements of the Supreme Court suggested, the precautionary principle could know an expansion, contributing to the increase of area of criminal relevance concerning cases referred to articles 452 bis, 452 ter, 452 quinquies of Criminal Code.