中国环境犯罪的现状和处罚改善

Abstract

With the development of modern industry, environmental pollution and destruction in China have become the main problems faced by contemporary society. Behind this problem is the increase in the number of environmental crimes. From 2012 to 2019, China's environmental crime generally showed an upward trend, especially in 2014 and 2019, the crime of polluting the environment, the crime of illegally felling trees, the crime of indiscriminately felling trees, the crime of illegal fishing aquatic products, the crime of illegal hunting, and the crime of illegal occupation of agricultural land is relatively high. The emergence of this phenomenon is related to the legal punishment and sentencing of environmental crimes. Based on the current situation of environmental crime, this paper analyzes the shortcomings of freedom penalty, fine penalty, qualification penalty and non-penalty measures from the perspective of criminal punishment. Compared with other crimes, the legal penalty of environmental crime is lighter, the sentencing range of some environmental crimes is single, the penalty provisions violate the principle of responsibility, and the probation rate of environmental crimes is generally higher. In the aspect of fine penalty, there is no specific amount standard in the fine penalty of environmental crime, which is lack of guidance. In terms of qualification punishment, the limitation of the content of qualification punishment and the lack of qualification punishment are another obvious defect in the legislation of environmental crime in China. In the aspect of non-penalty measures, the scope of application of non-penalty measures in environmental crime is narrow and the direction is insufficient. Based on the above problems, this paper puts forward the corresponding improvement measures. In the aspect of freedom penalty, first of all, the freedom penalty of the crime of polluting the environment, the crime of illegally felling trees, the crime of indiscriminately felling trees, the crime of illegal fishing aquatic products, the crime of illegal hunting, and the crime of illegal occupation of agricultural land should be appropriately adjusted. The crime of environmental pollution is divided into intentional crime and negligent crime, and the legal punishment of intentional crime of environmental pollution should be higher than that of negligent crime of environmental pollution. The maximum legal penalty of the crime of illegally felling trees and the crime of indiscriminately felling trees should not be lower than that of larceny. The range of sentencing will be increased for the crimes of illegal fishing of aquatic products, illegal hunting and illegal occupation of agricultural land. It is necessary to control the probation in these cases. Secondly, in the aspect of fine penalty, multiple fine penalty and limited fine penalty are applied to the fine penalty of environmental crime. Thirdly, in terms of qualification punishment, adjust the content and scope of application of qualification punishment. In addition, it is related to the deprivation of professional qualification. In terms of units, it is necessary to increase and limit the scope of business and deprive units of the qualification to engage in specific industries. At the same time, the scope of application of qualification penalty will be extended to all environmental crimes. Finally, in terms of non-penalty measures, Article 37 of the criminal law adds similar provisions such as “if necessary, order the defendant to restore to the original state, eliminate the influence, and treat within a time limit.” The performance of this obligation is regarded as one of the manifestations of the perpetrator's repentance, which can also be considered as appropriate in the discretionary execution of the penalty.