NCJ Number
139284
Journal
George Washington Law Review Volume: 59 Issue: 4 Dated: (April 1991) Pages: 889-899
Date Published
1991
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Changes in public attitudes toward crime and sentencing in the last half of the 20th century are examined, with emphasis on the implications for penalties for environmental offenses and for the future of democratic institutions.
Abstract
The strong public support for criminal sanctions for environmental offenses grew out of a cycle of mutually reinforcing changes in norms and laws. Using criminal sanctions to promote environmental protection hardly seems the most promising way to reconcile environmental values with democratic processes and objectives. Support for this approach also raises the question of whether the entire array of less coercive options has been tested and rejected. Nevertheless, the changed public attitudes and the gap between public attitudes and the attitudes of the business community indicate that the government has failed to adequately perform its crucial civic education function in this area. As a result, broad support exists for criminal sanctions, while the implications for civil liberties arouse little concern. Criminal sanctions have a unique capacity to convey moral outrage but criminalizing increasing areas of behavior can also be a first step on the path to authoritarianism. Footnotes