Sustainable Criminal Justice

The Role of Criminal Law in the Just Transition

Can criminal law be effectively leveraged to punish unsustainable acts and promote a more sustainable society? Traditional criminal offenses, such as rape, assault, and theft, are typically committed when one or more individ­u­als violate legal norms and harm others through discrete acts. In contrast, the sustainability crises (climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution), which threaten the survival of the entire human species and all life on Earth, are due in part to large numbers of people behaving in ways that are generally considered acceptable and even positive: eating well, traveling widely, and living comfortably. These behaviors differ fundamentally from conventional notions of criminal activity. The task of addressing environmental damage and the overexploitation of natural resources has therefore been considered the purview of administrative, economic, and educational policy, and the chosen strategy has been to rely on licenses, economic incentives, and awareness-raising cam­paigns. The imposition of criminal punishment for causing environmental harm has been limited.
This project examines the constraints that prevent criminal law from taking a larger role in the “just transition,” that is, the process of solving global environmental crises while simultaneously promoting social justice and a sustainable economy. The project also assesses how – and to what extent – these constraints can be eased. This involves illuminating the values that underpin the criminal justice system and situating criminal law and criminal law research within the context of the sustainability ideal. Can the criminal law respond to today’s sustainability mega-crises? And should it?