Legislative Shortcomings And Consummation Of The Crime Of Polluting Environment

In February2009, a serious environment pollution accident related to Hu Wenbiao took place in Yancheng City of Jiangsu province. Unlike the Court decisions in other places, the People’s Court of Yandu District in Yancheng City and the Intermediate People’s Court of Yancheng adjudicated the accident as the crime of spreading toxic and hazardous substances rather than serious environmental pollution incidents. Moreover, Hu Wenbiao was sentenced to10years in prison. After judgment, significant disagreement occurred between legal theorists and the public. The public and the news media tend to the verdict of the Court. In terms of the legal expert, a part agreed the decision while others negated it. The difference is mainly reflected in the rightness of conviction, the fitness of main body, deliberation of subjective crime, the appropriation of punishment and so on. After the accident, Criminal Law modifies the crime of serious environmental pollution accident to the crime of polluting environment and consummates the behavior mode, conviction standard and other aspects as well. However, problems that the threshold for conviction is high, subjective crime is unclear, difference from putting dangerous substances is vague and penalty is low are still existed in it. Criminal Law should reduce the threshold for conviction, modify the conviction standard of polluting environment seriously to being able to polluting environment seriously, formulate clearly the subjective fault of polluting environment crime, confirm behavior mode as "pollution", explain "polluting" behavior from the point view of law and increase the maximum penalty of the crime of polluting environment from7years to10years.