On The Introduction Of "Strict Liability" In Environmental Crimes Of China

Along with the continuous development of the social economy,China's environmental problems have intensified and the phenomenon of environmental crime has become more and more serious.The legislative work on environmental crimes in China has made great progress in recent years.The provisions of the criminal law of China on environmental crimes are mainly embodied in the fifteen crimes in the sixth chapter of Section 6 of the Criminal Law,"The Crime of Destruction of Environment and Resource Protection".Environmental crimes are characterized by the professionalism of the conduct,the severity of the hazard,the delay in the outcome of the hazard,and the complexity of the causal relationship.The principle of guilty of sin of traditional criminal law faces great challenges in solving environmental crimes.The "strict liability" arising from the Anglo-American legal system presupposes the existence of subjective sin of the perpetrator and encourages the perpetrator to actively exercise the right of defense granted by law on the basis of the basic principle of criminal law that does not violate the "unification of subjective and objective".This approach is conducive to solving many of the problems in environmental crime cases.However,there is still a huge controversy in the current criminal law academic circles in China on the introduction of "strict liability" in environmental crimes of China.Supporters believe that the introduction of "strict liability" in environmental crimes of China can improve judicial efficiency,prevent and punish crimes and protect the natural environment However,opponents believe that this behavior is not conducive to economic development,criminal law is not the best means to solve environmental problems,and "strict liability" violates the basic principles of criminal justice.We believe that the current environmental pollution is serious,environmental crimes have particularities,and the traditional guilty principle is incapable,which makes the introduction of"strict liability" necessary.The introduction of "strict liability" does not violate the basic principles of criminal justice in China.There are precedents in the law,and it is conducive to the balance between public interest and personal interests.The introduction of "strict liability" in environmental crimes of China should be based on the principle of "crime and punishment".The introduction of "strict liability"should be "relative strict liability" as a supplementary principle,and the applicable case is that the unit violates the crime of polluting the environment.It is recommended to apply fine penalty and short-term freedom penalty,and to use "no fault of the perpetrator" and "third-party behavior" as the legal defenses.