Study On The Elements Of “Serious Environmental Pollution” In The Crime Of Environmental Pollution

The specific identification of "serious environmental pollution" is a big difficulty in the criminal treatment of environmental pollution crimes.Interpreting the content of "serious pollution" not only affects the conviction and sentencing of environmental pollution crimes,but also relates to the display of Chinese environmental criminal governance efficiency.To analyze the legislative and judicial status quo of the identification of "seriously polluted environment" is the premise of reasonable interpretation.At the legislative level,from the establishment of the crime of major environmental pollution accident in 1997 to the change of the crime of environmental pollution,it not only shows that the content of environmental legislation is becoming more mature,but also marks the transformation of the concept of environmental governance,namely the transition from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism.However,under the guidance of the principle that criminal legislation should be careless,the result requirement is adjusted to "serious pollution of the environment",and the highly generalized expression cannot give the judicial organs operational guidance,environmental criminal judgments have been absent for a long time,and environmental pollution crimes have been shelved.At the judicial level,in order to alleviate the awkward situation of the application of the crime of environmental pollution,the supreme judicial organ successively issued judicial interpretations,enumerating the "seriously polluted environment".However,the contents and standards of behavior cross with the result standards,the personal and property law interests are mixed together with the environmental law interests,and the application of the interpretation clauses is seriously unbalanced.Vague provisions of legislation and riding the wall provisions of judicial interpretation,the literal ambiguity of "seriously polluting the environment" is the appearance,the root cause is the protection law behind the "seriously polluting the environment" requirement has not been made clear.To grasp the connotation of the interests of environmental pollution crime protection law is the basis to solve other controversial issues of environmental pollution crime.On the one hand,the interpretation of the legal interests of environmental pollution crime should adhere to the guidance of constitutional value,implement the concept of anthropocentrism in ecology,and highlight the clarity of criminal law.On the other hand,the protection interest of the basic crime of environmental pollution crime should be the environmental legal interest,which has the property of collective legal interest,the dualism of legal interest and the crime of environmental pollution have the natural compatibility,the environmental legal interest has the basic status,the human legal benefit is the core status,the environmental legal interest and the human legal interest are independent,which is the legal interest of the same crime at different protection stages.The attribute identification of "seriously polluted environment" requires comprehensive consideration.First of all,the harm caused by environmental pollution behavior has the characteristics of long-term and hidden.Once the actual harm result of environmental pollution is caused,it is not only difficult to recover the damage legal interest,but also difficult to prove the causal relationship.The actual harmful crime and the concrete dangerous crime are weak in the environmental criminal management.Secondly,setting the basic crime of "serious environmental pollution" as abstract dangerous crime is helpful to realize the pre-protection of environmental legal interests and reduce the difficulty of judicial recognition.It is in line with the principle of balance between crime and punishment that the actual harm to environment and personal property is taken as the result aggravated crime.Finally,according to the existing judicial interpretation,the abstract dangerous crime is identified by the behavior standard,and the result aggravated crime is identified by the result standard.In theory,the interests of environmental pollution crime and the basic forms of crime are clarified,but the vitality of law lies in the implementation.In terms of environmental criminal justice,it is necessary to optimize the content of Article 1 of the 2016 "Interpretation of Several Issues concerning the Application of Law to the Handling of Environmental Pollution Criminal Cases",set legal penalties of different ranges for pollution behaviors according to the different degrees of legal interest infringement,and actively promote the scientific and professional identification standards.Actively promote the connection between environmental administrative law enforcement and criminal justice,clarify the connection point of execution,adjust the collection method of environmental crime evidence,comprehensively promote the implementation of environmental legal protection system,effectively integrate environmental management resources,and speed up the green process of environmental criminal law.In the aspect of environmental criminal legislation,the independence of environmental legal interests is the guiding idea,based on China’s environmental governance practice,drawing lessons from foreign legislative experience,adjusting the legislative model,refining the charges of environmental pollution crimes,and concretizing the abstract environmental legal interests.Set the abstract dangerous crime as the basic crime form of environmental pollution crime,and carry on the reasonable legislative limit on it,expand the environment crime circle within the reasonable limit.