Courts to Hand Out Tougher Sentences for Environmental Offences

An information toolkit and guidance to help magistrates deliver tougher sentences for environmental offences has been launched by the Department for Food, the Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

Minister for the Environment Michael Meacher commented: "I am confident that this new guidance will result in an increase in fines for environmental offences. We need to ensure the environment is adequately safeguarded by attaching proper deterrent penalties to environmental crime.

"Environmental crime needs to be taken very seriously, and the penalties for environmental offences need to fully reflect the damage caused by the crime and the full cost of this damage.

"Courts need to consider all of the impacts of any environmental offence, and prosecutors of environmental crime will now be required to present to the magistrates the full costs involved in an environmental offence. This includes harm to the environment, to society and to the economy. Assessing these impacts allows the full costs of the offence to be recognised."

Environmental crime covers a wide range of criminal acts such as wildlife, biodiversity, pollution, waste, and health and safety offences.

Effects of an offence can be complex and are not always obvious. For example, when it comes to air pollution offences, the impact can be diffuse and over a large area and the effects on health and environment are not immediately seen.

For more information, please call DEFRA on 08459 335577.
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