PUBLIC TRANSGRESSION OF ENVIRONMENTAL-LAW - A PRELIMINARY-STUDY

Environmental crime, a relatively new category of criminality, has rec ently attracted the attention of criminologists. While large corporati ons and criminal organizations have been viewed as the major environme ntal violators and subjected to study, other groups involved in enviro nmental crimes have been generally overlooked. The present study inter viewed both offenders and investigators involved in environmental crim e, reviewed a sample of case reports of environmental crimes and surve yed a sample of the general public. The results indicate that ordinary citizens also engage in environmental lawbreaking, although their vio lations are basically trivial in nature. The findings of this study su ggest that education, instead of criminal law enforcement, would be an effective way of preventing this widespread environmental criminality of the public.