Environmental Crimes

Rena captain and officer sent to jail

Dan Van Ness — 2012-06-29T05:00:00Z

....Colin Reeder, chairman of the Te Moana a toi iwi leaders forum, read out a victim impact statement.

He said tangata whenua had forgiven the captain and first officer.

"The sentencing of the captain and mate, whom have taken responsibility for the disaster, would seem to be a way of mitigating our anger and rage by directing it at them.

"However, as tangata whenua realise that they were only a cog in the machine that caused this disaster, we would rather direct our anger and rage at the system that allowed this to happen.

"The two men made a mistake that was generated by a need to save time. The root cause must be fixed as the potential will still be there after these two are sentenced. We won't be satisfied until this is remedied.

"Through restorative justice, Tangata whenua have forgiven the defendants, who were able to apologise to the community. That apology has been accepted. We do not however forgive the system that may allow this to happen."

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Besthorn, Fred H.. The Environmental Restoration Movement as an Issue of Justice

Besthorn, Fred H. — 2007-03-04T23:41:09Z

"The person-in-the-environment concept of social work is especially relevant to Chapter 13 by Fred H. Besthorn who leads us into an examination of the impact of rapidly deteriorating natural elements and their impact on the world's ecosystems." (Abstract)

Fisher, Richard and Heffernan, Felicity and Verry, John. Restorative Justice Approaches in the Context of Environmental Prosecution.

Fisher, Richard and Heffernan, Felicity and Verry, John — 2007-03-04T23:41:09Z

Punishment of environmental "crimes" differs from other prosecuted offenses, because the harm done is often irreparable, and because there is often no victim, in the ordinary sense of criminal justice. Consequently, statutory enforcement mechanisms must be flexible, proactive, and arguably more preventive than punitive. Relatively new "green" sentencing options in Australia, for example, include restoration or enhancement of the environment in public places, as well as other creative punishments, including environmental audits of company activities, publication of the offense, and a requirement for notification in company annual reports. In this study, we examine the applicability of a restorative justice approach to environmental offenses under New Zealand's Resource Management Act 1991. The benefits of ârestorative justiceâ? and âdiversionâ? schemes are discussed, as these have been applied by one New Zealand district council. It suggests that a restorative justice approach may offer useful, additional discretion to local authorities when prioritising the resource-intense effort required to successfully prosecute environmental offenses as the means for re-dressing the damage to the environment. (Author's Abstract).

Mangakino awarded $30,000 after restorative justice process

Lynette Parker — 2010-10-26T11:02:51Z

That meeting was subsequently held in July and was attended by more than 30 people, including representatives from TDC and EW. TDC apologized to the Mangakino community for the offending and the way it had handled the issue. It agreed it would communicate clearly with the town if any further incidents occurred, and to keep people informed about the outcome of the court case and the awarding of any money to projects.

Residents at the meeting suggested TDC could pay for research into problems caused by the stormwater system that currently links into the sewage system on many properties, the use of soak holes and the provision of irrigation of treated water on to the golf course to disperse some of the water. They also suggested contributions towards insulation of housing in Mangakino and a community garden.

As a result of the meeting TDC offered to pay $15,000 towards a new irrigation and treatment process to provide irrigation to the golf course. Judge Melanie Harland noted this would provide a substantial start to the project.

TDC also offered to pay $5,000 to research the stormwater flow into the sewage system and to address possible solutions to the problem this caused. Another $10,000 was offered for the community garden.

Judge Harland said she was “very impressed” with the results of the restorative justice process saying they were an “excellent example of what can be achieved by people when they approach the solution to a problem with goodwill and lateral thought”.

...“This process has been an excellent medium for involving the community and fully informing them of what has been happening in their back yard. I commend the way the community turned out for the restorative justice meeting and was able to clearly indicate what they wanted.

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McElrea, F W M. The Role of Restorative Justice in RMA Prosecutions.

McElrea, F W M — 2007-03-04T23:41:09Z

I was a great surprise but a very great privilege to be this lecture to the RMLA Auckland branch members earlier this year. The topic is certainly one of real interest to me, and I hope it will prove of value to you. With the agreement of Principal Environment Court Judge Bollard I have been encouraging the use of restorative justice processes in a few RMA cases. Two have been completed and others are in the pipeline either here or in the Waikato. There is the potential for a greatly increased use of this approach.(excerpt)

Restorative justice and the BP catastrophe

Dan Van Ness — 2010-06-30T05:00:00Z

The focus of restorative justice is to heal relationships, and make the victim whole. In the case of the oil hemorrhage in the Gulf the list of victims (or future plaintiffs, if you will) is long. The Ocean herself, all the sea creatures, the residents of the Gulf, and future generations, have suffered unspeakable damage from the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Restorative justice would assign blame as a way to allocate responsibility for the actions necessary to restore the environment, to restore all the relationships that are woven into the Ocean and coast. All of them.

Many key voices have called for the precautionary principle to be employed so that something like this never happens again. Essentially the principle is an ethic of refraining from doing harm. It is another expression of the Golden Rule that says, “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” This ethic is reflected in the concept of Restorative Justice. How should we behave when the damage has already happened? First we apply the precautionary principle to prevent any more harm and then we restore the environment so the cascade of damage can be stopped.

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Martin, Edward J.. Environmental policy and management in Costa Rica: suitainable development and deliberative democracy

Martin, Edward J. — 2007-03-04T23:41:09Z

The Costa Rican model provides a context for ongoing dialogue and civil discourse in promoting greater democratic discourse in promoting greater democratic control over environmental resource allocation and economic development through sustainable development policies. This form of civil discourse provides an important context for increased dialogue on the priority of securing environmental integrity and local indigenous economic needs over and above the strategies of global and postmodern capital ventures. It is precisely in sustainable policies that zero-sum effects within a global market can be mitigated. Working within the structures of limiting the use of natural resources and the need to secure the integrity of local domestic needs is fundamental to a sustainable planet. Arguably the Costa Rican model on environmental policy and administration best supports the development of natural and social capital based on the Earth Summit’s sustainable development principles and policies which have emerged from Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg. These environmental policies and management strategies could prove to be of great benefit to the populations of the North. In future planning strategies, the inclusive dimension of capacity building through civil discourse holds promise for a more democratic environment and economy. (excerpt).

Besthorn, Fred H. Environmental Restoration and Restorative Justice

Besthorn, Fred H — 2007-03-04T23:41:09Z

While an escalating cycle of violence and judicially sanctioned counter violence seems to be the norm for a world gone astray from the impulse of its gentler angels, there are growing signs that many societies are attempting to find a way out of the destructive and repetitive cycles of harm and retribution. The Restorative Justice Movement is one such example of this emerging effort. Restorative justice aims to bring about a fundamental change in modern western cultural response to crime and punishment. The Restorative Justice Movement sprang from the civil rights, feminist, and indigenous freedom movements of the 1960s and 1970s. While these earlier progenitors were largely focused on social transformation, the Restorative Justice Movement has as its primary aim the dismantling of the justice-industrial complex (Johnstone, 2002). This system executes or incarcerates ever increasing numbers of its citizenry in a continually more punitive and depriving environment. Restorative Justice seeks to replace the values of vengeance and retributions with a more humane and morally defensible stance of restoration, healing, and forgiveness. These are thought to be the primary ameliorative paths of crime victims and the only way to "create just communities in which people who are in pain and suffering can heal with dignity" (Sullivan and Taft: 21) and where meeting core humans needs and maintaining primary relationships are created and honored from the outset. (excerpt)