NSCR Lecture Series 2022: Restorative Justice & Environmental Harms

We are pleased to be presenting during This Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR) Lecture Series on Restorative Justice and Environmental Harms, 4-31 May.

The Series explores how communities and the criminal justice system might reconsider punishment for crimes against the environment. Environmental protection legislation typically relies on law enforcement to achieve compliance through detection and arrest; a deterrence model. The logic is simple, if getting caught is too costly, people will not break the rules. Punishments such as fines and incarceration are meant to ‘rehabilitate’ the offender and have them ‘pay their debt to society’. This approach relies heavily on (a) the ability of law enforcement to detect violations and (b) the quality of the criminal justice system post-arrest.

Deterring environmental harms is difficult because the behaviour is often hard to detect, making the certainty of punishment quite low. Moreover, punishments handed down by the criminal justice system are often seen as too low or infrequent to outweigh the benefits. Deterrence models also fail to address the harm done to the environment, because punishment is rarely linked to restoring the environment or compensating the communities impacted by the damage. In this 5-part lecture series, speakers will address how the ideas of restorative justice can be applied to environmental harms. Restorative justice offers a complementary and alternative approach to behavioural change that focuses on repairing harms done to individuals and communities, not using fines or incarceration to repay society at large. The approach has been used in a variety of contexts around the world to address serious problems. The lecture series will highlight opportunities and challenges to using restorative justice for environmental harms.

To register, email: nscr@nscr.nt