Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2009
Abstract
This article addresses the means of punishing conduct that causes serious environmental harm like the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In particular, it considers the appropriateness and effectiveness of both punitive damages and criminal sanctions as remedies in such cases in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's approaches to reviewing both punitive damages awards and criminal sentences for excessiveness. This article recommends, first, that state legislatures should authorize and regulate punitive damages so that appellate courts will not interfere with punitive damages awards, as happened in the Exxon case. Second, states should enforce criminal provisions in environmental statutes against both corporate and individual offenders in order to enhance the deterrent effect that such laws have on corporations and their policies, and to express the moral outrage occasioned by culpable conduct harming the environment.
Publication Title
University of St. Thomas Law Journal
Volume
7
First Page
154
Recommended Citation
Leo M. Romero,
Punishment for Ecological Disasters: Punitive Damages and/or Criminal Sanctions,
7
University of St. Thomas Law Journal
154
(2009).
Available at:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/law_facultyscholarship/236
