Research On Several Issues Of The Crime Of Environmental Pollution

"Environmental pollution crime" has undergone more than ten years of legislative amendments.It originally established "the crime of major environmental pollution accident" in the Criminal Law in 1997.Then when it came to Criminal Law Amendment（viii）in 2011,it amended the charges and offences.By the end of2020,it has adjusted the statutory penalty of environmental pollution crime and added provisions on the disposal of the number of crimes in the Amendment to Criminal Law（Xi）.These experiences are a process of improving legislation with the development of society.During this period,there were also the "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law on Handling Criminal Cases of Environmental Pollution" promulgated by the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate in 2013（hereinafter referred to as the "2013Interpretation"）and the "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law on Handling Criminal Cases of Environmental Pollution" promulgated in2016（hereinafter referred to as the "2016 Interpretation"）further clarifies the criteria for determining the crime of environmental pollution.However,the application of environmental pollution crime in judicial practice still faces some problems.There are still some or even fierce disputes between the theoretical and practical circles about the crime of environmental pollution.The form of the crime of environmental pollution is ambiguous;the crime accomplishment standards is difficult to determine;the crime of environmental pollution is difficult to prosecute;and the crime of environmental pollution and the crime of dangerous substances are facing the problem of demarcation and competition.Above all of these are the typical problems.Based on the norms of criminal law,this paper attempts to clarify and resolve the above-mentioned controversial issues in theory and practice through rational analysis and rational speculation.This paper is divided into four parts.The first part is the analysis and identification of the form of environmental pollution crime.The forms of environmental pollution crime include "intentional theory","negligence theory" and "mixed guilt theory".This paper analyzes and compares the "intentional theory","negligence theory" and "mixed guilt theory" and finds out that there are many unreasonable points in both " negligence theory " and "mixed guilt theory".It is more reasonable to understand the form of environmental pollution crime as intentional.The second part,the crime accomplishment standards.This paper summarizes and analyzes various viewpoints on the environmental pollution crime accomplishment standards.The paper argues that the environmental pollution crime accomplishment standards should not adopt the black-or-white or either-or attitude,and it should not be considered that there can only be one form of the crime accomplishment under the environmental pollution crime.The author thinks that the crime accomplishment standard of environmental pollution crime has the characteristics of diversification,that is,it can be identified as the behavior crime,dangerous crime or other crime at the same time.The third part,the demarcation and competition between the crime of environmental pollution and the crime of releasing dangerous substances.The crime of environmental pollution and the crime of releasing dangerous substances are similar in some aspects,so the judgment of the two crimes is prone to deviation in judicial practice.It is difficult to grasp the precise boundaries.This paper makes a detailed analysis of the elements of the demarcation between the crime of environmental pollution and the crime of releasing dangerous substances through typical cases.The paper thinks that the competition of two crimes belongs to imagination competition and illegal article competition.The fourth part,the difficulty to prosecute the environmental pollution crime.This paper analyzes the various difficulties faced by the prosecution of environmental pollution crimes at present,such as,short time setting of prescription for prosecution,difficulty in identifying crimes and difficulty in filing cases,etc.The difficulty in prosecuting environmental pollution crimes has resulted in a series of serious consequences: it makes the criminal law of environmental pollution crime into "symbolic criminal law";it greatly restricts the realization of the fair value of China’s criminal law;and it makes the purpose of criminal penalty prevention being difficult to realize.In order to solve or alleviate the difficult situation,we should first extend the limitation of prosecution from legislation.Then,we should improve the identification of unit crime,and investigate the fault of the unit.Finally,we should establish the cooperative investigation mechanism of environmental crime.