Environmental and wildlife crime

Sentencing environmental and wildlife offences can be quite different from the majority of criminal offences, particularly with regard to the assessment of culpability and harm. For example, there may be a public policy aspect to some cases, where the harm or the risk of harm is to the public at large rather than to an identifiable victim. In addition, the offender may be a company rather than an individual. We therefore believe that a guideline addressing environmental and wildlife offences would be of public benefit, these being matters of particular significance to Scottish communities and indeed the Scottish economy.

This guideline is currently at Stage 2 of processing and is being dealt with by the Environmental and wildlife crime committee.