摘要：Environmental crimes have been legally defined as transgressions
of Environmental laws. However, this approach is considered
limited from the studies on ecological justice because, among
other factors, it does not take into account the social perception of
environmental crime. This research has been designed from the
ecological justice perspective and five types of environmental
offenses were evaluated herein. The scales used referred to the
seriousness of the transgressions, the degree of justification, the
amount of annoyance produced, the consequences for the
environment, the outcomes for people and the benefits obtained.
These scales were used to predict the degree of the punishment
that should be imposed. The results show that the best predictors
of punishment for environmental offenders are the degree of
justification, the amount of the annoyance produced, and the
seriousness of the transgressions. Another finding of the research
indicated that spills and breaches against the flora and the fauna
are considered the worst transgressions by the participants. On the
contrary, illegal building violations are considered of the least
importance.
