Sandra Rousseau, Judicial discretion and optimal environmental enforcement, Amsterdam Law Forum 2017, vol. 9(3), 100-103.
In this paper, the author argues that, following logically from the complex nature of environmental offences, there is the need to allow enforcing authorities and especially judges a broad discretion and flexibility in their sanctioning decision processes. While it is convenient to use a limited and ex ante defined set of rules, this is unlikely to be optimal. However, a set of non-binding guidelines and principles such as harder punishment for repeat offenders, may still be useful.
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