Climate Criminals — Prosecuting Big Oil For Environmental Crimes

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A shocking new theory suggests that Big Oil could be criminally prosecuted for a number of climate crimes in state courts.

Wow. Let that sink in for a moment. Could such a thing even be possible? How can we hold executives today responsible for the actions of their predecessors, many of whom have died and left us to deal with the consequences of their bad acts? Arkush and Regenburg have an answer to that question. The objective is not to put corporate leaders in jail, but to reshape these rogue corporations into organizations that promote benefits for society.

The authors claim that prosecutors also have tools and powers that civil litigants lack.

The crime that best captures the nature, scale, and gravity of their corporate misconduct in most jurisdictions might be homicide. In criminal law, homicide means causing a death with a culpable mental state. If someone substantially contributes to or accelerates a death, that counts as “causing” it. If they did so intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly, that counts as “culpable mental state.

Internal documents show that their goal in deceiving the public was to delay or block policy or market responses that would curb their lethal but highly profitable conduct. They achieved this goal spectacularly, making trillions of dollars from their deception while most of humanity pays an increasingly devastating price.At first, the idea of holding Big Oil and its colleagues criminally responsible for their actions is breathtaking.

 

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