Commodification of the Environment, Hidden Crime Performed by Governments

With no healthy environment available, no security would be complete, no health would be achievable, and no comfort would be imaginable. This is why; governments as guardians to protect geographical environment in addition to national interests have an important responsibility to abide by. However, through study of performance of all governments in the field, it is obvious that despite all differences and contradictions at internal and international levels; similar policies in terms of protecting the environment have been followed by them i.e. considering the environment as a commodity and taking an instrumentalism approach towards it. Considering legislation and administration power held by governments, the approach leads to an outstanding question: “How governments are expected to criminalize and punish those behaviors practiced by them or providing interests considered as pleasant by them?”

In the research and through descriptive-analytical method using library and document sources, crimes committed by governments in terms of the environment have been dealt with in addition to necessity for identification of their criminal liabilities so that an interdisciplinary research between the environment and criminal law would be performed.

Governments’ behaviors performed within the range of damages imposed by them to the environment is worthy of being excluded from criminal immunity; and, they have to transparently be found accountable proportionate to the level of environmental damage and harm imposed by them on the environment. So, abeyance of damages resulted from wrong policies followed by governments against the environment and them kept immune from criminal prosecution are from among legal problems and gaps in terms of sustainability of environment and natural geography.

From behavioral consequents of governments in the field of environmental crimes, it can be concluded that they are happy with industrial productions and economic progress and usually they tend not to protect the environment. Understanding the reality of contradiction existing between protection of environment and gaining economic benefits and the point that governments mostly select the second one; we are in need of wide range modification in terms of governments’ behaviors.