UC Irvine

China's accelerated development in the Post-reform era has led to the deterioration of its environment. Unfettered factories have turned the rivers red and poisonous with their unfiltered waste. Unable to ignore the physical consequences in the face of international criticism, China amended its criminal code to specify and bolster its protection of the environment in 2007. Following these changes, the country has continued to evolve its legal conceptions and approaches to corporate environmental crime, including harsh punitive measures with lengthy prison sentences, and even the possibility of the death penalty. This study incorporates the literature from white-collar criminology, green criminology and regulatory theory in its attempt to understand how China is conceptualizing and approaching corporate environmental crime through its legal system.

Using a content analysis of court judgments, legislative documents and news media from Jiangsu province, as well as in-depth interviews of professionals knowledgeable about China's environmental issues, this study finds that within the rhetoric is an attempt by the government to urge corporations to consider maintaining a sustainable environment as part of their duty in their operating processes through both cooperative and punitive methods. The conceit of obligation lines up with the collectivist viewpoint advocated under the primary cultural traditions in China-- Confucianism and communism. Local/state corporations are likely entrenched in these traditions and thus, would be more amenable to this line of thinking when considering participation in deviant acts, such as illegal dumping or the smuggling of waste. At this early stage, corporate compliance appears more rote, but within China's larger plans to form a "green" society this green conscience could be cultivated and provide the pathway to a responsive regulatory system for handling corporate environmental crimes.