The thin green line: Examining environmental regulation and environmental offending from multiple perspectives

• In Event: Perspectives on Environmental Enforcement

Abstract

In the criminological field, much has been done to understand environmental offending from the perspectives of victims (e.g., Jarrell and Ozymy, 2012; White, 2009) and actual/potential offenders (e.g., Hauck, 2008; Simpson et al., 2013). A missing voice in our field, however, is that of state environmental regulators. The current study remedies this, using a hypothetical randomized vignette survey to compare responses from U.S. regulators to responses from those in the regulated community. Specifically, we assess how both sides of the thin green line weigh various factors in scenarios depicting two types of behavior—either a regulator issuing a citation to a noncompliant corporation or an environmental compliance manager engaging in noncompliance. Examining how regulators understand their roles and those of the businesses they work with (and, conversely, how compliance managers understand these roles) does much to inform policymaking as well as theories of corporate environmental offending. Such implications are discussed.

Authors

• Melissa Rorie, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

• Michelle Pautz, University of Dayton

• Sara Rinfret, Hartwick College