Criminal Protection of the Environment in Jordanian Legislation

Abstract

This study examines the criminal protection of the environment in Jordanian legislation. It lists all crimes stipulated in the Environmental Protection Law No. (6) of 2017 and presents most crimes related to water as outlined in special criminal legislation. It also addresses crimes related to land and air as stipulated in special criminal legislation, and the criminal protection of the environment from radiation by outlining the crimes stipulated in the Radiation Protection, Safety, and Nuclear Security Law No. (43) of 2007. This study reveals that the criminal protection of the environment in Jordanian legislation is comprised of a range of crimes scattered across several laws and regulations, not solely within the Environmental Protection Law. This makes it difficult to identify and analyze them all. Furthermore, the study highlights clear overlaps and duplications in many laws within the Jordanian legal system. We have endeavored to shed light on these issues and propose some solutions. Therefore, the researcher recommends that the Jordanian legislator amend the Environmental Protection Law No. (52) of 2006, so that a separate chapter is allocated to each element of the environment (water, land, air), including the legal protection for this element, such as criminal protection, and ignoring the scattered legal texts in the different laws, and coordinating between the systems related to the environment, and resolving the conflict, ambiguity and obscurity in them.