La complessa relazione tra giustizia riparativa, reati ambientali e responsabilità degli enti alla luce della legislazione vigente

Abstract

After describing the structural differences between the repa- rative cases of environmental harms found in current criminal legislation and the tools of restorative justice recently introduced in our legal system by the Cartabia Reform, the contribution reflects on the obstacles to their use in the sphere of environmental crimes and, more generally, in the sphere of victim- less crimes. Equally narrow appear to be the margins for a robust penetration of the new paradigm in the terrain of the criminal liability of legal persons, although it is precisely in this area that restorative justice seems to be able to release its greatest potential. Indeed, the correlation of restorative mecha- nisms with the logic of compliance could help inaugurate a particularly effective corporates crimes strategy in terms of enhancement of deterrence and environmental safety. In our legal system, however, the opportunities opened by such a perspective are in fact compromised by the lack of provision of linkage between restorative outcomes and the sanctions for corporations. Unlike for natural persons, about legal persons, restorative justice runs along a parallel and autonomous track.