The (im)possibility of applying the principle of insignificance to environmental crimes of accumulation
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Abstract
The principle of insignificance, as a mechanism for excluding material typicality, is brought on with the purpose of preventing conducts that do not offend or do not have the capacity to effectively offend the legal-criminal good, from being criminalized. As a result of the principle of offensiveness in criminal law, it is understood, in Brazilian jurisprudence, that insignificance depends on the following requirements for it to be recognized in the specific case: minimal offensiveness of the conduct, no social dangerousness of the action, reduced degree of reprehensibility of the conduct and inexpressiveness of the legal damage caused. The group of so-called “accumulation crimes”, or “cumulative crimes”, is identified when, despite the fact that the conducts considered individually are harmless to the legal good, if added together, they will cause effective damage, thus making criminal law “step forward” in its protection. Based on these concepts, this article, using the dialectical method and bibliographic and jurisprudential research, aims to investigate the possibility of applying the principle of insignificance to environmental crimes of accumulation, notably in relation to those contained in Law 9.605/1998. After all, would the environmental crimes of accumulation be compatible with the principle of insignificance, in the terms in which this principle is treated by the national jurisprudence? If the answer is affirmative, what would be the criteria for the exclusion of material typicality, considering that it is inherent to the crime of accumulation the fact that a single conduct, by itself, would not be capable of effectively offending the legal good?
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