Vicarious Liability

Make landowners/employers responsible for the criminal actions of their employees for certain offences against wildlife while in their employ. It is likely that on some estates in England, employees are merely carrying out the instructions of their employer by (illegally) ridding the estate of protected predatory birds and mammals.

The Minister for Environment and Climate Change and chair of PAW Scotland, Mr Paul Wheelhouse, announced a package of new measures to tackle the ongoing persecution of birds of prey. The Minister's statement can be read in full below. (2011).

"Since I took on responsibility for this portfolio, I have been clear that one of my priorities is to bear down on the illegal persecution of raptors that continues to blight the Scottish countryside and tarnish Scotland’s reputation.  These outdated, barbaric and criminal practices put at risk the conservation status of some of our most magnificent wildlife.  They also harm our reputation as a country which values its environment and wildlife and undermine the growing tourism sector that is built on that reputation.

"We have achieved much since 2007. We have a robust legal framework that protects birds of prey and their nests, including the new vicarious liability provisions.  We have dedicated resources in Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).  We are leading the way in the UK in the development of wildlife crime forensics work, and we continue to work at building a broad-based alliance through the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW Scotland). 

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Environment/WildlifeHabitats/pawscotland/news/2013/raptor-persecution-new-measures 

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Environment/Wildlife-Habitats/paw-scotland

Raptor Persecution Scotland - First landmark conviction vicarious liability case.

Landowner Ninian Robert Hathorn Johnston Stewart pleaded guilty to being vicariously liable for the criminal actions of Glasserton & Physgill Estates’ gamekeeper Peter Bell, who was convicted in 2013 of laying poisoned bait (Carbofuran) which killed a buzzard, and for possession of three banned pesticides (Carbofuran, Strychnine and Alphachloralose). Bell was fined a total of £4,450 (see here). On conviction, Bell was expelled from the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association and the Glasserton & Physgill Estates were expelled from the landowners’ representative organisation, Scottish Land & Estates.

https://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2014/12/23/first-conviction-in-landmark-vicarious-liability-case/

Policing Wildlife:
Perspectives on Criminality in Wildlife Crime
Angus Nurse, Birmingham City University

"This article presents green criminology research on wildlife law enforcement in the UK, an area of insecurity both about its place within criminal justice and about how it should be resourced and laws enforced. "

"For economic criminals, their employment provides the source of their offending behaviour and so any policy approach must include pressure on and penalties for the employer as well as actions which dictate that the risk of losing employment as a direct consequence of committing wildlife crime is a real possibility. The current legislative regime does not generally provide for culpability of landowners/employers for the actions of their staff (although the concept of vicarious liability has recently been introduced in Scotland), nor do countryside and game industry employees suffer the stigma of conviction. As a practical means of dealing with these offenders this position should be altered so that conviction of a wildlife crime carries with it the threat of lost employment in the countryside and in the game rearing or fieldsports industries, as well as significant penalties for the employer." (2011).