Corporate Environmental Crime and Punishment: Testing Treadmill of Production Theory

Corporations have a much greater capacity for harm than individuals, yet corporate crime remains understudied and analyses of the outcomes of corporations within the criminal justice system are scarce. Using the theoretical framework of the treadmill of production, which argues that capitalistic economic expansion requires environmental destruction, we expect that corporate environmental crimes are typically treated more leniently than other types of corporate crime. We utilize a comprehensive dataset of federal corporate prosecutions from 2000 through 2024 to test whether corporate environmental crimes are associated with significantly smaller monetary penalties than non-environmental crimes. Regression results indicate a relatively lenient punitive response toward corporate environmental crime, providing empirical support for treadmill of production theory.