The violence of silence: some reflections on access to information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice in matters concerning the environment

• Published in: Crime, law, and social change law, and social change, 2013-04, Vol.59 (3), p.291-303
• Main Author: Brisman, Avi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Access to information; Citizen Participation; Clinics; Courts; Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Culture; Decision Making; Desertification; Ecosystems; Endangered & extinct species; Environment; Environmental degradation; Environmental effects; Environmental law; Environmental liability; Environmental policy; Environmental protection; Human rights; Judicial process; Justice; Law; Law and Criminology; Natural Environment; Natural Resources; Participation; Political Science; Public access; Public interest; Public participation; Public Schools; Rights; Silence; Social Sciences; Studies; United States; Violence
• ISSN: 0925-4994; 1573-0751
• DOI: 10.1007/s10611-013-9416-3

The proposition put forth in this paper is that whether—and the extent to which—harm or potential harm to the environment (its natural resources, living beings, and their ecosystems) is identified, resisted, mitigated, or prevented is linked to the nature and scope of public access to information, participation in governmental decision-making, and access to justice—which are often referred to as “environmental due process” or “procedural environmental rights.” Using examples in the United States of attacks on law school clinics and denial of standing in court, this paper argues that restrictions on public access to information, participation in decision-making, and access to justice create legacies and “cultures of silence” that reduce the likelihood that future generations will be willing and able to contest environmental harm.