One issue that has been discussed in this essay is whether environmental criminal law pollutes criminal law. Since the entry into force of the Environmental Code, only a few people have been punished for environmental crimes. This is probably the result of insufficient qualifications and resources within the Police- and the Prosecutor’s Office. Deficient investigations by the Police make it difficult for the Prosecutor to secure convictions. Also the character of the trivial offenses has been examined, and these may be considered to complicate the authorities’ official selection of crimes reported on to the police and prosecutors. This essay also focuses on general prevention in society, its theories and the effectiveness of criminal sanctions. For some companies it is more cost-effective to pay a penalty than to obey the law. The deterrence effect may be also hard to achieve in relation to companies and individuals with considerable amounts of money. The ideal would be if criminals were deterred from their actions through fear of being prosecuted, because a high risk of detection exists. Another reason for that could account for the mild penalties imposed this far is that most crimes are committed negligently, which rules out maximum penalties. Like criminal law, environmental criminal law is non-discretionary. However, supervisory agencies freely determine which crimes are not to be considered as minor and therefore reported to the Police and prosecutors.