Criminal Policy on Environmental Crimes in Vietnam: Development Directions and Fundamental Solutions

Environmental crime creates substantial challenges for ecological security, public health, and sustainable development in Vietnam. This article examines criminal policy on environmental offences, analyses Chapter XIX of the 2015 Penal Code and subsequent amendments, and considers practical barriers to enforcement. The study combines doctrinal legal analysis with historical discussion, a limited literature-based comparison, and a descriptive examination of enforcement information. Verification of the aggregate statistics identifies their coverage as 2010–2020, while the separate author-provided annual series is labelled 2018–2025 and contains totals that do not agree with its annual entries. These sources are therefore distinguished, and the annual series is treated as provisional. The legal analysis identifies difficulties involving offence-specific thresholds, proof of environmental harm where required, scientific evidence, and the attribution of liability to commercial legal entities. It also distinguishes the sanctions legally available from their actual frequency of application, which cannot be established without sentencing records. The article recommends clearer implementation guidance, proportionate preventive offences, effective corporate accountability, specialist professional training, stronger forensic capacity, and coordinated international cooperation. Public participation and secure reporting procedures are considered complementary means of identifying concealed violations. The central argument is that criminal enforcement should connect statutory precision, evidentiary reliability, institutional competence, and environmental remediation. These recommendations are presented as reform proposals rather than as demonstrated effects of the enforcement statistics. Reliable conclusions about crime incidence, prosecution rates, and deterrence require reconciled administrative records with consistent reporting periods and clearly defined units of observation.