Rethinking the ultimum remedium principle to support justice and strong law enforcement institutions in environmental crimes

Environmental crimes are increased, according to the information launched by the official institutions. Furthermore, the law enforcement process of environmental cases received a lot of attentions and discussion among environmental law enforcement scholars and practitioners. Disagreements also occured when justice seekers and environmental law fighters argue that the resolution of various cases in the field of environmental law did not give satisfaction to the public. This paper used doctrinal research, which analyzes the problem qualitatively by using secondary data sources from primary and secondary legal materials. The research results show that the settlement of existing cases has not been able to prevent similar violations and give appropriate punishment to the offenders. Thus, the use of the ultimum remedium principle is important, so that the accuracy of determining and implementing optimal sanctions for violations in the case of environmental law become the ultimate ways in encouraging the strengthening of environmental law enforcement to reduce environmental crimes as well as supporting environmental preservation.