Measuring corporate environmental crime rates: progress and problems Carole Gibbs & Sally S. Simpson Published online: 17 October 2008 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2008 Abstract The problem of corporate crime rates has been the subject of debate, speculation and operationalization for decades, largely stemming from the complexity of measuring this type of crime. Examining corporate environmental crime poses challenges and creates opportunities for advancing the discussion of corporate crime rates, but criminologists are less familiar with environmental data. In the current paper, we review the strengths and weaknesses of existing environmental data that can be used to construct the components of an environmental crime rate. We also present a corporate environmental crime rate derived from data on violations of the Clean Water Act and describe problems with using it in real world data. Implications for theory, practice and future research are discussed. The problem of corporate crime rates has been the subject of debate, speculation, and operationalization for decades [6, 16, 10], largely stemming from the complexity of measuring this type of crime. For example, a single act of corporate crime may include individuals, the organizational entity and interdependencies between the two. In addition, firms and managers vary in opportunity for criminal activity according to the position of the corporation in the industry and the manager in the organization [16]. Examining corporate environmental crime poses challenges to crime rate construction, in part because it is a relatively new analytic and legal concept that covers a wide range of illegal activity by individuals and organizations [3]. Theoretical definitions and typologies of environmental crime are virtually nonexistent and criminologists are less familiar with environmental data. In addition, Crime Law Soc Change (2009) 51:87–107 DOI 10.1007/s10611-008-9145-1 C. Gibbs (*) School of Criminal Justice, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, 508 Baker Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA e-mail: Gibbsca1@msu.edu S. S. Simpson Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, 2220 LeFrak Hall, College Park, MD 20742, USA e-mail: ssimpson@crim.umd.edu