ABSTRACT
Criminal law is an important but under-discussed component of heritage law. Crimes in this area often involve damage to and destruction of public or private property, property that also happens to be the shared cultural heritage of a group of people or of all humanity, causing demonstrable harm. There is often a strong societal feeling that people who commit such offenses should face some form of punishment for their actions, leading to sanctioning in the form of fines, imprisonment, and in some now-rare examples, capital punishment. Yet crimes involving art and cultural heritage rarely occupy a distinct place within criminal law. Most are either broadly classified property crimes (e.g. theft, vandalism) or financial crimes (e.g. fraud, money laundering), and are sanctioned via the relevant sections of the criminal code for the jurisdiction in question. Thus, stealing a painting is much like stealing a car, and knowingly selling a fake artwork is much like knowingly selling fake sneakers. Despite the transcendent social aspects of art, and despite the primary role heritage plays in the formation of identity, both from a criminal law and practical point of view, art crimes are usually treated like any other crime. This has a number of consequences when it comes to applying and enforcing the law. In this chapter, we will discuss criminal sanctions as they relate to crimes involving heritage. We will begin by discussing the general categories that heritage crimes tend to fall into under generic criminal codes, noting that the particulars will vary according to jurisdiction. We will then present some ways that heritage crimes may be specifically denoted within criminal codes and what effect that may have on the imposition of criminal sanctions against offenders. All told, the majority of applicable criminal law was not specifically developed to address heritage crime and we will conclude with a discussion of the challenges faced by law enforcement agencies and prosecutors who are tasked with applying the law to heritage and with seeking sanctions against offenders.
