diff --git a/pmd/plugin.jelly b/pmd/plugin.jelly
index 6ebfc1c6..fe69a9f9 100644
--- a/pmd/plugin.jelly
+++ b/pmd/plugin.jelly
@@ -114,7 +114,11 @@
 
     <j:choose>
       <j:when test="${sourcesPresent == 'true'}">
-        <pmd rulesetfiles="${maven.pmd.rulesetfiles}" printToConsole="${maven.pmd.console}">
+        <pmd 
+          rulesetfiles="${maven.pmd.rulesetfiles}" 
+          printToConsole="${maven.pmd.console}"
+          failonerror="${maven.pmd.failonerror}"
+          failOnRuleViolation="${maven.pmd.failonruleviolation}">
           <formatter type="xml" toFile="${maven.build.dir}/pmd-raw-report.xml"/>
           <fileset dir="${pom.build.sourceDirectory}" 
             includes="${maven.pmd.includes}"
diff --git a/pmd/plugin.properties b/pmd/plugin.properties
index a2e2ada4..eb5cef19 100644
--- a/pmd/plugin.properties
+++ b/pmd/plugin.properties
@@ -44,4 +44,8 @@ maven.pmd.cpd.minimumtokencount = 100
 maven.pmd.check.tests = true
 
 # Print the output to the console
-maven.pmd.console = false
\ No newline at end of file
+maven.pmd.console = false
+
+# Fail the build ?
+maven.pmd.failonerror = false
+maven.pmd.failonruleviolation = false
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pmd/xdocs/changes.xml b/pmd/xdocs/changes.xml
index 5b0780ae..28cffb38 100644
--- a/pmd/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/pmd/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
   </properties>
   <body>
     <release version="1.8-SNAPSHOT" date="In SVN">
+      <action dev="aheritier" type="add" issue="MPPMD-21">New properties "maven.pmd.failonerror" and "maven.pmd.failonruleviolation" to fail the build if any errors or problems are found.</action>
       <action dev="aheritier" type="add" issue="MPPMD-13">New property "maven.pmd.console" to display pmd errors to the console.</action>
       <action dev="aheritier" type="fix">Do not generate links to JXR files if they are not created.</action>
       <action dev="aheritier" type="update">Use properties maven.jxr.destdir and maven.jxr.destdir.test to generate links from the PMD report to jxr files.</action>
diff --git a/pmd/xdocs/properties.xml b/pmd/xdocs/properties.xml
index 3b124fc8..3f12ff30 100644
--- a/pmd/xdocs/properties.xml
+++ b/pmd/xdocs/properties.xml
@@ -101,6 +101,20 @@
             Whether or not to display PMD errors to the console. Defaults to false.
           </td>
         </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>maven.pmd.failonerror</td>
+          <td>Yes</td>
+          <td>
+            Whether or not to fail the build if any errors occur while processing the files. Defaults to false.
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>maven.pmd.failonruleviolation</td>
+          <td>Yes</td>
+          <td>
+            Whether or not to fail the build if PMD finds any problems. Defaults to false.
+          </td>
+        </tr>
       </table>
     </section>
   </body>
