Crime and Deviance - Green Crime

Question 1

SOCIOLOGIST: What is green crime pointed out by Wolf?

Answer 1

Actions that breaks laws protecting the environment (trad criminology)

Question 2

EVALUATION: What are some issues with that definition of green crime?

Answer 2

Some illegal activities in one country may not be illegal in other
Laws can change over time

Question 3

SOCIOLOGISTS: What is the transgressive approach to green crime, pointed out by Lynch & Stretsky?

Answer 3

Green crime should adopt a wider approach that goes beyond defining green crime as law-breaking

Question 4

SOCIOLOGIST: What does White define green crime as, regarding the transgressive approach?

Answer 4

Any human action that causes environmental harm whether on not it is illegal

Question 5

What do green crimes usually involve?

Answer 5

Pollution & contamination of land, water & air e.g. burning fossil fuels, illegal dumping of waste, deforestation etc.

Question 6

What is an example of a green crime?

Answer 6

Chernobyl

Question 7

SOCIOLOGIST: What does Beck say about green crime, globalisation & global risk society?

Answer 7

Many environmental disasters in the past of natural origin but in modern societies, there is new risks created by science & tech (global risks -> global risk society) & include potentially consequences for the global environment

Environmental harm cannot be limited to one locality (harm in one country can affect another e.g. Chernobyl)

Question 8

SOCIOLOGIST: What does White say about green crime, globalisation & global risk society?

Answer 8

Illustrates globalised character of environment harms -> transnational corps move manufacturing to global south to avoid pollution laws (developed countries)/illegally dump European waste in countries with less effective health & saftey laws

Question 9

SOCIOLOGIST: What does Wolf say the 4 groups that commit environmental crimes?

Answer 9

Individuals -> e.g individual littering/fly tipping
Private business organisations -> (largely responsible for bulk of air, land & water pollution)
States & govts -> often collude with private businesses Santana (military largest institutional polluter -> warfare)
Organised crime -> Massari & Monzini (revealed collusion between mafia, legal businesses & local authorities in illegal hazardous waste disposal in Italy driven by demand for cheap means of disposal)

Question 10

SOCIOLOGIST: What does Potter say about the victims of crime?

Answer 10

Current social divisions are reinforced by environmental harms (most disadvantaged & least powerful most likely victims in developed & undeveloped countries)

Suggests there is environmental racism -> those who suffer the damage are a different ethnicity from those causing it (usually white)

Question 11

SOCIOLOGIST: What does White say about the victims of crime?

Answer 11

People in developing world face far greater risks of exposure to land, air & water pollution than those in developed world

Developed world -> w class areas (rather than m class) face greater risks of environmental pollution

Question 12

SOCIOLOGIST: What does Snider (Marxist) say about the enforcement against green crimes?

Answer 12

Argues states often reluctant to pass laws & regulations against pollution & other environmental harm & only pressured to do so by the public/environmental crisis

(Strengthen them reluctantly, weaken them when they can & only enforce them in a week manner calculated to avoid threatening profits)

Question 13

SOCIOLOGIST: What does Sutherland say about the enforcement against green crimes?

Answer 13

Green crime doesnt carry the same stigma as conventional crimes & rich multinational corps (which commit them) can avoid labelling them as criminal -> means laws may not be enforced or may be enforced through fines rather than criminal prosecution

Question 14

SOCIOLOGIST: How does White explain green crime?

Answer 14

Green crime arises because transnational corps & nation-states tend to hold a broadly anthropocentric view of the world -> suggests most important consideration for nations is well being of their citizens achieved through £££ development & growth & environment is only secondary consideration

Question 15

SOCIOLOGIST: How does Wolf explain Green crime?

Answer 15

It is motivated by similar motivations as regular crime (suggests individuals/companies are motivated to break environmental laws because perpetrators face less stigma & weaker sanctions & offences not taken seriously

Question 16

How do Marxists explain green crime?

Answer 16

Most serious crimes are crimes of the powerful (Pearce)

Question 17

What are the problems with researching green crime?

Answer 17

Different laws & definitions
Difficulties in measurement
The use of case studies (have limited use of making generalisations of the causes of green crime)

Question 18

EVALUATION: What are some strengths of green criminology?

Answer 18

Useful for addressing growing threats of environmental harm & locates it in context of globalisation
Locates green crime in wider framework in sociological theories of crime

Question 19

EVALUATION: What are some limitations of green criminology?

Answer 19

White: lack of agreement & clarity of what environmental crime is -> is accompanied by influence of values & subjective interpretations of the researcher than normal in sociological research