Environmental/green crime

Question 1

What is green or environmental crime?

Answer 1

• Wolf (2011) - the term ‘green crime’ (also called ‘environmental crime’ or ‘eco-crime’) was first used to describe actions that break laws protecting the environment
• the issue with this definition is that different countries have different environmental laws
• some things that harm the environment may go against health and safety regulations rather than being criminal offences (these regulations also vary between countries)

Question 2

A transgressive approach to green crime: crime as environmental harm

Answer 2

• Lynch and Stretsky (2003) - environmental or green criminology should adopt a more transgressive approach which goes beyond defining environmental crime as law-breaking
• White (2008) - adopts this approach by considering environmental crime to be any human action which causes environmental harm, regarding crimes as actions that harm the physical environmental (inc people, animals, plants etc) - sometimes referred to as an environmental justice approach

Question 3

Examples of green crime

Answer 3

• include various violations of national or international regulations and laws or may not be illegal at all
• pollution, contamination of land, flytipping, destruction of habitats, release of toxic emissions, illegal disposal of waste, trafficking of plants and animals, illegal hunting/whaling etc, deforestation

Question 4

1984 disaster in Bhopal in India

Answer 4

• Union Carbide chemical company plant leaked poisonous gas, affecting 1/2 a million people
• by 2012 there had been 25,000 related deaths and 120,000 people suffering severe symptoms, including blindness
• traditional criminological approach suggests it occurs due to breaking of local and health and safety laws
• transgressive approach suggests that they deliberately located plants in countries with less regulations

Question 5

in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico

Answer 5

• BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded
• largest accidental marine oil spill in history
• extensive damage to habitats and to the Gulf’s fishing and tourism industries
• caused the deaths of 11 workers

Question 6

2015 Volkswagon emissions scandal

Answer 6

• 11 million vehicles were deliberately illegally fitted with a defeat device aimed at cheating emissions tests, breaching environmental regulations
• led to up to 1 million tonnes of extra air pollution per year (the equivalent of all the emissions from UK power stations, vehicles, industry and agriculture)

Question 7

Green crime, globalisation and risk society

Answer 7

• Beck (1992) - past environmental disasters (droughts, famines, floods) were of natural origin and outside human control, however, new risks are created by the actions of humans through science and technology, part of the ‘global risk society’ which include potentially disastrous environmental consequences
• environmental harm is not limited to one locality - eg deforestation and carbon emissions create climate change which affects everywhere
• nuclear energy creates a growing issue of nuclear waste disposal, as well as growing risk of nuclear accidents like the ukranian Chernobyl explosion in 1986 or the meltdown at the japanese Fukushima Daiichi plant in 2011
• the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is thousands of square km of polluted sea from human waste
• increasing use of genetically modified crops poses potential unforeseen risks
• White (2008) - globalised character of environmental harms is illustrated by TNCs moving manufacturing to avoid pollution laws and dump European waste elsewhere

Question 8

Who commits green crime?

Answer 8

Wolf identifies four groups
1. Individuals - littering, disposal of household etc have a cumulative effect
2. Private business organisations - most devastating environmental harms eg pollution, waste dumping, emissions - environmental crime is an example of corporate crime
3. States and governments (often in collusion with private businesses) - Santana (2002) - the military is the largest institutional polluter through warfare (bombs, nuclear arms, landmines left behind etc)
4. Organised crime - Wolf points out that organised criminals have a long-standing involvement in green crime - Massari and Monzini (2004) - revealed collusion between mafia-type organisations, businesses and authorities in illegal hazardous waste disposal in Italy, driven by demand for cheap disposal , unethical behaviour of government and business leaders and low public awareness

Question 9

Victims of green crime

Answer 9

• Wolf points out wide inequalities in the distribution of harm and risks to victims caused by environmental destruction and in how laws are made, applied and enforced
• Potter (2010) - current social divisions are reinforced by environmental harm, as the poorest suffer most
• Potter - ‘environmental racism’ - victims of green crime unlikely to be white
• White (2003) - developing countries face far greater risks of exposure to pollution, and in developed countries working-class areas also face more risk

Question 10

Enforcement action against green crime

Answer 10

• governments responsible for creating and enforcing laws, but often form these policies in collaboration with business
• Snider (1991, marxist) - states are reluctant to pass laws against environmental harm, and only do so when pressured by public - strengthening regulations reluctantly and weakening where possible
• Sutherland (1983) - like other white-collar crime, environmental crimes usually do not carry the same stigma as conventional crimes like street crime, and offenders have the power to avoid being labelled as criminal
• means that laws and regulations may not be enforced, or that offences are punished by fines rather than through the CJS
• UK Environment Agency (2012) - waste crime is often organised, large-scale and profitable but in 2012 the highest fine given was £170,000 and only 16 prison sentences were given, the longest being 27 months
• Wolf - poor companies may lack the resources or power to enforce restrictions

Question 11

Explaining green crimes

Answer 11

• White (2008) - it arises because states and TNCs hold an anthropocentric view, suggesting that the most important consideration for nations is the well-being of citizens achieved through economic development so the environment is not a priority
• Wolf - green crime is motivated by many similar factors to ordinary crime (rational choice, strain, social bonds etc) - crime pays and environmental crimes carry low risks of sanctions
• Marxists - most serious green crimes are ‘crimes of the powerful’ (Pearce quote) arising from criminogenic capitalism, with companies seeking to minimise costs and maximise profit

Question 12

Problems of researching green crimes

Answer 12

• different laws in different countries
• different definitions of green crime varying between countries, researchers etc - Wolf points out this leads to issues in the measurement, monitoring and reporting of green crimes, and a lack of reliable and standardised data
• Difficulties in measurement - carried out by organisations which can conceal their crimes and avoid prosecution
• The use of case studies - much research uses case studies (Deepwater Horizon, Bhopal disaster etc) but Wolf suggests these have limited use in explaining and making generalisations about green crime

Question 13

Evaluation of green criminology

Answer 13

+ useful in addressing growing threats of environmental harm within context of globalisation in what White (2011) calls ‘eco-global criminology’
+ locates green crime within wider range of sociological theories on crime
- White points out lack of clarity and agreement about definitions of green crime
- green criminology at greater risk of issues due to subjectivity