green crime

Question 1

who commits green crime

Answer 1

individuals - dumping of waste, littering, picking protected wild flowers

businesses - pollution and dumping waste, tightening regulations on disposal of toxic waste generated profitable trade in global illegal disposal of hazardous waste

governments - pollution and transport and dumping of waste material - particularly disposal of nuclear waste from nuclear power plants

Question 2

primary environmental crimes

Answer 2

crimes of air pollution - burning fossil fuels from industry and transport adds 3 billion tons of carbon to atmosphere annually

crimes of deforestation - in the amazon, forests were cleared to rear beef cattle

crimes of species decline and animal rights - destroying habitats puts species in risk of extinction

Question 3

secondary environmental crimes

Answer 3

state violence against oppositional groups - in 1985 french gov’s secret agents blew up a greenpeace ship in new zealand as the ship was protesting against french nuclear weapons testing in the pacific ocean

hazardous waste and organised crime - safe and legal disposal of toxic waste is highly expensive so many companies seek to dispose of it illegally

environmental discrimination - poorer groups are wost affected by pollution, e.g black communities in usa often live next to garbage dumps or pollution industries

Question 4

traditional criminology

Answer 4

sociologists should only be concerned with green crimes that are defined by gov as illegal - examines national laws to see if crime has been committed against the environment e.g driving a car which leads to pollution is not a crime because gov hasn’t said it is

Question 5

traditional criminology criticism

Answer 5

ignores fact that gov doesn’t always legislate against things that are highly damaging to environment but not illegal as gov is under pressure from big business that are against the legislation of these acts

Question 6

green criminology

Answer 6

sociologists should consider any behaviour that harms environment as a green crime even if it isn’t actually against the law - takes ecocentric view - belief that humans don’t have the right to damage the environment for our own benefit

Question 7

green criminology criticism

Answer 7

definition of green crime is too broad so theory is too idealistic and theoretical so doesn’t offer any real practical solutions to problem of green crime