Green Crime Flashcards
What is Green Crime?
Crimes against the environment.
Criminologists are not in agreement about what constitutes a crime; some argue that actions against international laws are the only that count, whilst others disagree.
What is the Anthropocentric/Traditional Criminology (human focused) view of crime?
- Uses criminal law to define behaviour/immorality, and investigate patterns of law breaking.
- Assumes that humans have a right to dominate nature for their own ends, economic growth > environment.
White = many countries take an anthropocentric view.
What is the Ecocentric/Green Criminology view of crime?
Considers harm rather than criminal law.
White argues that criminology should study any action that harms the physical environment and/or the human, even if no law has been broken.
- Humans and their environments are interdependent, so environmental harm hurts humans also.
What is Primary Green Crime?
Actions against the environment that aren’t illegal under international law, but are considered as environmental issues.
What is Secondary Green Crime?
Actions that are considered to be illegal, which may or may not be enforced. E.g: dumping toxic waste, animal poaching.
Examples of types of Green Crime:
Air Pollution = Burning fossil fuels from industry and transport adds 3 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere every year.
Deforestation = 1/5th of the world’s rainforests were destroyed between 1960 and 90. E.g: Amazon has been cleared to rear beef cattle for export.
Species Decline/Animal Abuse, Water pollution, GMC growing, hazardous waste being dumped.
What does Wolf argue (offenders)?
4 groups who commit environmental crime:
- Individuals: fly-tipping, littering.
- Private Businesses: poaching, waste dumping, oil spills.
- States/Government: chernobyl, chemical weapons/nuclear weapons.
- Organised Crime: poaching, animal trafficking.
What does Wolf argue (victims)?
Inequalities in how harm and risks are distributed, with the most vulnerable often suffering the most.
‘Environmental racism’ where minority groups face the worst environmental damage in developing countries, often becoming ‘dumping grounds’ for waste.
WC areas more likely to be affected by environmental pollution in developed countries.
What does Beck say about Green Crime?
Green crime is manufactured, not natural, therefore green crime spreads as countries become industrialised.
- These ‘global risks’ have disastrous consequences for the environment.
- Environmental harm isn’t confined to one location, e.g deforestation of the Amazon contributes to global warming.
- Green crimes could trigger various future crimes as people compete for scarce resources.
However, there are a growing number of laws and agreements against green crime, such as the Climate Paris Agreement.
What are the problems of researching Green Crime?
- Different laws in different countries, hard to compare.
- Different definitions over what ‘green crime’ is (ecocentric v anthropocentric view).
- Difficulties in measurement: can often conceal crimes or avoid prosecution as green crime can be carried out by the most powerful, so hard to discover the extent of green crime.
Theoretical views on Green Crime:
Governments are mainly responsible for creating and enforcing laws and regulations that control green crime, but they often collaborate with the main offenders.
Marxism = Governments act like they will control green crime as a deterrent, continue to exploit WC’s labour through TNCs for profit.
Interactionist, labelling theory = negotiation of justice.
Strain Theory/Rational Choice = conscious decision to commit green crime to make profit.
What is Greenwashing?
A deceptive practice where a company markets itself as environmentally friendly or sustainable to gain public approval, while in reality its practices have little positive impact on the environment.
What do Ecofeminists believe?
There is a special relationship between women and the environment. Men are seen as responsible for most environmental damage, still treating the environment as something to be dominated rather than looked after. Women are therefore seen as vital at attempts to protect environment.
- The way female animals are treated: as livestock, breeding, etc.
Evaluation of Green Crime:
- Recognises the growing importance of environmental issues.
- Marxists see green crime as an expression of power. The ruling class shape and define the law just to benefit their own exploitative interests on the environment and so can ensure that the enforcement on environmental crime is weak. These laws then benefit transnational corporations, and ensure that white collar crime is uneasily detected
- Focuses on harm and not criminality, so not objective.
