Green Crime Flashcards
What is green crime?
Wolf- actions that break laws protecting the environment
- defined illegal in some countries but not others
- laws change over time
- regarded as breaches of health and safety regulations rather than as criminal offences
How doe we overcome green crime according to Lynch and Stretsky?
Suggest environmental or green criminology should adopt a more transgressive approach which goes beyond defining environmental crime simply as law breaking
What 2 views of ‘harm’ does Whit propose?
1- Anthropocentric view
2- Ecocentric view
What is an anthropocentric view?
Adopted by nation states and TNCs
- Assumes that humans have a right to dominate nature for their own ends
- Puts economic growth before the environment
What s an ecocentric view?
Sees humans and their environment as interdependent
- what hurst the environment also hurts humans
- sees both humans and the environment being exploited by global capitalism
- adopted by green criminology
What are 6 examples of green crime?
- illegal trafficking of animals and plants
- air, water, land pollution caused by toxic substances
- illegal disposing waste
- deforestation
Definition of green crime
Either deliberate breaking or avoidance of rules that seek to regulate and prevent environmental damage or disaster through negligence
The Bhopal disaster India
Dangerous gas leak 15,000-20,000 deaths
- groundwater contamination, unsafe toxin disposal
Chernobyl disaster Ukraine
Chain reaction triggered multiple explosions that released radioactive material
30 dead
- health risks
Beck- Global risk society
Application of science and technology allows humans to create new risks
- not just local areas, the world, global warming
What does White say about global risk society?
Caused by globalisation, transnational corporations move manufacturing operations to the global south to avoid pollution laws
What is primary green cirme?
Crimes that result directly from the destruction and degradation of the earths resources
What is secondary green crime?
Crimes that are generated by ignoring rules aimed at preventing or regulating environmental disasters
Examples of primary green crime
- air pollutions
- deforestation
- species decline and animal rights
- water pollution
Examples of secondary green crime
- state violence against oppositional groups
- hazardous waste and organised crime
Perpetrators of green crime
1- Individuals, our actions
2- Private businesses, flout rules for profit
3- States and govs, biggest institutional polluters
4- Organised crime, Great Pacific Garbage patch
Victims of green crime
Potter- environmental harm reinforces social and class inequalities
- developing countries and lowest socioeconomic groups are more likely to be victims of green crime because they are unable to move
Bhopal- chemical gas leak, unable to leave toxic environment, mostly poor
How can we explain green crime through a Marxist perspective?
White- transnational corporations adopt anthropocentric view, focus on economic growth
Pearce- minimis cost, maximise profit, dump waste in developing countries, less strict, environmental health and safety regulations
- crime taken less seriously, offenders face less stigmas and weaker sanctions
What are the 2 strengths of green crime?
1- Recognises the growing importance of environmental issues and the need to address the harms and risks of environmental damage both to animals and humans
2- Transgressive- it considers acts and issues which are not defined as crimes but which cause enormous harm
5 Criticisms of green crime
X problems with measuring green crime
X no single agreed definition, hard to measure impact
X laws relating to the environment are different between countries, lack consistency in comparison, rates are socially constructed
X difficult to detect, do not appear in statistics
X victimless the environment/animal cannot report/unaware of criminal activity
