Green crime

Question 1

What does Beck argue about today’s late modern society?

Answer 1

• We can now provide resources for all.

- However, the massive increase in productivity and technology that sustains it have created new ‘manufactured risks’

Question 2

What is a ‘maufactured risk’?

Answer 2

Dangers that we have never faced before

Question 3

Give one example of how the global nature of human-made risk can produce crime and disorder?

Answer 3

• In Russia, global warming triggered the hottest heatwave in a century which led to wildfires which damaged the country’s grain belt
• As a result, there was a shortage of grain
• In Mozambique, they had been faced with drought so had little crops, so grain was essential
• But it came at a 30% price increase
• Led to riots, looting…

Question 4

What is the difference between traditional criminology and green criminology?

Answer 4

Traditional Criminology:

• Not interested in green crime because, since its subject matter is defined by the criminal law, no law has been broken
• Investigates the patterns and causes of law breaking
• Advantages: has a clearly defined subject matter
• Negatives: it is criticised for accepting official definitions of green crime, as it is shaped by those whose interests it serves

Green criminology:

• Takes a more radical approach
• It starts from the notion of harm rather than criminal law
• It is transgressive criminology: it oversteps the boundaries of traditional criminology to include new issues. Also known as zemiology: the study of harm
• By moving away from the legal definition, green criminology can develop a global perspective on environmental harm

Question 5

Two views of harm: White (2008)

Answer 5

1. Anthropocentric
   - Adopted by nation-states and TNC’s
   - This view assumes that humans have a right to dominate nature for their own ends, and puts economic growth before the environment
2. Ecocentric
   - Sees that humans and their environment are interdependent, so that environmental harm hurts humans also

Question 6

Primary green crimes: South (2014)

Answer 6

1. Primary Green Crimes: crimes that result directly from the destruction and degradation of the earth’s resources
   - 4 types:
   a) crimes of air pollution
   - Burning fossil fuels from industry and transport adds 6 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere annually
   - Walters: 2x as many people now die from air pollution-induced breathing problems as 20 years ago
   b) crimes of deforestation
   - 1960-1990: 1/5 of the world’s tropical rainforest was destroyed
   c) crimes of species decline and animal abuse
   - 50 species a day are becoming extinct
   d) crimes of water pollution
   - Half a billion people lack access to clean drinking water
   - 25,000,000 die annually from drinking contaminated water

Question 7

Secondary Green Crimes: South (2014)

Answer 7

2. Secondary green crime: is crime that grows out of the flouting of rules aimed at preventing or regulating environmental disasters
   a) state violence against oppositional groups
   - Where the governments use similar methods to terrorism
   - 1985: the French secret service blew up the Greenpeace ship in New Zealand because it was trying to prevent a green crime
   b) hazardous waste and organised crime
   - Disposal of toxic waste
   - 28,500 rusting barrels of radioactive waste lie on the seabed off the Channel Islands, reportedly dumped by UK authorities in the 50’s
   - Illegal dumping often has a globalised character- done by lots of nations in the same way
   c) environmental discrimination
   - The poorer groups are worst affected by pollution
   - USA: many black communities often find their housing situated next to garbage dumps or polluting industries

Question 8

Evaluation of green criminology

Answer 8

• It’s hard to define the boundaries of its field of study clearly