what is environmental crime/ green crime
who commits crime?
illegal activities that damage environment
committed by indivuals = dumping of waste, littering, picking protected wild fires
committed by businesses = pollution and dumping wastes
committed by government
= pollution and transport of dumping waste
what is global risk society and environment
earth is a single eco system and any threat to environment is threat on global scale for e.g air pollution.
- moreover environmental threats to human beings and ecosystem are human made rather than naturally reoccurring for e.g technological advances such as nuclear energy.
beck referred this as manufactured risks - damages that are human made and never faced before such as global warming.
what are two sociological approaches to environmental crime
- traditional criminology
- green criminology
traditional criminology - concerned with environmental crimes as defined by national and international laws and regulations concerning the environment
situ and Emmons = define crime acts that violate the law
therefore examine laws to see if crimes have been committed against environment.
evaluation : has clearly defined subject matter i.e. actions which are against law such as fly tipping.
green criminology
take a more radical approach and look at any actions which harm the environment even if they are not illegal
as different countries have different laws they take a global perspective on crime against environment
white argues = some of many worse environmental harms are not illegal because different countries have different laws. however must still be studied by green criminologist as still harm the environment.
green criminology therefore transgressive criminology as it oversteps the boundaries of traditional criminology to include issues that are not illegal
- therefore has eco centric view = see human and environment as interdependent so anything that affects environment will affect humans as well.
- however large transnational cooperation’s have anthropocentric views = humans exploit nature for their own needs.
evaluation: because of its global concerns it difficult to define boundaries of right and wrong .
what are primary environmental crimes? + south
what are 3 type of primary crime?
currently seen as environmental issues rather than crimes and are legal
south = argues they should be analysed because extent of damage is uncertain
- crimes of air pollution = burning fossil fuels from industry adds carbon to atmosphere
- potential criminals are coperations, business and indivuals - crimes of deforestation = between 1960/1990 1/5 of world tropical rainforest was destroyed
much through illegal logging. criminals here are gov and cooperation’s - crimes of species decline and animal rights = 50 species a day are becoming extinct. trafficking of animal body parts. criminals here are organised gangs, indivuals and governments
what are secondary environmental crime?
3
includes actions which are illegal under national and international law but are not enforced
- state violence against oppositional groups
- hazardous waste and organised crimes = safe and legal disposal of toxic waste is highly expensive so dispose it illegally
- environmental discrimination = poorer groups are worst affected by pollution.
what are strength and weakness of green criminology
strength
1. recognise and highlight importance of global and enviromentla issues
weakness
- as it focuses on harmful actions rather than clearly defined illgeal actions
