green criminology essay

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• Published: 31 October 2017

Green criminology: shining a critical lens on environmental harm

• Angus Nurse 1  

Palgrave Communications volume  3 , Article number:  10 ( 2017 ) Cite this article

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Green criminology provides for inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary engagement with environmental crimes and wider environmental harms. Green criminology applies a broad ‘‘green’’ perspective to environmental harms, ecological justice, and the study of environmental laws and criminality, which includes crimes affecting the environment and non-human nature. Within the ecological justice and species justice perspectives of green criminology there is a contention that justice systems need to do more than just consider anthropocentric notions of criminal justice, they should also consider how justice systems can provide protection and redress for the environment and other species. Green criminological scholarship has, thus, paid direct attention to theoretical questions of whether and how justice systems deal with crimes against animals and the environment; it has begun to conceptualize policy perspectives that can provide contemporary ecological justice alongside mainstream criminal justice. Moving beyond mainstream criminology’s focus on individual offenders, green criminology also explores state failure in environmental protection and corporate offending and environmentally harmful business practices. A central discussion within green criminology is that of whether environmental harm rather than environmental crime should be its focus, and whether green ‘‘crimes’’ should be seen as the focus of mainstream criminal justice and dealt with by core criminal justice agencies such as the police, or whether they should be considered as being beyond the mainstream. This article provides an introductory overview that complements a multi- and inter-disciplinary article collection dedicated to green criminological thinking and research.

Introduction

Green Criminology as a field operates as a tool for studying, analyzing, and dealing with environmental crimes and wider environmental harms that are often ignored by mainstream criminology. It provides for an inter-disciplinary, and multi-disciplinary, engagement and approach, which redefines criminology as not just being concerned with crime or social harm falling within the remit of criminal justice systems. Green crime is a fast-moving and somewhat contested area in which academics, policymakers and practitioners frequently disagree not only on how green crimes should be defined but also on: the nature of the criminality involved; potential solutions to problems of green crime; and the content and priorities of policy (Nurse, 2016 ). Within ecological justice discourse, for example, there may be agreement that harms to the environment and non-human animals must be addressed (Benton, 1998 ). But debates continue over whether green crimes are best addressed through criminal justice systems or via civil or administrative mechanisms. Indeed, a central discussion within green criminology is that of whether environmental harm rather than environmental crime should be its focus, with the environmental harm perspective currently dominating green criminological discourse. In essence, there is ongoing fundamental debate over whether green crimes should be seen as the focus of mainstream criminal justice and dealt with by core criminal justice agencies such as the police, or whether they should be considered as being beyond the mainstream. This article provides an introductory overview to a multi- and inter-disciplinary thematic collection dedicated to green criminological thinking and research.

Green criminology: a call to arms

Green criminology is not easily categorized given that it draws together a number of different perspectives as well as theoretical and ideological conceptions. Thus, rather than there being one distinct green criminology, it is rather an umbrella term for a criminology concerned with the general neglect of ecological issues within criminology (Lynch and Stretesky, 2014 :1) as well as the incorporation of green perspectives within mainstream criminology. Indeed as Lynch and Stretesky succinctly state:

‘‘As criminologists we are not simply concerned that our discipline continues to neglect green issues, we are disturbed by the fact that, as a discipline, criminology is unable to perceive the wisdom of taking green harms more seriously, and the need to reorient itself in ways that make it part of the solution to the large global environmental problems we now face as the species that produces those problems’’ (2014: 2).

For mainstream criminology, restrictive notions of police and policing by state institutions and of crime as being solely that determined as such by the criminal law dominate. Yet Lynch and Stretesky ( 2014 ) highlight that environmental harms constitute a major threat to human survival and that green crimes such as pollution constitute a substantial threat to human life yet are often ignored by mainstream justice systems. Accordingly, green criminology, extends beyond the focus on street and interpersonal crimes to encompass consideration of ‘‘the destructive effects of human activities on local and global ecosystems’’ (South and Beirne, 1998 : 147). In doing so green criminology considers not just questions of crime as defined by a strict legalist/criminal law conception (Situ and Emmons, 2000 ), but also examines questions concerning rights, justice, morals, victimization, criminality, and the use of administrative, civil and regulatory justice systems. Green criminology also examines the actions of non-state criminal justice actors such as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations and the role of the state as a major contributor to environmental harm.

Given green criminology’s nature as a broad field encompassing discourse on a range of issues relating to environmental harm, this thematic article collection offers discussion of a range of issues that help to advance green criminological discussion.

State-crime is a concern of green criminology, particularly in respect of state responsibility for protecting the environment and natural resources, and the associated harm when states fail to comply with their obligations. Weston and Bollier identify that according to, Locke’s notion of res nullius , environmental and wildlife resources ‘‘belong to no one and are, therefore, free for the taking’’ (2013: 127). However, the public trust doctrine argues that environmental resources such as water and fisheries are held in trust for the public and so there is a responsibility to use such resources widely in the public interest (Blumm and Wood, 2013 ). As noted by Lynch, Stretesky and Long ( 2017 ), water pollution provides an example of both green victimization and of how green crimes can appear in societies on an everyday level. Scholars such as Johnson et al. ( 2016 ) and Lynch and Stretesky ( 2013 ) have examined how states and corporations have commodified water sources as something that can be owned or leased and subsequently can be exploited. Johnson et al. ( 2016 ) identify how in some jurisdictions, the privatization of water has enabled corporations and corrupt states to exploit a fundamental human right. At a basic level, examining the extent and control of water pollution by legal state water treatment facilities illuminates the extent to which state failings in use of water resources can constitute a state-crime. Publicly Owned Water Treatment Facilities (or POWTs) are usually owned by the state/government and represent a mechanism through which water is used as a public good. To quote, for example, from the California Constitution Article X Section 2:

‘‘It is hereby declared that because of the conditions prevailing in this State the general welfare requires that the water resources of the State be put to beneficial use to the fullest extent of which they are capable, and that the waste or unreasonable use or unreasonable method of use of water be prevented, and that the conservation of such waters is to be exercised with a view to the reasonable and beneficial use thereof in the interest of the people and for the public welfare.[…].’’

Similar provisions will be found elsewhere codifying the principle of efficient use of water resources. Thus, failure to effectively manage state water resources and to eliminate or control pollution that impacts negatively on water resources likely raises regulatory concerns. Waste treatment is often a regulated industry and regulations designed to control the emissions of water pollution into waterways (through such measures as the US Clean Water Act) combine with public trust concerns to ensure that natural resources are effectively used. Yet as the discussion in this collection illustrates, POWts release significant quantities of pollutants into waterways, contributing to environmental harm. Green criminologists interested in these areas may well note that water offenses will not always fall within the remit of the criminal law and may not be dealt with by mainstream policing agencies. Instead they may fall within the jurisdiction of environmental regulators like the Environmental Protection Agency who may choose from a menu of criminal, civil, or administrative sanctions when taking enforcement action. As the POWTs are legal actors operating a legitimate business, enforcement action may be regulatory or administrative, consisting of fines or other administrative action designed to correct the problem and allow the operator to continue their business rather than imposing incapacitating punishment. Such action illustrates a concern of many green criminologists in how neoliberal markets, capitalist systems, and the activities of otherwise legal corporate actors can cause significant environmental harm that arguably constitutes a crime against the environment. The relatively low level of prosecutions for pollution activity arguably illustrates this issue. This issue is explored by Ozymy and Jarrell ( 2017 ) who highlight the diffuse structure of the environmental regulatory regime in the United States and lack of governmental databases, which makes empirical assessment of environmental crimes and enforcement efforts particularly difficult.

Wildlife crime is also a core concern of green criminology (van Uhm, 2016 ; Nurse, 2015 , Wyatt, 2013 , Sollund, 2011 ; South and Wyatt, 2011 ). Much green criminological discourse is concerned with wildlife trafficking and the illegal trade in wildlife, particularly trafficking in endangered species (Schneider, 2008 ). However, the illegal killing of wildlife particularly within farming and ranching areas, has recently caught the attention of green criminological scholars. Killing of large predators such as wolves and lynx has been characterized as a form of resistance by some scholars (von Essen et al., 2016 ; von Essen and Allen, 2015 ) and illustrates the conflict between conservation and animal protection ideologies and the needs of rural communities. While most states have animal protection laws intended to protect wildlife from unnecessary human predation, hunting remains a legal and regulated activity. Thus, illegal killing of wildlife within hunting communities should in principle attract the attention of law enforcement agencies. Yet, such killings sometimes take place with the approval of the community and arguably constitute a form of organized crime. How the state deals with such illegal killings and its attitudes toward hunting communities who do so is of interest to determining how states implement species justice concerns (see Sollund, 2017 ). Sollund ( 2016 ) has previously illustrated how defining animals as ‘‘other’’ and their legal conception as property can help distance animal killing from other forms of violent crime. The case under discussion in this thematic collection illustrates how notions of folk crime and resistance can be employed to minimize the seriousness of illegal killing of endangered species. Yet at the same time, police and judicial responses to wildlife killing can view this as serious crime commensurate with global notions of wildlife crime as serious activity.

Green Criminology also examines mechanisms for disrupting and preventing environmental crime and reducing harms to non-human animals and the environment (Wellsmith, 2010 , 2011 ; Nurse, 2015 ). Traditional reactive policing models of detection, apprehension and punishment (Bright, 1993 ) risk being inadequate in the case of environmental harm where irreparable environmental damage or loss of animal life may have already been caused. Likewise, traditional justice systems are also often inadequate to redress the impact of environmental harm. Hall ( 2017 ) makes a case for the wider utilization of restorative justice and mediation-based approaches as a means of providing alternative or parallel justice mechanisms for both human and non-human victims of environmental crimes and broader environmental harms. Such consideration of alternatives is integral to green criminology’s critical approach, which also seeks to promote preventive or disruptive enforcement activity aimed at preventing environmental harm before it occurs. Collaborative and multi-agency approaches offer scope to disrupt environmentally harmful activity as the waste industry case study in this thematic collection illustrates. As a form of critical criminological discourse, green criminology arguably shines a light on the failure of mainstream and traditional justice approaches to deal with such complex crime and in their discussion of multi-agency collaboration in this collection, White and Barrett ( 2017 ) argue for innovative means to combat the multi-dimensional nature of environmental crimes.

The issues discussed within this thematic article collection help position green criminology as a discipline that considers not just questions of crime as defined by a strict legalist/criminal law conception (Situ and Emmons, 2000 ), but also questions concerning rights, justice, morals, victimization, criminality, and the use of administrative, civil and regulatory justice systems. The papers included all follow a critical path, expressing a claim of an alternative criminology consistent with South’s claim that addressing environmental harms and injustice requires ‘‘a new academic way of looking at the world but also a new global politics’’ (2010: 242).

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Volume 5, 2022, review article, green criminology: capitalism, green crime and justice, and environmental destruction.

• Michael J. Lynch 1 , and Michael A. Long 2
• View Affiliations Hide Affiliations Affiliations: 1 Department of Criminology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620-8100, USA; email: [email protected] 2 Department of Sociology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078, USA; email: [email protected]
• Vol. 5:255-276 (Volume publication date January 2022) https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-030920-114647
• First published as a Review in Advance on September 03, 2021
• Copyright © 2022 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved

Green criminology has developed into a criminological subfield with a substantial literature. That literature is so vast that a single review cannot do it justice. This article examines the definition of green crime, the historical development of green criminology, some major areas of green criminological research, and potential future developments. Unlike traditional criminology with its focus on human victims, green criminology recognizes that various living entities can be victims of the ways in which humans harm ecosystems. Green research thus explores crime, victimization, and justice from several theoretical positions that acknowledge these unique victims. Although green criminology contains several approaches, this review primarily focuses on political economic green criminology. The section titled The Definition, Overview, and Historical Development of Green Criminology identifies, but does not review in depth, other forms of green criminology.

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Rob White’s pioneering work in the establishment and growth of green criminology has been part of a paradigm shift for the field of criminology as it has moved to include crimes committed against the environment. For the first time, this book brings together a selection of White’s essays that explore the theories, research approaches and concepts that have been instrumental to our understanding of environmental harm and eco-justice. The book provides an additional foundation for scholarship that goes beyond expression of opinion or immediate empirical finding; the emphasis is on systematic analysis and theoretically informed consideration of complex realities. It serves as a platform for further debate and discussion of green criminology’s theories, perspectives, approaches and concepts and their application to specific sub-areas such as environmental law enforcement, wildlife trafficking, pollution and climate change. Its aim is not to provide answers, but to stimulate further dedicated theoretical contemplation of environmental harms, threats to biodiversity and extinction of species. This is essential reading for all those engaged with green criminology, as well as criminological theory, eco-justice and environment and sustainability studies.

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Rob White is Distinguished Professor of Criminology at the University of Tasmania, Australia.

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With this splendid collection of essays, Rob White’s important role in the development of green, eco-global criminology is confirmed. This book is a theoretically solid collection and is invaluable for any student and scholar who wants to engage in the growing field of green criminology. White pedagogically takes us through the theories that have been developed to form the basis for how to conceptualise environmental harms and crimes, to which he has greatly contributed. The reader learns about sources of knowledge and how they are valued, as well as about responses to environmental harms through different conceptual frameworks, thus not leaving us empty handed when it comes to addressing such harms. This book is bound to inspire further research and theorizing within green criminology and underlines why this is such an urgent field of inquiry. Ragnhild Sollund, University of Oslo Rob White, one of the pioneers of the burgeoning field of green criminology, has over the years made significant theoretical and empirical contributions to this critical area of study. Theorising Green Criminology assembles many of Rob’s most important writings in one volume, allowing us to appreciate the depth and breadth of his contributions to the discipline and build on the solid foundation of critical thought he has produced to analyze environmental harms and advocate for interventions to prevent such harms. Ron Kramer, Western Michigan University Rob White has been a profound, passionate and prolific writer on a range of topics that become more important every day. This book brings together some of his key contributions to the fields of green criminology and environmental sociology, and provides an essential guide to what the author describes as the ‘why’s, who’s and how’s of environmental harms’. Nigel South, University of Essex This book brings together some valuable theoretical insights into green criminology drawn from the research of the most prolific and influential scholar in the field. It consists of an outstanding selection of some of the main contributions that White has elaborated over the last decade, and it provides the relevant theoretical and conceptual tools needed for a deeper understanding of environmental crimes and harms and for the formulation of possible responses to them. As well as creating a theoretical framework for those who intend to approach environmental crimes and harms from an eco-global criminological perspective, the book will undoubtedly stimulate and provoke fruitful dialogues among students, scholars and researchers, enabling them to better understand the complex dynamics involved, and to conceptualize and implement appropriate responses in order to deal effectively with one of the most challenging theoretical, epistemological and ethical problems of our time. Lorenzo Natali, University of Milano-Bicocca Rob White accomplishes a monumental achievement of green criminology. These selected essays are full of critical suggestions and encouragements for theory and practice. Green criminology is approaching a 'tipping point' and the new world for the next generation opens with this excellent book. Noriyoshi Takemura , Toin University of Yokohama This book is a powerful tool to support students and researchers conceptualizing green criminology. Each chapter provides a strong theoretical base while engaging in contemporary examples of environmental harm. Anyone interested in conservation and green criminology needs to read this book. Rebecca W.Y. Wong , City University of Hong Kong

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Green and Grey: Water Justice, Criminalization, and Resistance

• Published: 03 May 2014
• Volume 22 , pages 403–418, ( 2014 )

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Since its initial proposal in the 1990s, ‘green criminology’ has focused on environmental crimes and harms affecting non-human and human life, ecosystems, and the planet as a whole. Describing global trends toward privatization of water supply systems and the criminalization of several water conservation activities and tactics, this paper employs theoretical perspectives offered by green, cultural, and critical criminologies, focusing on overt resistance to water privatization and oppressive regulations governing rainwater storage and residential water recycling. Taking a critical theoretical perspective, this paper examines water access and autonomy, individuals and groups openly resisting the criminalization of household water reuse and storage, and the cultural significance of water. This paper concludes with an exploration of the potential benefits of a green cultural criminology.

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Green Criminology, Water Issues, Human Rights and Private Profit

Pollution, Access, and Binary Division: Water Activism and a Human Right to Water

Green Criminology, Zemiology, and Comparative and Inter-Relational Justice in the Anthropocene Era

A concern in constructing this work is over the spelling of “greywater.” As will become clear from the literature, there are many ways to “correctly” spell greywater, but no decidedly correct single spelling exists. Indeed, many of the instructional manuals and materials consulted note explicitly that there are many options—greywater, grey water, graywater, and gray water each make an appearance. Because the “greywater” spelling seems to dominate the American literature most referenced here, it is the spelling I have used. It should be noted, though, that differences in spelling do not indicate a difference in method: the “gray water” systems of London are, essentially, no different than the “greywater” systems of Oakland.

Here, Shiva paints a picture of historic water management practices that is highly romanticized. While “sustainability and accessibility to all” may well have been among the goals of earlier management systems, it is unlikely that those systems “ensured” those outcomes.

While Garland’s assessment is useful when applied to the control of water, it is problematic in that it gives supremacy to the concept of “order” as constructed by the Global North. It should be noted, then, that Garland likely overreaches in his insistence that “desire for security, orderliness, and control, for the management of risk” is present in “any” culture.

In this paper, I use terminology that reflects the intention of the writers and actors to whom I make reference, while accounting—where possible—for some of the concerns raised by previous work. I rely, for example, on the use of the terms “human,” “animal,” and “animal other than human” in categorizing living things. There is reason, to be sure, for green criminologists to pay careful consideration to the language used in their work; speciesism is a real and valid concern, or should be, and as such it has real consequences. In the establishment of a green criminological discourse, efforts should be made in earnest to avoid the ‘othering’ of nonhuman animals (Beirne 2007 , p. 62; Beirne 2009 ; Cazaux 2007 ). Because this work focuses primarily on human responses to water injustice, it is inherently reflective of an anthropocentric ecophilosophical perspective, rather than the more inclusive ecocentric and biocentric philosophical perspectives, and consequently it is written in the language of anthropocentrism. Similarly, throughout this work I have used language that may serve to separate humanity from broader dimensions and conceptualizations of nature. There is, however, a body of literature that rightly problematizes this tendency. My intention is not to reify problematic divides in human conceptualizations of nature, but rather to maintain a focus on human management of (and relationships with) water.

There are at least two distinct conceptualizations of the D.I.Y. ethic. Recently, the D.I.Y. moniker has been adopted by an ethic that employs D.I.Y. practices as primarily an economic tool rather than a form of political resistance. This depoliticized form of D.I.Y. is inherently capitalistic, and is made most visible by the emergence of the D.I.Y. Network, a cable channel dedicated to showing homeowners potential cheap fixes for household problems. The form of D.I.Y. that is discussed in this paper is a more overtly politicized form, an “ethic born in reaction against a dominant society that considers culture primarily in terms of a profit-generating, commercial enterprise” (Duncombe 2008 ).

As Marx ( 1932 ) described, the alienation from basic needs is a crucial step in the essential power of capital to accumulate and commoditize.

Harrington’s case is particularly interesting when considering the various ways that it highlights his relationships with and conceptualizations of water, state power, and property. Harrington clearly operates on something akin to a neoliberal and capitalist-libertarian logic, insisting that the water he has collected is “his” by virtue of its presence on “his” property, giving him justification for diverting water from the commons. For Harrington, the state has exercised its power to supersede his property rights, and so his indignation flows forth from that perceived slight. In contrast, water activists that reject the neoliberal libertarian logics that imbue Harrington’s resistance would likely reject his claims of ownership, insisting instead that he allow water to flow to—and from—the commons.

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Acknowledgments

I’d like to acknowledge, first and foremost, Avi Brisman. Without his support, insight, friendship, and guidance this paper would not have been possible. I’d also like to thank Judah Schept and Tyler Wall, who—along with the entire Justice Studies community at Eastern Kentucky University—have been instrumental in guiding this project. Thanks are also due to Dave Kauzlarich, Travis Linnemann, and the anonymous reviewers whose insights guided the final stages of this paper and made its publication possible. The European Social and Economic Research Council (ESRC) allowed me the opportunity to present an earlier draft of this work at the October, 2013 Seminar on Brown Crime: Hazardous Waste and Pollution, held at Northumbria University, and I would like to thank the attendees, presenters, and organizers of that event—particularly Tanya Wyatt and Nigel South—for their constructive and helpful input. This paper was awarded the second-place prize in the graduate student paper competition at the American Society of Criminology’s (ASC) Division on Critical Criminology (DCC) meeting in 2013, and I’d like to thank and acknowledge the entire DCC community, which has been an exceptional help and resource in these early stages of my academic career. Lastly, I’d like to thank Maria Bordt, whose patience, insight, support, and partnership have made completion of this project a more wonderful and rewarding experience.

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McClanahan, B. Green and Grey: Water Justice, Criminalization, and Resistance. Crit Crim 22 , 403–418 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-014-9241-8

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Published : 03 May 2014

Issue Date : September 2014

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-014-9241-8

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Green Criminology and Green Crime

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Last Updated on August 10, 2024 by Karl Thompson

This post explains in simple terms what green crime and green criminology are, before looking at sociological perspectives on green crime and some different types of green crime in more depth.

Green Crime and Green Criminology Summary Notes

Green Crime – A simple definition of Green Crime is ‘crimes committed against the environment’.

Types of Green Crime

Primary green crimes.

Primary green crimes are those crimes which constitute harm inflicted on the environment (and, by extension, those that inflict harm on people because of damage to the environment – our classic ‘environmental victims’ who suffer health or other problems when the land, water or air they interact with is polluted, damaged or destroyed).

Secondary green crimes

Secondary, or “symbiotic green crime is crime that grows out of the flouting of rules that seek to regulate environmental disasters” (Carrabine et al. 2004: 318). South provides two examples of secondary crime: State violence against oppositional groups’, ‘hazardous waste and organised crime’

Criminology – Disagreements over the concept of Green Crime

Criminologists disagree over the appropriate subject matter of ‘ green criminology’.

White’s (2008) argued there were three important principles of green criminology –

Advantages of a green criminological perspective –

Problems with green criminology.

is that its subject matter is not clearly defined – where do we draw the line about what constitutes harming the environment? Where does it all end, and who decides?

Key Term – ‘Zemiology’ – the study of social harms. Green Criminology is Zemiological.

The Late Modern Perspective on Green Crime – Ulrich Beck (1992) – The Risk Society

New technologies are generating risks that are of a quite different order from those found throughout earlier human history.

The future demands innovative political responses to the new environmental challenges we face. Beck doesn’t offer any solutions to how we might tackle green crime, he just points out that the emergence of the problem is new, and that it’s going to be difficult to tackle it in an uncertain, postmodern age.

A Marxist Perspective on Green Crime

Marxists offer an alternative analysis of the consequences of Green Crime to that of Ulrich Beck. Marxists argue that current social divisions are actually reinforced in the face of environmental harms, with poor people bearing the brunt of harms.

I used two text books to put the first half of this together – Chapman and Webb, the last two points I mainly made up myself!

Green Criminology: More In Depth Notes

What is green criminology.

Green criminology is a form of ‘transgressive’ criminology, like Marxism, because it focuses on harms rather than just crimes. 

The term Green Criminology was first used by Lynch (1990) in an essay: ‘ The Greening of Criminology ’ which argued that we should be committed to a creating a more humanistic society based on environmentalism and a radical Marxist framework. 

The questions Green Criminologists ask include:

Terminology and typologies of green crime .

These might include crimes committed by those forced to migrate in response to environmental harm and changing environments impact on social or economic conditions that related to crime, and crimes relating to exposure to environmental pollutants. 

Types of Environmental Crime and Harm….

Climate change .

The major issue with climate change are the international and domestic inequalities that surround it. Wealthy consumer societies and wealthy individuals contribute disproportionately to climate change which imposes a higher social and economic burden on poorer nations and individuals. 

Data from the Migration Data Portal shows that climate change migrants are far more likely  to come from Sub-Saharan Africa compared to other regions. 

Economy, consumption and waste

State-corporate crime .

States and Corporations have been particularly blameworthy and green criminologists have illuminated a range of their acts and omissions that have resulted in ecological degradation and environmental harm and disaster. 

Organised crime 

Organised crime reaches into many aspects of public service, from waste disposal to building construction, often resulting in corruption and pollution (Sergi and South 2016). Ruggiero and South (2010) have described such illegal services as dirty collar crime. These kinds of services flourish because of lax implementation and enforcement of rules and laws. 

Food crimes 

The ways in which food is grown, manufactured, processed and produced, as well as marketed and sold, attract different types of crime and harmful activity, such as food fraud, food poisoning, violations of food labelling laws, illegal trade and pricing practices, food labour exploitation and financial crimes. 

Corporations have attempted to patent some well known food items, such as Turmeric for example . 

Until fairly recently E-waste was largely taken from rich countries and dumped, often illegally, in poorer countries. 

We also need to question the urgency with which new E-products are advertised and pushed on consumers. Do we really need new devices every couple of years?

Nonhuman animal abuse  

Criminology tends to be anthropocentric in its approach and orientation and part of green criminology has been a call for greater awareness of the harm humans do to animals and ecosystems. 

Wildlife offences include poaching, trafficking and trading in animals and plants. This may involve live animals or harvested parts of animals.  Wildlife offences can take place on land, but also at sea, for example fishing for rare species. Trade has become increasingly international in recent years and often involves organised crime. 

Controlling Environmental Crime 

Green criminologists have proposed setting up an International Environmental Court or Environmental Security Council. They have also proposed a new body of law based on Earth jurisprudence. This would recognise legally enforceable rights for nature and other-than-human-beings. This could mean rights not only for animals but also trees and rivers.

An International Law of Ecocide..?

Compliance versus deterrence...

There are two basic ways of controlling environmental crime: Compliance (carrot) and Deterrence (stick) models. 

Restorative Justice lies in the middle of these. This has the potential to work: one can imagine bringing together polluters to hear how their pollution has affected communities that are the victims of it. 

Power and Environmental Crime 

Powerful offenders will seek to reject criminal definitions that might be applied to them. When they are found guilty of breaching environmental laws, they will often seek to pass on the costs of being found in breach of environmental regulations. 

Political Economy and the Treadmill of Production 

Lynch and Stretesky (2014) argue that many environmental problems are due to the neoliberal treadmill of production. Intense consumerism results in the extraction of raw materials and this results in ecological disorganisation: capitalism is not consistent with maintaining a healthy environment. 

Victimisation and Green Criminology

Bullard (1990) shows how environmental discrimination is a fact of life for many Black communities in the United States and ‘continues to be rooted in white racism’ which has made it easier for black residential areas to become the dumping grounds for all types of toxic materials. 

Signposting

This material is mainly relevant to the Crime and Deviance module , usually taught as part of the second year in A-level sociology.

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Green Criminology

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Over the past ten years, the study of environmental harm and ‘crimes against nature’ has become an increasingly popular area of research amongst criminologists. This book represents the first international, comprehensive and introductory text for green criminology, offering a concise exposition of theory and concepts and providing extensive geographical coverage, diversity and depth to the many issues pertaining to environmental harm and crime. Divided into three sections, the book draws on a range of international case studies and examples, and looks at the conceptual and methodological foundations of green criminology, before examining in detail areas of environmental crime and harm, and how they are addressed, including:

• climate change and social conflict;
• abuse and harm to animals;
• threats to bio-diversity;
• pollution and toxic waste;
• environmental victims;
• environmental regulation, law enforcement and courts;
• environmental forensic studies;
• environmental crime prevention.

Green Criminology is packed with pedagogical features, including dialogue boxes, case examples, discussion questions and lists of further reading and is perfect for students around the world engaged with green criminology and crime against the environment.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter | 3  pages, introduction, part | 94  pages, conceptual and methodological foundations, chapter 1 | 18  pages, green criminology and environmental crime, chapter 2 | 20  pages, eco-global criminology and transnational environmental crime, chapter 3 | 15  pages, eco-justice and ecocide, chapter 4 | 19  pages, dimensions of environmental crime, chapter 5 | 20  pages, researching environmental harm, part | 95  pages, transgression and victimization, chapter 6 | 16  pages, climate change and social conflict, chapter 7 | 20  pages, abuse and harm to animals, chapter 8 | 19  pages, threats to biodiversity, chapter 9 | 19  pages, pollution and toxic waste, chapter 10 | 19  pages, environmental victims, part | 103  pages, intervention and prevention, chapter 11 | 20  pages, environmental regulation, chapter 12 | 18  pages, environmental law enforcement, chapter 13 | 21  pages, environmental forensic studies, chapter 14 | 20  pages, environmental courts, chapter 15 | 20  pages, environmental crime prevention, chapter | 2  pages.

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Emerging Issues in Green Criminology: Exploring Power Justice and Harm

This edited collection brings together internationally renowned scholars to explore green criminology through the interdisciplinary lenses of power, justice and harm. The chapters provide innovative case study analyses from North America, Europe and Australia that seek to advance theoretical, policy and practice discourses about environmental harm. The book unifies transnational debates in environmental law, policy and justice, and in doing so examines international agreements and policy within diverse environmental discourses of sociology, criminology and political economy.

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In 1998 the journal Theoretical Criminology published an innovative special issue on green criminology, which was compiled by two of the editors of the present collection. The focus of that special issue was a plea for the theoretical development of green criminological approaches to our relationships with ‘nature’, including how we adversely affect the state of the environment and the lives of nonhuman animals (henceforth, ‘animals’). Work in this new field has since continued apace. The study of harms against humanity, the environment and other species – inflicted systematically by powerful profit-seeking entities and on an everyday basis by ordinary people – is increasingly seen as a social concern of extraordinary importance. Green criminology matters! ...

Nigel South

This paper traces aspects of the development of a ‘green’ criminology. It starts with personal reflections and then describes the emergence of explicit statements of a green criminological perspective. Initially these statements were independently voiced, in different parts of the world but they reflected shared concerns. These works have found unification as a ‘green’, ‘eco‐global’ or ‘conservation’ criminology. The paper reviews the classifications available when talking about not only legally‐defined crimes but also legally perpetrated harms, as well as typologies of such harms and crimes. It then looks at the integration of ‘green’ and ‘traditional’ criminological thinking before briefly exploring four dimensions of concern for today and the future.

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This article outlines the field of critical criminology and how its development was essential for the development of green criminology. Through a personal trajectory, I use my experiences first as a student and later as Professor of Criminology at the University of Oslo as an entry point. I draw on my involvement with the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control to explore how critical criminology has influenced green critical criminology. Critical criminology, with its focus on the crimes of the powerful, is concerned with victims of injustice, and a social harm approach was, I argue, a necessary foundation for non-speciesist, green critical criminology. The article concludes by elucidating the challenges for a green critical non-speciesist criminology, which includes a presentation of my current research project, 'Criminal justice, wildlife conservation and animal rights in the Anthropocene-CRIMEANTHROP'.

Theoretical Criminology

Pamela Davies

In 2011, Rio Tinto Alcan, one of the world’s largest producers of aluminium, announced the closure of the smelter at Lynemouth, Northumberland, north-east England. The plant, a major local employer, finally closed in March 2013. This article examines global concerns about environmental emission standards and the costs of compliance. This plant’s closure is a success in green terms. However, where closure is officially considered a compliance option, costs to deprived communities are high. From a (green) victimological perspective, the article contemplates the hidden costs of closure on already deprived local and regional communities. The discussion focuses on how green crime and green compliance creates victimization and reflects on the moral and ethical challenges this presents for a green criminology.

Mohannad Sharabi

Cowburn, M., Duggan, M., Robinson, A. and Senior, P. (eds.) The Value(s) of Criminology and Criminal Justice. London: Policy Press.

Gary Potter

"The question ‘Whose side are we on?’ (Becker, 1967) is arguably more fundamental and more nuanced for green criminology than elsewhere in the study of crime. More nuanced because green criminology focuses on environmental problems, therefore considering conflicts between humanity and nature alongside the dimensions of social conflict normally implicated in the question. More fundamental because the consideration of value positions inherent in the question is essential to the very definition of green criminology, shaping not only the remit of the field and the approaches taken within it, but also its relationships with the parent subject ‘criminology’ and the politically charged label ‘green’."

Gary Potter , Jennifer Maher

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This paper traces aspects of the development of a ‘green’ criminology. It starts with personal reflections and then describes the emergence of explicit statements of a green criminological perspective. Initially these statements were independently voiced, in different parts of the world but they reflected shared concerns. These works have found unification as a ‘green’, ‘eco-global’ or ‘conservation’ criminology. The paper reviews the classifications available when talking about not only legally-defined crimes but also legally perpetrated harms, as well as typologies of such harms and crimes. It then looks at the integration of ‘green’ and ‘traditional’ criminological thinking before briefly exploring four dimensions of concern for today and the future.

DOI: 10.5204/ijcjsd.v3i2.172

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• Green criminology
• theory and typologies
• crimes and harms
• intergenerational ecological justice.

Author Biography

Professor South has taught at various universities in London and New York and between 1981 and 1990 worked as a Research Sociologist at the Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence (now Drugscope), London, before returning to the Department in 1990. He has previously served on the editorial boards of Sociology, The International Journal of Drug Policy, and The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, and continues to serve on the board of Critical Criminology and as an Associate Editor of the USA journal, Deviant Behavior. He is currently an Adjunct Professor, School of Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane. Following roles as Director of the Health and Social Services Institute,Head of the Department of Health and Human Sciences, and Director of Health Partnerships, he is now Pro Vice Chancellor, Faculty of Law and Management, and Academic Partnerships.

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Sept 25, 1985

SPOKANE -- Dianne Patricia (Weninger) Jones, 39, a resident of Vermillion S.D., died of cancer Tuesday at Southcrest Convalescent Center here.

She was born to George and Patricia Weninger, Aug 14, 1946, in Moscow. She graduated from Moscow High School and attended the University of Idaho, where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority.

She graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles and received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Southern California. She earned a master's degree in criminology from Cambridge University, Cambridge, England. She was listed in Who's Who of American Women and was a member of Los Angeles County, California, and American Bar Associations.

She had served on the Gonzaga Law School faculty and most recently was a professor of law at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion.

Survivors include her husband, David L Jones; her parents in Spokane, and a stepbrother, James G. Weninger of Gresham, Ore.

A memorial service will be conducted Friday at 10 a.m. at Ball and Dodd Funeral Home, S 421 Division, Spokane. Donald R Cadden S. J., will officiate.

The Charnel-House

From bauhaus to beinhaus.

With lightning telegrams:

Le corbusier’s “the atmosphere of moscow,” along with his letter to ginzburg on deurbanization.

Barsch and Ginzburg, Proposal for the Green City (1930)

From Le Corbusier’s Precisions on the Present

State of Architecture and City Planning (1930)

I am not trying to learn Russian, that would be a wager.  But I hear people saying krasni and krassivo .  I question.  Krasni means red, krassivo means beautiful.  Before [the Revolution], they say, the terms meant the same: red and beautiful.  Red was beautiful.

If I base myself on my own perceptions, I affirm: red is what is a living being, life, intensity, activeness; there is no doubt.

So naturally I feel I have the right to admit that life is beautiful, or that the beautiful is life.

That little linguistic mathematics is not so ridiculous when one is preoccupied with architecture and planning.

The USSR has decided to carry on a general program of equipment for the country: the five-year plan.  It is being carried out.  It was even decided to concentrate the greater part of the product of present work on carrying out this program: that is why there is no longer any butter on the spinach here,nor any more caviar in Moscow; the savings are used to make foreign exchange.

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