2.8 Corporate, State and Green Crime Content

• What do Marxist and critical criminological explanations of corporate crime emphasise?

  That the pressure to maximise profits puts pressure on corporations to act illegally
• How is crime linked to organisational culture and personality types?

  Tombs argues that the organisational culture of corporations and the kinds of personality types they reward lead to crime. Snider suggested characteristics favoured by corporations included being innovative, ambitious, shrewd, aggressive, impatient and morally flexible which may lead to people prioritising business over morality.
• How can Sunderland's theory of differential association be used to explain corporate crime?

  Explains crime as a product of learning and the nature of the associations we have. People spend a lot of time at work and the organisational culture of some firms may produce an excess of definitions of reality that justify criminal actions to achieve corporate goals.
• What is the regulatory environment in which firms operate?

  Firms which engage in corporate crime are a) unlikely to be caught b) if caught are unlikely to be prosecuted c) if prosecuted, are unlikely to face heavy penalties.
• How does integrated theory explain state crime?

  In terms of three elements: motive, the opportunity to commit crime and the failure of control mechanisms which might prevent crime
• How does control theory explain state crime?

  Seeks to identify the mechanisms which discourage crime rather than motivate it. State crime is discouraged where civil society groups have power and state decision making processes are open to public scrutiny. This is not the situation in many authoritarian states.
• How does the obedience model explain crime?

  By examining the pressure that state agents are under to obey instructions issued by those in authority.
• How does Cohen explain state crime?

  In terms of a spiral of denial engaged in by states that have committed crimes against humanity and a culture of denial.
• What is stage 1 of the spiral of denial?

  The first response of the government is to deny a human rights violatin has taken place.
• What is stage 2 of the spiral of denial?

  Faced with proof the event has occurred, governments redefine what happens to claim it is not what it appears, attempting to shift blame.
• What is stage 3 of the spiral of denial?

  Finally the government resort to a tactic which involves claiming what took place was justified by some higher purpose.
• What are the three competing theoretical tendencies within green criminology, identified by White?

  Anthropocentric, Ecocentric, Biocentric
• Who are green crimes carried out by?

  A range of actors: individuals, organised crime networks, corporations, states, and states and corporations working in concert.