Green Crime

Created by

Lauren

Cards (13)

> green crime - crimes or harms done to the environment, including to non-human animals
> South - classifies green crime into two types: primary and secondary
> primary green crimes - crimes that result directly from the destruction of the environment
> secondary green crimes - crimes that grow out of rules aimed at preventing environmental disasters
Primary Green Crimes:
> crimes of air pollution
> crimes of deforestation
> crimes of species-decline and animal rights
> crimes of water pollution
Secondary Green Crime:
> state violence against opposition groups
> hazardous waste and organised crime
Primary - Crimes of Air Pollution:
> potential offenders include governments, businesses and consumers
> example: Chernobyl nuclear disaster, safety tests being ignored led to overheating
Primary - Crimes of Deforestation:
> potential offenders include the state, logging companies and cattle ranchers
> example: Indonesia surpasses Brazil in deforestation rate
Primary - Crimes of Species-Decline and Animal Rights:
> trafficking in animals and animal parts, dog-fighting
> example: poachers remove the faces of live rhinos for their horns
Primary - Crimes of Water Pollution:
> offenders include companies who dump toxic waste and governments who discharge untreated sewage into rivers and seas
> example: Gulf oil leak - largest marine oil spill in history
Secondary - State Violence against Opposition Groups:
> the state commit violent acts against civilians to protect their interests
> example: French secret service blowing up Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior ship, who were attempting to prevent the French from carrying out nuclear weapons tests in the south Pacific
Secondary - Hazardous Waste and Organised Crime:
> toxic waste is expensive to dispose of safely, so businesses may dispose of it illegally
> example: 'eco-mafias' in Italy profit from being hired by businesses for illegal waste dumping
> example: Western countries ship their waste to developing countries, where costs are lower due to a lack of safety standards - the USA, UK, Japan and Australia are among the top exporters of plastic waste to Malaysia
Sociological Explanations on Green Crime:
> transgressive approach (harm)
> anthropocentric approach (TNCs and states)
> global risk society and the environment
Sociological Explanations - Transgressive Approach:
> White - criminology should study any action that causes harm either to individuals or the environment, regardless of whether or not a law has been broken (unlike traditional criminology, which has been concerned with studying acts that break a well-defined set of laws)
> a considerable amount of harm is done to the environment by actions that do not appear to break any specific law e.g. deforestation, disposing of toxic waste
> green criminology is a form of transgressive criminology
Sociological Explanations - Anthropocentric Approach:
> human-centred view of environmental harm - humans have a right to dominate nature, so economic growth is put before the environment
> this approach is often taken by TNCs and nation states
> green criminologists take an ecocentric approach - humans and the environment are interdependent, so environmental harm also harms humans
> from an ecocentric view, it is possible to see the destruction of green spaces as green crimes as they harm the environment
Sociological Explanations - Global Risk Society:
> Beck - most threats to human wellbeing and the environment are now human made, rather than natural disasters
> in late modern society, the massive increase in productivity creates new risks, which are increasing on a global scale e.g. UK can enjoy fresh fruit all year round, but this is because of excessive farming in poorer countries - this damages the environment but allows people in the UK to have a healthier diet
> our behaviour is hastening the destruction of the planet