Crime & Deviance: Green crime

Traditional criminology vs Transgressive criminology (White)

Traditional criminologists argue that crime is an action that breaks a formal law in society.

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Whereas transgressive sociologists, like Rob White) argue that green crime should be defined as %%‘any action that harms the physical  environment, and any creatures that live within it , even if no law has technically been broken’%%

Views of harm taken by green criminologists (White)

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•Anthropocentric – human-centred, we can exploit the environment for our own economic gains

•Ecocentric – humans and the environment are interdependent, therefore, environmental harm hurts humans too, e.g. deforestation

How is green crime linked to globalisation

__REASON 1:__

•The planet is a single ecosystem

•Harm done to other species or the environment (such as air, water supplies, the ocean and the rainforest) impact negatively on the quality and future of human life wherever it is in the world

•Global risks (BECK)

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__REASON 2:__

Green crime is carried out by powerful groups, e.g. transnational corporations such as oil and chemical companies, working with the cooperation of nation states and local wealthy elites

Difficulty in policing green crime

1\.Few domestic or international laws governing the state of the enviroment .

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2\.International laws difficult to construct because not all countries agree to sign up to global agreements (*Trump – Paris climate deal*)

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3\.Laws that exist are shaped by powerful capitalists interests , esp global ‘big business’ (*Palm oil*)

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4\.Laws that do exist to protect environment are often weak. (*Gov. in developing countries reluctant to take action against transnational corporations because they are dependent on them for their income)*

Primary green crime (South)

primary green crimes are 'crimes that result directly from the destruction and degradation of the earth's resources'. South identifies four main types of primary crime:

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1. Crimes of air pollution
2. Crimes of deforestation
3. Crimes of species decline
4. Crimes of water pollution

Crimes of air pollution

Burning fossil fuels from industry and transport adds 6 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere every year and carbon emissions are growing at around 2% per annum, contributing to global warming.

The potential criminals are governments, businesses and consumers.

According to Walters (2013), twice as many people now die from air pollution-induced breathing problems as 20 years ago.

Crimes of deforestation

Between 1960 and 1990, one-fifth of the world's tropical rainforest was destroyed, for example through illegal logging. In the Amazon, the forest has been cleared to rear beef cattle for export. In the Andes, the 'war on drugs' has led to pesticide spraying to kill coca and marijuana plants, but this has created a new green crime, destroying food crops, contaminating drinking water and causing illness.

The criminals include the state and those who profit from forest destruction, such as logging companies and cattle ranchers.

Crimes of species decline and animal abuse

50 species a day are becoming extinct, and 46% of mammal and 11% of bird species are at risk. 70-95% of earth's species live in rainforests, which are under severe threat. There is trafficking in animals and animal parts. Meanwhile, old crimes such as dog fights and badger-baiting are on the increase.

Crimes of water pollution

Half a billion people lack access to clean drinking water and 25 million die annually from drinking contaminated water. Marine pollution threatens 58% of the world's ocean reefs and 34% of its fish.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused massive harm to marine life and coasts.

Criminals include businesses that dump toxic waste and governments that discharge untreated sewage into rivers and seas.

Secondary green crime (South)

Secondary green crime is a crime that grows out of the flouting of rules aimed at preventing or regulating environmental disasters. For example, governments often break their own regulations and cause environmental harm. South suggests two examples of secondary crimes.

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1. State violence against oppositional groups
2. Hazardous waste and organised crime

State violence against oppositional groups

States condemn terrorism, but they have been prepared to resort to similar illegal methods themselves. For example, in 1985 the French secret service blew up the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour, New Zealand, killing one crew member. The vessel was there in an attempt to prevent a green crime, namely French nuclear weapons testing in the south Pacific.

As Day (1991) says, 'in every case where a government has committed itself to nuclear weapons or nuclear power, all those who oppose this policy are treated in some degree as enemies of the state'

Hazardous waste and organised crime

Disposal of toxic waste from chemical, nuclear and other industries is highly profitable. Because of the high costs of safe and legal disposal. For example, in Italy, eco-mafias profit from illegal dumping, much of it at sea.

Walters- 'The ocean floor has been a radioactive rubbish dump for decades'. For example, 28,500 rusting barrels of radioactive waste lie on the seabed off the Channel Islands, reportedly dumped by UK authorities and corporations in the 1950s.

Illegal dumping often has a globalised character. Bridgland describes how, after the tsunami of 2004, hundreds of barrels of radioactive waste, illegally dumped by European companies, washed up on the shores of Somalia.

Western businesses ship their waste to be processed in Third World countries where costs are lower and safety standards often non-existent. Rosoff et al note, the cost of legitimately disposing toxic waste in the USA is about $2,500 a ton, but some Third World countries will dispose of it for $3 a ton.

Similarly, transnational corporations may offload products (such as pharmaceuticals) onto Third World markets after they have been banned on safety grounds in the West.

Illegal waste disposal illustrates the problems of law enforcement in a globalised world. The very existence of laws to regulate waste disposal in developed countries pushes up the costs to businesses and creates an incentive to dump illegally in Third World countries. In some cases, it is not even illegal, since less developed countries may lack the necessary legislation outlawing it.

Green criminology evaluation

•Green criminology recognises the growing importance of enviromental issues and manufactured global risks

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•It recognises the interdependence of humans ,other species and the environment

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•However its focus on harm rather than criminality means green criminology is often accused of being engaged with ***subjective intrepetation*** rather than objective scientific analysis and is therefore biased.